About

Travis Flohr is an Associate Professor of Landscape Architecture at Penn State's College of Arts & Architecture. He applies his training in landscape architecture and urban and regional planning to examine how landscapes can be designed, planned, and managed to sustain mutually beneficial relationships between people and ecological systems. His work broadly addresses how communities and households can adapt to and mitigate the impacts of extreme weather events and ecosystem degradation to ensure the continuation of ecosystem services. Flohr favors a mixed spatial-methods research approach to analyze the inter- and intra-system relationships involving humans, climate, weather, built environments, and ecosystems, ensuring these relationships are understood within their spatial context and landscape patterns. His research, teaching, and service are interconnected, covering three thematic areas: Ecology plus Design, spatial design computing, and design education and pedagogy. He teaches courses such as Systems Design Studio, GIS Skills, Community Design Studio, and Planting Methods. Flohr holds a B.L.A. and M.S. from Penn State and a Ph.D. from the University of Colorado Denver.

Research topics

• Computer Science
• Environmental planning
• Geography
• Political Science
• Environmental resource management
• Psychology
• Environmental science
• Business
• Public relations
• Knowledge management
• Regional science

Selected publications

• Measuring the Shade Coverage of Trees and Buildings in Cambridge, Massachusetts

  Findings · 2025-05-19 · 1 citations

  articleOpen accessSenior author

  We investigated the spatial shade patterns of trees and buildings on sidewalks and bike lanes in Cambridge, Massachusetts. We used Lidar data and 3D modeling to analyze the spatial and temporal shade distribution across the City. Our analysis shows significant shade variations throughout the City. Western city areas receive more shade from trees, and the eastern regions receive more shade from buildings. The City’s northern areas lack shade, but natural and built sources of shade can improve shade coverage integration. This study’s findings help identify shade coverage gaps, which have implications for urban planning and design for more heat-resilient cities.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Spatial Indices for Convivial Greenstreets

  Sustainability · 2023

  Senior authorCorresponding
  • Computer Science
  • Geography
  • Environmental resource management

  Streetside gardening is an informal, resident-initiated activity undertaken in dense urban areas worldwide. Yardless urban areas with a high incidence of informal streetside gardening are called Convivial Greenstreets (CG). Site investigations in European and several U.S. cities over the last decade suggest that social, ecological, and local climate benefits may be found where CG are most intense. The aim of this research is to fill a gap in the research literature by better understanding the spatial distribution of CG and the potential benefits associated with them. Using inner-core neighborhoods in Delft, The Netherlands, and Philadelphia, USA, as test cases, we devised a Convivial Greenstreet Intensity (CGI) index to provide a consistent method for mapping and comparing levels of streetside gardening activity across neighborhoods and cities. We show that CG spatial patterning and quantification of informal gardening intensity using in situ documentation and integrated GIS and Google Earth analyses are feasible and should prove useful as a basis for further research. With the development of a reliable method for measuring and mapping informal streetside gardening activity with a focus on visually accessible biomass, we hope that opportunities for investigating links between convivial greenstreets and urban microclimatic and physical and mental health will be facilitated.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Professional perceptions of participatory practices in green stormwater infrastructure development

  PLOS Water · 2023 · 7 citations

  Senior authorCorresponding
  • Political Science
  • Public relations
  • Business

  Participatory practices are essential for green stormwater infrastructure (GSI) development that addresses stormwater issues while providing other ecosystem benefits. However, few studies have examined barriers to community engagement experienced by GSI professionals, particularly which phases include public participation, the groups they target, and the engagement mechanisms selected. If and how professionals evaluated their engagement processes or outcomes also remain under-investigated. This study fills these critical gaps through a survey (n = 195) and key informant interviews (n = 17) of professionals and academics previously involved in GSI development. We reveal that engagement initiatives for GSI are hindered mainly by available resources, knowledge and perceptions, requirements, and the COVID-19 Pandemic. Public hearings/information sessions and design workshops/charrettes are the most frequently applied engagement mechanisms, and current participation practices focus primarily on early project stages. While most of the reported benefits, challenges, and best practices are aligned with well-recognized general community engagement guides, GSI community engagement is uniquely challenged by project technical complexity and the need for effective knowledge transfer and long-term stewardship. Finally, the significant gap in engagement assessments calls for allocating adequate resources for evaluation and advancing research on appropriate evaluative methods based on project type, community context, and evaluation purpose.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Deep decarbonization and renewable energy in the Appalachian Mountains (DDREAM): a socio-ecological systems approach to evaluating ecological governance

  Socio-Ecological Practice Research · 2019-08-26 · 2 citations

  articleSenior author
  PublisherDOI

• A Geodesign approach to environmental design education: Framing the pedagogy, evaluating the results

  Landscape and Urban Planning · 2016-09-15 · 15 citations

  articleSenior author
  PublisherDOI

• A Landscape Architect’s Review of Building Information Modeling Technology

  Project Muse (Johns Hopkins University) · 2011-02-22 · 4 citations

  article1st authorCorresponding
  Publisher

• COMMUNICATING FUTURE SCENARIOS: DEVELOPING AN INTERACTIVE, PARTICIPATORY INTERNET-BASED TOOL FOR ECOLOGICAL PLANNING

  2011-06-30

  article1st authorCorresponding
  Publisher

Frequent coauthors

• Ken Tamminga

  Pennsylvania State University

  2 shared

• Brian Muller

  1 shared

• Charles Andrew Cole

  University of Southern California

  1 shared

• Mahsa Adib

  Pennsylvania State University

  1 shared

• Emmy Kriehn

  Pennsylvania State University

  1 shared

• Hong Wu

  Hainan University

  1 shared

• Tim Johnson

  1 shared

• Stephen Mainzer

  Pennsylvania State University

  1 shared

Labs

• Ecology plus Design (E+D)PI