Integrated Pest Management is a continually improving initiative that is beneficial to both conservation of beneficial insects and ecological health in urban Cincinnati. However, landscape industry employees and environmental policy-makers require education on the four main strategies of IPM in order to carry out this initiative. This project explains the emerging educational strategies that landscape industry employees and environmental policy-makers need in order to fulfill this initiative.
Access to fresh food and green spaces is vital for well-being, yet downtown Cincinnati remains a food desert. This capstone explores how integrating living art and edible plants into urban spaces improves people’s mental health and well-being. Through the design of a community garden and a living art installation, this project blends horticulture, public health, and art to promote food access, reduce stress, and foster community a vibrant, restorative environment.
Ohio currently has 2 extinct, 5 extirpated, 5 threatened, and 10 endangered bird species. 36% of the birds on the lists call the prairie landscape home. In the 1700s Ohio had over 1,000,000 acres of prairies, today it is less than 10% of it. This project inspires and teaches people to bring prairies back into the modern landscape and bring nature back into these areas where they have been pushed out.
The way plants have been utilized in interior spaces has shifted from stand-alone houseplants to incorporating them within functional aspects of the home. This can be seen in interior green walls and indoor gardening. This project expands how green design can be incorporated within home decor items that maintain functionality and promote interaction with natural elements to promote mental well-being. Proximity to the proposed plants has been proven to promote psychological well-being.
This project consists of taking an existing property in Anderson Township, Ohio that serves as an urban farm and community education center and incorporating a working arboretum into it. The project consists of a ten-year timeline of how the arboretum can be incorporated into the existing property with necessary upgrades. The property has existing trees and shrubs planted on it. This research illustrates the benefits of an arboretum.
Toledo, Ohio has been struggling with soil contaminants due to factories and improper building demolishment, such as burying the remains of the building. This research creates a protocol for using hemp (Cannabis sativa L.) in the form of phytoremediation, as well as sheds light on the history of hemp and its other uses, including fiber, food, and oil. This capstone explores a protocol that helps remove heavy metals from the soils in areas such as Toledo.
Horticulture therapy is using nature to aid in healing the mind, body, and spirit. We can use this to help ourselves, and those who served our country. Veterans who have symptoms of PTSD face a multitude of challenges everyday. Horticulture therapy provides complementary treatment that aids their healing from trauma, and helps them manage symptoms of PTSD. This research is about PTSD, and the effects horticulture therapy has on veterans today.
This capstone explores how a calming mobile living wall can improve the well-being and emotional health of individuals with ALS in palliative care, as well as those who care for them. This project examines a mobile green wall as an adaptable solution that introduces the benefits of green design into various spaces within a care facility. The goals of this project are (1) to better understand how mobile green walls enhance users’ senses, thus reducing anxiety and influencing mood and stress and (2) to gain insight into a mobile green wall’s overall impact in palliative care environments.
