Thesis — Cultura Cultivada

ABSTRACT

The island of Hispaniola is a complex and unique landscape that confines the borders of Haiti and the Dominican Republic. Historically, the political turmoil that has divided the island has also led to decades of land and resource exploitation. Across the island, trends in timber, sugarcane, and manufacturing industries led to mass deforestation and destruction. The culmination of these efforts lead to more erosion, land destabilization, and loss of retention during tropical storms, ultimately, making the landscape as we see today. Currently, the drastic difference between regional landscapes along the border is striking, irregular and reflects the years of abuse and aggravation. Communities along the border face challenges in environmental and economic instability despite access to natural resources. As result, neighboring Bi-national communities are influenced by the limitations of the invisible border and how it relates to social, political and environmental uses of space. The aim of this design research is to identify the potential in the border landscape between Haiti and the Dominican Republic and to navigate regenerative design strategies that integrate bi-national social, political, and environmental needs through cultivation and collective space; specifically in the Dajabón [DR] and Ouanaminthe [Haiti] region.

Within the public and private sector, many reforestation and sustainable efforts are deployed by local governments in and outside city centers. These projects fail to localize plant selections for climate adaptive design, and reduce biodiversity and resiliency. As a bi-national landscape, there is an opportunity to enhance private and public territories to interact through the generation of collective space. By questioning the potential of these borderlands as more than just a political divide, this research intends to reconsider bi-national territories as communal landscapes with the potential of cultivating environmental, social and economic opportunity. In the case of Dajabón and Ouanaminthe, this research proposes an approach of bi-national development rooted in dynamic horticulture based solutions that utilize the landscape as the foundational agent.

2019 MLA THESIS

Cultivated Culture : A Dynamic Design Approach for Bi-National Areas of Hispaniola

My 2019 MLA Thesis at Cornell University. A challenging design research study focused on the complex borderland region between Haiti and the Dominican Republic, with specific site studies in the northern cities of Dajábon, DR and Ouanaminthe, Haiti.

Selected Content

Ideogram

Regional Mapping

Mapping of urban and landscape conditions around Dajábon and Ouanaminthe

Local Scale Mapping

Zooming in to map urban conditions layered with identified water resources, vegetation plots and underutilized parcels of land for development

Tool-Kit Typologies

A series of interventions designed from shifting edge conditions along the river observed on site visits, incorporated with suggested plant strategies

Agroforestry Axon

Planting strategy [1] highlighting ecological benefits and selected native and endemic

Agroforestry Planting Dynamics

Graphically expressing the layered planting systems that Agroforestry involves with selected native and endemic flora to Hispaniola

Speculative Section

Section study using speculative design of edge conditions and interventions along Dajábon River

Conuco Axon

Planting strategy [2] using culturally rooted conucos as a method to integrate design intervention into the urban fabric

Chinampa Axon

Planting strategy [3] explaining chinampas as an indigenous practice for in water cultivation. A possible solution for fertile soil generation in the shallow waters of Dajábon River

Community Garden Axon

Planting strategy [4] enhancing community spaces within the urban fabric to incorporate more native and endemic flora for conservation, but also cultivation for economic value and ecological regeneration across the island

Transect Study 1

Using transects to test design interventions and strategies within existing spatial conditions

Transect Study 2

Using transect studies to test design interventions and strategies within diverse conditions along Dajábon River

Transect Study 3

Using transects to study diverse conditions along Dajábon River and design strategies based on speculative future conditions [i.e. flood events, drought, higher water table etc]

Cultura Cultivada is a personal blog seeking to share research and response to people, plants and place in diverse landscapes.

Paisaje

Authors

ABSTRACT

2019 MLA THESIS

Selected Content

GALLERY

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