PROTECTING NEIGHBORHOOD SENSE: A NEIGHBORHOOD OCCUPATIONAL PORTRAIT OF A HISPANIC IMMIGRANT COMMUNITY IN LANGLEY PARK, MD

Abstract

Maryland’s Purple Line Corridor and light rail system, which is currently under construction, represents the challenges of urban development for working class communities. While planners aim to promote sustainability and equity, neighborhood transformation is often shaped by broader forces of gentrification that disproportionately affect marginalized residents. This dissertation uses occupations (meaningful and purposeful activities) as a lens to improve understanding of urban processes, especially those that impact neighborhood sense, a critical component for community well being and resilience. Specifically, this work uses a neighborhood occupational portrait to explore the urban dynamics of one working class Hispanic immigrant community in Langley Park, Maryland, a Purple Line Corridor neighborhood. Through an interdisciplinary approach, this study integrates knowledge from occupational science/therapy, physical cultural studies, urban planning, and public health and is guided by Lefebvre’s Spatial Justice (1991) and the Occupational Perspective of Health (Townsend & Wilcock, 2004). Qualitative methods (walking interviews, neighborhood walks, deep hanging out, and autoethnography) illuminate how residents sustain community infrastructure, identity, and neighborhood sense through everyday occupations. Findings that emerged from a grounded theory analysis show that gentrification often replaces working class community infrastructure with capitalist infrastructure contributing to occupational and spatial injustices. This highlights the need for initiatives to invest in the community infrastructures that support the everyday lives of local residents. In doing so, it offers new insights to support efforts to preserve community identity, advance equity, and promote social justice in rapidly transforming neighborhoods.