First Advisor

Mrinalini Tankha

Term of Graduation

Fall 2021

Date of Publication

12-16-2021

Document Type

Closed Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Arts (M.A.) in Anthropology

Department

Anthropology

Language

English

Subjects

Housing -- Oregon -- Oregon City, Community development -- Oregon -- Oregon City, Sustainable design

DOI

10.15760/etd.7744

Physical Description

1 online resource (viii, 107 pages)

Abstract

Asset-based community development (ABCD) is a development framework, created in response to the dominant, top-down approach typically taken by community development projects today. Using the ABCD process and participatory design research, this project sought to investigate the needs of future residents of the Maple Lane housing complex, an intergenerational affordable housing community, in Oregon City, Oregon. I worked with the Center for Public Interest Design (CPID) and in collaboration with Community Development Partners (CDP) and Hacienda Community Development Corporation (Hacienda CDC), my research examines how the ABCD framework and socially-responsible participatory design can be used to better identify, document and serve the needs of intergenerational communities living in affordable housing. My research focused on the needs of community members and potential future residents of the Maple Lane housing complex. I conducted 37 virtual, semi-structured qualitative interviews, two virtual focus groups, and one virtual design workshop, with community-based organizations, local residents, and current affordable housing residents. Using an inductive approach and grounded theory, I found that concerns around equity, inclusion, security and accessibility were the most important considerations for communities in the design of the affordable housing development. I argue that while the ABCD process and participatory design approaches could improve residents' experiences in affordable housing developments, more transformative structural change is needed to address the historical problems of racialized inequality and narratives of stigma associated with affordable housing in America. Additionally, I argue that the discipline of applied anthropology still needs to work to make itself relevant outside of the academy, and that our temporal thinking needs to adapt to become more future-oriented.

Rights

© 2021 Hannah Lopez

In Copyright. URI: http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/ This Item is protected by copyright and/or related rights. You are free to use this Item in any way that is permitted by the copyright and related rights legislation that applies to your use. For other uses you need to obtain permission from the rights-holder(s).

Comments

This thesis is only available to students, faculty and staff at PSU.

Persistent Identifier

https://archives.pdx.edu/ds/psu/36920

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