Towards inclusive geodesign: Crowdsourced approach to inform landscape perception and sustainability

This dissertation aims to promote evidence-based design and landscape sustainability by informing geodesign with crowdsourcing data and information technologies. Geodesign facilitates sustainable design decisions with the inclusion of spatial science and systematic thinking. It also takes stakeholder input from differing perspectives and embraces broader public participation as part of the design process. Can crowd sourced data be an effective way to induce more and broader participation in these processes? This dissertation investigates the potential of assessing landscape preferences using crowdsourced geoinformation as a way to integrate social values and a broader social engagement – into the landscape design process. Generally, I advocate for the incorporation of urban science within landscape design, design processes, and design education. Landscape perception is framed as “a function of the interaction of humans and the landscape” which engages both landscape properties, and personal factors including cognitive processes, individual experience, and social-cultural backgrounds. Landscape perception is important in understanding human-place interactions, while its role remains limited in landscape design process due to a lack of conceptual and methodological clarity. Four main research questions guide this work: the role of crowdsourced geo-information in landscape perception, landscape components that influence perception in urban environments, the utility of computational technologies in analyzing crowdsourced data, and the pedagogical implications of these approaches in landscape architecture education. This dissertation comprises a review of the current literature on sustainability, geodesign, landscape perception, and crowdsourced geoinformation. It also includes empirical studies that utilize geo information and spatial analytical approaches including both active and passive crowdsourced geo-information sources encompassing diverse domains such as online text and image-based contributions. In a study on concepts of tranquil landscapes I explore the potential for producing such places in urban contexts. I use crowdsourced data, develop methods for quantifying and visualizing tranquility to discuss the visual features that characterize tranquil landscapes despite anthropogenic influences. To study a landscape-based sense of place and its role in geodesign, I propose a framework for detecting a sense of place using social media. I demonstrate how social media data can be a valuable resource for geodesign processes by providing insights into the people-place bond and territoriality that is common in urban areas. I employ an active crowdsourced dataset and street view images to map the fear of insecurity in urban areas. I use this to investigate the discrepancy between perceived safety and actual crime rates at landscape scales. Key findings suggest that crowdsourced geo-information can be a valuable tool for designers and design processes by quickly capturing public perception; providing opportunities for dynamic analysis across various temporal and geographic scales; and revealing complex interactions within urban systems that traditional methods often overlook. My work uses the tool for illustrating the effects of urban natural landscapes such as greenery and water bodies on urban landscape perception. I suggest that computational technologies can facilitate the effective processing and analysis of large datasets, thereby enhancing our capacity to make informed landscape design decisions. Pedagogically, incorporating urban science into a landscape architecture curricula necessitates an educational model that bridges scientific inquiry and creative design. This can prepare landscape architecture students to tackle the complex environmental challenges we now face. This dissertation research contributes to the field of landscape architecture by proposing a methodological framework that integrates urban science-based information into the landscape design process, promoting more sustainable and resilient urban environments.

Name thesis:degree_name

Ph.D.

Level thesis:degree_level

Dissertation

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

Landscape Architecture

Grantor

University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Year dc:date

2024

Author dc:creator

• Zeng, Yijun

Contributors dc:contributor

• Deal, Brian
• Sullivan, William
• Cong, Cong
• Fang, Fang

• Geodesign
• Landscape Perception
• Crowdsourced Data
• Landscape Sustainability

Statement dc:rights

• Copyright 2024 Yijun Zeng

Language dc:language

en, eng

Handle dc:identifier

https://hdl.handle.net/2142/125718

OAI record oai:identifier

https://www.ideals.illinois.edu/oai-pmh?verb=GetRecord&metadataPrefix=etdms&identifier=oai%3Awww.ideals.illinois.edu%3A2142%2F125718