Reworking the city of workers : a new housing paradigm for the immigrant city
Name
52414837-MIT.pdf
Description
Full printable version
Size
11.92 MB
Format
Adobe PDF
Checksum (MD5)
9590d47bb86ca96d76653ccaca220491
Author(s)
Butler, Britta Erika, 1974-
Advisor(s)
John E. Fernandez.
Date Issued
2003
Publisher
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Abstract
The climate of the reception of immigrants to the United States has soured, and circumstances are becoming increasingly difficult for persons seeking to gain residency. Reasons often given for the reversal in this practice are that immigrants are poor, uneducated, take jobs away from Americans, and use valuable resources otherwise available to the native-born. This at-best cautionary condition is unfortunate, not only because it decreases diversity in a society already afraid of "the other", but because the US is the very model founded on foreigners trying to make lives for themselves. In evidence now is a disdain and distrust of foreigners that could eventually affect all people in the US, resulting in an atmosphere of suspicion and negativity toward anyone who is perceived as different. This design thesis posits that immigrants are important additions to local neighborhoods and economies. If they are supported physically and psychologically during their initial period of arrival, they can more readily become integral members of American society. The design of housing, a learning center, and incorporation of the arts becomes a new means by which immigrants can retain ties to their cultural heritage, while concurrently increasing self-sufficiency, dispelling ignorance, and fostering greater acceptance and knowledge in the community at large.
Description
Thesis (M.Arch.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Architecture, 2003.
Includes bibliographical references (p. 71).
Subjects
Architecture.
MIT Department
Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Architecture
Terms of Use
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