Dark Matter investigates organic reduction as a means of promoting biological and cultural diversity in urban cemeteries. Dissolution of the body prior to interment foregrounds the transference of matter to adjacent life; the memorials embodiment of place is expanded to include natural systems and ecological productivity. The funerary landscape is decentralized from static site of memorial to evolving memorial system that invites engagement with the living.

This project aims to redefine Bangkok informal settlements as a means to tackle urban sanitary and flooding problems. The study site --Khlong Toei Community is the largest complex of Bangkok informal settlement and is currently facing issues such as population density, lack of accessibility to drinking water and eviction from Port Authority of Thailand (PAT). Instead of massive relocation, the intervention of a new land sharing plan that improves water supply and self-help food production will propel “in-depth tourism” that preserves local culture and “the right to stay with mutual benefits” between the city government and local residents.

524 million people practice open defecation in India. Open defecation perpetuates the vicious cycle of disease and poverty leading to child mortality, malnutrition, social inequity, and violence against women and girls. In this context, there are few spaces of conscious design intervention that provide both practical and aesthetic value. We explore how landscape architects can improve the lives of people that lack basic facilities through our design of the built environment. Our goal is everyone will have access to personal toilets in each household and public toilets in community spaces.

West Oakland has a rich history of industry, social activism, immigration, blending of cultures, and urban developments. Unfortunately, the once buzzing industrial-based district has fallen into deprivation because of the 1960s’ Transit-Oriented Development, which became a force of segregation, leading to a food desert, an unhealthy environment, and failures to provide residents with equal opportunities. Meanwhile, gentrification became a growing threat, due to the economic development of the surrounding Bay Area, which is closing in on the local West Oakland communities.

Eleven students set out to retrieve, document, and analyze the world’s traditional water systems. The first goal was to study how these systems functioned physically, how they operated socially, and how they organized landscapes and societies spatially. The second was to imagine new variations of these old systems and test them on the urban landscapes of water-stressed Los Angeles. The premise? By building a richer, more robust lexicon of pre-carbon drylands design systems, we might build capacity, in ourselves and others, for inspired design vision in a post-carbon world.

Jia is a story that raises awareness about the ever-evolving issues of sustainability, resource exhaustion, waste, conservation, and regeneration from the lens of a small family restaurant. It aims to teach readers that the little things that regular people do can contribute to making the environment a healthier place to live because they focus on ethical issues over personal and monetary interests.

According to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) we have less than 12 years before we reach 1.5 degrees Celsius of planetary warming. Crossing this threshold would lock in irreversible and catastrophic changes in Earth’s oceanic and atmospheric systems. It was in response to these dire warnings that, on February 7, 2019, Senator Ed Markey and House Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez introduced House Resolution 109 (HR-109). HR-109 is a sweeping plan to become carbon-neutral by 2050, through just, green job creation and is commonly referred to as the Green New Deal.

As China is rapidly entering into an aging society, the traditional home-based care model is facing huge challenges. There is a growing need for better designed community programs to serve the seniors and their families within the environment they live. This project Le Garden, aims at creating a healthy and comfortable outdoor space to accommodate interactive, recreational, and educational activities for seniors, to strengthen the bonds between seniors and their families, and to revitalize the social network within and outside of the community.