community

There is a pressing need for a cultural paradigm shift towards activities that offer fulfillment and economic viability without excessive material and energy consumption. One potential solution lies in reimagining a culturally significant pastime, and the universal ritual of nightlife. We can create a desirable pathway towards a sustainable culture by transforming attractive and enjoyable activities into environmentally responsible pursuits. To transform the pervasive and integral nightlife industry into exemplars of sustainable behavior, this project aims to facilitate the integration of sustainability principles by transposing an overarching sustainability framework into one tailored to nightlife’s specific needs and abilities. By aligning ecological values with the intrinsic values of the nightlife sector, the ultimate goal is to imbue the industry with a larger, interconnected set of core values rooted in sustainability. This thesis represents a crucial first step towards environmentally responsible and socially conscious nightlife culture by defining what is optimal and possible. The initial process began with using multiple sustainability frameworks to analyze different lifecycle phases of the nightclub system to identify areas of concern and impacts. These concerns were targeted and then translated into design priorities aimed at mitigating the adverse impacts. Leveraging the backcasting technique, the research envisioned the pinnacle of sustainability in nightclub evolution, charting a course toward this goal through feasible strategies and solutions. Subsequently, this vision was ideated and distilled into widely applicable guidelines, standards, and values, transcending the confines of an individual location, and attempting to catalyze systemic change across the nightlife industry through a supportive and influential association. The research transitioned from an adapted translation of principles to a pragmatic roadmap for its advancement. It not only questioned "What can be done?" but also delved deeper into "How can we make it happen?" and "Who holds the power to drive change?" By systematically dissecting these questions, the thesis illuminates a path forward, empowering stakeholders to enact tangible solutions and advancing a collective sense of responsibility toward a more sustainable future for nightlife.

A growing percentage of people living in urban areas have a desire to enact change as evidenced by defined eco-anxiety and personal behavior, but opportunities for compelling and meaningful connection to nature and personal engagement with society are lacking. This thesis utilizes the Living Principles framework, Systems Thinking, and Design Thinking methodologies to address how, in the midst of this multi-existential crisis, bathhouses could be a critical part of the answer; connecting people to people and people to nature, providing the basis for community level action to address sustainability challenges. The thesis work resulted in the development of components (design elements/features and processes), captured within an existing bathing facility prototype, and shared initially through a website. These components have the capacity to support and offer inclusive shared cultural experiences intended to create a sense of “oneness” that challenges the neoliberal teaching of super individuality; offering individuals the synergies needed to address the global environmental crisis in urban areas of living.

"Food Systems have a widespread and interconnected impact on the health of the earth and its inhabitants. The exponential growth in the output of food wasted by American consumers over the last 60 years,¹ despite food insecurity persisting in this country, points to food waste as a contemporary challenge. Addressing food waste from the consumption stage is a unique leverage point for sustainable intervention because the problem is universal, pervasive, and solvable. Although the causes behind consumer food waste are complex, the scalability of food's life cycle makes remediation accessible to the general populace. This project makes the case for developing Community Food Management Centers as a design solution to harness the issue of food waste as a catalyst to bridge divides that separate Americans around sustainability issues. The concept is explored through the Ellen MacArthur Foundation's From Ambition to Action: Adaptive Strategy for Circular Design and analysis of historical approaches to the challenge. Elements of the Community Food Management Center are then prototyped using Systems Thinking techniques and measured against the intended objectives. "

"United States residents waste 40% of the food they purchase, a significant amount of which is due to causes that otherwise are avoidable (e.g. spoiled, forgotten, etc.). While the down stream impacts caused by landfilling and composting are considerable, the majority of the impact comes from the upstream production of food that is never consumed. As a problem experienced across the population, there is an opportunity to harness this shared problem and solve it with community. With 30% of people feeling disconnected from the communities in which they reside, there is opportunity to create a tool that instills a sense of connection. As freestanding communities with a significant population, apartment buildings are an attractive audience due to neighbor proximity. Mobile application Cup of Sugar provides a convenient platform for users to share excess food items or request items they might need, all of which is displayed on an Activity feed that reinforces community engagement. Continued development appears promising, though the app has room for improvement when evaluated against the Living Principles. With optimization, Cup of Sugar could play an integral role in shifting the paradigm from the individual to the community."

"This thesis addresses the decline fo sea turtle populstions in Northwest Mexico coastal water and the possibilities for fostering the creation of stakeholder led alternative economies for local fishers as a solution. A major finding is that Including local stakeholders in the governance of the marine ecosystem is vital to create transformations to a more regenerative future. Beyond monitoring there is a need for ideas about how to transition economies away from sea turtle by-catch by keeping nets out of the water. This thesis looks at incorporating seaweed as an example of adding a new economic income stream and how that may help to facilitate the reduction of sea turtle by-catch and consequently improve marine ecosystem health. The thesis also looks at merging ecotourism with seaweed foraging and production in the prototype stage. "

A central question has been, how can my practice change the culture of sexual violence? This has led to an interdisciplinary studio- and community-based practice that seeks to shift the culture by building and empowering a community of victims, working across disciplines to create a third space where art can facilitate and create safe spaces, and fostering growth in a collaborative environment, through loose, flexible frameworks. I consider several factors for shifting social perspectives about sexual violence within my practice, including the reality of rape culture in the United States, my interactions with movements both inside and outside the art community, and the limitations of a solely studio-based practice. My thesis paper traces how my work is informed by these considerations, beginning with a focus on participatory projects and covering five major areas that support the transition and decisions within my practice while attending graduate school: identity, trauma, art and political critique, artistic influences, and the incorporation of process, material, and movement. The paper concludes with my thesis project, an interdisciplinary display of personal work and documentation of a series of art meet-ups and workshops which I facilitated up to and continuing after graduation.

This thesis aims to accomplish two primary questions: How can we help those who are struggling feel less alone? How can a graphic designer use existing skills to encourage a dialogue that favors truth of experience and raises awareness surrounding mental health? Expert interviews, an anonymous essay-style survey that questions participants about times of struggle, and extensive research were used to investigate these questions. The resulting thesis examines our society's predilection for positivity and the resulting absence of stories of struggle; performativity of identity fueled by a desire to present an aspirational self, particularly within the realm of social media; the concept of a safe space within which to both share and practice active listening; and the notion that graphic designers can act as change agents by practicing design for social impact. The resulting prototype campaign, The Reveal Project, aims to normalize struggle by challenging stigmas, shifting attention to the pervasiveness of suffering, and creating a community by allowing for opportunities in which we can connect through emotional learning.

This thesis suggests a template for the artist-in-community as described by African American novelist Toni Morrison; presents an approach to space/place in light of both white Canadian theorist Marshall McLuhan's assertions about the effects of media on human experience and African American social theorist Patricia Hill Collin's description of safe-spaces as used by Black women in the United States; places my work in conversation with the work of established contemporary artists whose claimed identities, similar to my own, place them at the margins of American society to, as Latino artist Félix González Torres said, "(open) up the terms of the argument, and (re-address) the issue of quality and who dictates and defines 'quality'"; and posits that, given their missions, relationships with their communities, and my personal experiences with them, libraries and library-like spaces are metaphors and appropriate places for my work to enter into the community-based conversations that drive my practice.