Engagement is an essential component to community building. Among the factors which contribute to engagement is perception. Of specific interest to landscape architecture are perceptions of landscape and water as they reveal environmental attitudes. Rural Southern Ontario has experienced notable land use pressures for resource extraction and renewable energy. This study explores the relationship between landscape and water perceptions by rural residents and levels of community engagement in a changing rural landscape. Instruments used for this study were a photo-based questionnaire and Visitor Employed Photography. The study found that individuals who are more engaged with the community have a greater ability to interpret landscape in the context of resource extraction and are more critical in their perception of quarry rehabilitation. Findings of this study can assist rural groups by providing insight into social capital and inform landscape planning and design practices when working with rural groups to increase engagement.

The main problem of this research was to discover if children's picture books over the last fifty years have depicted rural values more significantly than urban values. One-hundred and one children's picture books were systematically chosen for analysis. This study takes an overall view of the history of children's literature. Also included is a review of the current studies and literature most germain to this study. Content analysis was used as the technique of data analysis, A descriptive analysis of the sample is also given. The study supports the main hypothesis that rural set, tings and rural values do occur more often than non-rural settings and urban values in children's picture books.