Jennifer Chau Tran

Versailles Landscape Planning Organization: Landscape as Advocacy

Environmental racism can be defined as the unequal distribution of environmental benefits and pollution burdens based on race. The New Orleans neighbourhood of Versailles, home to the densest Vietnamese diaspora population in America, has historically been a passive receptor for the environmental repercussions of industry and extraction. This thesis proposes an operational framework for the Versailles Landscape Planning Organization, which introduces an environmental monitoring system that can continuously sense the health of the neighbourhood moving forward. The new framework creates a system of landscape programs that challenge the requirements of the extractive industries that have negatively affected residents’ wellbeing.

Advisor: Fadi Masoud