Abstract
As global sustainability challenges intensify, design education must adopt approaches that help students understand human-land relationships, natural systems, and long-term resilience. This study examines a teaching model that integrates Indigenous land-based knowledge into a sustainable design studio, offering learners perspectives on land and water that are often missing from conventional curricula. The study investigates how this model influences landscape architecture students’ understanding of sustainability, development of critical thinking, and growth in environmental awareness. Using data from student design work, critique discussions, and end-of-semester assessments, an interpretive thematic analysis explored how learners interpreted and applied Indigenous practices such as waffle garden micro-catchment systems, contour berming, and traditional water-harvesting methods used by tribes in the central United States. Studio activities emphasized active learner engagement by requiring students to adapt these practices to address contemporary challenges including stormwater runoff, soil erosion, drought, and declining water quality. Findings highlight three outcomes: increased environmental empathy and regional awareness, emergence of systems thinking grounded in culturally informed land stewardship, and heightened creativity inspired by exposure to new cultural frameworks. Students reported that Indigenous practices helped them reconceptualize sustainability as a set of relationships among community, land, and living systems rather than solely technical performance metrics. This study demonstrates that integrating Indigenous knowledge into sustainable design education enriches environmental understanding, broadens learners’ cultural perspectives, and strengthens holistic problem-solving. The approach offers insights relevant to international efforts to diversify pedagogies and prepare future designers to craft resilient and place-specific responses to ongoing climate and water challenges.
Presenters
Qing Lana LuoAssociate Professor, Landscape Architecture, Oklahoma State University, Oklahoma, United States
Details
Presentation Type
Theme
KEYWORDS
Sustainable design education, Critical thinking, Systems thinking, Indigenous land-based knowledge
