CAPLA, UNM, and NTU students and faculty collaborated to create a landscape master plan for the NTU campus. The project blends Indigenous knowledge with green infrastructure to address environmental challenges and support well-being. Through campus visits and community workshops, students developed sustainable, culturally informed, place-based design proposals.
Researchers
- Kenneth Kokroko – School of Landscape Architecture and Planning, CAPLA
- Matthew Tafoya – NTU Innovation Center; PhD Candidate, UA American Indian Studies
- Anthony Fettes – University of New Mexico School of Architecture + Planning
- Susannah Abbey – University of New Mexico School of Architecture + Planning
- Colleen Barbanti – School of Architecture, CAPLA
- Renee Peters – School of Landscape Architecture and Planning, CAPLA
Community Partners and Consultants
- Navajo Technical University (NTU) – Crownpoint, New Mexico
- NTU faculty, staff, and students who participated in workshops and design activities
- NTU Innovation Center (through collaboration with Matthew Tafoya)
Project Details
Budget: $25,000 — funded by the California Landscape Architectural Student Scholarship (CLASS) Fund Research Grant.
Where: Navajo Technical University (NTU), Crownpoint, New Mexico.
When:
Project activities took place during the academic year, including site visits, community workshops, and collaborative design sessions.
Project Overview
CAPLA students and faculty worked with peers from the University of New Mexico (UNM) and Navajo Technical University (NTU) in Crownpoint, NM, to create a landscape master plan for the NTU campus. The project integrates Indigenous knowledge and perspectives with green infrastructure design strategies to address environmental challenges and support well-being on campus. UA students visited the NTU campus, engaged with the campus community, and participated in collaborative workshops to identify opportunities for enhancing the campus landscape and propose sustainable, culturally informed, and place-based design solutions.
Project Description
Design interventions in Indigenous communities such as the Navajo Nation must align with traditional values and cultural frameworks to foster acceptance and promote ownership. Hózhó is a foundational Diné (Navajo) concept that emphasizes the pursuit of harmony and balance in all aspects of life—spiritual, social, and environmental. Applying Hózhó in the landscape architecture design process offers a unique opportunity to enhance the socio-ecological performance and sustainability of design solutions, supporting outcomes that are not only functional or aesthetically pleasing, but are also enduring and culturally significant. Green infrastructure—i.e., rain gardens, bioswales, permeable pavements, and vegetated roofs—has been shown to offer socio-ecological benefits and solutions that support climate resilience and mitigate risks including extreme heat, water scarcity, and flooding. However, the effectiveness and sustainability of these solutions often depends on their acceptance by communities. Hózhó can play a critical role in nurturing such acceptance, if applied as a participatory design framework, as the core attributes of the concept can guide the development of design proposals that align with cultural values and environmental priorities of Diné people. The project applies the concept of Hózhó to guide a community-based participatory design framework that engages University of Arizona and University of New Mexico students, as well as students, faculty, staff, and other members of the Navajo Technical University (NTU) community in collaboratively developing a landscape master plan for the campus. The process emphasizes and integrates Thinking, Spirituality, Relationship, Reciprocity, Respect, and Discipline in community engagement activities such as workshops, design charrettes, and storytelling activities, to facilitate a culturally grounded design approach. The final master plan will include green infrastructure solutions tailored to the unique landscape and climate of northern New Mexico, while enhancing the social and cultural functions of the campus.
Impact:
The project strengthens collaboration with the Navajo Technical University community and provides a model for integrating Indigenous knowledge into landscape architecture education and practice.
Outcome:
A conceptual landscape master plan and design package developed through a culturally grounded, community-based participatory process.
Project Gallery
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