UMD Theses and Dissertations
Permanent URI for this collectionhttp://hdl.handle.net/1903/3
New submissions to the thesis/dissertation collections are added automatically as they are received from the Graduate School. Currently, the Graduate School deposits all theses and dissertations from a given semester after the official graduation date. This means that there may be up to a 4 month delay in the appearance of a given thesis/dissertation in DRUM.
More information is available at Theses and Dissertations at University of Maryland Libraries.
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Item Reviving the Heart of the City: Transforming Baltimore's Oldest Market into the City's First Sustainable Food District(2019) Bos, Eric; Kelly, Brian; Architecture; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)This thesis is about food, about how to replenish an abundance of good food, of availability and access in the inner city. Baltimore’s Westside neighborhood in downtown has been plagued by vacancy and dereliction for more than half a century. Public markets have long been cultural and social hubs of cities, yet amidst this backdrop, Lexington Market—Baltimore’s oldest public market—sits out of date and in desperate need of a new vision. Through a redesign of the market and the surrounding blocks to better connect this node to the city, a vibrant food-centric community can grow again. By expanding upon traditional market typologies to include the entire food cycle, the new market effectively responds to the needs of the 21st century. Food is grown, sold, cooked, and eaten on site, sparking cyclical nutrient and energy loops. As urban populations rise and agricultural land wanes, it is more important than ever to secure arable land within cities, vertically. Urban food production reconnects people with the food they eat, provides local produce with minimal transportation, and can be integrated into the public market. This thesis both revives a struggling piece of public infrastructure and demonstrates the efficacy of bringing super-productive farming into the city.Item Investigation of Environmental Hazards Near Urban Agricultural Sites and Food Handling Behaviors of Consumers(2018) Shargo, Isabel H; Wilson, Sacoby; Public and Community Health; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)Despite knowledge of the presence of environmental contaminants at legacy sites including Toxic Release Inventory (TRI) facilities, land restoration sites (LRPs), and Superfund sites, limited research has been done to investigate proximity to environmental hazards and potential exposure risks of consumers to urban-grown produce. We conducted a spatial analysis on the distribution of legacy sites, healthy food priority areas, and urban farms by various sociodemographic factors and surveyed consumers to assess food handling behaviors. We found that more residents were unemployed, had less than a high school diploma and had a lower median household income in census tracts that hosted an urban farm and a TRI facility. Also, across most socio demographic groups, more than half of the individuals stated they ‘always’ washed the produce items surveyed. This research provides insight into the distribution of environmental hazards near urban farms and food handling behaviors of consumers of urban-grown produce.Item MOWING TO GROWING: TRANSFORMING A MUNICIPAL GOLF COURSE TO URBAN AGRICULTURE IN BALTIMORE CITY(2016) Allen, Nathan; Kweon, Dr. Byoung-Suk; Plant Science and Landscape Architecture (PSLA); Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)This thesis demonstrates how landscape architects can transform underused golf course facilities located within cities for urban agriculture (UA). In the last decade more than 1000 golf courses have closed in the United States. Municipal golf courses represent some of the largest pieces of open space in cities and because of their inherent infrastructure they can provide the ideal location to support large-scale UA. In Southwest Baltimore large food deserts are a serious health concern and represent a lack of access to healthy food options for residents. Carroll Urban Agriculture Park is a design response resulting from a detailed analysis of the existing Carroll Park Golf Course and the surrounding community of Southwest Baltimore. The design will create an urban farm in a park-like setting to provide readily accessible healthy food options and various educational opportunities, and to support current and future urban agriculture related businesses in Baltimore.Item URBAN AGRICULTURE TYPOLOGIES, SOCIO- ECOLOGICAL CAPITAL CREATION, AND THE EVOLUTION OF A RESILIENT, LOCAL FOOD SYSTEM IN ATLANTA, GA(2015) Adams, Kevin; Chanse, Victoria; Urban and Regional Planning and Design; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)As urban agriculture evolves in North America it is fostering social and ecological benefits, not just in isolation but as a more comprehensive system where physical, social, and ecological aspects intertwine and scale into an urban food mosaic or a new type of green city. How is this change occurring and what are key characteristics? Building on traditional urban planning and design methods of keen observation, listening, mapping, and visualization and updating these methods with current techniques such as photo voice and map voice, this inquiry unpacks the rapidly evolving context of urban agriculture with in the metro area of Atlanta, GA. The dissertation breaks the inquiry into three parts or ‘essays’ each with its own sub-question and research literature on which it builds. Essay one asks how urban agriculture is integrated socio-ecologically on site and across city scales, looking for variation as it interacts with fifteen Atlanta urban entities representing forty sites. Essay two then asks how this variation can be typed, and essay three adds a quantitative piece to the ensemble by taking the fifth and last theme of essay two, the eco-literacy value of urban agriculture, and creating a tool to measure its distribution in Atlanta. Although the primary disciplinary focus is urban and landscape design, since the inquiry also sits within a college of planning and design, the concluding essay reflects on the dissertation and its methods and how they correspond to urban planning theory.Item The Michigan Central Station: Re-Discovering Identity Among Ruins(2011) Rottman, Emilie Michelle; Rockcastle, Garth C.; Architecture; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)The Michigan Central Station will be re-conceptualized as a landmark representing a sustainable and active community building for the surrounding area. This will be an example of a method for designing in derelict areas where buildings have lost their original purpose and identity. Creating multiple programmatic models to be tested and analyzed for their social and cultural implications will help develop a set of strategies and ideas to re-discover identity for the train depot and its surrounding context. Physical strategies will be identified for adaptive reuse; each will be developed further through interaction with these complementary paradigms. While respecting Detroit's history of industry and culture and exploring the implications of revision, the research done will provide ideas to create a new life for the Michigan Central Station and stimulate a new urban community. Complementary physical strategies will be overlaid with these paradigms to further develop strategies for adaptive reuse of the train depot.