As the popularity of golf grew in the 1990’s and real estate along golf courses brought in high property values, the building of golf courses in the Southwest boomed. However, supply of golf courses outgrew the demand (Downey, 2011). The National Golf Foundation predicts that 500-1,000 golf courses nationwide will close within the next 5 years (Schmidt, 2010). Cities and developers are facing a new problem: What to do with these defunct golf courses? These troubled golf courses provide opportunities for redesigning communities in order to make them more sustainable and resilient while preserving and enhancing much needed open space in urban areas. This project explores the redesign of a struggling golf course community in order to accommodate a larger variety of users. The design also rehabilitates the system of urban washes on site to functional ephemeral riparian areas that support wildlife habitat and provide amenities. Much of the disturbed areas covered with turf will be revegetated to resemble a more desert-like, native ecosystem. Furthermore, the design incorporates green infrastructure strategies to reduce and reuse water within the community and enhance the important riparian area along Tanque Verde wash. Methods for investigation included case reviews of existing associated projects. The design provides a conceptual framework for which this golf course or similar golf course repurposing projects may look in reference for viable ideas.

Rio Rico, a planned community in southern Arizona, sits along the Santa Cruz River between the Santa Rita Mountains and Coronado National Forest. The intent of this project is to provide Rio Rico with proposed locations for a network of parks paying close attention to the people and natural and cultural resources of this unique community. The project aims to create parks that are easily and safely accessible to community members of all ages. The park amenities will highlight Rio Rico’s natural resources and community assets and promote public and ecological health. Combining geospatial data with environmental and cultural analysis along with input from community meetings and public surveys, a series of parks are proposed to promote community connections, health and recreation.

The question is not if, but ever increasingly, how and where do urban areas and conservation intersect, and further how urban regions will shape the future of the planet’s biodiversity. As reported by the IUCN, in many parts of the world they [Urban Protected Areas] are the only places not completely dominated by human influence, and the only hope for the survival of many of the world’s plant and animal species, including humans themselves. The primary goal of protected areas is conservation, and protecting the region’s natural and cultural diversity, however traditional conservation is often focused on controlling human disturbance through restrictive measures - extremely limiting and/or eliminating human access and influence to sensitive areas. Increasingly, it is being recognized that urban areas require unique conservation approaches which acknowledge the extent to which human and natural systems are interconnected, for better and for worse. Rather than focusing on the worst and eliminating these connections, more contemporary approaches focus on embracing and celebrating this contact, and building community connections to sensitive natural areas through which urban residents can positively engage with the natural environment and play a more active role in conservation. This project focuses on Tumamoc Hill, and its need to think beyond Tumamoc’s traditional “island” boundaries and a preserve & protect approach to conservation and research. It explores how UPAs are critical spaces for cultivating and disseminating ecological knowledge and strategies through which human and natural communities - which have co-evolved for 1,000’s of years - can potentially co-exist in supportive and even mutually beneficial ways. The design begins to envision how Tumamoc can cultivate community connections and creative conservation practices that will support and protect Tumamoc’s rich heritage and support conservation within its borders and even beyond.

As cities continue to develop, they can experience changes and subsequent decline in particular industries and land uses. In some cases, structures are abandoned and vacant lots remain as remnants of past uses. In central Tucson, Arizona, there is a fragment of land that separates two important districts. The proposed site, Tucson’s Urban Fissure, can be viewed as a landscape that is underutilized, barren, scorched, and is in need of a new identity. To the north of the Urban Fissure, sits an avenue of shops and restaurants that are well established, and to the south a newly built, thriving, living, urban hub. This fissure provides an opportunity to help fuse these districts. This area has the potential to link two thriving urban nodes: Fourth Avenue and Downtown Tucson. Currently this, Urban Fissure has a set of historic train tracks running along its side. This cultural inspiration along with Iron Horse Park can be looked at as a set of catalysts that can help spur a new sense of identity for this site. Through the creation of an urban park on Tucson’s Urban Fissure, the author will provide the city of Tucson with a valuable addition to its urban fabric. Through special attention to spatial scale, circulation, shelter and refuge areas, and spatio- temporal landscape patterns, the design will realize a new image for the cavity that currently sits in between central Tucson Arizona’s most heavily used districts (4th Avenue and Downtown), while also activating the underutilized land. This work is intended to illustrate to the city how the sense of movement can bridge the gap in needed linkages within the urban fabric of Tucson.

Cities are full of underutilized or neglected spaces with the potential to be re-purposed into a land use that can provide more valuable open space to urban dwellers. This action is sometimes referred to as “Infrastructure for All” Places such as brown-fields, parking lots, alleys, isolated underpasses and city washes are just some of them. Like many cities in United States, the city of Tucson is becoming more and more dense with a tendency to grow vertically, meaning that the common ground is shared; streets, sidewalks, plazas, parks, to name a few. Public spaces such as parks, give people the opportunity to interact every day, “the more they interact with each other, the more they accept each other. Encouraging people of different generations, race, and income levels to interact and share is a positive experience. Through this experience they learn that they can peacefully coexist with people who are different from themselves”. The purpose of this master's report will be to promote social interaction through the enhancement and reactivation of a city park, that has been neglected or forgotten and that may be threatened by new development and densification. “Densification is happening in Philadelphia, Washington, D.C., Boston— in most cities, actually. Even sprawled-out cities like Austin, Texas, are densifying, with tall residential towers in downtown” To preserve an existing urban park by encouraging human interaction brings many benefits to the city in terms of revitalization of places, encouraging people to walk through and connect with their community, and it can also help to build the local economy.

Urban ecology emerged, in the 1970’s, as a response to the increasing reality of growing populations causing environmental and health problems of both urban and non-urban dwellers. As such, human settlements were acknowledged by ecologists as legitimate areas of ecological study. Almost 50 years later, great strides have been made to improve the ecology within our cities. This Masters Report looks to build upon past success by rethinking the implementation of sustainable practices into the urban fabric of a city. The report examines a contextually suburban park within Tucson, Arizona as an opportunity to better integrate and showcase the, increasingly popular and affordable, practice of harnessing solar energy. A review of literature and design projects was conducted to gain an understanding of ecological design principles, multi-functional solar sites, and educational features in public spaces. Site inventory and analysis revealed the existing condition of the site, as well as possible design limitations and opportunities. In response to the research and site assessment, design solutions were made to further progress the ecological practices within our public spaces.

The City of Tucson is currently experiencing growing pains as urban revitalization converts empty lots throughout Downtown Tucson into housing and retail. The increase in density results in a city with more pedestrian amenities, however it also reduces the amount of available urban green space. As the space for green amenities contract, the remaining landscape is converted into a commercially available plant palette, however this development provides no reference to Tucson’s environmental context. Tucson is located within the Sonoran Desert, a semi-arid region that receives 12” of annual rainfall. Limited water availability combined with extreme heat has created a unique ecosystem of diverse plant and animal life adapted to difficult conditions. The urban environment creates additional environmental constraints such as degraded soils, increased disturbance, and reduced light, which lead many urban projects to select plant material solely based on urban constraints. As urban development brings more residents into the urban core, the demand for urban parks will continue to increase. Small urban parks are a valuable refuge for residents and wildlife alike, providing relief from the urban environment. Urban parks provide important social spaces allowing the community to gather and landscape elements that reflect the community to strengthen its identity. Public art enhances the urban environment by illustrating the genus loci that bonds residents to the site and their community while engaging new users. To reflect the unique context of the Sonoran Desert, Tucson’s urban parks must educate the public about the benefits of working in concert with Tucson’s natural environment. A series of art installations will highlight the unique methods plants of the Sonoran Desert use to survive harsh desert conditions. Installation art will promote understanding of arid-adapted plants while accompanying planting displays will acclimatize the public to the aesthetics of desert landscapes. As the public becomes aware of the benefits of climate-appropriate plants they will demand that these communities are integrated into the urban landscape matrix to benefit the city and environment alike. Desert-adapted plants provide native habitat, and give residents greater connection to their city and highlighting the unique context of Tucson’s surroundings.

The focus of this master’s report was to examine the sensory garden experience - a comforting space that emphasizes the broad stimulation of all 5 of the user’s senses. Tucson’s beautiful Arizona School for the Deaf & Blind (ASDB) provides an education and sense of place for its students and community; moreover it serves as a cultural resource and center for Deaf culture and developing young minds. However the problem is that the campus truly lacks an outdoor space that unifies the campus as a whole and provides an enhanced sensory experience for its student body and populace. The intent of this master’s report was to develop a set of comprehensive guidelines and principles that designers will be able to use in the future to enhance the sensory experience for deaf and blind users. These guidelines have been applied towards the design of a master plan for the Arizona School for the Deaf and Blind located in Tucson, Arizona. The sensory garden serves as a means of providing students, faculty and guests with an opportunity to interact with the environment, engage in passive recreation, spaces for opportunistic meetings, the promotion of cultural awareness, and last it provides all of its users with a heightened sensory experience. This report has investigated: the various components of a sensory garden, the concept behind sensory designs, and how our senses interact in relation to spaces. The report also examined potential design standards used in DeafSpace and blind spaces, and last it examined sensory mapping and how its methods are involved in the design process.

As Tucson grows and its downtown is revitalized open spaces are quickly disappearing. The lack of open space downtown is partially due to the temporary closure of Viente de Agosto Park, the pending closure Jácome Plaza near the Main Library, and numerous development opportunities. Cities of all sizes seem to have a park that hosts events big and small and gives its residents a taste of nature in an urban environment. Many studies have shown that urban parks provide city residents social and psychological benefits while also having ecological and environmental services (Chiesura, p. 129). The goal of this project is to create an urban park for downtown Tucson that is capable of hosting events, festivals, or just lunch with a friend. The park will serve as a major stop along various established and planned routes. It will also be designed in a way that conserves water while using solar and wind technologies to reduce the need for already strained and increasingly expensive resources. To aid in the concepts and design GIS data, case reviews, and local regulations and ordinances will be explored.