Author: Ebony Dunn, Fourth Year, American Studies and African-American Studies
Amount Requested: $27,601
What if a bench in a downtown mall or a public park was no longer a bench but instead an agent of exclusion? My proposal aims to investigate the ways in which public spaces, in particular, the Downtown Mall of Charlottesville, discriminates against the homeless through its architectural design and landscape. Homeless people have a long history of discrimination in America. Although the definitions and qualifications for being considered a homeless person in America has changed over the course of the last century, a constant is that homeless people are deemed unsightly and often viewed as public eye sores. They are even considered eye sores in public places, even though as members of the public they too, should have the privilege to enjoy the amenities as well as the space. Sociologists John Logan and Harvey Molotch in Urban Fortunes investigate how various kinds of people and institutions struggle to achieve their opposing goals in the creation of the metropolis (1). In the case of public space the two competing forces are the homeless and larger society who attempt in different ways to keep them from utilizing public spaces.
Signs that warn against loitering as well as other people’s disgusted snares often make homeless people feel unwelcome even in public spaces that claim to belong to them. Are public spaces really public? Negative societal views and opinions on homelessness extending from believed causes of homelessness and questions surrounding who is to blame for individual homelessness have forced many scholars, social agencies, as well as the federal government to initiate public policy, initiatives, and programs to aid the homeless through researching the causes, aid, and preventative measures. Scholars often study political jargon and social policies regarding the homeless as agents of discrimination against the homeless. However, other agents of discrimination of the homeless, like the Downtown Mall of Charlottesville, have been overlooked.
I propose to complete an interdisciplinary study combining the disciplines of history, sociology, urban planning, architecture, and politics to study ways in which public spaces are not truly public and how they discriminate against the homeless through their design. I plan to study how the design of public places using the Downtown Mall of Charlottesville as a model. Three questions I aim to address are: 1) the real meaning of public space, 2) the relationship between public space and the homeless, and 3) the way the Downtown Mall of Charlottesville discriminates against the homeless through its design. I plan to present my study in the form of an art exhibit at the University of Virginia Art Museum.
