I am studying how the experience of traveling by train could help improve the public’s understanding of the agricultural landscape and celebrate the local farm culture. It’s becoming increasingly important as unhealthy nationwide industrial agriculture is destroying local people’s health and the long-term capacity of sustainable production of food. In the discipline of landscape architecture, there is a necessity to reform our thinking to match the modern-day development in population growth, transportation, and mass production. There exists vast farmland and forests outside the city that we have never been in it but are closely connected with. They support our city life and provide the city with oxygen, energy, and food sources. How we experience these functional landscapes determines our attitudes towards cities and villages, which in turn determines how our cities develop and how they are connected. Most of the time we ride a vehicle and pass these landscapes quickly. We only experience linear narratives through the windows. Does this pure visual connection cause our misunderstanding and ignorance about non-urban landscapes?

In my thesis, I take advantage of the linear narrative experience of traveling by train and test methods by using media to record and analyze the existing agricultural landscape along the railway. Ultimately, my thesis project is to design a new railway itinerary to reconnect people to the local farm and build respect and understanding through participatory experiences.