School of Sustainability Graduate Culminating Experiences
Student capstone and applied projects from ASU's School of Sustainability.
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- Creators: Prosser, Paul
- Creators: Archangeli, Dante
- Creators: Curtis, Emily
The photographs focused on aspects of life and behaviors that have contributed to happiness in local communities. A website was created and a gallery event was mounted for public review and discussion. Gallery attendees and website visitors were asked to complete a survey to assess (1) gained knowledge of sustainability solutions, and (2) how effective a tool photography is as a means of sustainability solutions communication.
This visual medium allowed people think about how to incorporate sustainable community solutions into their own lives and may have changed people’s interest in, and thoughts about, overall sustainability and sustainable solutions. The survey results demonstrated that photographs can successfully communicate sustainability ideas. Specifically, viewers gained an increased awareness of how community and urban gardening can increase happiness, well-being, and sense of community. This visual approach can continue to be used to more successfully communicate additional sustainability solutions ideas and methods to the public.
By 2050 more than a third of Tucson Arizona's days will have a heat index of 104 degrees or greater if current excessive energy use behavior continues (Climate Central 2016). During the 20th century, the water table of Tucson's aquifer dropped 200' because of excessive water use. (Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum, 2013)
Our communities and buildings so far have not incorporated regenerative sustainability, the sustainable design and construction practices that could help avoid these problems.
Campus Farm Green, a new-home community in Tucson, is working to change that. "The Green" explores a new paradigm for developing regeneratively sustainable homes and neighborhoods that goes beyond reducing harm to the environment to helping to heal the environment. The Green has been designed to generate and return to the grid more electricity than it uses, and capture and return to the ground more water than it buys from the water utility. It does this while providing homes that can be sold for a profit at market prices.
This paper describes the challenges and solutions of the sustainably regenerative design and construction that is at the heart of The Green.
The Woarani of the Pastaza Province in Amazonian Ecuador face complex pressures both externally and internally to develop. While there are both positive and negative impacts associated with this transition, it remains a problem that development solutions designed external to the system they’re meant to impact risk imposing asymmetries on that system. This research explores the case of a culturally and historically embedded boundary organization operating at the nexus between Western academics and two communities of Woarani in the Pastaza Province of Ecuador. Through unstructured and semi-structured interviews, field- observation and social and historical research, this study seeks to understand: 1) the pathways to development for the Waorani, what and why they choose what they do and, 2) in the context of the I-W boundary at the field school site, the elements of development that are critical for sustainable scaling. Key findings include eight elements that explain development at the field school and situate the school as a boundary organization. Another important finding is the support for sustainable scaling, that in this context, sustainable scaling is modeled by organic growth along known networks of relations.
Aspiring to build the most socially and environmentally sustainable chapter house possible, the Navajo Nation’s Tonalea Chapter collaborated with our ASU research team. Two roundtable discussion with Chapter elders and members, led to a vision foundation that embodies physical, functional and environmental conditions, as well as cultural and spiritual beliefs and values.
Initially, Houde’s (2007) Six Faces of Traditional Ecological Knowledge (TEK) were used to sort commentary. Analysis and review led to expanding the framework from six to eight traditional ecological knowledge categories (TEK8): Culture, Spirituality, Ecosystem, Time, Land, Design, Social Justice and Equity, and Economics.
Sorted narratives and discussions revealed traditional ways of life, beliefs, and values, along with suggestions about who to design for, and what functions are most needed. Based on the TEK8 categorized comments, design recommendations were offered.
Additional work is needed, but a strong foundation for a framework mapping TEK to sustainable design for indigenous people has been developed. By using the TEK8 to address social justice issues through participatory visioning, culturally appropriate design and broader opportunities for happiness may result.