Jennifer Chau Tran, "Versailles Landscape Planning Organization: Landscape as Advocacy"
How can landscape architecture address the unequal distribution of environmental benefits and pollution burdens based on race?
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 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 that introduces an environmental monitoring system that can continuously sense the health of the neighbourhood. The framework creates a system of landscape programs that challenge the requirements of extractive industries that have adversely affected the wellbeing of the residents of Versailles.