In this research based design thesis, the relationshipbetween human and non-human ecosystems was explored through thecreation of a hypothetical master plan design for the city ofRiver Rouge, MI, USA, to remedy the current problems facedthere, specifically the loss of urban density, indigenous habitat destruction, and wasteful stormwater management techniques.The design is presented through a series of plan view schematics, and images from a three-dimensional model. A Post-treatmenttest was conducted to evaluate the attractiveness via a visualquality analysis comparing current site photographs to createdscenes. Scores were compared using an un-paired T-Test. Resultsshow a significant improvement of visual quality when comparingmean values and also the 95% confidence intervals. Means differby -28.18 ± 5.392 (a lower/more attractive Visual Qualityscore). The 95% confidence interval found that the original sitemean scores falls between 61.18 and 81.21, while the createdmean lies within 37.15 and 48.89. The P value for this experiment was found to be less than 0.0001. Treatments utilized within this study prove promising to improve this suffering suburbof Metropolitan Detroit, MI.
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