My teaching, extension, and research programs focus on the science of cities; specifically, on urban ecology and sustainable science-based and art-centered landscape design and planning practices that take into account the social dimension of green urban environments, environmental protection, and the quality of life for urban dwellers.
Areas of Specialization
- The relationships between people and the environment (socio-environmental) that create the urban ecology of a built community, the social/cultural aspect of ecosystem services and environmental values, beliefs, and norms.
- Sustainable landscape practices that conserve resources and protect water quality while maintaining preferred visual quality of the landscape. Studies include visual preferences and barriers to adopting sustainable landscape practices.
- The visual dimension of landscape design, including using beauty and aesthetic quality of a landscape as a strategy to promote conservation areas in urban landscapes.
