Text

theses

The thesis proposes a better understanding of what it takes to design a riverine landscape from a rivercentric perspective. The Raritan River in the City of New Brunswick is explored through this lens with two design goals in mind: improving the visibility of the Raritan riverscape in the city, and simultaneously, utilizing the Raritan riverscape to create green open space connectivity on a local as well as a regional scale.

This thesis looks to answer whether assuming rivercentric approach, that implies experiential as well as analytic site exploration and starts from the river as a core, best informs the river city’s greenway design.
Upholding a rivercentric perspective requires looking at the city from its river and understanding how to design with the river as a core and not an edge. Furthermore, the river becomes the focus of every day, human scale experience captured in inventive ways. Finally, this information helps inform design ideas for enhancing the river’s role in urban life.
At the same time, this thesis aims to capture the communities’ attention using their river’s aesthetic value. Next, it appropriates this value to forge and invigorate the relationship between people and nature. Finally, it is intended to spark a dialogue that would lead to a better understanding of the social and ecological importance of the river and to inspire citizen activism and governmental action.

ETD_10326

M.L.A.

Includes bibliographical references

doi:10.7282/t3-cefs-hc54

ETD graduate

The author owns the copyright to this work.