Master of Landscape Architecture / Department of Landscape Architecture/Regional and Community Planning / Timothy Keane / Wichita is an historic keystone in American history. Since 2002, Wichita has begun another period of urbanization and the Wichita Downtown Development Corporation (WDDC) was formed to help facilitate the needs of both the people wanting to move downtown and the developers who aim to realize the city’s historic potential. With the help of the WDDC the City of Wichita adopted the Project Downtown Master Plan developed by the Boston based firm Goody Clancy in 2010. The Project Downtown has a market driven development strategy that has little concern for ecology. The economically driven master plan gives little reason for a developer to be ecologically and socially oriented. The City of Wichita does have a rudimentary incentive focused on public infrastructure. Essentially, the City of Wichita will front the money to help develop the public infrastructure of a site to ease the total development costs. This is the key to begin defining the Project Downtown’s green spaces that are socially and ecologically oriented. Green infrastructure is a method of developing land used by pedestrian, automobile, and other human needs in a way that is ecologically sensitive. The general idea of green infrastructure is to open up the barrier of an impermeable infrastructure created by urban development to the soil below. The goal is to get as close to an undeveloped footprint as possible while still meeting the needs of the humans who occupy the area. This project looks at the Catalyst Site C-2 (chosen by the Project Downtown as an integral step of development) and designs the given program using several green infrastructure techniques. The proposed design is treated as a pilot project intended to treat 80% of the stormwater runoff developed by the building, automobile, and pedestrian space during a two year, one hour storm. This schematic design would cost roughly $536,00 designed using traditional grey infrastructure of impervious pavements that drain directly to the Arkansas River. By implementing green infrastructure the costs total roughly $533,000 saving $4,000 and greatly improving the ecological and social benefits of the design.

Master of Landscape Architecture / Department of Landscape Architecture and Regional and Community Planning / Jessica Canfield / As urban populations continue to grow, parks will become a critical component to creating and sustaining healthy cities. A review of literature related to landscape performance and 21st century parks reveals a paradigm shift in the ways we engage our built landscapes. No longer is it environmentally or fiscally responsible to implement and maintain resource consumptive city parks that are exclusively concerned with fulfilling social needs. To create environmentally, socially, and economically beneficial spaces, 21st century parks must include design elements and best management practices that ensure long-term sustainability. In Manhattan, Kansas, most of the city’s parks are recreation centric and primarily focused on fulfilling social needs. However, Fairmont Park has yet to be fully realized, and therefore presents the city an opportunity to implement its first sustainable park. Using the Sustainable Sites Initiative’s 2009 Guidelines and Performance Benchmarks as a guide, a series of sustainability evaluations were conducted on Fairmont Park’s existing conditions in order to reveal its current level of sustainability. To understand how the park was originally envisioned to perform, the same analysis was conducted on Fairmont Park’s 1998 Master Plan. Findings from this process revealed an opportunity to update the park’s current master plan, in order to achieve enhanced environmental, social, and economic benefits. Guided by 21st century park design, implementation, and management strategies, the redesign of Fairmont Park will not only help Riley County fulfill its goal of becoming a State leader in sustainable design, but it will provide the Manhattan community with a state-of-the-art productive park, which promotes environmental education and stewardship, physical activity, local food production and composting, and stormwater management practices.

Tree transplanting practices influence plant survival, establishment, and subsequent landscape value. The inability to adequately quantify effects of inappropriate tree planting and transplanting practices threatens long-term viability and productivity (sustainability) of trees within terrestrial ecosystems. Tree planting depth, i.e. location of the root collar relative to soil grade, is of particular concern for tree growth, development, and performance in the landscape. A series of model studies was conducted to investigate effects of planting depth, container production methods, and transplanting practices on landscape establishment of container-grown trees. Studies included determining the effect of planting depth and soil amendments on live oak (Quercus virginiana Mill.) and baldcypress (Taxodium distichum (L.) L. Rich.), the effect of planting depth during container production and subsequent landscape establishment of lacebark elm (Ulmus parvifolia Jacq.), the effect of planting depth and irrigation practices on landscape establishment of sycamore (Platanus occidentalis L.), and the effect of planting depth and transplant season on landscape establishment of baldcypress. Optimum planting depth varied among species and was dependent on cultural practices and/or environmental conditions. Overall, live oak and baldcypress growth was better when planted with root collars at grade in sand in raised beds compared to planting below grade in control soils. Lacebark elm growth was greater when planted at grade during the initial container production phase and below grade in the second container production phase. Subsequent landscape establishment was variable, but planting at grade to 5 cm above grade produced greater growth. Sycamore trees planted below grade had increased mortality and decreased growth compared to trees planted at grade or above grade, while irrigation had no effect. Baldcypress planted above grade had reduced growth compared to those planted at or below grade, while transplant season had no effect. Species and cultivars within species may differ markedly in their response to environmental/cultural stresses, including planting depth. Each tree species originating from a specific environment may represent an ecotype adapted to that particular environment. Therefore, tree survival and performance may depend on the difference between the environment from which the tree was grown and the experimental system into which it is introduced.

abstract: During summer 2014, a study was conducted as part of the Landscape Architecture Foundation Case Study Investigation to analyze features of three sustainably designed landscapes. Each project was located in a southwest desert city: Civic Space Park in Phoenix, AZ, the Pete V. Domenici US Courthouse Sustainable Landscape Retrofit in Albuquerque, NM, and George "Doc" Cavalliere Park in Scottsdale, AZ. The principal components of each case study were performance benefits that quantified ongoing ecosystem services. Performance benefits were developed from data provided by the designers and collected by the research team. The functionality of environmental, social, and economic sustainable features was evaluated. In southwest desert cities achieving performance benefits such as microclimate cooling often come at the cost of water conservation. In each of these projects such tradeoffs were balanced by prioritizing the project goals and constraints. During summer 2015, a study was conducted to characterize effects of tree species and shade structures on outdoor human thermal comfort under hot, arid conditions. Motivating the research was the hypothesis that tree species and shade structures will vary in their capacity to improve thermal comfort due to their respective abilities to attenuate solar radiation. Micrometeorological data was collected in full sun and under shade of six landscape tree species and park ramadas in Phoenix, AZ during pre-monsoon summer afternoons. The six landscape tree species included: Arizona ash (Fraxinus velutina Torr.), Mexican palo verde (Parkinsonia aculeata L.), Aleppo pine (Pinus halepensis Mill.), South American mesquite (Prosopis spp. L.), Texas live oak (Quercus virginiana for. fusiformis Mill.), and Chinese elm (Ulmus parvifolia Jacq.). Results showed that the tree species and ramadas were not similarly effective at improving thermal comfort, represented by physiologically equivalent temperature (PET). The difference between PET in full sun and under shade was greater under Fraxinus and Quercus than under Parkinsonia, Prosopis, and ramadas by 2.9-4.3 °C. Radiation was a significant driver of PET (p<0.0001, R2=0.69) and with the exception of ramadas, lower radiation corresponded with lower PET. Variations observed in this study suggest selecting trees or structures that attenuate the most solar radiation is a potential strategy for optimizing PET. / Dissertation/Thesis / Masters Thesis Applied Biological Sciences 2016

En écho avec la réflexion de Gertrude Stein sur le théâtre, la présente thèse explore l’idée de paysage comme moteur, dissident de la trame d’une histoire, de l’action scénique et de l’émotion du spectateur. Quoique récurrente dans le discours théâtral actuel, l’association entre théâtre et paysage ne va pas de soi. Il y a là comme des « noces contre nature » entre deux règnes et deux échelles différentes : la scène théâtrale, règne du drame, bâtie poétiquement et architecturalement à l’échelle de l’homme, et le paysage, règne de la nature qui ne peut se concevoir qu’à l’échelle de l’infini. Des « noces contre nature » qui, pour être fécondes, exigent une double émancipation : celle de la paysagéité hors du cadre pictural d’où elle est née en même temps que celle de la dramaticité hors de la matrice aristotélicienne qui l’a forgée.En partant de l’étude du concept de paysage et de l’évolution du genre pictural paysager, la thèse cherche à mettre en perspective la façon dont la paysagéité s’est immiscée dans l’art théâtral. Dans le sillage du concept de pièce-paysage introduit par Gertrude Stein en 1934, l’écriture théâtrale contemporaine, libérée de la nécessité de raconter une histoire, convoque une scène mentale pour une action qui ne peut se projeter que dans l’espace infiniment petit et infiniment grand de la pensée. Cristallisant les intuitions dramaturgiques steiniennes, l’œuvre de Robert Wilson fonctionne comme un prisme à travers lequel s’affirme l’esthétique scénique paysagère: l’homme et sa parole sont décentrés au sein d’un espace qui s’ouvre vers l’horizon. On en trouve l’écho dans une série d’œuvres scéniques contemporaines – Claude Régy, Maguy Marin, Joël Pommerat, Heiner Goebbels, François Tanguy – qui déclinent à leur façon les critères esthétiques d’un spectacle-paysage que le théâtre de Robert Wilson aura permis de forger.Le devenir-paysage de la scène s’accomplit au prix d’un dépaysement du drame et de son spectateur. / The present thesis falls within Gertrude Stein’s legacy and explores the concept of landscape as a driving force of scenic action and audience emotion that is independent of the plot.Although it is now common in the theatrical discourse, the association between theatre and landscape is not a given one. It is a sort of “counter-natural alliance” between two different realms and scales. The stage, which belongs to the realm of theatre, is built both poetically and architecturally to the human scale, whereas a landscape, which belongs to the realm of nature, can only be conceived of on an infinite scale. This “counter-natural alliance” can only be fertile if two emancipations occur: that of the landscape from the pictorial frame from which it was born, and that of drama from the Aristotelian matrix which constructed it.The thesis starts from a study of the evolution of the pictorial genre of the landscape and the concept of the same to examine how it infiltrated theatrical art. Contemporary theatrical writing followed in the footsteps of Gertrude Stein’s concept of the landscape play introduced in 1934 and was free of the necessity to tell a story. It conjures up a mental stage for actions which can only be envisaged in the infinitely small and infinitely large spaces of thought.Robert Wilson’s work crystallized Stein’s dramaturgic intuitions. It acted as a prism through which the stage esthetics of landscape was focused; therein, man and speech are decentralized within a space which opens towards the horizon. Many contemporary scenic works echo this, including those of Claude Régy, Maguy Marin, Joël Pommerat, Heiner Goebbels and François Tanguy, who play with the esthetic criteria of the landscape play which Robert Wilson’s work initially forged.The stage becomes a landscape through the disorientation of drama and its audience.

Two container production studies (nursery area and greenhouse) and a landscape performance study to evaluate bananas and cannas were performed at R. R. Foil Plant Science Research Center on the campus of Mississippi State University. Previous reports determined that there is greater need of K2O fertilization in addition to N for tropical monocot nutrition. Contradictory to previous cultural recommendations for landscapes, it was determined that a N:K2O ratio is not significant for container production of Musa, Ensete, and Canna in pine bark substrate. Nitrogen rate was the most significant variable in the containerized production of Musa, Ensete, and Canna. The purpose of the landscape performance study was to evaluate six cultivars of bananas for growth and cold hardiness. The three cultivars of bananas trialed which showed the greatest cold tolerance and vigor were Musa basjoo, Musella lasiocarpa, and Musa balbisiana ‘Thai Black’.

This dissertation explores the use of smart devices to measure the environmental landscape performance (LP) of landscape projects. It proposes and evaluates an alternative landscape performance measurement framework (ALPMF) with smart device assistance. By providing new measurement methods and tools, it aims to fill some existing and potential gaps in LP and promote its development. LP has been proposed in landscape architecture to measure landscape projects' sustainable benefits. Due to LP research's short development history, some gaps exist, including one-time measurements, a lack of standard evaluation methods, and insufficient measurement tools. Given the advantages of smart devices in data collection and the successful application of smart devices in other design-related fields, this dissertation explores their feasibility as assessment tools in environmental LP studies. It begins by analyzing each LP research case's report listed on the Landscape Performance Series (LPS) website to explore the limitations of traditional measurement methods and tools. Following a survey of professionals' perspectives on LP metrics. Based on the survey results, the researcher selects certain air quality and water quality LP metrics as variables (air temperature, humidity, carbon dioxide, particulate matter, total dissolved solids, and electronic conductivity) for subsequent experiments. Two experiments explore smart devices' strengths and limitations in collecting LP data and measuring landscape projects' LP in terms of accuracy, real-time, spatial resolution, and longitudinal analysis. The researcher proposes the ALPMF and conducts a comparative study with the traditional landscape performance measurement framework (TLPMF) to measure a project's LP. By comparing methods, tools, and results, the study examines the advantages and effectiveness of the ALPMF to a certain extent and explores its limitations. The research results show that smart devices and the ALPMF can provide more accurate, real-time, spatial resolution, and longitudinal LP data. The results also demonstrate the effectiveness of the ALPMP. Furthermore, this dissertation offers several insights and suggestions for further developing smart devices and the ALPMF in LP and landscape architecture. This dissertation fills some research gaps and provides new tools and methods for future LP measurement. It contributes to improving landscape projects' sustainable values and refining the landscape architectural design guidelines. As an interdisciplinary study, it also provides an example of the intersection of landscape architecture with other disciplines, such as mechanical engineering and computer science. It helps to broaden the knowledge boundary of landscape architecture. / Doctor of Philosophy / This dissertation aims to evaluate the contribution of landscape architecture projects to sustainable development using smart devices. It proposes and preliminarily tests an alternative landscape performance measurement framework (ALPMF). This new framework aims to improve the traditional landscape performance measurement framework (TLPMF) and enhance future projects' landscape performance (LP). This research is important, especially in the current context of climate change. It explores how landscape architecture can enhance public quality of life and contribute to environmental improvements such as carbon sequestration and water quality. The researcher conducted a literature review, surveyed professionals to gather opinions, and performed experiments to provide empirical data. The results reveal: 1) gaps in traditional LP research, 2) advantages and disadvantages of using smart devices, 3) effectiveness of the ALPMF, and 4) contributions to sustainable development through improved design guidelines. In summary, this study provides methods and tools to 1) fill some gaps in the LP, 2) help improve the sustainable values of future landscape projects, 3) impact related urban planning or environmental protection policy formulation, 4) raise public awareness of the importance of landscape architecture in promoting sustainability, 5) and help to expand the boundaries of the landscape architecture discipline to better contribute to improving public's life quality. The researcher hopes this dissertation study can stimulate more research and discussion and provide positive changes to the LP and landscape architecture.