Semester of Graduation

2018 Spring

Degree

Master of Landscape Architecture (MLA)

Department

Landscape Architecture

Document Type

Thesis

Abstract

The evolution of human civilization has been accompanied by the replacement of the Earth’s natural landforms. The cities, oases and grasslands from 1000 years ago may have now been transformed into desert. Now, desertification has become a global environmental problem. Many regions and countries are facing development constraints and environmental challenges posed by desertification. Arid and semi-arid areas are extremely prone to land degradation leading to desertification. China faces the threat of a quarter of its land being degraded. Desertification is one of the most serious outcomes of land degradation. Ironically, the part of China with the most serious desertification is Inner Mongolia, which once had a large grassland area. In this paper, the planning and design site, Bayan Nur, is situated in the Yellow River basin in central Inner Mongolia. The extensive expansion of desertized land has resulted in the serious degradation of grassland and cultivated land. This paper mainly discusses how to use landscape ecological planning and desertification ecological prevention technology in order to slow down and prevent the spread of existing sandy land. This is the 21th century new landscape view mentioned by more than 700 landscape architects in the Landscape Architecture Declaration in 2016.

“Across borders and beyond walls, from city centers to the last wilderness, humanity’s common ground is the landscape itself. Food, water, oxygen – everything that sustains us comes from and returns to the landscape. What we do to our landscapes we ultimately do to ourselves. The profession charged with designing this common ground is landscape architecture.”

Desertification is a major global environmental problem. How can landscape architects use a broader perspective in working with other disciplines to address desertification? At the same time, what roles do landscape architects play in the process of desertification prevention? These two problems are what this paper attempts to solve.

Date

4-11-2018

Committee Chair

Harmon, Brendan

DOI

10.31390/gradschool_theses.4670

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