Browsing by Author "Bohannon, C. L."
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- The Added Value of Community Engagement in Public Design for Landscape Architecture ProfessionalsProctor, Nicholaus (Virginia Tech, 2017-02-09)This thesis examines three uniquely different community engagement methods that explore the relationship between community values and the physical landscape in two Appalachian communities; Austinville, VA and St. Paul, VA. Each community engagement method is 1) introduced via literature review/case study, 2) modified from the case study to suit local conditions, and 3) analyzed for effectiveness in connecting local values and the physical landscape. I then reflected on this academic research through the lens of a three-year employment as a community development and natural asset planner with a 501(c)3 non-profit in southwest Virginia. The professional experience revealed five community systems that impacted the overall effectiveness of community engagement processes and had the potential to position communities, and their public projects, for a higher level of success. The community systems included: Capacity and Readiness, Involvement, Leadership, Communication, Frame of Reference and Community Vision. Research and professional practice together suggested that an intentional effort to understand and incorporate community values via community engagement ultimately led to more meaningful designs in the public sector.
- Analyzing the Imposter Phenomenon Through Recruitment and Retention of Underrepresented Minorities in Agricultural and Natural Resource Related Fields: The Keys to Diversity and InclusionLawrence, Courtney McIvor (Virginia Tech, 2021-12-06)The recruitment and retention for underrepresented minority (URM) students in agriculture and natural resources have been minimal. The importance of elucidating the lack of representation of students of color and underrepresented minority (URM) students in these fields suggests that appropriate actions at the secondary school and collegiate level need consideration. According to Silas (2016, p.iii), "students of color are currently underrepresented in agricultural disciplines when examining the increasingly diverse make-up of the United States." Examining the recruitment and retention strategies institutions are currently implementing is critical because of the narrative of these particular fields in the treatment of students of color and URM students over time. Many students of color and URM students that are currently matriculating a degree or currently in a career in these respective areas have possibly experienced the imposter phenomenon and imposter syndrome. People may feel like an imposter regarding accomplishments they believe they do not deserve or questioning their ability to receive such accolades. When an individual inhibits these feelings, this is an example of the imposter phenomenon or imposter syndrome. The imposter phenomenon, first recognized by Clance and O'Toole (1988), is a motivational disposition in which persons who have achieved some level of success feel like fakes or imposters. Individuals likely experiencing these imposter feelings during a period were examined using a lens based on the Critical Race Theory (Bell; 1987, Crenshaw, 1989; Delagado andStefancic, 2012) and Racial Identity Development Theory (Helms, 1990; Helms, 1993). The phenomenological study examines the effects of IP/IS in URM graduate students in agricultural and natural resource-related majors and fields. This method focuses on the participants' lived experiences regarding this phenomenon. The study itself examined how URM graduate students dealt with these particular feelings in their respective environments and what solutions were suggested or needed. The researcher interviewed ten participants regarding their perceptions of diversity and inclusion in agriculture, natural resources, and STEM-related fields.
- Attitudes and Perceptions of Community Gardens: Making a Place for Them in Our NeighborhoodsKordon, Sinan; Miller, Patrick A.; Bohannon, C. L. (MDPI, 2022-10-11)Although community gardens provide numerous economic, environmental, and social benefits, some have been lost to other land uses due to the lack of organized and effective public support. Knowledge about people’s attitudes and perceptions towards these landscapes is important to achieve greater public support. This study used a scene rating survey to investigate attitudes and perceptions of four different groups (community gardeners, community and home gardeners, home gardeners, and non-gardeners) in Roanoke, Virginia. Content analysis, factor analysis, descriptive statistics, customized Kruskal- Wallis test (ANOVA) and content identifying method (CIM) procedures were used. All statistical analyses were completed at a 95% significance level using SPSS version 21. Results showed that there are seven dimensions important to participants’ preferences in community gardens including “Gathering and Seating”, “Plots with Boundaries”, “Focal Points”, “Plots without Boundaries”, Garden Entrance”, Untidy Space”, and “Composting Structures”. Excluding the “Gathering and Seating” dimension, a significant difference was detected between participant groups. Based on these dimensions, this study provides design recommendations for community garden projects to minimize possible opposition between gardeners and non-gardeners and to develop more successful community garden programs for the long-term survival of these landscapes in cities.
- Beauty in everyday landscapes: film as a method of investigation of sensual perception, human action, movement and landscape performance in citiesSoares Souza de Souza, Aline Regina (Virginia Tech, 2017-06-26)'I believe that works of landscape architecture are more than designed ecosystems, more than strategies for open-ended processes. They are cultural products with distinct forms and experiences that evoke attitudes and feelings through space, sequence and form.' 'Elizabeth Meyer The challenge that beauty is a superficial concern in landscape design has been examined by Elizabeth Meyer in her manifesto 'Sustaining beauty. The performance of appearance'. It is a hopeful manifesto that aims to persuade people about the idea that beauty is an important element in sustainable design. For Meyer, beauty is a secret mechanism which alters consciousness, that involves a social and cultural awareness. The main implication of this mechanism is a transformation that happens to people as they experience beauty: they shift from an ego-centric to a bio-centric perspective, as Meyer explains: 'A beautiful landscape works on our psyche, affording the chance to ponder on a world outside ourselves. Through this experience, we are decentered, restored, renewed and reconnected to the biophysical world. The haptic, somatic experience of beauty can inculcate environmental values.' Combining Meyer's assertions with philosopher Arthur Danto's idea of finding beauty in unexpected places, to look anew at the urban landscape, can beauty be found in urban agriculture? The type of beauty Meyer describes is not that of appearance. It's the beauty of experience. Authors that Meyer cites are helpful to understand this definition of beauty. Wendy Steiner explains that 'Beauty is an unstable property because it is not a property at all. It is the name of a particular interaction between two beings, a 'self' and an 'Other': 'I find an Other beautiful'. This act of discovery has profound implications. [']' It is also a dynamic experience. In that sense, Steiner goes on to explain that there is a decentering that occurs when one experiences beauty: the person is taken out of an ego-centric perspective into a more bio-centric one. This thesis presents a four part examination. Part one consists of presenting the question 'Can beauty be found in urban agriculture?', by explaining how this question was motivated by the literature review of Meyer and other authors relevant to the understanding of beauty. It introduces the site of the farmers market as a place of discovery of beauty in everyday landscapes. There will also be a presentation of research in definitions of beauty and a literature review in everyday landscapes and urban agriculture. Part two explains the methodology used for this study, including the use of film as an important means of investigation, revealing aspects of landscape including narrations, movement, time, action, and storytelling, that contribute to an experience of beauty. Part three contains case studies of films. Part four revisits the site and the concept of beauty, explaining what was learned from the studies with film. The selected site for the investigation is the farmers market in downtown Blacksburg, VA. Farmers markets, community gardens and other urban everyday spaces that involved urban agriculture had been subjects of interest throughout my research. The farmers market is an ideal setting because it gathers many elements together, such as: the various types of local produce that the farmers are selling or sharing, local arts and crafts, food produced with local ingredients, music and performance presentations, the people, their families, pets and kids who are visiting the market, various possible interactions by being at the market. So many elements are gathered in the Farmers Market because of the relationship of the rural supporting the urban, and the urban supporting the rural. The town benefits from having access to produce from local farmers, while they benefit from the support of the community for their business. However, the landscape of the farmers market supports more than the rural-urban relationship: it is a community space, a place for many forms of exchange and encounters, one can find connections with animals and people, it has aspects of a park, and it also supports local artists and performers. Film became a central tool for this investigation to capture and document inherent aspects of the landscape of the farmer's market, interactions between people and those aspects, how the space performs and most importantly to reveal beauty. Beauty in the landscape involves action, narratives, attitude, feelings, images, sensory experiences, movement and time, all dynamic elements. At the farmer's market, all these combine in complex ways to constitute an experience of beauty.
- A Black Sense of Place: Deep Mapping the Career Journeys of Black Mid-level Student Affairs AdministratorsPete, Kendall Kreshon (Virginia Tech, 2022-12-06)Mid-level administrators are underrepresented within the literature despite years of research on university administration. Moreover, there is significantly less knowledge about administrators of color in higher education. While the reason for their decreased prominence is unclear, Jackson and O'Callaghan (2009) offer that people of color were historically not part of the leadership landscape as an explanation for the minimal formal analysis and categorization of them and their work. Despite the surge of research interest in Black administrators, there still remains limited knowledge about who they are, their professional lives, and their overall lived experiences. As such, the purpose of this study was to understand the career journeys and the experiences of Black mid-level student affairs administrators (BMLSAAs) as they navigate transitions and advancements within their careers. Guided by a conceptual framework using tenets of Critical Race Theory, Space and Place, and the Great Migration, this study investigated the following questions: (1) What are the career migration patterns of BMLSAAs? (2) What role does race and racism combined with location play in the career journeys of BMLSAAs? (3) How do BMLSAAs make meaning of their career journey and their experiences? I employed a qualitatively driven multimethod research design consisting of narrative inquiry and a Critical Race Spatial Analysis (CRSA) with a sample size of 11 BMLSAAs across the U.S. Data sources included a demographic questionnaire, documents (i.e., current resume/curriculum vitae), a career journey map, and a semi-structured interview. Findings provided insight into the racialized engagement of spatial features throughout participants' career journeys; on the campuses where they worked and the geographic regions where participants have lived. Ultimately findings expressed what it is like being Black not only in a mid-level student affairs administrative role, but also traversing one's career as a Black person. Additionally, this study has implications for research, practice, and policy.
- Building Stories: Critical Geography of Architecture and the Study of Everyday Practice in Detroit, MichiganGabriele, Rachel Victoria (Virginia Tech, 2023-01-23)In Loretta Lees's study of a new public library in Vancouver in the late 1990's, she began to explore the ideals of non-representational theories, or those everyday practices that provide evidence not just of what symbolic meaning one may assign to a space, but rather what that space does—how it is enacted through everyday practice. This exploration provided Lees with another way to think about the built environment, one that she believed could open up a new direction for architectural geographers. Lees, building on the work of Jon Goss and other contemporary scholars in the field, described this new direction as a move towards a critical geography of architecture. This dissertation explores the use of a non-representational framework to study everyday practices through a single case study in the Avenue of Fashion in Detroit, Michigan. This research considers the historical evolution of Detroit through bankruptcy to present day using two common narratives of the city, one of rise/rebirth and one of Two Detroits, to offer a critical lens through which to consider performances of everyday life in this recently redeveloped area of the city. Within a non-representational framework, this study pulls in direct observational methods such as counting, mapping/tracing, photo documentation, trace observation, and field notes derived primarily from public life studies to observe and consider how the built environment is shaped through these embodied practices. This study contributes both an example of alternative methods that may be used in non-representational research, as well as new way to think about spaces that complements findings from more representational research. The findings from this study inspire a curiosity about the unfolding of everyday life and contribute to the work of Lees and others in advancing a critical geography of architecture.
- A Bunker Garden: Mindfulness-Based Landscape Design to Restore Physicians from BurnoutPhilen, Melissa (Virginia Tech, 2017-11-03)Landscape architects design healing gardens at healthcare facilities to support patients, visitors, caregivers, and staff. Many acknowledge that medical staff regularly visit healing gardens to escape work-related stress (Marcus and Sachs, 2014). Rarely, however, are healing gardens on medical campuses designed specifically to support physicians' well-being. There is a void in healing garden design theory. Reports on the prevalence of physician burnout, warn of a widespread crisis and dismal reality within the medical community (T. D. Shanafelt et al., 2015). Researchers pronounce an urgent need for evidence-based interventions, which address individual contributing factors to burnout (Christina Maslach, Jackson, and Leiter, 1986). By investigating the Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction program, an evidence-based therapy, clinically proven to cultivate emotional healing, for physicians suffering burnout, this research reveals how a therapeutic garden could meld mindfulness-based practices with environmental theory; healing garden design precedents; and healthcare design typologies. Finally, mindfulness-based landscape design guidelines describe how a private, restorative, healing garden could help maintain physicians' well-being and rehabilitate physicians experiencing burnout due to emotional exhaustion within the workplace.
- A Collective Sense of Place and the Image of the City @ Urban Public Spaces: Analysis on People's Perception of User-Generated Image Content and Hashtags on InstagramLee, Hana (Virginia Tech, 2022-01-03)Urban public spaces are constantly restructured with new meaning, reflecting their socio-cultural, political, historical, and technological influences. Over the last two decades, the rapid technological advancements and increasingly widespread use of mobile devices give people a chance to share their experiences of their immediate surroundings through various applications. As these platforms enable people to create and exchange various forms of User-Generated Content (UGC) has gained wide attention as an invaluable source of information on human-environment relationships including people's timely perception, emotion, preference, and sense of place in public space. This study employs quantitative content analysis to identify collective perceptions of urban public spaces and their characteristics as projected through a photo-sharing social media application, Instagram. A total of 1,200 users' photos and associated hashtags geo-referenced to three New York City urban public spaces, Bryant Park, Madison Square Park, and Union Square. This study begins with a qualitative phase, employing manual categorization techniques to identify the concepts in visual and textual data. The second phase applied a statistical analysis method, a set of descriptive analytics, and chi-square tests to answer the research questions for this study. Findings indicate physical attributes of urban squares are the most dominant type of geo-referenced users' photographs through the visual social media platform. People's immediate perceptions vary with time and place, while the patterns of hashtag usage found in this study show no difference across the three urban squares. people's perception of urban squares goes beyond the boundaries of the square itself, encompassing the streetscape, buildings, and local businesses adjacent to the square. While people rarely utilize hashtags as a method of emotional expression, findings show a clear connection between hashtags associated with users' photo content and the image of the city.
- Community Narratives for Architecture Spaces; Christiansburg InstituteLewis, Byronaé Danielle (Virginia Tech, 2021-11-05)Architecture is a pathway to capture memories in the physical presence. Like a charm bracelet, a path leads you through individual segments, each telling their own stories. "Community Narratives for Architecture Spaces" investigates how to choreograph design strategies around the memories of the Christiansburg Institute, a historically African American school, and its cultural legacy. Materiality, lighting, and programming articulate specific memories within the spaces of this project. It is essential to have moments highlighting the past, present, and future while individuals maneuver through the site. There is a life cycle where things must end, and new opportunities can grow from them. This cycle can be beautiful yet ugly to navigate through. Architecture highlights the essence of this cycle by portraying how beginnings can be born from the old. An old site can be transformed into a new one, creating new memories and perspectives while preserving existing ones. Christiansburg Institute encompasses all of these beliefs. This design proposal honors the life cycle of the institute.
- Community-based Mixed Method Research to Understand Rapidly Changing Cultural LandscapesAlisan Yetkin, Aylin (Virginia Tech, 2018-09-21)Tangible and intangible heritage values of cultural landscapes are becoming lost or transforming under the threat of rapidly changing landscapes. Researcher-oriented documenting methods are missing significant meanings of landscapes for local communities. Community-based methods can reveal both tangible and intangible heritage of landscapes without missing important values for local communities. This dissertation study proposed a community-based mixed method research to reveal and document cultural heritage or other values from the perspective of local community members in the case study area of Findikli in Rize/Turkey. Findikli's cultural landscape is under the threat of rapidly changing landscape due to newly introduced agriculture practice - tea production. To reveal lost or transformed tangible and intangible heritage meanings of the Findikli's cultural landscape, multiple community-based research methods were used for collecting data from local residents as well as those with family or community connections to the area. Community workshops, individual and group interviews, and surveys gathered information on the social and cultural relationships, as well as locations of past and present agricultural activities, land uses and built structures. Analysis of family and community photographs and aerial imagery, as well as community produced land use and cognitive maps helped place these in spatial relationship to the landscape. Results of this dissertation study made contributions to case study area with a rich archive of Findikli's traditional tangible and intangible landscape elements, and to cultural landscape studies with a method of discovering traditional cultural heritage and landscape values under the threat of change and a guidance to document them with the community-based methods to increase quality and quantity of information.
- A Conceptual Master Plan for the Bedford YMCA, Bedford, VirginiaWatson, Kim; Bohannon, C. L.; Deshpande, Amol; Lee, Ok-Hyun (Virginia Tech. Community Design Assistance Center, 2003-11)The Community Design Assistance Center (CDAC) worked with the Bedford Area YMCA to develop a conceptual site master plan for their current and future facilities. The Bedford Area YMCA is currently located on nearly 30 acres of land with the possibility of an additional 50 acres, pending the YMCA’s ability to purchase neighboring property. The CDAC prepared a conceptual master plan that included the development of a low ropes, high ropes and team building course; a separate 6,000-9,000 square foot child care center; an outdoor skate park; outdoor sports courts; and a large playground.
- Conceptual Site Master Plan and Focus Design for a Turn of the Century Community at the Historic Crab Orchard Museum, Tazewell, VAGilboy, Elizabeth; Fisher, Terri; Bohannon, C. L.; Barrett, Sherry; Dawson, Michele; Despande, Amol (Virginia Tech. Community Design Assistance Center, 2003-10)Named for the National Register of Historic Places site on which it is located, the Crab Orchard Museum and Pioneer Park opened in 1982 as a non-profit historical museum devoted initially to Tazewell County. The museum is now devoted entirely to the cultural heritage of the middle Appalachian region. The museum’s Pioneer Park is the only reconstruction of historical buildings in western Virginia that are indigenous to their immediate vicinity. The 15 structures are all original and date back to 1802. The Historic Crab Orchard Museum and Pioneer Park has an additional undeveloped 16 acre site located just across US 19/460 from the existing site. The Community Design Assistance Center team worked with Crab Orchard Museum to develop a conceptual master plan for the 16 acre site to guide development of a turn of the century “community”. This community weaves together cultural and historical elements of the county including railroads, agriculture, and Native Americans.
- Connecting the City: A Vertical Farm for Baltimore's Food DesertOnukwubiri, Enyinnaya Tochukwu (Virginia Tech, 2017-10-31)The thesis analyzes Baltimore City's food network, and seeks a site which has the potential for several factors: site accessibility, renewable resources, solar exposure, and connecting the community. These factors serve as the basis in which to build a hybrid prototype that is able to expose people to the process of food production through a combination of traditional outdoor farming methods and indoor hydroponics in the form of a vertical farm.
- Dante, VA: Community Design CharretteClements, Terry L.; Williams, Daphne; Shi, Xiaofei; Bohannon, C. L.; Bork, Dean R.; Jacobson, Wendy R.; Johnson, Benjamin C.; Katen, Brian F.; Kim, Mintai; McGill, David; Miller, Patrick A.; Proctor, Nicholaus; Gilboy, Elizabeth (Virginia Tech. Community Design Assistance Center, 2017-02-01)The Virginia Tech Landscape Architecture (LAR) Program held the first Richard G. Gibbons Public Landscapes Planning and Design Vertical Charrette at the beginning of the spring semester 2017. All landscape architecture students from second through fifth year participated in the charrette as part of their required studio and senior project work. This endowed charrette was also supported with an Urban & Community Forestry grant from the Virginia Department of Forestry provided through the Community Design Assistance Center and funding from the town of Dante. The charrette addressed public landscape issues and opportunities in Dante, Virginia, a historic coal town located in far southwest Virginia. Students and faculty travelled to the historic coal and rail town to meet with Dante and Russell County representatives to learn about the town and its rich social, cultural, economic, and environmental heritage as well as its current challenges and opportunities. Student groups were tasked with identifying and investigating options for community revitalization using public open space. After a single week of intensive work, the student groups graphically and orally presented their ideas for Dante’s future.
- Data-Driven Park Planning: Comparative Study of Survey with Social Media DataSim, Jisoo (Virginia Tech, 2020-05-05)The purpose of this study was (1) to identify visitors’ behaviors in and perceptions of linear parks, (2) to identify social media users’ behaviors in and perceptions of linear parks, and (3) to compare small data with big data. This chapter discusses the main findings and their implications for practitioners such as landscape architects and urban planners. It has three sections. The first addresses the main findings in the order of the research questions at the center of the study. The second describes implications and recommendations for practitioners. The final section discusses the limitations of the study and suggests directions for future work. This study compares two methods of data collection, focused on activities and benefits. The survey asked respondents to check all the activities they did in the park. Social media users’ activities were detected by term frequency in social media data. Both results ordered the activities similarly. For example social interaction and art viewing were most popular on the High Line, then the 606, then the High Bridge according to both methods. Both methods also reported that High Line visitors engaged in viewing from overlooks the most. As for benefits, according to both methods vistors to the 606 were more satisfied than High Line visitors with the parks’ social and natural benefits. These results suggest social media analytics can replace surveys when the textual information is sufficient for analysis. Social media analytics also differ from surveys in accuracy of results. For example, social media revealed that 606 users were interested in events and worried about housing prices and crimes, but the pre-designed survey could not capture those facts. Social media analytics can also catch hidden and more general information: through cluster analysis, we found possible reasons for the High Line’s success in the arts and in the New York City itself. These results involve general information that would be hard to identify through a survey. On the other hand, surveys provide specific information and can describe visitors’ demographics, motivations, travel information, and specific benefits. For example, 606 users tend to be young, high-income, well educated, white, and female. These data cannot be collected through social media.
- Degentrification? Different Aspects of Gentrification before and after the COVID-19 PandemicHan, Soyoung; Bohannon, C. L.; Kwon, Yoonku (MDPI, 2021-11-11)The purpose of this study is to explore the aspects of “gentrification” and “degentrification” other than economic factors. To this end, this study focused on the gentrification situations occurring before and after the COVID-19 pandemic in the Itaewon area, South Korea, by using semantic network analysis. We analyzed news articles on the gentrification phenomenon in the Itaewon area reported in South Korea. As a result, gentrification in the Itaewon area is divided into four stages. The first stage of gentrification (2010~2014) is initial stage of gentrification. Gentrification stage 2 (2015~2017) is the period of commercialization as a gentrification growth stage. The first stage of degentrification (2018~2019) is the maturation period of gentrification. The second stage of degentrification (2019~30 June 2020) is the period of the COVID-19 pandemic. The results confirm the existing theoretical frameworks while building a more nuanced definition through operationalizing gentrification and degentrification. As with the etymology of the term, the degentrification phenomenon can only be revealed when the gentrification phenomenon is prominently displayed. This study has an implication in that it tried to phenomenologically examine the specific phenomenon of the next stage of gentrification through the term “degentrification”.
- Design Education Reconsidered: Faculty Perceptions of Community Engagement in Landscape ArchitectureBohannon, C. L. (Virginia Tech, 2014-12-05)Colleges and universities have been linked to society since their inception. In recent times this linkage has come under scrutiny as society's expectations of higher education have become more expansive and diverse. Over the past decade, there have been various shifts in pedagogy and scholarship in higher education, including the shift towards increased civic responsibility. One such shift is the role of universities and the communities they serve. This shift toward partnership and reciprocity is termed engagement. Community engagement has emerged as an important academic strategy used to enhance and complement traditional learning methods in higher education. According to the Campus Compact, the number of faculty members who include community engagement as part of their teaching, research, and service has increased (Campus Compact, 2012). While faculty are encouraged to incorporate community engagement into their work (Colby, Ehrlich, and Stephens, 2003), nominal research focuses on the perceptions of faculty members in landscape architecture on community engagement. This research explores the current state of community engagement within landscape architecture and identifies the benefits and barriers that foster or inhibit faculty from using community engagement as part of their teaching, research, and service. This study employed a mixed methods research design. Two sequential phases were utilized. The first phase consisted of faculty responses to the Community Engagement in Landscape Architecture Education (CELAE), which consisted of 70 questions. The second phase consisted of in-depth interviews with faculty who self selected to participate in the qualitative phase of the study. Descriptive and inferential statistics were used to analyze the quantitative data, and content analysis was used to analyze the qualitative data. Findings indicate faculty members in landscape architecture believe that community engagement has a positive impact on student's educational experiences, provides opportunities for research and scholarship. Faculty also reveal how faculty in landscape architecture define community engagement in regards to other terminology that is currently used in higher education to describe working with communities to solve problems. Findings from this study may be used to help landscape architecture faculty members design and develop efforts to help promote community engagement as part of their teaching research and service.
- Dr. Lillie Jackson Center for the Arts and Social JusticeGermansky, Hannah Constance (Virginia Tech, 2021-05-29)Architecture informs the structure of society, determining how people move, whose paths cross, and which resources are accessible. By merging social justice initiatives and architectural design, buildings have the power to provide equity, strengthen communities, and encourage dialogue. Empowerment of residents and the disruption of mass incarceration are the goals of this proposal, implemented through community engagement techniques and a mixed-use program supporting employment, job training, housing, social networks, and healing. Located in Midtown Edmondson's neighborhood of West Baltimore, this social justice center restores a dilapidated parcel of land and former ice factory. The proposed food hall, community center, and garden invite fluid exchange between this hub of resources and the larger society. Simultaneously, current inmates will have the opportunity to engage with the development process through a construction and design apprentice program. Former inmates will find immediate resources to ease the transition back into their community upon release, with supportive networks contributing towards lower recidivism rates and the restoration of voting ability and voice. In a cyclical process, upward individual and communal growth will be redistributed back into the community. Alongside these individuals, local residents are also invited into the fabric of this social justice center. The project offers interdisciplinary and multi-scalar design from landscape to interiors, adaptive reuse, to new build architecture. By acknowledging history, actively listening, and designing with intention, this project meets current needs and offers a unique perspective on social architecture. With human rights at the forefront of design decisions, the final proposal reveals that design has the power to incite and actively work towards social justice and disrupt systemically racist institutions, like mass incarceration.
- Green Roof Exposure and Office Workers' Mental Health: Work-related Distress, Mental Fatigue, and Perceived RestorationOzturk Sari, Sevda (Virginia Tech, 2023-02-14)More than half of the world's population works full time and spends about one-third of their weekdays at workplaces (International Labor Organization, 2022). Mental disorders are one of the health problems that have emerged among working populations (World Health Organization, 2022). Previous empirical research and theories demonstrated that nature exposure positively impacts human health and wellbeing (Kaplan and Kaplan 1989). Green roofs can be one of the most easily accessible nature places for office workers in city centers. This study examines the relationship between green roofs and work-related distress, mental fatigue, and restoration. An online survey of 179 employees was used to evaluate the relationship between exposure to six different green roofs and employee work-related distress, mental fatigue, and mental restoration. The results show that the average time spent on green roofs and the frequency of visits have statistically significant relationships with the mental restoration.
- The Greenway Trail in Community Development: An examination of value, representation, and distribution of benefits among stakeholdersLovely, Stephanie Anne (Virginia Tech, 2020-07-28)Greenway trails, or linear community parks, are growing in popularity around the world and are increasingly prevalent in cities of all sizes in the United States. At their best, greenways can provide affordable transportation, access to jobs, safe recreation space, community building, biodiversity protection, stormwater drainage, and air and noise quality benefits. Yet, commonly, neoliberal governance and design of greenways leads to diminished social and environmental design in favor of economic development. Intentional design for social, environmental and economic stability is crucial for successful greenways, though they are often viewed as innately sustainable. Urban Political Ecology (UPE), Actor Network Theory (ANT), and Campbell's Sustainable Development are used together as lenses to better understand the greenway development process and its outcomes. This research is a case study of the Roanoke River Greenway (RRG) in Roanoke, Virginia which was conducted in attempt to discover who benefits from the greenway, in what ways, and by what means. Semi-structured interviews, participant observation, and mapping combined to answer research questions. Participants were eleven neighborhood residents, five greenway commissioners, and five city and regional leaders involved with the greenway. Interviews were transcribed, coded, and grouped into themes, along with map data and field notes. I combined these methods to draw conclusions that shed light on the complex system surrounding the RRG. Conclusions are (1) that residents who live near the greenway and want to use it for recreational purposes as well as the City of Roanoke and its elite class of businessowners and homeowning residents who live near the greenway benefit the most from the RRG benefit because the greenway is catered toward recreation and economic development, in form, function, and process, (2) that the system which enables these benefits and prioritizes their beneficiaries is the greenway's evolving planning process, a system both steeped in mindsets of traditional economic development and exclusive planning aesthetics and imbued with innovative approaches of connecting residents to the outdoor environment, and (3) that Roanoke's greenway movement is strong because of its popularity but is vulnerable, because there are no provisions to officially protect it for the future, in terms of maintenance, increased use, and public opinion. Implications for praxis are that communities with greenway trails should diversify the people and perspectives who have power in the planning practice, that environmental and social design should be addressed directly and consistently in greenway development and maintenance, and greater outreach efforts should be made to residents in order to make the greenways more accessible and welcoming to diverse users. Implications for research are for increased research conducted with low-income and minority residents and on microlevel social and economic impacts in neighborhoods.