Minding the gap: using experiential urbanism to connect with environmental processes

This thesis submits that experiential design can use direct experience to reconnect contemporary western societies to a natural environment that has become hidden through industrialization and modernization. Case studies were conducted in order to illuminate ways in which landscape architects and artists have worked to create experiences between people and environmental processes in urban settings. Case studies organized by natural typologies were evaluated for strategies used to connect visitors to natural processes through experience. Findings reveal that designers are increasingly setting up ever more direct experiences with natural processes and materials, which stand to create reconnection to and awareness of these processes. These lessons were then applied to a site in Athens, Georgia, where pedestrian experiences were created with a natural and historic Town Spring. The case studies and application suggest that experiential design offers a rich method for reconnecting people and natural systems in contemporary urban areas.