Design Activism Landscape Architecture for Marginalized People and Lands

Abstract

University of Washington ABSTRACT DESIGN ACTIVISM FOR MARGINALIZED COMMUNITIES AND LANDS Ximena A Bustamante Chair of the Supervisory Committee: Associate Professor Julie Johnson Department of Landscape Architecture This thesis investigates the role landscape architects as leaders and challenges actions in transforming the planning and design approach of marginalized communities and lands. I propose an Asset Based Design approach, integrated with Ecological Design and practiced through Design Activism. A Transformational Landscape Design [TLD] framework has been developed to activate social and ecological assets. The main driver is Design Activism. The completion of a comprehensive literature review, its analysis, and a final synthesis with knowledge gained through the study of three specific precedent projects, allows the [TLD] framework to be applied, and hypothetically test a real marginalized community. El Rio Villas is selected as the farmworker community on public housing.