Delinking economic development and mass incarceration : imagining new futures for rural communities
Name
1003291391-MIT.pdf
Description
Full printable version
Size
13.24 MB
Format
Adobe PDF
Checksum (MD5)
2d41d7163639d56de4f90380b61c9bea
Author(s)
Bergeron, Insiyah Mohammad
Advisor(s)
Karl Seidman.
Alternative Title
Imagining new futures for rural communities
Date Issued
2017
Publisher
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Abstract
Until recently, prisons were considered an economic development strategy particularly in rural communities struggling with the loss of manufacturing jobs. However, many studies have shown that prisons often have weak linkages to the host community, and sometimes have negligible or even negative impacts on rural economies. A combination of factors including changing sentencing laws, inadequate conditions in older facilities, fiscal conservatism, and increasing reliance on community based alternatives to incarceration are now leading to prison closures all around the country. In this changing context, this thesis explores: (i) What are the real and perceived impacts of prison closures on local economies in small rural counties?; and (ii) Where communities are redeveloping old prisons to boost their economies, how are local needs, politics, and project constraints (related to design and finance) shaping the transformation of these sites? By focusing on two cases where former prisons are being reused for community and economic development, this thesis explores how rural communities might transition to new ways of employing people and generating wealth after a local prison closes.
Description
Thesis: M.C.P., Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Department of Urban Studies and Planning, 2017.
This electronic version was submitted by the student author. The certified thesis is available in the Institute Archives and Special Collections.
Cataloged from student-submitted PDF version of thesis.
Includes bibliographical references (pages 71-75).
Subjects
Urban Studies and Planning.
MIT Department
Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Urban Studies and Planning
Terms of Use
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