Keith Christensen joined the USU Landscape Architecture and Environmental Planning faculty in 2008. After receiving an undergraduate degree in Agronomy, from Brigham Young University, Keith completed a MLA degree at USU in 2001. Presently, Keith is completing doctoral research in disability disciplines at USU. Keith’s areas of expertise include socially equitable planning and design, particularly related to individuals with disabilities. Prior to joining the faculty, Keith worked as a research scientist with the Center for Persons with Disabilities at Utah State University where he explored the relationship between design and social access (inclusion), social values, human rights, and social justice. Keith’s efforts included a number of federally supported research programs investigating the relationship between the built environment and the behavior of individuals with disabilities. Presently, Keith is evaluating the effect of current and proposed Americans with Disabilities Act Accessibility Guidelines (ADAAG) for the built environment on the emergency egress of individuals with disabilities using a microsimulation of individual behavior representing the diversity and prevalence of disabilities in the population and their interaction with the environment. Keith developed and directs the Beyond Access program, a national technical assistance program on inclusive play environments for children with disabilities. The Beyond Access program works with industry partners, consumers, and advocates to move beyond minimal accessibility requirements to create inclusive play environments which recognize the child’s right to equality of play opportunity, full participation in play, and the independence of the child. Keith is involved in the planning and design of a number of inclusive environments, actively provides technical assistance on socially accessible design, and has lectured and published nationally and internationally on the subject. Keith is licensed to practice landscape architecture in the states of Utah and Wyoming where he is actively involved in private practice. His diverse practice includes commercial and residential development, children’s gardens, memorials, landscape analysis, and illustration. Since 2001, Keith has worked with Utah’s Cooperative Extension program and Professor David Bell, providing planning and design services on over 70 landscape projects with rural communities throughout Utah.
Articles
The Other Olmstead; Socially Equitable Community Planning, Urban Nature; 2011 Proceedings of the Council of Educators in
Landscape Architecture (2011)
The Impact of the Physical Environment on the Social Integration of Individuals with Disabilities in Community, All Graduate Theses and Dissertations (2010)
Social integration in community is especially important for individuals with disabilities well-being. Although individuals with...
Effects of Perceived Neighborhood Characteristics
and Use of Community Facilities on the Physical Activity of Adults with and without Disabilities. (with J M. Holt and J F. Wilson), Preventing Chronic Disease; Public Health Research, Practice, and Policy (2010)
Impacts of Urban and Suburban Land Use on the Employment of Adults with
Disabilities – a Pilot Study, Proceedings of the ADA National Network (2010)
Socially Equitable Community Planning; Including Individuals with Disabilities
in the Democratic Association of Place, Review of Disability Studies (2009)
Contributions to Books
Me2; 7 Principles of Inclusive Playground Design, me2; 7 Principles of Inclusive Playground Design (2010)
Features of an Inclusive Play Environment, The Third Teacher, 79 Ways You
Can Use Design to Transform Teaching & Learning (2009)
Other
EHS/HS Inclusive Outdoor Learning Environments; an
Introductory Guide (with J Morgan), EHS/HS Inclusive Outdoor Learning Environments; an
Introductory Guide (2010)