Reconnecting Youth With Their Local Landscape Through Embodied, Place-Based Design

I examine how college-aged students in Pittsburgh value local landscapes and how technological mediation influences interactions with them. My studies address the central question: How can designers promote embodied, place-based interactions that increase human agency, aligning a person's use of technology with their intentions to improve experiences and deepen connections to local landscapes? My research suggests students primarily value landscapes for their visual qualities while overlooking their material affordances and ecological functions. In an era of globalized supply chains and digital interfaces that obscure the material origins of the products and services we consume, young people have developed a hyperreal detachment from the landscapes that sustain them. Returning to J.J. Gibson's original affordance theory, I investigate how design can reveal overlooked affordances within the local landscapes to increase the perceived value of the landscape. I introduce the Corpus loci framework to address this disconnection between youth and their local landscapes. This multidimensional framework evaluates design interventions through five interconnected criteria: Connection to Place, Embodiment, Quality of Experience, Technology's Role in Agency, and Ecological Stewardship. This framework serves as both a generative guide for designers and an evaluation tool for existing interventions. Guided by this framework, I developed four complementary design interventions: Biomaterial Craft Workshops, a Plant Identification Station, Walk Waves, and a Chlorophyll Print Exhibition. These projects demonstrate how thoughtful technological mediation can redirect attention, promote multisensory experiences, and transform perceptions of environmental affordances. My work contributes to interaction design by challenging screen-centric paradigms and offering models for digital interactions that enhance rather than diminish our connection to place, creating conditions where ecological symbiosis can emerge.