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Helping homeless LGBTQIA+ youth from a place of uncertainty to a place of security to ensure the wellbeing of future city dwellers. This thesis aims to help the ongoing issue of homelessness in Washington, D.C. This will be achieved by creating a wellness facility for LGBTQIA+ youth. This thesis is overall attempting to create a more healthy, lively, green city, starting with transforming the lives of its youth. The goal of the wellness facility is to welcome the homeless LGBTQIA+ youth population of the city and those less fortunate and help them transition to a life that focuses on their success and wellbeing. This involves rehabilitation, education, and transitional housing, in order to help the occupants begin a new chapter of life. There will also be physical necessities for the occupants like food, water, and shelter - the basic things that these people may struggle to find on a daily basis. The occupants can stay and be fully immersed into a life-rehabilitation program or use the facility until necessary. The multi-use facility will be part of a larger master plan for Howard University, integrating mixed-used commercial, residential, and retail space for more sustainable urban design that involves the community. Helping people get off the street and start a stable life will also increase the lives of all city dwellers and create a more livable and healthier city. The goal of the exterior of the wellness facility is to create a space on the street for a more enjoyable pedestrian experience. The interior exterior will also introduce local art and context in order to engage the community and embrace the passions of the wellness facility’s occupants. Overall, this thesis aims to create a city that is kind to its occupants and creates an environment of peace and success.

The widespread adoption of autonomous cars has the potential to revolutionize urban transportation, but what impact will it have on urban form? This thesis examines the hypothesis that adopting autonomous cars can transform street space into a more human-centric purpose, leading to more livable and sustainable cities. The research was conducted through a literature review, analysis of case studies, and the development of specific street designs in order to reveal possible scenarios. The literature review suggests that adopting autonomous cars can reduce the need for parking and increase the efficiency of transportation. Furthermore, the rise of shared cars is expected to revolutionize the way people move. With the advent of autonomous cars, it is possible that personal cars will become less necessary as people can rely on these constant-moving vehicles for transportation. These changes will impact our cities creating new opportunities to improve the urban space. The thesis explores these challenges and opportunities through design for the actual urban environment of Washington D.C. As the capital of the United States, the country where cars have significantly shaped its cities, it is also home to influential political and policy-makers. As a result, the city offers a good opportunity to rethink the future urban environment when this technology will be widely adopted. The findings of this thesis suggest that the adoption of autonomous cars has the potential to transform urban form reclaiming street space for people, but also requires careful planning and design to ensure that the benefits are distributed equitably and the negative impacts are minimized. The thesis concludes with four street proposals, each performing a different role in the city and the results provoke a reflection of the role of the street in our cities.

Modern changes in lifestyle have inadvertently disconnected urban inhabitants from experiences known to be good for our well-being, including spending time in nature and having a sense of community and connectedness to those around us. We spend 90% of our time indoors in limited and artificial environments, mostly in our homes or places of work. The internet and a global pandemic have advanced this disconnection to our surroundings through the rise of remote work and a slew of apps ready to deliver whatever you desire to your front door. This thesis seeks to remedy these unintended consequences of modernity by reconnecting District of Columbia residents back to nature and to their surrounding communities through the design of a public library that incorporates nature to promote the holistic health of the community and the individual. The incorporation of nature into the built environment is proven to have physiological and psychological benefits and improve overall well-being. Neighborhood libraries have always been important institutions in our social infrastructure; functioning as places of self improvement, providing free resources, and acting as central public spaces in the communities they serve. In urban environments where public and private outdoor spaces are limited, a beneficial experience of nature can be one of the resources that public libraries provide to their communities. Through the use of natural materials, vegetation, passive ventilation, and natural light, this project utilizes biophilic design to promote wellbeing, enhanced cognition, and create a welcoming environment that draws District residents out of their homes and together to create a sense of community. The proposed project pairs D.C. Branch Library programming with outdoor spaces, including a courtyard and a public plaza, creating a permeable indoor/outdoor social center within the dense Washington D.C. neighborhood of Adams Morgan. The neighborhood is vegetated by a field of ginkgo tree

"Counter-Capital: Black Power, the New Left, and the Struggle to Remake Washington, D.C. From Below, 1964-1994” traces how grassroots organizers in the nation’s capital fought for greater control over the city and its future between the War on Poverty and rise of neoliberal austerity, helping to shape its recent past and present. Comprising a set of linked case studies, it explores how a generation of activists forged in the crucibles of the Black freedom struggle and resistance to the Vietnam war responded locally to redevelopment schemes, planned inner-city freeways, nascent gentrification, and an exponential rise in homelessness from the late 1960s to the early 1990s. The campaigns they waged brought them into confrontation with federal administrators, legislators, mayors, and even the president. They also led to moments of collaboration with the state, altering the course of urban and social policy locally and nationally and contributing to the growth of community development and direct service approaches. Going beyond the boundaries of policymaking, the radicals it follows fostered emancipatory and participatory visions for the District and urban life more generally rooted in their movement ideals, ones which remain instructive even as they encountered obstacles to their full realization. Drawing on a diverse array of archival materials including organizational newsletters, meeting minutes, event flyers, campaign brochures, and correspondence; underground press and community papers alongside mainstream news outlets; documentary film and preserved footage; and oral histories and personal interviews, “Counter-Capital” contributes to debates in the fields of African American, social movement, and urban history. The project is further animated by and participates in discussions taking place across the correlating interdisciplinary fields of African American studies, American studies, and urban studies, bringing aspects of these fields that don’t always speak to one

This dissertation explores the role of popular music genres in constructing and enacting an imaginary of national and diasporic community among the Salvadoran diasporic community in the Washington D.C. metropolitan area. Two music genres with rich transnational histories, rock de las buenas épocas and cumbia salvadoreña, are central to the analysis. The research investigates how cumbia salvadoreña may be considered representative of El Salvador by D.C.-based members of Departamento 15, an “imaginary” additional state of El Salvador formed by its citizens living in the diaspora. The genre aligns with the myth of the perseverant and patriotic immigrant, one who stays connected to their home country through remittances. Before the reign of cumbia salvadoreña, rock de las buenas épocas served as an avenue for Salvadoran youth to imagine alternative realities to those of mainstream Salvadoran society—a parallel of the counterculture movement of the 1960s in North America and Europe. Despite aesthetic differences, both genres are performed at events for the Salvadoran community in the Washington D.C. area, as emblems of nostalgia. I also explore how, in the diaspora, these narratives are reaffirmed and contested. For instance, second-generation Salvadoran Cindy Zavala (also known as La SalvadoReina), performs cumbia salvadoreña with a twist. She presents the stories that have surrounded her as the daughter of immigrants to showcase a "bitter" alternative to the joy and perseverance usually conveyed through the genre. Another example I present is 1.5-generation Lilo González, Jr., a musician who is part of the renowned D.C. punk scene, who has integrated cumbia into his socially committed music. This study is based on intermittent ethnographic research conducted from 2019 to 2022 in the D.C. area, before and during the COVID-19 pandemic. Key events I participated in included the Salvadoran Independence Day festivals in Maryland, which reaffirm the nostalgia that maintains

The Federal Aviation Administration is allowing airlines to keep their flight slots from several busy airports due to the continuing pandemic. The FAA is extending covid relief so airlines can keep their coveted flight slots for takeoffs and landings.