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.
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Item A Case Study of Anacostia: The Role of Housing Vouchers on the Local Housing Market(2012) Scott, Derrick A; Geores, Martha; Geography; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)From the time of the New Deal legislation in the 1930s, the Federal government has provided some form of housing relief for people with low income. Today, the primary demand side subsidy program is the Housing Choice Voucher Program (HCVP), which subsidizes rents for low-income people and households to live in places where market-rate rents are beyond their economic means. During the last two decades many Americans cities have been transitioning and affordable housing is becoming scarce even in formerly low-income neighborhoods. In these transitioning neighborhoods current rents are prohibitive for low-income residents. However, with a subsidy through HCVP, this population can remain in its original neighborhood. Landlords are assured full market value rents, while renting to low-income tenants. The residents of the Anacostia neighborhood in Washington, D.C. are predominately low-income and African-American. Using Anacostia as a case study, this paper shows how HCVP has increased in volume and, in the face of diminishing affordable housing, recipients of this subsidy are concentrating in this low rent neighborhood rather than dispersing throughout Washington DC. This is a mixed methods study using data gathered from the Washington D.C. Housing Authority, home sales, home rental prices, census, and interviews with participants in HCVP. The findings of this study reveal that HCVP has been successful in improving the lives and residences of low-income people but that vouchers are geographically concentrated to the lowest income neighborhoods of Washington D.C.Item The Transparency of Democracy: A Lefebvrean Analysis of Washington's Nationals Park(2008-11-17) Friedman, Michael Todd; Andrews, David L.; Kinesiology; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)In 2008, the Washington Nationals began play in their new stadium, Nationals Park, which has been subsidized with $611 million of public money from the city of Washington, D.C. According to lead architect Joseph Spear of HOK Sport, "the transparency of democracy" (as qtd. in Nakamura, 2005a, p. B1) is one of the stadium's primary design themes, as Spear was inspired by the city's global image and role in American political life. Using faux-limestone made from precast concrete to look similar to Washington's myriad of federal buildings and glass to provide transparency, designers claim that Nationals Park is an inclusive space, which promotes civic cohesion and economic growth along the Anacostia River. However, similar to the way that the practice of democracy diverges from Washington's democratic image as the city's 586,000 residents are denied political representation in the United States Congress, Nationals Park is actually an exclusionary space as high prices and highly segregated spaces belie the designers' stated intentions. This dissertation examines the contradictions between National Park's image and practice through exploring the spatial politics expressed in and through the process approving the stadium, the various economic redevelopment initiatives of Mayor Anthony Williams' administration, the stadium's architecture, and the elimination of the site's previous use as a sexually-oriented space catering to Washington's LGBT community. To do so, this dissertation utilizes the theories and methods of Henri Lefebvre, who examined space as being constitutive and reflective of dominant social relations towards changing those relations to create a more democratic society in which people could create their own lives free from exploitation and alienation. As such, this dissertation investigates Nationals Park not for its own sake, but as a lens through which to examine the ideologies and practices that define the relationships between governments and citizens, communities and individuals, and people with one another within the contemporary moment.Item Tunnel Vision: Urban Renewal in Rio de Janeiro, 1960-1975(2006-06-01) Kehren, Mark Edward; Weinstein, Barbara; History; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)Following the inauguration of the newly constructed capital of Brasília in April 1960, the former federal district and Brazilian capital of Rio de Janeiro was transformed into the city-state of Guanabara. Although Rio lost its status as the political capital of Brazil after nearly 200 years, extensive urban renewal campaigns to modernize the city were employed by numerous politicians, planners, architects, artists, and ordinary residents to help restore Rio's position as Brazil's "true" capital city. This dissertation examines these urban renewal efforts in Guanabara from 1960 to 1975 - a period when Rio de Janeiro experienced its largest period of population and spatial growth. Whereas many of the urban renewal campaigns and projects for development prior to 1945 were intended to beautify, embellish, and "civilize" the city, the projects of the 1960s and 1970s were highly technical and revolved around integrating the automobile into the urban landscape. The measures of investment and resources devoted to modernizing and reforming the city during the Guanabara period were unprecedented for Rio de Janeiro, consequently resulting in significant spatial, social, cultural, and economic reorganization of the city. "Tunnel Vision: Urban Renewal in Rio de Janeiro, 1960-1975" examines specific projects of urban renewal such as tunnels (Rebouças and Santa Bárbara), expressways, parks (Aterro do Flamengo), subways, overpasses, and beaches while also exploring the technocratic approach to urban planning which was demonstrated through attitudes and principles that often marginalized "non-expert" participation in reforming the city. Using diverse primary sources such as government and urban planning documents, as well as neighborhood association materials, this dissertation also considers broader historical issues such as the politics and culture of military regimes, as well as questions related to the built environment, comparative planning cultures, space, class, race, ethnicity, and popular culture. Furthermore, this study also argues that the politics and culture of urban planning in Rio de Janeiro during the Guanabara period mirrored many of the same political, cultural, and social tensions that existed throughout Brazil and Latin America before and after the Brazilian military coup of 1964.