Empower Housing

Abstract

This thesis examines Wilmington, Delaware's low-income urban community and explores through innovative programming and design propositions the potential for future housing to facilitate healthy, responsive living, thereby better empowering the community and the residents it serves. All too often, this disadvantaged demographic lacks access to the most basic of human needs, let alone the more diverse opportunities of upward mobility, self-empowerment, and healthy social and cultural lives. Among the community's most pressing concerns is the limited availability of fresh produce - a vital ingredient for healthy living. This thesis hypothesizes that the pairing of housing with a farmers' market and some basic community amenities in a mixed-use project will yield a result that is greater than the sum of its parts. The primary agenda is to design homes which encourage healthy lifestyles while simultaneously engaging a variety of stakeholders in order to benefit not only residents living in the housing but the greater community. The resulting positive ripple effects will allow the region to reknit itself through these newly formed relationships, creating a stronger empowered community.