Jess Akerman

The built and natural environments in which societies operate and interact profoundly shape how people relate to the natural world. Despite increased awareness and urgency towards tackling climate change, an underlying dualistic worldview that sees humans as separate from and superior to nature remains embedded within many cultures. To make the necessary transition towards a sustainable future, a shift in our perception is needed. This research will take a transdisciplinary approach, drawing on principles from the deep ecology movement, to examine how landscape planning and design might address the dualistic paradigm and reintegrate human life into ecological systems.

This research aims to:

1. explore the role of the built environment in transitioning towards an ecological paradigm and the need for a deep ecology approach.
2. examine the extent to which conventional approaches reflect and reinforce dualistic beliefs, behaviours and values, and evaluate how effectively they are being challenged by sustainability-focused urban design frameworks, with examples of best practice; and
3. develop an integrated framework capable of supporting long term shifts in perception towards an interconnected understanding of human-nature relationships, placemaking, and regenerative models of living.

Names of Supervisors:

• Professor Mel Woods
• Professor Husam Al Waer
• Professor Sue Dawson