The Art of Healing the Landscape: Creating A Sense of Place with Phytotechnology

This project builds on previous work completed as part of a masters project by Matt Hisle under the guidance of Frank Sleegers in Hadley, Massachusetts at an abandoned Getty gas station. The previous project sought to integrate phytotechnology into a “comprehensive experience that provided connectivity and educational purposes” and used Phyto by Kate Kennen and Niall Kirkwood as a framework for applying six phytotechnology typologies (referred to as phytotypologies) in the design (Sleegers & Hisle, 2017). This project also explores the site’s historical, social, and ecological sense of place and the application of phytotechnology as garden art to create a functional, legible landscape. This will require an understanding of the site’s historical, cultural, and ecological context through written and visual data, an understanding of phytotechnology’s practical application and place in the context of landscape design, and an exploration of phytotechnology in garden and land art as a tool to construct legibility and create a sense of place. More research is needed to establish the artful application of phytotechnology in landscape architecture and related interdisciplinary fields as a strategy to remediate polluted sites at the national and international scale. Designs that address both the utilitarian aspects of phytotechnology and the needs of the community are an opportunity to create a demand for similar projects, for funding further scientific research, and for public policy that facilitates the implementation of phytotechnology. The greatest promise of phytotechnology in landscape design is the potential to exact real environmental and social change; environmental issues are almost always social justice issues. The use of phytotechnology in garden art is one of the many possibilities to heal the landscape, to create environmental and social change, and to make the world a more resilient, beautiful place for future generations

Placemaking in Metro East Springfield - Creating a Landscape Framework

PLACEMAKING IN METRO EAST SPRINGFIELD - Creating a Landscape Framework Placemaking in Metro East Springfield – Creating a Landscape Framework provides strategies to use the landscape as a framework for rebuilding community in a downtown urban area that has “good bones” but has been neglected and overlooked for decades. A catalyst for the development of project area is the recent acquisition of the historical 1916 Willys Overland building through a developer. The Graduate Urban Design Studio 2018 developed five proposals for urban revitalization in the area that are centered on the landscape. The programming of the proposals was developed in collaboration with neighborhood representatives and stakeholders of the area. The public response was very positive and the project got recognized in the local press and media. The Landscape Framework is interwoven with cultural activities such as public art and education, new opportunities for small neighborhood commerce, future employment and possibilities for new housing. The Landscape Framework will bring expand urban greening and will reduce heat island effects to reduce the impact of climate change. The presented Landscape Framework will guide the future of the area as overlapping and simultaneous measures. They encompass: Tangible tactile interventions on streets, facades and underutilized lots that change the perception of the landscape at low cost but are highly effective. New parks that create areas for recreation and contemplation. Greenway promenades connect to shorten long blocks and create a network to the neighboring residential areas. Establishment of urban agriculture activities to build community, provide food security and education. Collaboration with existing organizations in Springfield that are actively involved with urban agriculture: Gardening the Community (GTC) Springfield, Wellspring Harvest first commercial hydroponic greenhouse, UMass Extension and UMass Permaculture, Springfield Technical Community College (STCC). Walkable streets through extensive street tree plantings, widening of sidewalks, adding bicycle lanes and introducing shared multi-functional streets for community events. Stormwater Management through bioswales along streets, green roofs, larger infiltration areas in new parks and porous pavement. Promotion of alternative stormwater management through education and artistic interventions. People want to connect culturally and socially. Creating a sense of place, common ownership, and connectivity are a vital part of a sustainable community. This includes: Complimentary cultural, art, craft and education at new Maker-Spaces. Daycare Center and other childcare services. Outdoor pop-up business opportunities for food vendors such as food carts and trucks. Indoor pop-up business opportunities in abandoned or underutilized buildings. Adaptive reuse of existing architecture and infill. Diversification of housing market with inclusion of market-rate housing to create a more balanced economy. Legal framework through zoning changes and permitting that supports small businesses, reduces bureaucratic burdens and secures public open green space

Measuring the Semantic Priming Effect Across Many Languages

Semantic priming has been studied for nearly 50 years across various experimental manipulations and theoretical frameworks. These studies provide insight into the cognitive underpinnings of semantic representations in both healthy and clinical populations; however, they have suffered from several issues including generally low sample sizes and a lack of diversity in linguistic implementations. Here, we will test the size and the variability of the semantic priming effect across ten languages by creating a large database of semantic priming values, based on an adaptive sampling procedure. Differences in response latencies between related word-pair conditions and unrelated word-pair conditions (i.e., difference score confidence interval is greater than zero) will allow quantifying evidence for semantic priming, whereas improvements in model fit with the addition of a random intercept for language will provide support for variability in semantic priming across languages

Large-scale cross-societal examination of real- and minimal-group biases

Biases in favor of culturally prevalent social ingroups are ubiquitous, but random assignment to arbitrary experimentally created social groups is also sufficient to create ingroup biases (i.e., the minimal group effect; MGE). The extent to which ingroup bias arises from specific social contexts versus more general psychological tendencies remains unclear. This registered report focuses on three questions. First, how culturally prevalent is the MGE? Second, how do critical cultural and individual factors moderate its strength? Third, does the MGE meaningfully relate to culturally salient real-world ingroup biases? We compare the MGE to bias in favor of a family member (first cousin) and a national ingroup member. We propose to recruit a sample of > 200 participants in each of > 50 nations to examine these questions and advance our understanding of the psychological foundations and cultural prevalence of ingroup bias