Date of Award

8-2025

Degree Type

Creative Project

Degree Name

Master of Landscape Architecture (MLA)

Department

Landscape Architecture and Environmental Planning

Committee Chair(s)

David Evans (Co-Chair) Ole R. Sleipness (Co-Chair)

Committee

David Evans

Committee

Ole R. Sleipness

Committee

Janet Striefel

Abstract

Utah is a beautiful and unique landscape with a vibrant food history that is, as I write this in 2025, undergoing some dramatic changes in both climate and population.

The population is projected to almost double by 2065, increasing by 2.8 million people over a 50-year period. Cache Valley, in the Northern part of the state, is projected to increase its population by 93% in that same time frame (Perlich et. al., 2017).

This population growth represents a huge increase in demand for housing, but while demand grows, the market becomes less affordable, with the median home price 6.26 times greater than the median income. Nine out of ten renters were unable to afford rent in 2023 (Salt Lake Tribune, 2023). and homelessness is on the rise, reaching a new record high every year (Banta, 2024).

This growth impacts our environment and increases demand on natural resources in a changing climate, particularly land and water which are both finite and affected by human consumption. Utah is the second driest state in the nation with some of the worst air quality (American Lung Association, 2023) and is grappling with drought and its effects on the keystone ecology of the Great Salt Lake (Abbott, et. al., 2023).

Agriculture is intrinsically tied to land and water resources as well. Although agricultural land has inherent value for producing food, it is particularly well suited to development and is disappearing under the structures and hardscapes of urbanization at an alarming rate. If we carry on with normal development by 2040, 18 million acres of farmland across the United States will be irrevocably lost to low density housing and urban sprawl (Xie et al., 2023). This is not only a loss of the physical place to grow food, which harms our food security (one in eight adults and one in six children struggle with food insecurity in Utah) but it is also a loss of food culture, which harms our individual health and connection to the land (Michigan State University, 2021).

Issues of water, food, health, biodiversity and climate change are all interdependent. Any solutions will be found looking holistically with full cost accounting rather than segregating them into individual problems (IPBES, 2024).

Despite the foundational importance of food and the projected population growth, there has been limited exploration of how Utah might combine affordable residential development and traditional agriculture to celebrate our cultural heritage and meet our future needs.

Doing so would allow us to use our natural resources responsibly and reciprocally and supply affordable housing to an underserved and growing market. This thesis aims to provide a comprehensive look through design research at the intersection of these issues by designing an agriculture-centric residential community in Logan, Utah.

Comments

Please feel free to contact me for discussion or questions: alanna.nafziger@gmail.com

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