ABSTRACT 
Title of Thesis: CONNECTING CROSSROAD:  DESIGNING 
AN EQUITABLE FUTURE FOR LANGLEY 
PARK AND THE INTERNATIONAL 
CORRIDOR 
Sara Ghafar Samar, Master of Architecture, 
2019 
Thesis Directed By: Matthew Bell FAIA, Professor, School of 
Architecture, Planning, Preservation, and Real 
Estate Development 
Langley Park is a largely low-income community in Prince George and Montgomery 
County Maryland with a majority of foreign-born residents and a mix of small 
businesses and relatively dense multifamily housing. The arrival of the Purple Line 
Light Rail is both an opportunity and a threat to the vast amount of market-rate 
affordable rental housing and the strong community and culture of residents, businesses 
and social institutions of the area. Immigrant communities may be poor in capital, but 
they are rich in culture and foci of cross-cultural connections. This thesis aims to 
address the needed attention to this transit center, the international corridor, and its 
adjacent affordable residential area to produce equitable transit-oriented design 
solutions and action plans that will protect the area?s affordable housing alongside 
addressing the communal and cultural goals of the immigrant residents by creating 
cross-cultural urban spaces of connection. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
CONNECTING CROSSROAD; DESIGNING AN EQUITABLE FUTURE FOR 
LANGLEY PARK AND THE INTERNATIONAL CORRIDOR 
 
 
 
by 
 
 
Sara Ghafar Samar 
 
 
 
 
 
Thesis submitted to the Faculty of the Graduate School of the  
University of Maryland, College Park, in partial fulfillment 
of the requirements for the degree of 
Master of Architecture 
2019 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Advisory Committee: 
Professor Matthew Bell, Chair 
[Professor Ronit Eisenbach] 
[Professor Emeritus Karl DuPuy] 
 
 
 
 
 
  
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
? Copyright by 
[Sara Ghafar Samar] 
[2019] 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
  
Acknowledgements 
 
I would first like to thank my family for their love, support and patience throughout my 
long years of Architecture education, both here and back at home.  
I would like to thank my Professor and Chair Matthew Bell for his guidance and support. 
I learned and found interest in Urban Design through his studio class and kept learning 
from him throughout this thesis. Professor Karl Dupuy, not just for being there for all of us 
thesis students every day and guiding and pushing us through the finish line, but for the 
hope he would give us whenever we need it.  
I must also thank the residents of Langley Park, members of The Langley Park Community 
Center, Prince George?s County Parks and Recreation, Langley Park Multi-Service Center 
and the friends I interviewed at The University of Maryland for their time and interest in 
this project. Lastly, I would like to thank the kids at Langley Park?s Community Center 
who gave me their afternoon in order to visualize a future for their home. 
  
 ii 
Table of Contents 
Acknowledgements ............................................................................................................. ii 
Table of Contents ............................................................................................................... iii 
List of Tables .................................................................................................................... vii 
List of Figures .................................................................................................................. viii 
CHAPTER 1 ........................................................................................................................1 
Introduction ......................................................................................................................1 
Research Questions ..........................................................................................................4 
The significance of the study ...........................................................................................4 
Research Limitations .......................................................................................................6 
CHAPTER 2: Immigrant Communities and The Importance of Social Capital ..................7 
Introduction ......................................................................................................................7 
Latino-American ..............................................................................................................9 
What happens in Immigration? Acculturation strategies; Integration, assimilation, 
marginalization, and separation .....................................................................................12 
CHAPTER 3: Latino space and place ................................................................................21 
Introduction ....................................................................................................................21 
Latino placemaking ........................................................................................................23 
Investing in social capital...............................................................................................27 
 iii 
Ending Note ...................................................................................................................32 
CHAPTER 4: Langley Park and The International Corridor .............................................36 
Introduction ............................................................................................................... 36 
Langley Park A History .................................................................................................36 
Demographics ........................................................................................................... 41 
Crime and Safety....................................................................................................... 49 
Opportunities and Challenges: .................................................................................. 62 
Streets and transportation ...............................................................................................62 
Bus routes and access................................................................................................ 63 
Housing and affordability in Langley Park ............................................................... 64 
Site Selection .................................................................................................................65 
Current Proposals ...........................................................................................................66 
Prince George County Takoma/ Langley Crossroads Sector Plan and Its Design 
Guidelines 2009 ........................................................................................................ 67 
Montgomery County Takoma/ Langley Crossroads Sector Plan and Its Design 
Guidelines 2012 (Approved and Adapted)  .............................................................. 69 
Design Guidelines Document: .................................................................................. 71 
2018 Langley Park Project Research Teams, University of Maryland  .................... 73 
Zoning changes ......................................................................................................... 74 
Summary and Critique ...................................................................................................78 
Ending Note ...................................................................................................................79 
CHAPTER 5: Equitable Transit-Oriented Development and The Purple Line .................81 
 iv 
The Purple Line: A Review ...........................................................................................81 
Highlights .................................................................................................................. 82 
The Purple Line Corridor Coalition and The International Corridor Report .................84 
Transit-Oriented Neighborhoods ...................................................................................86 
Transit-Oriented Developments and their Impacts ........................................................90 
The Case for ETOD and Affordable Housing ...............................................................94 
Ending Note ...................................................................................................................98 
CHAPTER 6: Principles of Design; Diversity, Transit, and the city ...............................101 
Introduction ..................................................................................................................101 
Scale 3 ..................................................................................................................... 102 
Scale 2; Designing for Diversity ............................................................................. 103 
Scale 1; Places of Identity Manifestation ?Cosmopolitan Canopies; where cultures 
meet and The Gardens of Growth ........................................................................... 107 
Ending Note .................................................................................................................115 
CHAPTER 7: Precedents .................................................................................................117 
Fruitvale Village Oakland California ...........................................................................117 
Mexico Plaza, Los Angeles, California .......................................................................125 
Ending Note .................................................................................................................129 
CHAPTER 8: Research Methodology .............................................................................130 
CHAPTER 9: Design .......................................................................................................140 
 v 
Places ...........................................................................................................................144 
Housing ........................................................................................................................150 
Phasing .........................................................................................................................151 
Additional Aspects .......................................................................................................152 
CASA Maryland ..................................................................................................... 152 
University Blv. Additions ....................................................................................... 153 
Conclusion ...................................................................................................................155 
Boards ..........................................................................................................................156 
Appendix ..........................................................................................................................159 
Bibliography ....................................................................................................................162 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 vi 
List of Tables 
Table1  Acculturation strategies (source: Berry, 2005, 2011) ...........................................15 
Table 2 Table of opportunities and challenges (source: author) ........................................62 
Table 3 table of opportunities and challenges (source: author) .........................................79 
Table 4 Table of Purple Line highlights (source MTA) ....................................................82 
Table 7 Square footage tables (source author) .................................................................123 
Table 8 Diagram of space relationships (source: author) ................................................125 
Table 9 Different aspects of observing environmental behavior (source: Zeisel 1981) ..131 
Table 10 Walking tour results and interpretation table (source: author ...........................132 
Table 11Participant observation results and interpretation table (source author) ............133 
Table 13 Preliminary interview protocol (source: author) ...............................................135 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 vii 
List of Figures 
Figure 1Number of international migrants classifies by region of origin and destination in 
2017 (source UN report 2017) .............................................................................................8 
Figure 2 number of immigrants hosted in top 20 countries by millions (source UN report 
2017) ....................................................................................................................................9 
Figure 3 Hispanic population and projections (from: US Census Bureau 2018) ..............10 
Figure 4 Acculturation Strategies (From: Berry 2005, diagram: Author) .........................16 
Figure 5 segregation maps, from top: Los Angeles and Maryland (source New York times 
segregation maps) ..............................................................................................................19 
Figure 6 The CASA mansion (source: author) ..................................................................38 
Figure 7 Google maps image of Langley park...................................................................39 
Figure 8 Pictures of the Langley Park (Source: Google Earth) .........................................40 
Figure 9 Pictures of Langley Park (Source: Author) .........................................................41 
Figure 10 Population ethnic percentage (Source: Lung Amam et al 2017) .......................42 
Figure 11 Two scales of demographic information ...........................................................43 
Figure 13 Percentage of Hispanic population (Source: Census- Diagram by author) .......44 
Figure 13 2023 Hispanic population projection (source: author form ESRI Community 
Analyst) ..............................................................................................................................44 
Figure 14 GIS Census Tract Data (Source: Census Bureau 2010- Diagrams: Author) .....46 
Figure 15 Housing (Source: Author) .................................................................................47 
Figure 16 Housing (Source: Author) .................................................................................47 
Figure 17 2010 renter occupancy map (source: author from ESRI Community Analyst 
Census Data Mapping) .......................................................................................................48 
 viii 
Figure 18 2010 owner-occupancy map (source: author from ESRI Community Analyst 
Census Data Mapping) .......................................................................................................49 
Figure 19 land use map (source: Maryland GIS data) .......................................................52 
Figure 20 Main civic and commercial buildings (source: author) .....................................53 
Figure 21 parks in the vicinity and public spaces in the Langley Park Neighborhood 
(source: Author) .................................................................................................................54 
Figure 22 Topography map (source: author) .....................................................................55 
Figure 23 walkability from the proposed purple line stations along the corridor; 5- and 
10-minute radius (Source: Google maps and author) ........................................................57 
Figure 24 International Corridor 2-mile location (google maps) .......................................60 
Figure 25 Street hierarchy (must change and be more complete!) (Source: Author) ........63 
Figure 26 Two purple line stations: the intersection of University Blv. and Riggs Road 
and New Hampshire Ave. (Source Google Maps and Author) .........................................64 
Figure 33 Site Selection (Source: Author) .........................................................................65 
Figure 27 Sector Plan limits (Source: Approved Takoma/Langley Crossroads Sector Plan 
2009) ..................................................................................................................................67 
Figure 28 Sector plan boundary (Takoma/Langley Crossroads Sector Plan 2012) ...........69 
Figure 29 Proposed zoning (Source: MCPT Takoma Langley Sector Plan 2013) ............75 
Figure 30 Prince George County Zoning (source: 
https://mncppc.maps.arcgis.com/apps/StorytellingSwipe/index.html?appid=7fb3b59248b
5445c962dc617eb366195&embed, accessed 12/14/2019. GIS data) ................................76 
Figure 31 Core and Edge Local Transit Center Zoning (Source: Boushell, et al. 2018) ...77 
Figure 32 Comparison of sector plans (Source: Flam et al 2018) .....................................78 
 ix 
Figure 34 Purple line (Source: MDOT) .............................................................................83 
Figure 35 Reading Terminal Market and former train shed, now the Grand Ballroom of 
the Pennsylvania Convention Center. Photo courtesy Reading Terminal Market. (from: 
https://www.planning.org/greatplaces/spaces/2014/readingterminal.htm) ......................111 
Figure 36 Reading Terminal Market, (Author: James Cridland, from 
https://www.flickr.com/photos/jamescridland/42779866775/in/photostream/) ..............112 
Figure 37 Fruitvale village (source: Google Maps, 2019) ...............................................117 
Figure 38 Fruitvale Village (Source: PGAdesign) ...........................................................118 
Figure 39 Fruitvale Village (Source: PGAdesign) ...........................................................119 
Figure 40 Architects translated the ideas from community workshops into a plan for the 
station area. (source: (Shibley, et al. 2005) ) ...................................................................122 
Figure 41 Plaza Mexico, Lynwood (source: google maps) .............................................126 
Figure 42 Event in Plaza Mexico (source: plazamexico.com) ........................................127 
Figure 43 Participant observation location (source: author) ............................................134 
Figure 44 Teenager focus group at the Langley Park Community Center and results 
(Source: Author) ..............................................................................................................137 
Figure 45 Green Connections (Source: Author) ..............................................................141 
Figure 46 Synthesis (Source: Author) ..............................................................................142 
Figure 47 Places diagram (Source: Author) .....................................................................143 
Figure 48 Placing Services (Source: Author) ..................................................................143 
Figure 49 View from South-West (Source: Author) ........................................................144 
Figure 50 Mercado Langley Park (Source: Author) ........................................................144 
 x 
Figure 51 Mercado Langley Park, the intersection plaza, the green and places for food 
trucks (Source: Author) ....................................................................................................144 
Figure 52 The Green Plaza (Source: Author) ..................................................................145 
Figure 53 Library and plaza events (Source: Author) .....................................................146 
Figure 54 Rendering of Library (Source: Author) ...........................................................147 
Figure 55 Rendering of Community Center and Gardens (Source: Author) ...................147 
Figure 56 Ground floor plans (Source: Author) ..............................................................148 
Figure 57 Rendering if Langley Way (Source: Author) ..................................................149 
Figure 58 Langley Way street section (Source: Author) .................................................149 
Figure 59 Housing concepts (Source: Author) ................................................................150 
Figure 60 Phasing (Source: Author) ................................................................................151 
Figure 61 University Blv. street section proposal (Source: Author) ...............................153 
Figure 62 Takoma Langley Parking and University of Maryland Student Housing 
(Source: Author) ..............................................................................................................154 
Figure 63 Boards one and two (Source: Author) .............................................................156 
Figure 64 Boards three and four (Source: Author) ..........................................................157 
Figure 65 Boards five and six (Source: Author) ..............................................................158 
 
 xi 
CHAPTER 1 
Introduction 
 
?The struggling class propels its children forward into owned housing from rented 
quarters, form modest educational achievement to the first golden child who completes 
college, from having to make a living with your strong back to the chance to make it with 
your head.  
The future happiness of those millions will depend on large on whether the communities 
that became their homes are coherent, operational, humane and in a real way, theirs.? 
       
 Ray Suarez1 
 
 
In the post-modern world of the 21st-century information and transportation technologies have 
made communications and immigration much easier than before. Developed countries are host to 
large numbers of immigrants and refugees looking for a better quality of life. The reasons for 
immigration range from finding better job and education opportunities to seeking refuge from 
local wars/disasters. Although immigration for new jobs and education have their own issues, 
however, despite its significant benefits, some migrants remain among the most vulnerable 
members of the target societies. Migrants are often the first to lose their jobs in the event of an 
economic downturn. Some work long hours for less pay and in worse conditions than native-born 
workers. These immigrants are the workforces of communities, doing hard jobs with lower pay. 
They live in places with low quality of housing and infrastructure due to affordable pricing, often 
forming enclaves.  
For a long time, low-income neighborhoods have remained invisible and neglected due to a 
lack of power and capital of their residents, racism, xenophobia, and perceived otherness from the 
 
1 Suarez, Ray. "A people, of People, Makes its place." In Dialogos Placemaking in Latino Communities , 
by Michael Rios, Leonardo Vazquez, & Lucrezia Miranda, xv-xviii. New York and Oxon : Routledge, 2012. 
 
 1 
authorities. Although such neighborhoods may be poor in capital, they are rich in culture. They 
are hubs of cultural production and foci of cross-cultural connections combined with the desire of 
contemporary visitors to experience alternative cultures and sites in a city, which can give them 
an advantage for community and economic development2.  
In the case of Langley Park, an additional factor is in place. Although transit improves 
access to jobs, education, and other amenities for lower-income households and attracts new 
housing and businesses and produces a profitable tax base that can be reinvested in the 
community, the appeal of new transit often raises land values, triggering increases in housing 
rents and prices in nearby areas and results in the displacement of existing residents. If there are 
no affordability protections in place, the effects of the purple line in Langley Park will be 
devastating. For a population that 53% spend more than 30% of their income on rent and utilities, 
increases in rents will have a large impact. The overwhelming majority of the affordable housing 
in Langley Park is market-rate affordable rental housing, which is defined as rental housing that 
does not utilize any government subsidies but is cost-efficient to low-to-moderate income 
households, usually because they are in less desirable neighborhoods, are older, or have few 
amenities. In Langley Park, investment is sorely needed. Many homes were built in the 1950s and 
suffer from problems common to older rental housing stock, such as deferred maintenance. Many 
are also overcrowded. With large parcels of property held by only a handful of owners. The 
decisions of even one landlord to raise rates could have a dramatic impact3. Rising land values of 
 
2 Loukaitou-Sideris, Anastasia. "Using Cultural Tourism as Competitive Advantage; Attracting Culttural 
Tourism in Latino Neighborhoods ." In Dialogos; Placemanking In Latino Communities, by Michael Rios, 
Leonardo Vazquez , & Lucrezia Miranda, 69-82. New york and Oxon: Routledge, 2012. 
3 Lung- Amam, Willow, Casey Dawkins, Zorayda Moreira- Smith , Gerrit- Jan Knaap, and Alonzo 
Washington . Preparing for the Purple Line: Affordable Housing Strategies for Langley Park, Maryland. 
University of Maryland, College Park & CASA: National Center for Smart Growth Research and Education 
Center, 2017. 
 
 2 
University Boulevard - known as the International Corridor- could also affect commercial rents, 
impacting the viability of local small businesses, many of whom rely on local patrons and cater to 
the needs of newly arrived immigrants. With a loss of businesses and residents, the strong sense 
of community and interdependence, which is a hallmark of this neighborhood, may be lost.  
In this study, first, through research of lessons in protecting and creating affordable 
housing, we will look to the future and design an Equitable Transit-Oriented Development 
corridor to minimize displacement and ensure long-term affordability near transit. A development 
that calls for state and county officials and agencies, local nonprofit and for-profit developers, 
property owners, community groups, and residents to come together to find ways of preserving 
and protecting one of Langley Park?s most vital assets, i.e., it's vast supply of affordable housing. 
We will investigate the neighborhood?s existing conditions, best practices on affordable housing 
near transit, and local and state policies and tools that can be used to protect and create new 
affordable housing options as the Purple Line moves forward. The intent is to provide a design 
that, alongside targeting all stakeholders, development and design solutions, showcases using 
architectural design to create a more sustainable, equitable, and inclusive future.  
Second, through studying and engaging the community, design solutions will consider the 
immigrant community and its needs in their host society. We will aim to design urban spaces that 
are not only built upon the assets of its own population but also create a place of interaction and 
cultural communication. Our focus will be on designing the urban spaces and creating guidelines 
for the developments to come.  
Job training, educational and community centers, transitional housing, related non-profit 
organizations, and spaces for small businesses and startups are all examples that can address the 
need of the large documented and undocumented residents of Langley Park. On the other hand, 
 3 
public plazas, cosmopolitan canopies such as food markets, and community gardens and business 
incubators are examples of places that can erase the line of segregation between different cultures 
and communities.   
Research Questions 
 
With respect to the increasingly transnational and transcultural world we live in today, this thesis 
aims to search for answers to the following questions:  
In terms of Community:  
? How and where do cultures meet?  
? What do common grounds of mutual understanding, communication, education, and 
interaction look like?  
? How do we preserve the group identity of different cultures in cities and, do not 
fragmentize the whole?   
? How do we create places of diversity and eliminate forced and self-segregation?   
? What do public spaces in these scenarios look like?  
In terms of Reality:  
? How does a diverse, integrated and affordable future become a reality with the coming of 
the purple line?  
Where will this take place?  
? Langley Park Maryland. 
? What ?Can? the future of Langley Park look like with the passing of the purple line?  
? How can the Purple line be used to the advantage of celebrating culture and difference?  
The significance of the study     
 
 4 
By looking at the problem from different stockholders? viewpoints, we can tackle the issues 
arising in Langley Park with the coming of the purple line.  The reality of the purple line passing 
through this immigrant population?s region is that inevitably prices ?will? rise. Therefore, we will 
be left with two options. Either let the process of rising prices, large developments, and 
gentrification take place and leave the vulnerable population to move out and find a new location 
- Losing their social network investments and opportunities. Or, we plan for it now and take the 
future into our own hands.  
Our hypothesis is, if we look at the problem based on the needs and benefits of each of the 
stakeholders mentioned below, we will be able to imagine an equitable future for Langley Park, 
where everyone is represented, without the displacement of the population. In addition, regarding 
architecture, we hypothesize that there is a middle ground option of designing for different 
cultures in public spaces where cultural representation is not a caricature.  Public spaces are to be 
imagined as a place of connection, interaction and in other words social seams that connect 
different cultures to each other.  The stakeholders involved are: 
The communities as clients: we need to 
? Understand their cultures and needs. 
? Understand their acculturation strategies, resources, and social networks. 
? Protect their local businesses. 
? Create business incubators and rely on the entrepreneurship of the communities.  
? Understand the importance of social landscapes and urban places such as community 
gardens and plazas.  
The developers as clients: we need to know 
 5 
? What incentives can be created as attractions for investment in affordable housing and 
services to the community?  
? What the incentives are for nonprofit developers. 
? If we can use the Latino culture and local businesses as attractions to create cultural 
districts and use cultural tourism strategies?   
The city and legislation agencies as developers: we need to 
? Find ways to take advantage of Montgomery County and Prince George County being 
sanctuary cities to serve vulnerable and undocumented immigrants.   
? Find the mediating and grassroots organizations that can lead the community in 
protecting its assets and encourage proactive incorporation of residents.  
? Make use of transformative planning tools.  
? Find ways to challenge land use to support the specific populations? needs and services.   
Research Limitations  
 
The first and the most critical limitation of this project is its large scale and vast pool of data and 
issues.  We will not be able to tackle all the issues related to this area. Therefore, our aim can 
only be to create a framework of issues to tackle and limit ourselves. How and what this 
framework is will be the aim of this thesis.  
Other limitations can be:  
? The short time period to do enough interviews 
? Spanish speaking population and issues related to the translation of information and 
interviews. 
 6 
CHAPTER 2: Immigrant Communities and The Importance of Social Capital 
Introduction  
 
In today?s interconnected world, international immigration is a phenomenon happening in every 
part of the globe. With transportation making it easier for people to move whether, for education, 
better life quality, fear of war or just for a new experience, international immigration touches all 
countries. War refugees in the middle east and Europe, Asian immigrants in Asia, America and 
Europe, Central and South American immigrants and refugees in North America, are all examples 
of movements of vulnerable communities taking place in between countries, looking for a better 
quality of life.  
In 2017, the number of international migrants reached an estimated 258 million persons 
from 173 million in 2000. An increase of 85 million (49 percent). Half of this increase took place 
in countries of the developed regions, while the other half took place in the developing regions4. 
North America hosts the largest number of international immigrants with the US hosting close to 
45 million in 2017 (40 million in 2010 according to the census bureau).  
When supported by appropriate policies, migration can contribute to inclusive and 
sustainable economic growth and development in both home and host communities. Although 
low-income immigrants and refugees bring with themselves the needs of social services, health 
services, affordable housing and so on, countries of destination benefit significantly from 
migration as migrants often fill critical labor gaps, create jobs as entrepreneurs, and pay taxes and 
social security contributions. Some migrants are among the most dynamic members of the host 
 
4 UN. Population Facts. New York: United Nations Population Division, 2017 
 
 7 
society contributing to the development of science and technology and enriching their host 
communities by providing cultural diversity5. Countries, where policies offer a welcome mat to 
all immigrant communities, will benefit more from there diversity and foster integration and 
cultural bridging.  
This is not only positive for the growth of immigrants in quality of life, but also for the 
growth and investment in their countries of origin.  In 2016, migrants from developing countries 
sent home an estimated $413 billion in remittances. Remittances constitute a significant source of 
household income that improves the livelihoods of families and communities through investments 
in education, health, sanitation, housing, and infrastructure6.  
 
Figure 1Number of international migrants classifies by region of origin and destination in 2017 (source UN report 2017) 
 
5 UN. Population Facts. New York: United Nations Population Division, 2017. 
6 UN. Population Facts. New York: United Nations Population Division, 2017. 
 8 
 
Figure 2 number of immigrants hosted in top 20 countries by millions (source UN report 2017) 
Latino-American 
 
Latinos are a mixed-race people, who have typically referred to their mix as either "mestizo", the 
mixing of Spanish with indigenous Native Americans, or "mulatto," referring to the mixing of 
Spanish with African slaves. The term "Hispanic," which is what Latinos are officially referred to 
by Census trackers and in other official documents, is a label of convenience that has been used to 
refer to people with family origins in Mexico, Central or South America, the Spanish-speaking 
Caribbean, and Spain. The term "Latino," which is preferred by many who are called "Hispanics" 
and was introduced into government nomenclature in the 2000 Census, refers to the same group 
minus those of exclusively Spanish-European ancestry. This distinction means little in terms of 
actual numbers, but it makes an important historical and psychological differentiation between 
those whose origins can be exclusively traced to the country that produced the colonizers of Latin 
America and those who are descended from the lands that were a product of this colonization, that 
 9 
is, a mixture of the colonizers, the colonized, and select others 7.  To talk about the history of the 
Latino population in the united states is to talk about the history of discrimination and battles of 
the communities, which is out of the scope of this thesis. Because historic ties and struggles are 
part of individual and group identity factors and play an important role in the visualization of 
spaces, they will be considered and looked at in talking to and interviewing the residents of 
Langley Park.  
According to the Census Bureau the Hispanic population of the United States as of July 1, 
2017, was   58.9 million, making people of Hispanic origin the nation?s largest ethnic or racial 
Figure 3 Hispanic population and projections (from: US Census Bureau 2018) 
 
7 Domenech Rodri?guez, Melanie M. , and Ana Mari Cauce. "Latino families: Myths and realities." 2002. 
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/43310185 (accessed 4 14, 2019). 
 
 10 
minority. Hispanics constituted 18.1 percent of the nation?s total population. This number is 
projected to rise by the midpoint of the century8 (Bureau, 2018)  ( see figure 3).  
These large numbers and projections put Latinos at the top of the minority population 
within the country. This shows that even just for economic issues, Latinos will be a top priority 
and target group to different industries. Governments must realize the profitability of 
multiculturalism and consumer consumption and develop innovative initiatives to support them.  
We must look beyond our prejudices and perceived conceptions and look at the beneficial 
outcomes of incorporating them in our public policies. It is the role of policymakers to enact 
policies that reflect the needs of residents within a jurisdiction and to deter the use of policies that 
divide communities along racial or ethnic lines. The Latino population rise will also place 
dramatic demands on services such as housing. This large projected population growth will 
pressure governments, industries and architects and planners to modify the methods by which 
they develop cities and suburbs and will challenge them to create innovative models and designs 
to support a sustainable state will principally be determined by how they choose to configure 
people into communities and housing units9. 
Much of the research done in Latino communities is focused on the Demographics of the 
Mexican population in the United States, especially in the south-west regions, as they are the 
majority of Latino immigrants in the country. This is somewhat a limitation of information 
because cultures, traditions, and lifestyles vary from country to county, region to region and city 
to rural areas. There is even some information about the problems and clashes of the Mexican and 
El Salvadorian populations. For example, when researching the differences between the two 
 
8 https://www.census.gov/newsroom/facts-for-features/2018/hispanic-heritage-month.html 
9 Mendez, Michael . "Latino New Urbanism: Building on Cultural Preferences." Opolis , 2005: 33-48. 
 11 
countries, many articles about ?why Mexicans dislike Salvadorians? came up. However, studies 
show that there is a large heterogeneity within and between each Latino group belies the 
uniformity with which they are typically treated, both in the popular press and by academic 
researchers. There are some characteristics that give some meaning to this classification of 
convenience. Their shared history of Spanish colonization and shared a regional origin in Latin 
America has resulted in a common language and gives the Catholic Church a central role in 
shaping values 10. Moreover, most share a history of relatively recent immigration, and within the 
United States, they are subject to similar stereotypes and discrimination, providing for some sense 
of common identity, if only for political reasons.  
For the purpose of this project, we will try to look at the research and information that can 
be referenced to most of the Hispanic culture and society. Although, the main portion of the 
understanding of the culture of the residents will be researched through community observation, 
social mapping, and interviews with the community and organizations within the area.  
What happens in Immigration? Acculturation strategies; Integration, assimilation, 
marginalization, and separation  
 
Immigrants draw on the traditional social norms and frameworks they bring from their 
homelands, these are modified by their new social environments. They bring their cultural and 
ideological baggage to their new setting, but as they unpack it, it gets rearranged11. What does this 
rearrangement look like? What influences this process for both sides of the table? What do the 
 
10 Moore & Pachon, 1985; Tienda & Ortiz, 1986 in Domenech Rodri?guez, Melanie M. , and Ana Mari 
Cauce. "Latino families: Myths and realities." 2002. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/43310185 (accessed 
4 14, 2019). 
 
11 Domenech Rodri?guez, Melanie M. , and Ana Mari Cauce. "Latino families: Myths and realities." 2002. 
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/43310185 (accessed 4 14, 2019). 
 
 12 
host and immigrant populations prefer in this process? We look for the answer to these questions 
in acculturation strategies.  
The definitions of acculturation vary depending upon the vantage point of the discipline of 
the definer. The use of the concept of acculturation appears as early as 1880 (Powell, cited in 
Herskovits, 1938), but the earliest classic formulation comes from Redfield, Linton, and 
Herskovits (1936):  
?Acculturation comprehends those phenomena which result when groups of individuals 
having different cultures come into continuous first-hand contact, with subsequent changes in the 
original culture patterns of either or both groups (p. 149).? 
In the post-modern world of the 21st century where information and transportation 
technologies have made communications and immigration much easier than before, a logical 
question to ask is what happens when people with two (or more) cultures meet and have to live 
together for longer periods of time. The most important concern of us here is the cultural behavior 
of immigrants and refugees in a host society. Do they lose their own manner of life and accept 
and integrate the culture of their hosts? Do they, or better say, are they able to maintain their own 
cultural belonging? If so, how do they communicate with their host communities and what 
reactions do the host societies have in this respect?   
Theories of immigration incorporation have moved away from the assimilation 
perspectives. But Berry?s framework seems to incorporate all the features others mention.  
Berry suggests that although assimilation is a strategy that has been believed by host 
societies for many years, it is not what usually takes place. He argues that while cultural change is 
 13 
ubiquitous, cultural groups do not fade and assimilation is rarely the goal of these groups12. 
Therefore, the next questions that must be answered are what does take place when cultures 
encounter each other, and more importantly what is the best outcome that should be encouraged. 
Cultural phycologists insist that results in one culture cannot be generalized in other places 
and societies. However, Berry?s studies provide evidence that there are many similarities in the 
concept of cultural interactions, strategies used by immigrants and their host, and also the nature 
of problems that may arise13. Berry proposes that when the groups involved are essentially 
cultural in nature, there are two distinct, but interrelated domains of psychological research that 
explore the field of group relations, acculturation, and ethnic relations. They are known to be 
rooted in contextual factors (such as the historical, political and economic baggage that groups 
bring to their relationship) and they lead to outcomes that can range from conflict and stress to 
harmony and effectiveness. Acculturation can be explained as a dual process of cultural and 
psychological change that takes place as a result of contact between two or more cultures and 
their individual members resulting in changes in both levels and ranging from changes in social 
structures to individual behaviors. These changes can occur through a long-term process, 
sometimes taking years, generations and sometimes centuries. Because this paper?s intention is to 
contribute to architectural strategies, we will only refer to the results of acculturation studies. 
According to Berry?s research four acculturation strategies are derived based on two basic issues 
facing all acculturating peoples. These issues are: (1) a relative preference for maintaining one's 
heritage, culture and identity, and (2) a relative preference for having contact with a participating 
 
12 W.Berry, J.  Acculturation: living successfully in two cutures. International journal of intercutural 
relations, 29, 697-712, 2005 
13 W.Berry, J.  Acculturation: living successfully in two cutures. International journal of intercutural 
relations, 29, 697-712, 2005 
 14 
in the larger society along with other ethnocultural groups14. Each strategy can be approached in 
accordance with either the non- dominant group or the dominant group because the definition of 
acculturation clearly establishes that both groups in contact should engage in the process of 
mutual or reciprocal acculturation. Hence, each perspective results differently. when looked upon 
from the perspective of the non-dominant group it is with the assumption that such groups and 
their individuals have the freedom to choose how they want to acculturate. however, if the 
dominant group enforces certain forms or constraints the choices of the non-dominant groups and 
their individuals, other terms must be used: 
Table1  Acculturation strategies (source: Berry, 2005, 2011) 
non-dominant host Dominant host  
 Assimilation Melting pot  adding the factor of the 
when individuals do not wish to maintain their Assimilation, when sought by the dominant powerful role of the 
cultural identity and seek daily interaction with acculturating group, is termed the ??melting pot?  dominant group 
other cultures  
individuals prefer to shed their heritage culture 
and become absorbed into the dominant society.  
 Separation Segregation  
when individuals place a value on holding on to When separation is forced by the dominant 
their original culture, and at the same time wish group it is called ??segregation?  
to avoid interaction with others  
individuals turn their back on 
involvement with other cultural groups and turn 
inward toward their heritage culture   
 Integration Multicultural  
When there is an interest in both maintaining integration, when diversity is an accepted 
one?s heritage culture while in daily interactions feature of the society, including all the various 
with other groups  ethnocultural groups, is called 
there is some degree of cultural integrity ??multiculturalism?  
maintained, and at the same time seeking, as a 
member of an ethnocultural group, to participate 
as an integral part of the larger social network 
  
 
14 W.Berry, J.  Acculturation: living successfully in two cutures. International journal of intercutural 
relations, 29, 697-712, 2005 & W.berry, j. Integration and muliticulturalism: ways towards social solidarity. Peer 
reviewed online journal, volume 20, 2.1-2.21. Retrieved from http://www.psych.lse.ac.uk/psr/, 2011  
 
 15 
 Marginalization Exclusion  
when there is little possibility or interest in Marginalization, when imposed by the dominant 
heritage cultural maintenance (often for reasons group, is called ??exclusion??  
of enforced cultural loss), and little interest in 
having relations with others (often for reasons of 
exclusion or discrimination)  
 
This table indicates the presence of three underlying dimensions: cultural maintenance, 
contact and participation, and the power to decide how to acculturate. In addition, it must be noted 
that to measure this scale needs the understanding of factors such as the characteristics of the host 
and receiving society, intergroup relations, personal characteristics, demographics prior to cultural 
contact, characteristics created through contact (in other words, acculturation conditions). 
According to these factors in contrast to what has been believed for many years, integration 
should logically be the best-case scenario. It requires the acceptance of the fundamentals of the 
dominant society by the non-dominant group. on the dominant side, it requires the group's 
Figure 4 Acculturation Strategies (From: Berry 2005, diagram: Author) 
 16 
willingness preparation to adapt to organizations (education, health, ?) to meet the needs of all 
groups15.  
Critics argue that there is no evidence that these four strategies are complete, or integration 
is the best situation to take place. However, Berry?s studies show that integration is what widely 
happens. 
For example, interesting research on the integration of immigrants WA done by Ernesto 
Casta?eda 16, Assistant Professor of Sociology, American University, who conducted hundreds of 
interviews with immigrants in New York, Paris and Barcelona intermittently for over a decade to 
understand how each city integrates ? or excludes ? its migrants. According to him, despite their 
diverse origins, the immigrants he spoke with consistently cited the same elements as being 
critical to their sense of urban belonging, helping them to feel ?at home? while working, 
socializing and raising a family in the city17. He states the following aspects as to why there are 
such differences18:  
? Lots of Jobs:  New York and Barcelona both have ample jobs open to immigrants in both 
the formal and informal sectors. Both cities rely heavily on immigrant labor, and in addition, are 
also generally accepting of undocumented status. 
? Events and services for immigrants: Many local nonprofit organizations and government 
agencies in New York and Barcelona exist to serve immigrants? specific needs, legal rights, 
education, employment, housing and etc. in addition, for example, the act of closing streets down 
 
15 W.berry, j. Integration and muliticulturalism: ways towards social solidarity. Peer reviewed online 
journal, volume 20, 2.1-2.21. Retrieved from http://www.psych.lse.ac.uk/psr/, 2011  
 
16 Castaneda, Ernesto. A Place to Call Home Immigrant Exclusion and Urban Belonging in New York, 
Paris, and Barcelona. Stanford: Stanford University Press, 2018. 
17 Find related tables in chapter appendix  
18 Find tables of results in appendix  
 17 
to host the Saint Patrick?s, Puerto Rican, Dominican or Mexican Day parades in New York is an 
important sign of solidarity with foreign-born residents and their descendants. 
? Let immigrants be: Immigrants mentioned that people in New York and Barcelona just 
let foreign-born residents be themselves, allowing them to maintain their own identity while 
creating a new home. In other words, the ratio between being specifically catered to and treated 
the same as anyone else that determines how welcome they feel. The key to inclusion seems to be 
to help immigrant integration without forcing it. 
Here we can see the implications of Berry?s integration argument. By considering the 
acculturation conditions of the host city, usually large, with a high number of immigrants and 
therefore accepting and open to a foreign population, immigrants feel at home. Where they have 
the freedom to ?be who they are?, or in other words have the freedom to keep their identity and 
participate in the host society.    
But where did France go wrong? The secular political stance makes it difficult for French 
society to address the ways that immigrants may, in fact, be different than native-born French. 
Ethnic or racial identity not asked in their census, seeing ethnic and race-based organizations as 
anti- French, therefore forcing immigrants to practice their religion and cultural traditions in 
private, the pressure to conform to the national culture makes immigrants feel less at 
home19.  This shows the importance of the freedom of ?Let immigrants be? where the dominant 
society puts no pressure on the minority or conform to its beliefs, lifestyles, and ways of life.  
Can we find the support of these theories on integration within our cities? Does this mean 
that across cities like New York we will not be seeing cultural divides? 
 
19 Castaneda, Ernesto. A Place to Call Home Immigrant Exclusion and Urban Belonging in New York, 
Paris, and Barcelona. Stanford: Stanford University Press, 2018. 
 18 
The rise in the immigrant population is a reality. Immigrants makeup and will make up 
more and more of our communities in the future. But, as we look at segregation maps of cities 
today, we can see the divided lines within our cities, even the ones where integration in argued to 
be stronger. This may not be due to immigrants not integrating into the host society but rooted in 
affordability, historic segregation laws which live on until today, or ethnic enclaves forming 
thought time. It is true that living ?amongst your own? brings with itself the feeling of familiarity, 
safety and in other words home, but the question we ask is how can we design the seams between 
these divisions of color? How can we create places of interaction, growth, and education so that at 
Figure 5 segregation maps, from top: Los Angeles and Maryland (source New York times segregation maps) 
 19 
least in the future we see fewer lines and more gradients?  This thesis aims to design these 
dividing lines.  
We must not neglect these dividing lines. We must look for this integration, mutual respect, 
and understanding. We can find it in our present; our shared needs for the same types of planning, 
needs, and preferences. We can find it in our future; our shared efforts to gain communal and economic 
benefits. And lastly, we can find it in our shared history. Like the mural in the city of Perry which 
depicts the immigration story of the white settler and the Latino immigrants aim to bridge the gap 
between the two populations, we can find mutual grounds in our shared history. After all, one way 
or another we are all immigrants.  Our public spaces or in other words our social seams, can be 
the placeholders for these shared values and encourage us t to interact and build upon our shared 
benefits by celebrating our diversity.  
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 20 
CHAPTER 3: Latino space and place  
 
Introduction   
 
Understanding the values of the cultural landscape is crucial in the process of placemaking. When 
immigrants move to a new country, especially in such large numbers, they bring with themselves 
lifestyles, patterns of economic trade and social relationships that reflect in their neighborhood?s 
appearances. They create strong networks of social infrastructure, often not evident at first glance. 
These networks create environments which become the attraction and first stop of new coming 
migrants; they become a safe, familiar place reminding them of home; they became places of 
opportunity where they can find jobs in local and ethnic business, or use the social networks to 
find jobs elsewhere.  
Latinos have been impacting the built environment and public realm in dynamic ways that 
are more conducive to cultural (re)adaptation while contributing to the social and economic 
developments of urban and suburban neighborhoods and commercial corridors. Studies 
demonstrate that immigrants strengthen urban economies and revitalize economically depressed 
neighborhoods. While helping to reverse the decay of inner cities and simultaneously augmenting 
the labor force, consumer demand, trade, and other economic stimuli. Immigrants have also 
revitalized working-class neighborhoods, strip malls, and commercial buildings.  
As we saw, the Latino populations are the fastest-growing population in the US. Research 
shows that buying power has also risen20.  
 
20 Lara, Jesus J. . Lationo Placemaking and Planinng; Cultural Resilience and Stregths for Reurbanization. 
The University of Arizona Press, 2018. 
 
 21 
In a study called The State of Hispanic Consumer, the Nielson Company identifies six 
characteristics of the Latino market that has promoted its growth21:  
1- Latinos are a fundamental component of business success, not a passing niche of the 
sidelines.  
2- Rapid Latino population growth will persist even if immigration is completely halted 
3- Latinos have assumed significant buying power with the rise of their median income.  
4- Latinos are the largest immigrant group to exhibit significant culture sustainability and 
are not disappearing into the American melting pot 
5- Latino technology and media use do not mirror the general market but have distinct 
patterns owing to language, culture and ownership dynamics. 
6- Latinos exhibit distinct product consumption patterns and are not buying in ways that are 
the same as the total market.  
These points underscore the importance and effects of the Latino population on the 
economies they set foot in. Pacific BLV in Huntington Park, Plaza Mexico in Lynwood, Highland 
Park all in Los Angeles, are examples of the attraction of Latino culture for economic investment 
and how they can revitalize cities from the scale of neighborhoods to larger regions. Ethnic 
populations may not have historically seen much investment and may not have had capital, but 
they have an advantage above other neighborhoods for investment, due to their social networks, 
strong communities, and cultural attraction. They are one of the best platforms for investment.  
 
 
 
21 Lara, Jesus J. . Lationo Placemaking and Planinng; Cultural Resilience and Stregths for Reurbanization. 
The University of Arizona Press, 2018. 
 
 22 
Latino placemaking 
 
Research on Latino environments has mostly taken place in Mexican communities. Although 
Visitors from the 1950s were surprised at the low level of influence of large population of 
Mexican culture on the architecture of their environment and have related this small amount on 
the low economic status of the population (Arreola, 1988), the Latino urban lifestyle has been 
looked at in the home, the relationship between homes and at the larger urban scale. 
One of the most important researchers in this field is Daniel Arreola who looks at these 
patterns in Mexican American neighborhoods or Barrios across the Southwest. Some of the 
results of these researches are (Mendez and Arreola 1988):  
1- Changes this ethnic minority makes in the scale of the home: paint, stucco, chain link 
fence, adding or enlarging front porches, iron fences, fountains and other amenities.  
(As Areolla 1988 would put it; the house scape is a complex of elements that include the 
front yard up to the fence or wall because it is larger than a house but smaller than a landscape.)  
2- Enclosure; fencing along the front of the property:  this pattern can be traced to the 
evolution of the Spanish townscape in central America. The introverted American house style is 
extroverted; to maximize social interaction among household members. (the Mexican courtyard 
style). Unlike the colonial Spanish forms of the courtyard and atrium (a type of churchyards for 
social gathering), the Anglo patterns placed a structure near the center of a lot so that open space 
existed on the front and the back of a dwelling. Therefore, as open perimeter housescapes became 
common in the Southwest, Mexican Americans adapted to the new building tradition by fencing 
the enclosing. These are factors present in the single-family sections of Langley Park.  
3- Porches and driveways as social spaces; patios, barbecues and other social festivities.  
4- Some changes to architecture style in some neighborhoods. 
 23 
5- Porches as places for neighbors to gather.  
6- Parks and plazas as core social settings; neighborhood parks for social interaction as a 
surrogate for the misplace plaza; for parties, picnics, celebrations, etc. this is a great contrast to 
Anglos. Research shows that Anglos valued park more for its aesthetics and natural elements 
while Latinos value them for its opportunities for social interaction. The root of the importance of 
plazas can be found in the Spanish colonized cities in Central America and the implementation of 
The Laws of the Indies. The large parks to the east of Langley park are places where the 
community uses for their social event.  
7- Religious Shrines in front yards: religious affiliation is a dominant force in maintaining 
ethnic identity. The attention to folk religious artifacts is also evident in traditional Mexican 
households. The yard shrine is a Roman Catholic feature that resembles a little house or church, 
and most are similar in basic design in different locations22 .  Again, this is a feature mostly 
present in single-family homes in the Langley Park area.  
8- Color; an expression of identity; mostly bright color has been seen in many ethnic 
neighborhoods and barrios in a different region of the united states. Although the purpose of a 
specific color in cultural contexts in complex, color generally has a meaning, especially in 
contrast with the absence of it. This feature can also be traced to houses and commercial 
structures not only in centers with a colonial background but also in the urban area of later origin.   
9- Urban theorist and practitioner Rojas (2010) have observed that Latinos in Los Angeles 
are transforming Los Angeles inner-city and inner-ring suburbs, retrofitting the existing built 
environment to accommodate their own social and economic needs. For example, old warehouses 
have been converted into swap meets, brightly colored paint adorns many Latino shops, and many 
 
22  Called nichos (nichces) in Tucson, capillas (little chapels) in San Antonio and grutas (grottoes) in Los Angeles  
 24 
Latino homeowners transform front yards and porches into sites for parties, perhaps socializing 
on a sofa set on the lawn, or selling food or recycled items hanging from front fences, or working 
in the driveway. According to Rojas (2010:41), ??Unlike the typical middle-class suburban house 
that pulls itself away from the street, the Latino household extends graciously to the street23. 
What appears to influence the built form of dwellings and their attendant space is the vision 
held by the people. Built forms have a permanence that imprints and influences future 
generations, even though the current generation may not know the reason for past constructions. 
Each house scape element appears to be part of a historic code of this ethnic group24. What we 
build and design for the future will be our translation of our beliefs and traditions. Each house 
scape element appears to be part of a historic code, rooted in distant pasts, that broadcasts to 
members of this ethnic group, a presentation that suggests an ideal tied to social status, a 
reflection of faith and not economic status.  
Another interest to planners and policymakers is Latino urban living, which shows a 
cultural appreciation of and a familiarity with compact living, mixed-use, transit usage, and 
socially rich public spaces. This presents a window of extraordinary opportunity for the 
preservation and expansion of ?smart growth?. More recently, Latino barrios have been praised 
by scholars and policymakers because they encompass the premises of smart growth and New 
Urbanism, including compact living, mixed uses, lively use of public spaces, and heavy reliance 
on walking and transit for transportation25. Researchers such as Michael Mendez argue that the 
 
23 Hondagney- Stelo, Pierrette . "At home in Inner CIty immigrant Community Gardens." Journal 
of House and Built Envionment, no. 32 (2017): 13-28. 
24 Arreola, Daniel D. . "Mexican American Housescapes ." Geographical Review, Vol 78, No 3, 
1988: 299-315 . 
 
25 Irazabal, Clara, and Ramzi Farhat. "Latino Communities in the United States: Place-Making in the Pre-
World War II, Postwar, and Contemporary City." Journal of Planning Literature (Sage Publications) Vol. 22, no. 
No. 3 (2008): 207-228. 
 25 
Latinos? cultural inclination to a lifestyle supportive of compact cities provides policymakers with 
a sustainable alternative that possesses a built-in consumer base. In his opinion, at a time when 
California is torn between several urban development models?developing compact cities, 
preserving the environment, or increasing urban sprawl and slums, the development and 
advancement of compact cities may be dependent on the ability of policymakers to sustain and 
support the Latino lifestyle. He also illustrates the key role Latinos play in adapting and 
transforming existing neighborhoods to promote New Urbanist-type landscapes26.  
New Urbanism, like the compact city, is an attempt to reform the sprawling pattern of 
suburban growth. New Urbanism favors residential development that includes small lots, short 
housing setbacks, alleys, front porches, compact walkable neighborhoods with abundant public 
spaces and parks, and a mix of land uses. Additionally, through the mix of diverse housing styles, 
land uses, and accessibility to parks, New Urbanist developments seek to construct a place that 
promotes social interaction and a strong sense of community27. The Latino lifestyle represents 
their values.  Latinos? cultural inclinations for social interaction and their adaptive energies have 
created a de facto environment that already supports compact city and New Urbanist lifestyles. 
For example, Latinos have continually used adaptive methods to transform their communities to 
better suit their needs and to promote social interaction. This is most apparent through their 
adaptive reuse of homes, parks, and public spaces. The cultural predilections have created a 
Latinized model of New Urbanist communities28. In Langley Park, we can see this urban social 
 
26 Mendez, Michael . "Latino New Urbanism: Building on Cultural Preferences." Opolis , 2005: 33-48. 
 
27 Hall and Porterfield 2001 
 
28 Mendez, Michael . "Latino New Urbanism: Building on Cultural Preferences." Opolis , 2005: 33-48. 
 
 26 
lifestyle in the number of people using outdoor spaces. Interviews and environmental 
observations also show many people walking around the environment and small food stands at the 
corner of street intersections. The people have been using the spaces to their advantage. But what 
Langley Park lacks is twofold. On one end the urban environment lacks any kind of urban space 
amenities to foster these social interactions, and the space lack any opportunity for people to 
express themselves. In other words, we have the community, we don?t have the urban landscape.   
Investing in social capital 
 
We have talked much about the importance of understanding the values of the Latino lifestyle to 
develop an innovative solution for this large and growing population. One of the most important 
values of this group is their social and family values. Therefore, we will look at the importance of 
culture and social capital.  
Culture is believed to be the most significant factor affecting human behavior and identity. 
Culture which is a difficult concept to describe is defined by the methods and techniques. Culture 
includes (1) visible artifacts, for example, food, clothing, tools, architecture, and landscape; (2) 
visible behaviors based on inferred rules or code systems, for example, language, social roles and 
rituals; and (3) fundamental attitudes, beliefs, and values. ??Things, activities, and attitudes are 
classified in any one culture on a scale which runs from good to evil, from desirable to 
undesirable, and from acceptable to unacceptable?? (Ruesch et al., 1948, p. 1).  Culture is crucially 
important in determining how we live and behave both social and individually. It is not only 
established in human cognition right from the beginning of his/her life but also stays with people 
for the rest of their lives. Culture manifests itself much stronger when a group when a large group 
of immigrants come together within a so-called enclave and create a specific and identifiable 
 27 
society. Setting aside whether the community functions as a whole, such large populations of 
people with a similar origin, language, culture, and lifestyle, are within themselves rich in the 
potential for creating a strong and active community. This may lie in the importance we give to 
the social capital of such communities.  
Among social scientists, Robert Putnam (1995) has been perhaps the most impassioned 
advocate of the social capital paradigm. Starting with his widely cited 1995 essay ?Bowling 
Alone: The Strange Disappearance of Civic America?, Putnam has articulated a broad vision of 
the role of social capital in our society. According to Putnam, a substantial component of 
fluctuations for phenomena ranging from voting to crime to philanthropy is attributed to 
fluctuations in the stock of social capital. In his book, Bowling Alone, Putnam expands the 
suggestions of this original essay into a full-blown analysis of modern American life29.  Putnam 
shows how we have become increasingly disconnected from family, friends, neighbors, and our 
democratic structures. A difference we see in the two Latino and Anglo societies.  
Putnam warns that our stock of social capital ? the very fabric of our connections with each 
other, has plummeted, impoverishing our lives and communities. He draws on evidence including 
nearly 500,000 interviews over the last quarter-century to show that we sign fewer petitions, 
belong to fewer organizations that meet, know our neighbors less, meet with friends less 
frequently, and even socialize with our families less often. We?re even bowling alone. Putnam 
shows how changes in work, family structure, age, suburban life, television, computers, women?s 
roles, and other factors have contributed to this decline30. Social capital has become one of the 
 
29 Durlauf, Steven N. . "Bowling Alone: a review essay." Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization 
Vol. 47 , 2002: 259?273. 
30 Putam , Robert D. . Robert D. Putnam. n.d. http://robertdputnam.com/bowling-alone/social-capital-
primer/ (accessed March 9, 2019). 
 
 28 
most active areas of analysis and debate in the social sciences over the last decade. From the 
perspective of social sciences such as economics, the social capital literature represents a 
relatively heterodox way of thinking as it moves away from an emphasis on how individuals 
make purposeful, self-interest choices to understanding how social norms and social structures 
emerge and condition individual behaviors. From the perspective of public policy, social capital 
has been treated as a ?missing link? in explaining the success or failure of different communities 
and even societies31.  
 Putnam defines social capital as the norms and networks of social relations that build trust 
and mutual reciprocity among community residents, social organizations, and civic institutions32. 
Social capital is found in friendship networks, neighborhoods, churches, schools, bridge clubs, 
civic associations, and even bars. Or when a group of neighbors informally keep an eye on one 
another?s homes, that?s social capital in action. The motto in Cheers ?where everybody knows 
your name? captures one important aspect of social capital33.  
The importance of immigrant communities at the large scale of Langley Park is the social 
capital and networks within. It is important for local governments to understand and build upon 
these networks.  
Looking at Langley Park and its immigrant community, which becomes crucial in future 
developments, is building higher levels of connection. Although the community may be strong in 
its social interactions and capital, what should be strengthened is connections and dialogues with 
 
31 Durlauf, Steven N. . "Bowling Alone: a review essay." Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization 
Vol. 47 , 2002: 259?273. 
32 Potapchuk, William R., Jarle P. Crocker, William H. Schechter, and Dina Boogaard. Building 
Community: Exploring The role of Social, Capitol and Local Government. Washington DC: The Program for 
Community Problem Solving (PCPS), 1998. 
33 Putam , Robert D. . Robert D. Putnam. n.d. http://robertdputnam.com/bowling-alone/social-capital-
primer/ (accessed March 9, 2019). 
 29 
the larger community. This is the issue with many immigrant populations. With social interactions 
are only within the direct community and the same culture, separation of this group may occur. 
Although many factors and variables affect acculturation such as reasons for immigration, age, 
education level, host society attitudes, cultural distance, generation, some are such as language, 
social support, ethnic discrimination or socioeconomic status are more persistent in Langley Park.  
On the other side of the spectrum, lies the social lifestyles of the immigrant community.  
But there is another side we must also consider the individual and social capital scale. This 
is where much of the inter-relationships of different cultures in Berry?s acculturation strategies 
come into play. The individual and more private lifestyle of the host America society and the 
social and more interconnected culture of the Latino community are meeting in one place. 
Although the America dream of a single-family home and private property to do as you wish on it 
is why many immigrants come to this country, in reality, home, and rent prices force lower-
income families into apartment buildings and overcrowding homes. For example, walking 
through Langley park with no doubt you will always hear music playing, either from home or a 
nearby car.  A specification that when talking to the people you understand is a typical one in 
their countries of origin. But in the host country, it is not. This is where cultural conflict occurs. 
Such examples may well be the reason most cultures tend to live in areas where they find similar 
people. In terms of architecture and urban spaces, these issues clearly show a need for cultural and 
identity manifestation.   
What is very critical in housing models for this population is understanding the important 
and dominant role of families in Latino society and how they influence the individual behavior 
and in turn the architecture and planning of the home and place. We see this in the differences of 
the immigrant culture and the host culture. The Latino individual attempts to make his or her 
 30 
decisions consistent with the needs of the family, whereas the Anglo individual tends to make 
decisions unilaterally. Latinos are more likely to focus on relationships, while Anglos are inclined 
to be task oriented. For Anglos, individual achievement dominates, whereas, for Latinos, family 
interdependence takes priority. Family interdependency may explain why more Latinos multiple 
generational households have, adult children remaining at home longer than non-Latinos, or why 
Latinos adapt their homes to facilitate social interaction. Latinos are already adapting the built 
environment to maximize social interaction and activities consistent with compact city lifestyles, 
therefore housing developments should be produced that reflect these cultural values and 
preferences34. For example, some scholars such as Pader (2002) in affiliated fields have tackled 
some important issues such as social construction of occupancy standards that discriminate 
against Latinos? preference for extended family living arrangements. Again, she emphasizes the 
difference between Anglo individualism and the need for privacy and interdependency of some 
other culture 35. Such research shows the importance of lifestyles not only in the social construct 
of different cultures but how policy and regulation must consider these factors.  In Latino 
communities, the attainment of place identity represents a synthesis of spatial, cultural, economic, 
and governance accomplishments. As such, it should constitute a crucial planning objective and a 
focus on community mobilization36.  
 
 
34 Mendez, Michael . "Latino New Urbanism: Building on Cultural Preferences." Opolis , 2005: 33-48. 
 
35 Pader, Ellen. "Housing Occupancy Standards: Inscribing Ethnicity And Family Relations On The Land." 
Journal of Architectural and Planning Research Vol. 19, no. No. 4 (2002): 300- 318. 
36 Irazabal, Clara, and Ramzi Farhat. "Latino Communities in the United States: Place-Making in the Pre-
World War II, Postwar, and Contemporary City." Journal of Planning Literature (Sage Publications) Vol. 22, no. 
No. 3 (2008): 207-228. 
 31 
Ending Note  
 
?New Latino communities have revitalized fading shopping streets, refilled empty 
classrooms, and set off a wave of frantic rehabbing of aging homes? often by the same 
immigrant workers who spend their day's drywalling, painting, and landscaping for the 
upper-middle class.?  Ray Suarez37. 
Areolla writes that the evidence from the past supports the assertion adaptation has largely 
been responsible for the persistence of house scape elements. If Mexican Americans are viewed 
as tricultural, sharing Indian, Spanish, and Anglo- American traditions, the folk houses and the 
current house scape for this ethnic subculture must also be products of a multicultural adaptation 
process. Several studies have shown that traditional behavioral patterns in this ethnic group have 
unusual resiliency despite urbanization, acculturation and socioeconomic mobility38. Here we 
must argue that these are factors of integration. Latino residents of America have brought with 
them elements of identity. Whether religious or rooted in colonial history, they are part of the 
expression of identity. This is the special baggage that immigrants carry with them in migration. 
Elements that are a reminder of home can be the basis of connection to group identity.  
In terms of placemaking in such communities we must look at three key dimensions39:  
? The use of public and private space 
? The way groups make claims in relation to the built environment  
 
37 Suarez, Ray. "A people, of People, Makes its place." In Dialogos Placemaking in Latino Communities , 
by Michael Rios, Leonardo Vazquez, & Lucrezia Miranda, xv-xviii. New York and Oxon : Routledge, 2012. 
 
38 Arreola, Daniel D. . "Mexican American Housescapes ." Geographical Review, Vol 78, No 3, 1988: 
299-315 . 
39 Rios , Michael, Leonardo Vazquez, and Lucrezia Marinda. Dialogos; Placemaking in Latino 
Communites. New York and Oxon: Routledge , 2012. 
 32 
? The ways in which they create a sense of belonging in those places  
Emily Tullen40 in her book Designing for diversity depicts 4 different neighborhoods and 
gives design strategies for the preservation of diversity in designing their public places.  She 
argues that the promotion of social diversity has implications for the design of the built 
environment and that the container should show some relation to its content, as in different types 
of people, their needs, tastes, interests, constraints. In turn how people are connected and whether 
they are secure must be considered. According to Tullen, the task is to figure out what social 
goals associated with various planning and design approaches that can be linked to social 
diversity.  
How immigrant populations change their space of living to show this identity is what we as 
designers and planners must focus on. In addition, the study of lifestyle and cultural norms such 
as the importance of family, social connection and interdependence, will guide us in creating 
policies and planning community engagement.  To do this we must not just rely on local 
communities. In immigrant populations and places, the appropriation of space to accommodate 
social and cultural needs is often in conflict with zoning and land use norms. Therefore, 
mechanisms such as mediating organizations are needed to represent the local communities in 
higher places of power and Should seek to expand scale and scope by strengthening the alliance 
 
40 Tullen, Emily . Designing for Diversiy: Exploring Socially Mixed Neighborhoods . Oxford, UK: 
Elsevier, 2008. 
 
 33 
with other networks and actors while keeping a community-based profile and local emphasis41.  
Some mechanism can be as follows42:  
- Mediating organizations; such as diversity committees; to deal with ordinance and land 
use concerns, to create opportunities for local events, to deal with conflict. Made up of:  
? Key government officials such as mayors 
? city administrators 
? Planners 
? School leaders  
?  Heads od chamber of commerce 
? Police 
? Latino community leaders  
? Business leaders from both sides  
- Another mediating organization is faith-based institutions:  
- University planning initiatives and technical assistance: 
? To research and create planning proposals  
- Importance of proactive incorporation of immigrants in towns social structure  
- Building upon the entrepreneur spirit of Latino small businesses. These businesses 
contribute to: 
o Local tax base 
 
41 Loukaitou-Sideris, Anastasia. "Using Cultural Tourism as Competitive Advantage; Attracting Culttural 
Tourism in Latino Neighborhoods ." In Dialogos; Placemanking In Latino Communities, by Michael Rios, Leonardo 
Vazquez , & Lucrezia Miranda, 69-82. New york and Oxon: Routledge, 2012. 
42 Sandoval, Gerardo Francisco. "Transnational Placemaking in Small Town America." In Dialogos; 
Placemaking in Latino Communites, by Michael Rios, Leonardo Vazquez, & Lucrezia Miranda, 50-66. New York 
and Oxon: Routledge, 2012. 
 
 34 
o Decrease vacancy rates in streets  
o Contribute to job creation 
o Serve as an anchor to Latino communities  
o Local officials can serve these businesses with:  
? Business education classes 
? Microfinancing loans with flexible financial requirements 
? Losing rigid code enforcement  
? Establish networking for mutual support and information sharing  
- Planning efforts should be focused on people and relationships between them.   
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 35 
CHAPTER 4: Langley Park and The International Corridor 
Introduction  
This chapter takes a deep dive into the history, situation, demographic structure, and issues 
of Langley Park. It walks through the analysis of different aspects of the commercial and 
residential area of Langley park by looking at the different related information and maps. This 
chapter concludes with a critique of the plans and proposals for the area and an analysis of the 
research needed with a SWOT table. The goal is to find a research methodology that can guide 
observation and analysis of the culture and lifestyles of the community in the following sections.  
Langley Park A History  
 
Langley Park, an inner-ring suburb of Washington DC, is a Neighborhood located in the heart of 
Maryland at the intersection of University Boulevard and New Hampshire Ave. This diverse area 
consists of two counties and the city of Takoma Park, divided by the intersection.  
From the colonial period until around 1924 Langley park was an agriculture community 
composed of large farming tracts and plantations. In 1921, Fredrick and Henrietta McCormick- 
Goodhart bought a 565-acre estate and named it Langley park after their family?s estate in 
England43. The family commissioned the famous architect of embassies and Washington homes, 
George Oakley Totten, Jr to build a house with 28 rooms, which today is home to the non-profit 
organization CASA de Maryland. The Langley Park Mansion standing in the middle of garden 
apartments approached by a circular drive from the south, is a Georgian Revival estate mansion, 
 
43 Ueda, Reed. America's Changing Neighborhoods; An Exploration of Diversity through Places. (Santa 
Barbara: ABC-CLIO, LLC, 2017 ). 
 36 
of clay tile, and concrete, circa, about180 by 40 feet; the exterior is of brick with cast-stone trim44. 
After WWII the original owner?s sons sold most of the property to private and religious interests. 
For example, around 34 acres to Maryland National Capital Park and Planning Commission, and 
25 acres and the mansion to the Eudist Fathers of Montreal45. During the Eudists tenure, the 
setting of the Langley Park mansion remained essentially unchanged, but the major change was 
soon to come. With the closing of the seminary in 1963, the Eudist seminary property was sold to 
apartment developers. The lake was filled in, and construction began on 590 low-rise garden 
apartment rental units46(Willow Brook Apartments) on the circa 25-acre grounds (known as 
Parcel L) of the mansion. The stables and carriage house were turned into the complex physical 
plant. The estate's polo grounds became Langley ? McCormick elementary school47. In 1964 
work began on the mansion to convert it into the Willow Brook Montessori School. It remained 
the centerpiece of this new residential development, and the Montessori School operated into the 
1990s until the serious deterioration of the building caused its closure. During this time, the 
immigrant population, particularly Hispanic, of the area surrounding the Langley Park mansion 
increased. In 1985, CASA de Maryland, a small social service organization, was founded, with 
the goal of aiding, training, job placement, and access to resources to low-wage Latinos and other 
immigrant families. In 2005, the owners of Parcel L, Willow brook Limited Partnership, signed a 
 
44 NRHP. National Register of Historic Places Registration Form; For Langley Park's McCormick- 
Goodhart Mansion. NPS Form 10-900 (Langley Park: United States Department of the Interior National Park 
Service, 1990). 
45  Ueda, Reed, ?America?s Changing Neighborhoods; An Exploration of Diversity through Places? . 
46  The original plan called for 1500 apartments on 14th ave. and Merrimac Dr., 500 single family homes 
and 10 acres for school and park (Ueda, 2017 ). 
47 Ibid.  
 37 
lease with CASA to proceed with this work48. The mansion is Home to CASA de Maryland as of 
today.  
 
Figure 6 The CASA mansion (source: author) 
The suburbs of Washington like many parts of the country, experienced immigration of 
Central Americans, particularly from El Salvador and Guatemala, began as a trickle in the 70s and 
then exploded in the 80s with many immigrants fleeing violence and persecution in civil wars49. 
Langley park today is home to the largest El Salvador community in the united states.  
 
48 NRHP. National Register of Historic Places Registration Form; For Langley Park's McCormick- 
Goodhart Mansion. NPS Form 10-900 (Langley Park: United States Department of the Interior National Park 
Service, 1990). 
49 Ueda, Reed. America's Changing Neighborhoods; An Exploration of Diversity through Places. (Santa 
Barbara: ABC-CLIO, LLC, 2017 ). 
 38 
In 1980 the first local Hispanic festival was held in Lane Manor park originally drawing 
8000 people and featuring food and performances by local Hispanic groups. This festival has 
grown and drawn much bigger populations over the years50.  
Langley Park has also been an important site for organizing on behalf of the Maryland 
dream act. This act allows undocumented students who were brought to the US, obtain in-state 
tuition if they meet the needed requirements. At the center of support for this act is CASA51.  
Figure 7 Google maps image of Langley park 
 But like many low-income immigrant communities. Langley park is an area of low-quality 
Garden apartments, no sense of place or urban environment, neglect and lack of identity. The 
 
50 Rubin Holt, Alexander. Life and Times of Hyattsville; Hyattsville's Community Newsletter. 10 9, 2013. 
http://hyattsvillelife.com/festival-kicks-off-hispanic-heritage-month/ (accessed 3 11, 2019). 
51 Ueda, Reed, ?America?s Changing Neighborhoods; An Exploration of Diversity through Places? . 
 39 
social networks and social urban lifestyle are present, but there is no urban design or identity to 
support this community.  
 
Figure 8 Pictures of the Langley Park (Source: Google Earth) 
 
 40 
Figure 9 Pictures of Langley Park (Source: Author) 
Demographics  
 
Widely considered the center of the Latino community in both counties. Of Langley Park?s 
approximately 20,000 residents, nearly three quarters are foreign-born, with the vast majority 
coming from countries in South and Central America. Many also earn very low incomes. Nearly 
50 percent earn below the DC Metro?s area household median income. The vast majority of 
Langley Park residents rent one of the neighborhood?s many garden-style apartments. Of the 
neighborhood?s roughly 5,000 housing units, nearly 75 percent are rentals and approximately 3 
 41 
out of 4 Langley Park residents rent rather than own their homes 52. City-Data ranks Langley park 
as the area with the highest number of El Salvador residents 23.6% of the entire population of El 
Salvadorians in the United States.  
Population information can be listed as below53:  
? Population Diversity:  
Figure 10 Population ethnic percentage (Source: Lung Amam et 
al 2017) 
o About 81 percent of the area designated as Langley Park with 20,746 residents are 
Hispanic. 57.85 are male and 42.25 are female54. This information is very telling of the population 
buildup and economic and immigration issues of the area. The age makeup of the population is 
11.5% under 5, 27.5% under 18 and 4.65 over 65. This leaves 56.4% of the population between 
18 and 65. This means a very young and middle-aged working population buildup55  
 
52 Lung- Amam, Willow, Casey Dawkins, Zorayda Moreira- Smith , Gerrit- Jan Knaap, and Alonzo 
Washington . Preparing for the Purple Line: Affordable Housing Strategies for Langley Park, Maryland. (University 
of Maryland, College Park & CASA: National Center for Smart Growth Research and Education Center, 2017) 
53  Lung- Amam, Willow, Casey Dawkins, Zorayda Moreira- Smith , Gerrit- Jan Knaap, and Alonzo 
Washington .? Preparing for the Purple Line: Affordable Housing Strategies for Langley Park, Maryland.? 
54 Ibid 
 
55 Ibid. 
 42 
o For the sake of this thesis, we must also look at the area in two different scales. One is the 
immediate scale of the core of Langley park, and two is the larger scale around the main 
intersections of the neighborhood which will be using the services provided in this area.  
? Undocumented immigrants: Per the Migration Policy Institute, Langley Park has one of 
the largest concentrations of undocumented Latino immigrants in Prince George?s County which 
has about 68,000 undocumented immigrants. Undocumented immigrants are not represented as 
demographic data such as employment56.   
o  
Figure 11 Two scales of demographic information 
 
56 Lung- Amam, Willow, Casey Dawkins, Zorayda Moreira- Smith , Gerrit- Jan Knaap, and Alonzo 
Washington . Preparing for the Purple Line: Affordable Housing Strategies for Langley Park, Maryland. (University 
of Maryland, College Park & CASA: National Center for Smart Growth Research and Education Center, 2017) 
 43 
Figure 13 Percentage of Hispanic population (Source: Census- Diagram by author) 
Figure 13 2023 Hispanic population projection (source: author form ESRI Community Analyst) 
 
 44 
? Education: Just over one-third of the adult population has a high school diploma or 
equivalent, compared to 86 percent of Prince George?s County adults and 89 percent of those in 
Maryland. Language proficiency among parents is also an ongoing challenge to the education of 
youth. Less than half of those over five years of age speaks English ?very well?57.  
? Employment: 2.6 percent of those employed in Langley Park live there. Residents are 
mostly employed in construction, retail, healthcare, and social assistance, accommodation and 
 
food services, and waste management. CASA reports that the construction sector employs about 
37 percent of the working population58. 
? Median Household Income: Due to low levels of education and employment, many 
Langley Park residents also have below-average incomes. Median household income of $54,821 
 
is nearly $20,000 lower than that of the county or the state. Approximately 80 percent of families 
also provide financial support to relatives in their home country. Nearly half of all households 
earn less than $53,100 per year, which is less than half of HUD?s Adjusted Median Family 
  
Income (HAMFI) for the region. 17% have incomes that fall below the federal poverty level.   
 
57 Ibid 
58 Ibid.  
 45 
Figure 14 GIS Census Tract Data (Source: Census Bureau 2010- Diagrams: Author) 
 
 46 
? Housing59:  
o Homeownership is 26.1% compared to 66.45 of the state of Maryland (USCB, 2013-
2017).   
o Langley Park homes tend to be older and denser, with a higher proportion of multifamily 
rental units. Three out of every four residents rent rather than own their homes and the same 
Figure 16 Housing (Source: Author) 
Figure 15 Housing (Source: Author) 
 
59 Lung- Amam, Willow, Casey Dawkins, Zorayda Moreira- Smith , Gerrit- Jan Knaap, and Alonzo 
Washington . Preparing for the Purple Line: Affordable Housing Strategies for Langley Park, Maryland. 
(University of Maryland, College Park & CASA: National Center for Smart Growth Research and Education 
Center, 2017) 
 
 47 
proportion of the neighborhood?s 5,245 housing units are rental apartments. Rents are a majority 
market-rate affordable housing because they are less desirable Neighborhoods, older, less 
maintained and with few amenities. In addition, although the family size is 4.02, there are no 3-
bedroom apartments available, and many homes are overcrowded.  
o Of the 891 single-family units in Langley Park, many are condominiums or single-family 
attached dwellings. Only 28 percent are single-family detached homes.  
 
Figure 17 2010 renter occupancy map (source: author from ESRI Community Analyst Census Data Mapping) 
 
 48 
 
Figure 18 2010 owner-occupancy map (source: author from ESRI Community Analyst Census Data Mapping) 
Crime and Safety  
Langley Park and the international corridor?s social and economic status have suffered from the 
reputation of crime. For example, one of the reasons stated for the relatively few Langley park 
residents who use the northwest branch greenway for leisure, or why there is not a lively play 
environment of children after school hours is fear of criminal activity. Prince George?s County 
identified the neighborhood as one of the five neighborhoods most affected by violent crime.20 
The violent crime rate in the community is about 50 percent higher than the county average ? 
approximately five violent crimes are committed per 1,000 residents, compared to about three per 
1,000 for Prince George?s County as a whole 60.  
 
60 From Cradle to Career: The Multiple Challenges Facing Immigrant Families in,  Langley Park Promise 
Neighborhood (Langley park : Urban Institute, PGCPS, CASA de MAryland , 2014)  
 49 
In an interview conducted with a young African American girl living in Langley Park, she 
talked about her experience with safety in the area61:  
? ? yeah my parents would let me but not during the night? they drink beer and stuff they drink a 
lot over there and sometimes people be drunk and sleeping in the streets ...sometimes late at night, 
sometimes during the day time they drunk on the street yeah? not safe to walk around at night a girl by 
herself no I don't think it?s safe definitely no ?. maybe like more cops, like stuff that makes people feel 
safer.? 
The Langley Parks Preliminary Needs Assessment (1999) considers 3 factors in the areas 
of crime compilations and interpretation:  
? Cultural norms: as shown in the interview above, actions such as drinking alcohol in 
public may be norms in different cultures, but illegal in the US.    
? Reticence: Fear documentation, eviction, deportation, violation of leases etc. in some 
instances, residents have been threatened with the harm of payoffs if they do not take place in 
their homes for drugs and weapons, enterprising off the families.  
? Language: language barriers in calling officials.  
Drug activities, an open-air drug market, and gang activity are probably the central issue of 
Langley Park (Hanna, Langley Park: A Preliminary Needs Assessment, 1995). But community 
organizations have had an impact. As a defense against crime and the spread of gang 
participation, in 2000 Guatemalan immigrants founded the amateur Langley park soccer league, 
or the ?La Liga LP? to provide space and training to local players. In addition to its being a place 
 
61 Source: author  
 50 
where low-income players have the opportunity to train, by 2015 the league ran 26 teams 
involving 500 players62 
Regarding the urban environment, not much design for defense can be seen. There are 
several areas with no public surveillance, low lighting and perfect for rapid egress. Nighttime 
lighting is supposedly bettered by projectors on some buildings. Although this does create 
lighting is some areas, but the effects on the quality of the homes below them must also be 
reconsidered.  
 
62 Ueda, Reed. America's Changing Neighborhoods; An Exploration of Diversity through Places. Santa 
Barbara: ABC-CLIO,LLC, 2017 . 
 
 51 
The site 
Figure 19 land use map (source: Maryland GIS data) 
The Purple Line corridor is rich in public amenities; however, certain areas have higher 
concentrations of facilities than others. The Purple Line will link residents in areas with few 
amenities to areas with a high concentration of educational, medical, and entertainment facilities. 
Few high schools and middle schools are located within the corridor, while elementary schools 
are spread throughout. The same goes for recreational areas. The Bethesda-Chevy Chase and 
Silver Spring subareas have several entertainment and arts amenities, including theaters, 
museums, golf courses, and recreational centers. The University of Maryland offers the Clarice 
Smith Center and other educational and entertainment possibilities63.  In the Langley Park area in 
terms of schools, community centers, churches, and recreational centers we have services such as 
 
63 Ma, Ting, and Gerrit- Jan Knaap. Understanding Opportunities and Challenges: A Review of the Purple 
Line Transit Corridor. University of Maryland, College Park: National Center for Smart Growth Research and 
Education, 2015. 
 52 
CASA de Maryland, Langley Park McCormick elementary school, Saint Camillus church,  Cool 
Spring Elementary School, Langley Park community center, High point High School, Rolling 
Terrace Elementary, 7676 Buildings, Lane Manor Recreation Center and splash park.  
 
Figure 20 Main civic and commercial buildings (source: author) 
? Landscape: topography, hydrology and green open space: Although open space may be 
existent within the residential area, most of it lacks any design or character. Parks and open green 
spaces can be found on the periphery of the residential area, but there is a lack of open and clear 
connection to it. Such green strips may act as barriers separating the Langley Park neighborhood 
from the surrounding region and therefore causing physical segregation. In figure 17 we can see 
the main green area of the two counties and in addition the urban public spaces within the 
Langley Park neighborhood.  
 53 
Figure 21 parks in the vicinity and public spaces in the Langley Park Neighborhood (source: Author)  
The topography of the region is very intense along University Blvd. In some areas, 
pedestrian access to and from the commercial strips, magnified by lack of design, is difficult (see 
figure 18).   In addition, Strom water management is needed on the south side of University Blv 
where the topography steeps down and meets the street.  
 
 
 54 
Most importantly linking the area to the adjacent green parks through pedestrian trails, bike 
paths, street networks, etc. will benefit the community in the short run. Ideas of connecting these 
existing green strips to the bike and trail network of the larger metropolitan area can be a point of 
attraction for users and future residents.   
Figure 22 Topography map (source: author) 
? Food: Access to fresh food is important. A food desert is defined as a place with no or 
limited access to groceries, especially fresh fruit, vegetables, and meat. If no food stores are 
located within a half-mile of the center of a block, that block will be identified as a food desert. 
Food stores include supermarkets, grocery stores, convenience stores, and specialty markets like 
fish or meat markets. This is not the case for Langley park and its community, but several food 
deserts are identified in the Purple Line corridor, such as the University of Maryland and 
Riverdale. The commercial district of the TLC can be considered a strong attraction for the 
 55 
communities and regions mentioned in addition to even a larger international customer base of the 
DMV area64.  
? Walkability: Public transit services benefit communities by providing safe, affordable, 
and convenient access for everyone, especially in low-income communities. Since the majority of 
public transportation usage starts and ends with a walk, therefore coordinating efforts to improve 
pedestrian access leads to safe and accessible connections to transit. Because walkability is at the 
top of the list of goals for transit-oriented development, we will investigate some of the literature 
and principles of this issue.  
Although the need for the new Transit Center, located at an important intersection, is 
justified, access to and from it for the immediate residents and users of the location seems to have 
many obstacles. These obstacles are evident in pedestrian access to the surrounding commercial 
buildings adjacent to the transit hub. Research shows that convenient access to transit systems 
highly influences the choice to use public transportation. But in this area, where according to 
some estimates has a higher rate of bus ridership than any community in the state, with only one 
out of four residents owning a car1, and the addition of public safety issues, quality access to 
 
64 Ma, Ting, and Gerrit- Jan Knaap. Understanding Opportunities and Challenges: A Review of the Purple 
Line Transit Corridor. University of Maryland, College Park: National Center for Smart Growth Research and 
Education, 2015. 
 56 
Figure 23 walkability from the proposed purple line stations along the corridor; 5- and 10-minute radius (Source: Google maps 
and author) 
transit finds a more crucial meaning. 
Urban form is an important component to understanding walkability, especially for public 
understanding and participation in the planning process. Lynch (1960) identifies five basic 
components of urban form?paths, edges, districts, nodes, and landmarks?each of which can be 
conceived in terms of a walkable urban network and can be measured spatially65. Sidewalk safety, 
public surveillance, trust and contact on sidewalks important principles in designing cities and 
neighborhoods that Jane Jacobs (1961) very well emphasizes66. Researchers such as Southworth 
(2005) name Six criteria for the design of a successful pedestrian network: connectivity, linkage 
with other modes, fine-grained land-use patterns, safety, quality of the path, and path context. He 
 
65 Lynch, K. (1960). Image of the City. Cambridge: MIT Press.  
66 Jacobs, J. (1961). The Life and Death of America Cities. New York: Random House.  
 57 
states that in this age we must move toward acceptance and promotion of pedestrian and bicycle 
access at all levels67.  
The presence and location of pedestrian-hostile streets have a negative influence on the 
pedestrian environment surrounding transit stops, often cutting off pedestrian-friendly 
environments from the transit stops. M.Schlossberg and N. Brown (2014) emphasize this 
importance by writing that the opportunities for pedestrian movement should be a key component 
in understanding and evaluating TOD projects68. Funk?s (2012) report concludes by providing 
recommendations to improve the pedestrian quality of these sites through design. For example, 
creating route choices, street furniture, street maps, active facades, sidewalk widening, and bike 
lanes. He uses walkability indicators to assess the two scales mentioned69. Many other studies 
have used many walkability factors to create quantitative models to measure the physical 
characteristics of the built environment in relation to the promotion of walkability70.  
Forsyth uses the definitions of walkability in the literature to form a dimensional 
framework of hierarchy. Nine key themes were extracted including walkability as involving basic 
conditions, compact environments, high levels of personal safety, or physical enticement. 
Walkability can be seen to promote outcomes such as liveliness, sustainable transport options, or 
exercise. Finally, it is seen to be broadly about good design whether this is multidimensional and 
 
67 Southworth, M. (2005). Designing the Walkable City. Journal of Urban Planning and 
Development, Vol. 131, No. 4.  
68 Schlossberg, M., & Brown, N. (2014). Comparing Transit-Oriented Development Sites by 
Walkability Indicators. Transportation Research Record: Journal of the Transportation Research Board, 
1887.  
69 Funk, C. (2012). Walkability of transit-oriented development: Evaluating the pedestrian 
environment of Metro Vancouver's Regional City Centers. Queen?s University, School of Urban and Regional 
Planning. Kingston: Queen?s University.  
70 Zuniga- Teran, A. (2017). Designing healthy communities: Testing the walkability model. 
Frontiers of Architectural Research, 63-73.  And Park, S., Deakin, E., & Seung Lee, J. (2014). Perception-
Based Walkability Index to Test Impact of Microlevel Walkability on Sustainable Mode Choice Decisions. 
Transportation Research Record: Journal of the Transportation Research Board, No. 2464, 126?134. 
 58 
measurable or a way of holistic solutions to various human problems71. Programs, policies, and 
designs that increase investment in transit service and walkability are complementary because 
these two modes are effective at different scales ? the neighborhood level for walking, and the 
community level for transit. They accomplish common goals neither can achieve on their own72. 
The Transit-Walkability Collaborative aims to promote the benefits of walkable, transit-rich 
communities and to identify and implement programs and policies that expand walkability and 
transit services to improve public health, safety, and transportation equity.  
Although Urban form indicators and their effect on the physical qualities of the built 
environment may be similar, case studies show that walkability may be site and community 
dependent. Most studies have used qualitative methods to measure the quality of the built 
environment and its effect on walkability. Each area has its own built environment, issues, 
residents and communities. Therefore, each area needs to be researched and evaluated based on its 
own characteristics and placemaking guidelines. 
The International Corridor,  named by the Langley Park Project Research team in 1996, is 
the 2-mile area along and adjacent to University Boulevard from just east of Riggs Road to Just 
west of Piney Branch Road to and around its intersection with Flower Ave. this incorporates 2 
county jurisdictions of Prince George and Montgomery County. Many mainstream retails also 
cater to the needs of the international population, for example in shelf space given to international 
food products.   
There are many resources within this strip of the corridor.  These include many 
international restaurants and shops, many discount stores, affordable housing, and as the LPPR 
 
71 Forsyth, A. (2015). What is a Walkable Place? The Walkability Debate in Urban Design. Urban 
Design International 20, no.4, 274-292. 
72 Transit-Walkability Collaborative. (2017, January). Retrieved February 16, 2018, from America 
Walks: http://americawalks.org/transit-walkability-collaborative-statement-of-purpose-and-strategic-plan/ 
 59 
found in their interviews, many a customer base that comes from areas as far as Baltimore, West 
Virginia, Pennsylvania, Delaware, and the Carolinas.  
Alongside these opportunities there is a vast range of potential; bus access to different 
areas, proximity to the University of Maryland and its events are all worth mentioning. But this 
area is faced with many physical, social and safety challenges as well. Pedestrian unfriendly urban 
landscape, Wide streets, a vast area of parking lots and strip malls and low-quality housing are 
Figure 24 International Corridor 2-mile location (google maps) 
some of the physical challenges. Social challenges are the image of crime and low quality of life 
images of the immigrant communities of the area.   
Maryland?s international corridor has an active informal economy. This is composed of 
income-generating activities that take place outside the framework of government regulation, 
 60 
reporting of benefits. Most of the people that work in this way are due to their inability to find 
work in the formal economy, language barriers, and lack of legal documentation73. 
Workers can be seen standing at different times of day at the intersection of New 
Hampshire and University Boulevard in the parking lots waiting for work.  
In the past, these informal labor markets have issues with the local businesses by deterring 
customers and attracting loiterers and beggars. At the end, after much back and forth with the 
officials, they were banned form that specific area. The informal market moved to other areas or 
the CASA mansion which is not equipped with the necessary spaces and locations for such an 
activity. Other types of informal work include women who make papusas in their homes and sell 
them on the street, auto mechanics who work outside of complexes, people who sell flowers on 
and around the streets, others who sell food, clothing or other products from inside their car truck. 
Such informal economies provide the residents with income and an economic fail-safe option74. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
73 Aniti, Lori, et al. Maryland's International Corridor; The 1996 Langley Park Project Research 
Team. (College Park: University of Maryland, 1997). 
74 lbid.  
 
 61 
Opportunities and Challenges:  
 
Table 2 Table of opportunities and challenges (source: author) 
Opportunities  Challenges  
Location  Multi-Jurisdictional setting; different 
Major road passing through with views and different plans  
thousands of commuters  Physical conditions and urban conditions  
Diversity of population  Urban design and design consistency  
Park Space and recreational space access  Language  
Community centers and organizations Lack of employment  
such as CASA de Maryland  Negative image; crime and visual identity  
 
Streets and transportation  
Streets may be wide with lanes of traffic to take people in and out of the area, but many problems 
have created a low-quality urban landscape. Medians are not consistent; streetscapes are not 
pedestrian-friendly. Traffic is very high at rush hour and clogs the roads. Although the new 
transport center is located at the intersection of 2 major roads, this means pedestrian access Is 
through a large intersection with 3 lanes each way. With the future development of the Purple 
Line in this area, much attention has been given to University Boulevard commercial and business 
corridor. The residential areas adjacent to this corridor must also be evaluated in terms of 
residential pedestrian access. As an elderly woman pointed out while passing through six lanes to 
get to the other side, this area is walkable, but only if you know how to take care of yourself. The 
street design on the boulevards, the disconnection of the commercial areas and high accident 
rates, are evidence of research needed on this topic in this area.  
 62 
 
Figure 25 Street hierarchy (must change and be more complete!) (Source: Author) 
Bus routes and access  
The Takoma Langley Crossroads Transit Center, operated by the Maryland Transit 
Administration, provides bus service to over 12,000 customers daily, making it the largest non-
Metrorail station transfer point in the Washington region. The center features a large well-lit 
canopy, ADA-accessible bus loading area, and real-time bus arrival screens. The center also 
provides an off-street location for safe bus boarding and transfers and decreased vehicular- 
pedestrian incidents (WMTA, n.d.). This center serves the C2, C4, F8, J4, K6, K9, Ride on 
Montgomery 15, 16, 17, 18, 25, The Bus Prince George County 18, and the UMD Shuttle 111. In 
the future, this transit center will serve the purple line adjacent to it in the middle of University 
BLV as seen in figure 2.   
 63 
 
Figure 26 Two purple line stations: the intersection of University Blv. and Riggs Road and New Hampshire Ave. (Source 
Google Maps and Author) 
Many of the Bus stops in the area do not have any covers from inclement weather and the 
Takoma Langley transit center does seem to be a transit hub and new addition and modern 
addition to the Langley Park area but it suffers many shortcomings.   
Housing and affordability in Langley Park  
Either because of the proposed Purple Line or otherwise, rents in Langley Park are on the rise. 
One in four CASA Needs Survey respondents indicated that their rent had increased at least ten 
percent per month over the last two years. Given residents? low incomes, even these market-rate 
affordable housing rental units are not affordable. Over half of all Langley Park households (53 
 
percent) spend more than 30 percent of their income on rent and utilities. Eighty-seven percent of 
CASA Needs Survey respondents said they were worried about how to pay their next month?s 
rent. HUD measures neighborhood affordability by the number of units available in a given 
community to households that fall within particular thresholds of HUD?s Area Median Family 
Income (HAMFI). Ideally, all households would spend less than 30 percent of their incomes on 
 64 
housing in their neighborhoods. As table 7 illustrates, however, all the rental housing units in 
Langley Park would be affordable only to those households with incomes of at least 30 to 50 
percent of the HAMFI. Nearly half are affordable only to households whose income is at least 50 
to 80 percent of the HAMFI. But for the one in five Langley Park households whose incomes are 
less than 30 percent of the HAMFI, there are no affordable housing units available in the 
community75.  
 
Site Selection  
 
Figure 27 Site Selection (Source: Author) 
 
75 Lung- Amam, Willow, Casey Dawkins, Zorayda Moreira- Smith , Gerrit- Jan Knaap, and Alonzo 
Washington . Preparing for the Purple Line: Affordable Housing Strategies for Langley Park, Maryland. 
(University of Maryland, College Park & CASA: National Center for Smart Growth Research and Education 
Center, 2017) 
 
 65 
This thesis will focus on designing two areas. To the north of University Blv. where the 
garden apartments exist will be the main focus of the design. The south of the street will be 
massed and connected to the design area with strategically places intersections.  
 
Current Proposals  
 
There are many plans and researches focused on the area of Langley/ Takoma transit 
station and the residential and commercial area adjacent to it. The first issue that is evident from 
the start is the divide of county line running in the middle of this section. This means that to find a 
comprehensive plan, we must look at half of this area in Prince George County and the other half 
in Montgomery County. The planners, part of the Maryland-National Capital Park and Planning 
Commission, worked closely across county lines to ensure compatibility. While Montgomery and 
Prince George?s County planners began a joint planning process in 2007 for the Takoma-Langley 
Crossroads community, the team later split to work on individual county plans (MCP, 2018). In 
addition to sector and comprehensive plans, the University of Maryland Urban Planning 
department has focused its Urban Planning Studio class on Langley park under the supervision of 
late Professor William Hanna in the ?90s. The focus of this studio in 2018 was also Langley park, 
which has just recently been published. Professor Hanna was very focused on the Community of 
Langley Park and many of his publications were focused on this area.  
 66 
Prince George County Takoma/ Langley Crossroads Sector Plan and Its Design 
Guidelines 200976 
On November 10, 2009, the Prince George?s County 
Council, sitting as the District Council, adopted a 
resolution (CR-86-2009) approving the Takoma/ 
Langley Crossroads (TLC) Sector Plan. The purpose 
of the plan is to enhance the character and quality of 
life of the community and provide for transit-oriented 
development around the proposed Purple Line light 
rail transit stations. Because the sector plan area 
encompasses three jurisdictions, M-NCPPC staff 
Figure 28 Sector Plan limits (Source: Approved 
Takoma/Langley Crossroads Sector Plan 2009) initiated a joint and collaborative planning process 
involving Montgomery and Prince George?s Counties and the City of Takoma Park. Due to 
legislated scheduling conflicts, the sector planning process between the two counties was 
separated in November 2008. However, throughout the completion of both sector plans, the bi-
county team has continued to work together. While there has been a separation in the schedule 
and plan development, the planning process continues with each county developing plans with 
shared elements that address transportation and the environment. Following are key 
recommendations from the sector plan document:  
 
76 MNPPC. "Approved Takoma/Langley Crossroads Sector Plan." The Maryland-National Park and 
Planning Commission Prince George?s Planning Department, Upper Marlboro, MD, 2009. 
 
 67 
o Land Use and Urban Design; TOD principles, high densities (40?50 dwelling units per 
acre), affordable housing, entertainment venues, CEPTED, on-street parking, architectural 
guidelines  
o Transportation and Trails System  
o Trails System; pedestrian and bike routes and facilities   
o Environmental; water, stormwater management, enhance the tree canopy  
o Public Facilities; library, recreational and fire rescue facilities additions,   
o Historic Preservation; pedestrian linkages to the McCormick- Goodhart Mansion/Langley 
Park historic site.  
o Parks and Open Space; create recreation hub and facilities at different scales of sector and 
neighborhood.   
o Quality of Life/Community Development; provide social services, community, encourage 
affordable housing as redevelopment occurs by recommending programs that provide workforce 
housing as an essential ingredient of new development and provide assistance for residents to 
remain in the sector plan area.   
o  engagement in the process,  
o Economic Development; create marketing group, Recruit and retain internationally focused 
businesses, Coordinate with area business organizations to create special events Develop gateway points 
on major streets and boulevards as pedestrian gateways for introduction to the international corridor.  
This document77 recommends developments for each of these topics and moves on to 
mention policy strategies to achieve them. An important highlight is the focus of The density and 
 
77 The 2000 U.S. census reported 9,150 housing units in the TLC study area, of which 64 percent are multifamily 
units. One-third are in buildings with ten or more units and 24 percent are in structures with five to nine units. About 
 68 
concentration of buildings highest at the core, near the transit stop, decrease moderately in the center 
within 1/4 mile of the transit stop, and ultimately transition down to match the character of the surrounding 
development, approximately 1/2 mile from the station.  
Montgomery County Takoma/ Langley Crossroads Sector Plan and Its Design 
Guidelines 2012 (Approved and Adapted) 78 
Montgomery county?s  Takoma/Langley Crossroads 
Sector Plan boundary is Carroll Avenue to the west, 
University Boulevard to the north, Long Branch Creek 
to the south, and Prince George?s County to the east 
(figure 3) although the study area for this document 
included parts of PG county and the city of Takoma 
Park (MCPD, Takoma/Langley Crossroads Sector Plan 
Design Guidelines, 2013).  This Plan proposes 
pedestrian-oriented mixed-use development to create a 
24-hour neighborhood, increase redevelopment 
feasibility, provide affordable housing opportunities, 
Figure 29 Sector plan boundary (Takoma/Langley 
Crossroads Sector Plan 2012) and introduce much-needed community amenities, in 
other words, the implementation of transit-oriented development (which was also recommended 
 
27 percent (2,463 units) are single-family detached. While most households rent (68 percent), almost half of the 
population lived in the same residence five years prior to the 2000 census. In 2000, about two-thirds of the rental 
households paid between $500 and $749 per month, a lower rate than Montgomery and Prince George?s Counties? 
average rental cost ranging between $1,000 and $1,499 (MNPPC, 2009).  
 
78 MCPD. Approved and Adopted Takoma/Langley Crossroads Sector Plan. Prepared by the 
Montgomery County Planning Department, (Silver Spring: The Maryland-National Capital Park and 
Planning Commission, 2012). 
 
 69 
in 1993). Higher densities create development incentives to include affordable housing units and 
community amenities. With increased development potential, Takoma/Langley Crossroads will be 
able to attract a variety of projects. This means many changes in densities and zoning regulations. 
The plan states diversity, design connectivity and the environment as its recommendations: 
o Diversity; Provide density incentives for mixed-use developments that maximize 
affordable housing and provide opportunities for the retention of neighborhood retail and 
neighborhood services and diversity, goal of no net loss of affordable housing, encourage ethnic 
business clustering, supporting compatible retail uses, expanding economic development program 
areas, and fostering relationships with agencies that provide support services for business 
retention and attraction.  
o Design; Promote as a regional destination for multicultural shopping and dining through 
marketing and the implementation of design guidelines  
o Connectivity; pedestrian infrastructure, implementing a Green Streets concept, create 
bicycle and trail facilities, Enable transit-oriented, pedestrian-friendly, mixed-use development at 
existing strip shopping centers.  
o Environment; Enhance tree canopy, reducing runoff from impervious surfaces, increase 
pedestrian links to parks, open space, and community facilities, Encourage LEED (Leadership in 
Energy and Environmental Design) standards  
 Under these topics, the plan gives recommendations for developments in economic 
development, health and wellness, Public Safety, Housing, land use, design, green, water, parks, 
streets, transit, pedestrian and bike access etc. The Sector plan rezones the area and adds the most 
FAR to the lots adjacent to the transit center (FAR is planned between 1-4) and divides the area 
 70 
into 3 sectors of The Crossroads District,  New Hampshire Avenue Corridor, and  New 
Hampshire Gardens and moves on to look at all the issues mentioned above within these 3 
districts. What is important in these plans is mentioning diversity of the residential and 
commercial options as what makes the Takoma/Langley Crossroads community a local and 
regional attraction. The Plan recommends preserving the community?s affordability and identity 
and encourages the creation of pedestrian-friendly, mixed-use development.  
Design Guidelines Document79:  
Except for specific recommendations included in the Sector Plan 80, the guidelines in the 
design document are stated as to propose designs that create an attractive and successful public 
realm. Key features mentioned in this plan are:  
? This core should be the center of community activity and have the tallest buildings (100 
feet) with the most density amid public use spaces and a connected network of sidewalks and 
green streets. The surrounding residential neighborhoods should be connected to the core but 
buffered from its density.  
? Takoma/Langley Crossroads will be a transit-oriented, pedestrian-friendly community 
that celebrates and builds on the cultural diversity of the Crossroads community.  
? Identify Takoma/Langley Crossroads through Gateways and Views: 
 
79 MCPD. Takoma/Langley Crossroads Sector Plan Design Guidelines. Prepared by the Montgomery County 
Planning Department, Silver Spring: The Maryland-National Capital Park and Planning Commission, 2013. 
80 Development in the TLC area will be primarily under the jurisdiction of Montgomery County. Within the City of 
Takoma Park, the streets are the responsibility of the City. Since University Boulevard and New Hampshire Avenue 
are state roads through two counties, they are within the purview of the State Highway Administration in 
consultation with Montgomery and Prince George?s Counties (MCPD, Takoma/Langley Crossroads Sector Plan 
Design Guidelines, 2013).  
  
 71 
o an architecturally significant building or building feature  
o a civic building or space 
artwork and place markers 
o street corners.  
? Experience the public realm of Streets and Open Spaces. Enrich Takoma/Langley 
Crossroads through the use of Special Features: 
o Pedestrian-friendly grid 
o The pedestrian realm: Bike paths within street sections, sidewalk easements, street trees, 
pedestrian-scaled lighting, and street furniture  
o Define street edges: build to the street edge were a sense of enclosure is needed and use 
front yards and green space at edges where CRT zone meets the residential area.  
o Building forms to have characters 
o Neighborhood public surveillance for safety reasons and CPTED principles  
o Active street walls  
o Signage 
o Greens streets: as effective, safe, with priority to pedestrians and bikes. With the addition 
of elements such as native plants and stormwater management.  
o Open spaces to be considered:  
? Civic green to be located where the Purple Line, two or three sidewalks, mid-block 
connections, and automobile routes converge will function as a major outdoor public gathering 
space for concerts, markets etc. Around ? acre. 
? Neighborhood commons as an outdoor living room. Around ? acre. 
? Small urban spaces as intimate gathering spaces within major mixed-use developments  
 72 
? To have Special features such as fountains, artwork, city signs, street furniture 
? Follow Good Neighbor Practices by using good design to integrate new and existing 
businesses, public spaces and residences into the community. 
In the Crossroads District, experience design features at their greatest intensity.  
? The transition from the CRT-zoned mixed uses to single-family residential uses at the 
Edges:  
o Step down building heights: CRT zone building heights should be 40-45 feet for the first 
25 feet at this edge  
o Landscaping and setbacks  
? International Corridor: A unifying design theme can help support a well maintained, 
safe, attractive, and festive environment, with design elements that celebrate the community?s 
history as a neighborhood of people from around the world. High-quality design elements should 
be employed that preserve and enhance the corridor?s ethnic and cultural diversity and capture the 
interest and imagination of people as they move through it. Design features could include signage, 
art, and streetscaping  
2018 Langley Park Project Research Teams, University of Maryland 81 
This project was divided into different sections with each group focusing on each part. 
Sections and recommendations are: 
? Creating A livable community:  
 
81 URSP708. Takoma / Langley Crossroads Action Strategies & Recommendations. Community 
Planning Studio; Master of Community Planning, (Colege park: University of Maryland , 2018). 
 
 73 
o Moving forward, they suggest three key strategies to initiate this progress towards 
achieving the goals listed for the utilization of zoning, the mobilization of community 
development, and the improvement of open space in the TLC.  
o The employment of new transit-oriented zoning measures during construction and with 
new development can encourage the installation of design and open space amenities for the 
community.  
o The establishment of a Crossroads-wide community association can greatly assist in 
informing and organizing residents and stakeholders, as well as addressing community needs.  
o The use of tactical urbanism to improve the pedestrian experience as the Purple Line 
develops can begin to realize a community that is designed for and by its residents, business 
owners, and stakeholders.  
? Multimodal transportation 
? Housing action  
? Economic development 
Zoning changes  
 
Montgomery County, in its 2012 sector plan, has zoned the TLC section within the City of 
Takoma and Montgomery County as CRT zones:   
The CRN, CRT, and CR zones permit a mix of residential and nonresidential uses at 
varying densities and heights. The zones promote economically, environmentally, and socially 
sustainable development patterns where people can live, work, recreate, and access services and 
 74 
amenities. The application of the CRN, CRT, and 
CR zones is appropriate where impacts can be 
mitigated by co-locating housing, jobs, and 
services.  
The CRT zone is intended for small 
downtown, mixed-use, pedestrian-oriented centers 
and edges of larger, more intense downtowns. 
Retail tenant ground floor footprints are limited to 
preserve the town center scale. Transit options 
may include light rail, Metro, and bus. 
Within the Takoma/Langley Crossroads 
Figure 30 Proposed zoning (Source: MCPT Takoma 
Langley Sector Plan 2013) Plan area, density will range from 1.5 FAR to 3.0 
FAR. Maximum heights in the Sector Plan will range from 130 feet to 40 feet. The proposed 
density pattern places the highest densities within one- quarter mile of the Purple Line station. 
Lower densities and building heights are recommended nearest the existing single-family 
community in an effort to provide appropriate transitions82. 
In Prince George County, in 2018 the County Council utilized a robust legislative process 
to develop new and modern Zoning Ordinance and Subdivision Regulations and provide 
important tools to facilitate the implementation of the Prince George?s General Plan ? Plan 2035 - 
and other County policy goals83. The new Zoning Ordinance aims to streamline procedures, 
 
82 MCPD. Takoma/Langley Crossroads Sector Plan Design Guidelines. Prepared by the Montgomery 
County Planning Department, Silver Spring: The Maryland-National Capital Park and Planning Commission, 2013. 
83 The County Council hosted multiple Public Hearings and Committee on the Whole Work Sessions on 
the package of Zoning Ordinance Rewrite legislation.    
 75 
reduce obstacles to achieving the economic development goals of the County, enhance utility and 
user-friendliness, encourage appropriate public input into the development review process, 
consolidate and simplify zones and uses, and incentivize development at targeted growth 
locations84 . Under the new ordinance, all current multi-family zones and commercial zones in 
Prince George?s County will be rezoned to Local Transit-Oriented Zone (LTO)85. All single-
family residential will be maintained as such under the new zoning.  
 
Figure 31 Prince George County Zoning (source: 
https://mncppc.maps.arcgis.com/apps/StorytellingSwipe/index.html?appid=7fb3b59248b5445c962dc617eb366195&embed, 
accessed 12/14/2019. GIS data) 
 
84 PGCC. County Council Adopted a New, 21st Century Zoning Ordinance. 2018. 
https://pgccouncil.us/589/Zoning-Ordinance-Rewrite-Portal (accessed 3 28, 2019). 
85 Williams, Chad. 2018. Interview of M-NCPPC Prince George's County Zoning Team Leader. Elena 
Goldsborough & Team Interview. In person. University of Maryland College Park, in Boushell, Lance, Tabia 
Gamble, Elena Goldsborough, Sarah Latimer, and Juan Sian Hunter. Takoma / Langley Crossroads Action 
Strategies & Recommendations. Community Planning Studio, Fall Semester 2018 Master of Community Planning, 
(College Park: University of Maryland, 2018). 
 76 
 An LTO as defined by the 2035 Plan for Prince George County is86 : 
? Smaller-scale, mixed-use centers that are well connected by transit. Many of these areas 
are integrated with an established street grid and offer local-serving retail and limited office 
uses:  
o New Housing Mix: Mid-rise and low-rise apartments and condos, and townhouses  
o Average Net Housing Density for New Development: 15-30 Dwelling Units/Acre  
o FAR for New Commercial Development: 1.5-3  
o Transportation Characteristics: Metrorail or light rail with potential for localized parking 
and local transit connections with all types of bus service.  
 
Figure 32 Core and Edge Local Transit Center Zoning (Source: Boushell, et al. 2018) 
 
86 MNCPPC. Plan Prince George?s 2035 Approved General Plan. Upper Marlboro, MD: The 
Maryland-National Capital Park and Planning Commission, 2014. 
 
 77 
Alongside being an LTO zone, Langley Park is also considered part of The County?s 
Transforming Neighborhoods Initiative (TNI, and ongoing partnership targeting select 
neighborhoods that face significant economic, health, public safety, and educational challenges. 
Through TNI the County is working to improve the quality of life in six neighborhoods and 
identifying ways to enhance service delivery throughout the County for all residents87.   (PGC 
website did not work for more information on this: must find in the future.) 
Summary and Critique 
Alongside its positive attributes, Langley park has much potential for improvement. Low quality 
and dangerous pedestrian networks, lack of street character and hierarchy, poor civic networks, 
lack of identity and space for identity, are issues that need improvement with planning for the 
purple line. Lack of education and civic facilities, crime, language barriers, and many social 
Figure 33 Comparison of sector plans (Source: Flam et al 2018) 
 
87 MNCPPC. Plan Prince George?s 2035 Approved General Plan. Upper Marlboro, MD: The Maryland-
National Capital Park and Planning Commission, 2014. 
 78 
issues, doubled with the lack of urban and architectural design have left Langley park with no 
character, identity, or sense of place. Proposed plans of the Takoma Langley crossroad area 
incorporate and touch upon about all the aspects that a vibrant transit-oriented community would 
need in future development. Both plans overlap and have many similar guidelines and goals. But 
there is room for improvement. Although many changes have been made to the zoning 
ordinances, and Prince George County is in the process of changing its zoning, but there seems to 
still be room for more density within the plans.  
Ending Note 
Within all the social and physical shortcomings of Langley Park, lies a vibrant and lively 
community, social network platform and hardworking residents that must be protected from 
displacement and have the opportunity to display their identity and establish a sense of belonging 
as a basis for growth.  
Table 3 table of opportunities and challenges (source: author) 
Opportunities  Challenges   
o Zoning ordinances for high-density o Poor pedestrian and bicycle access  
mixed-use development around the transit corridor  o Poor street hierarchy  
o Reputations as an international corridor o Poor sidewalk facilities  
o International attractions  o Reputation for crime 
o Large parcels with the potential of large- o Large parking lots 
scale planning, design, and redevelopment o The suburban character of a soon to be 
o Research centers such as the NCSG urban corridor 
researching ways to control displacement and o The concentration of one ethnic group 
protect affordable housing o No character or identity 
o Proximity to large green infrastructure o Poor street hierarchy 
o Proximity to the University of Maryland, o Poor urban landscape 
Washington Adventist University, Washington o Large parcels of land  
Adventist hospital, the FDA; as work opportunities o Such Large developments and interventions 
and a customer base for future development.  are unlikely to happen if financing is secured 
 79 
o Proximity to employment centers within o Displacement and gentrification risks with 
the 2 different counties  the development of the purple line  
o  Transit opportunities to a bigger network 
 
of jobs with the opening of the purple line 
o The historic aspect of the CASA mansion  
 
What appears to be missing from many of the proposals for the area is in-depth proposals 
to incorporate the cultural strengths of the population in future design. A population of 86% 
Hispanic will require representation, not only in planning and land use, but is designing 
neighborhoods and architecture. In planning for affordable housing, the median household size 
should be an important factor in the planning and design of units.  
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 80 
CHAPTER 5: Equitable Transit-Oriented Development and The Purple Line 
The Purple Line: A Review  
The Purple Line is a 16-mile light rail line planned to start service in 2022, will extend from 
Bethesda in Montgomery County to New Carrollton in Prince George's County. It will provide a 
direct connection to the Metrorail Red, Green and Orange Lines; at Bethesda, Silver Spring, 
College Park, and New Carrollton. The Purple Line will also connect to MARC, Amtrak, and 
local bus services88. The Purple Line transit corridor is growing rapidly. From 2000 to 2010, the 
corridor experienced a 7 percent increase in population and a 5 percent increase in the number of 
households. The addition of the Purple Line will improve this quickly growing region by 
increasing connectivity for those who live and work in the corridor. With the Purple Line, those 
who were once restricted by a lack of public transit will have the opportunity to increase their 
ability to travel to new places of work, residence, recreation, and retail89. The Purple Line will be 
light rail and will operate mainly in dedicated or exclusive lanes, allowing for fast, reliable transit 
operations. Twenty-one stations are planned90. The stations will be more substantial than a bus 
stop, but smaller than the average Metrorail station. The LPA will not provide new station 
parking; passengers will access the Purple Line by walking, bicycling, transferring from other 
transit lines, or parking at existing facilities91. The project includes the completion of the Capital 
Crescent Trail between Bethesda and Silver Spring, the completion of the Green Trail along 
 
88 DOT. Maryland Transit Administration: Project Overview . 3 2016 . (accessed 3 19, 2019). 
89 Ma, Ting, and Gerrit- Jan Knaap. Understanding Opportunities and Challenges: A Review of the Purple 
Line Transit Corridor. University of Maryland, College Park: National Center for Smart Growth Research and 
Education, 2015. 
90 DOT. Maryland Transit Administration: Project Overview . 3 2016 . (accessed 3 19, 2019). 
91 Ma, Ting, and Gerrit- Jan Knaap. Understanding Opportunities and Challenges: A Review of the Purple 
Line Transit Corridor. University of Maryland, College Park: National Center for Smart Growth Research and 
Education, 2015. 
 81 
Wayne Avenue to Sligo Creek Parkway, and the construction of a bike path through the 
University of Maryland Campus92. 
Table 4 Table of Purple Line highlights (source MTA) 
Benefits of the purple according to the MTA 
Highlights 
93include 
? 16.2 miles ? Reliable and rapid east-west travel 
? 1 short tunnel (Wayne Avenue to Long ? Connects to Metrorail Green and Orange lines 
Branch) and both branches of the Red Line 
? 21 stations ? Supports community revitalization and transit-
? 69,000 total daily riders in 2030; 74,000 oriented development 
total daily riders in 2040 ? Connects people to jobs 
? Serves major economic centers 
 
? Connects to all three MARC lines, Amtrak, and 
local bus routes 
 
 
92 Ibid.  
93 MTA has a lead on this project, with the support and coordination of a team that includes the Washington 
Metropolitan Area Transit Authority, Montgomery and Prince George's counties, the Maryland-National Capital 
Park and Planning Commission, State Highway Administration, and local municipalities in the project area. 
 82 
The Purple Line corridor is rich in diversity. Factors such as demographics, population 
density, employment, and income levels vary throughout the corridor. The Bethesda-Chevy Chase 
and Silver Spring subareas boast employment and retail centers. Of the top 10 employers in the 
region, four are in the Bethesda- Chevy Chase subarea, three are in the Riverdale-New Carrollton 
subarea, two are in the University of Maryland subarea, and 1 is in the Silver Spring subarea. The 
International Corridor is home to numerous ethnic groups and an array of community centers. The 
University of Maryland subarea has educational and research facilities and is home to University 
students and faculty members. In contrast, Riverdale-New Carrollton, the most eastern subarea, 
comprises the most single-family housing units, mixed-income levels, and the highest African 
American population in the corridor94.  
Figure 34 Purple line (Source: MDOT) 
 
94 Ma, Ting, and Gerrit- Jan Knaap. Understanding Opportunities and Challenges: A Review of the Purple 
Line Transit Corridor. University of Maryland, College Park: National Center for Smart Growth Research and 
Education, 2015. 
 83 
The Purple Line Corridor Coalition and The International Corridor Report  
The Purple Line Corridor Coalition95, administered by the National Center of Smart Growth 
Research and Education, has drafted this report to depict the baseline data of communities within 
the Purple Line Corridor, in order to prepare for these changes and to take advantage of 
opportunities to enhance local community development. According to this report Communities 
within the corridor are defined as those within a half-mile from the tracks, and it explains some of 
the expected economic and community benefits of the Purple Line. The Purple Line is divided, 
based on socio-demographic characteristics, into five subareas: Bethesda-Chevy Chase, Silver 
Spring, International Corridor, University of Maryland, and Riverdale-New Carrollton96. Langley 
Park is located in the International Corridor segment. As a part of the Montgomery and Prince 
George counties, this report puts emphasis on these two areas. Due to their location, not only are 
they a place to live and commute to Washington DC but because of the large number of 
companies located in these jurisdictions, they are strong employment centers (according to a 2007 
survey they have 115,471 number of jobs). 
The report goes on to analyze the employment characteristics of the Purple Line Corridor. 
Employment characteristics include the number and types of jobs available in the Corridor as 
well as businesses and industries found within the Corridor. The Purple Line will connect four 
 
95 They define their coalition as : ?The Purple Line Corridor Coalition engages organizations active 
in the planned Purple Line light rail corridor and provides valuable information to help assure that 
investments in the Purple Line will achieve the maximum possible economic, social, and environmental 
benefits to the residents and businesses of the corridor? (Ma, Knaap 2017). 
96 Ma, Ting, and Gerrit- Jan Knaap. Understanding Opportunities and Challenges: A Review of the Purple 
Line Transit Corridor. University of Maryland, College Park: National Center for Smart Growth Research and 
Education, 2015. 
 84 
main Transportation Analysis Zones 97 within the corridor?Bethesda-North Bethesda, Silver 
Spring, Route One in College Park/Prince George?s County, and New Carrollton/Landover? 
allowing workers to commute more efficiently while mitigating traffic congestion (Ma & Knaap, 
2015). With many large and medium companies, education and job training facilities, located on 
the purple line corridor, this connection is a great opportunity for the residents for more exposure 
to employment opportunities. In addition, access to transportation will connect other areas to the 
international corridor and the small and local businesses, bringing potential customers to the 
area.  
Employment 98 
The Purple Line corridor has 130,000 jobs in total. The Bethesda-Chevy Chase subarea has the 
largest number of jobs, about 41,000, or 32 percent. Silver Spring, New Carrollton, and the 
University of Maryland have about 30,000 jobs each. The International Corridor subarea has the 
smallest number of jobs, about 8,000, or 6 percent. Four out of 23 employment centers in the state 
of Maryland are located in the Purple Line corridor, Bethesda-North Bethesda, Silver Spring, 
Route One, and New Carrollton/Landover, each of which has more than 10,000 employees. The 
Purple Line will increase job opportunities for people who live in the corridor. Since the 
educational services industry hires the most employees and the University of Maryland with 
15,000 employees (more than 10 percent of total jobs of the corridor) is a great asset in the area. 
the Purple Line corridor also connects a significant share of other knowledge- and skill-based 
 
97 Twenty-three employment centers in Maryland are defined as Transportation Analysis Zones (TAZ), 
with more than nine workers per acre and a total of at least 10,000 employees (Potapchuk, Crocker, Schechter, & 
Boogaard, 1998).  
98 Ma, Ting, and Gerrit- Jan Knaap. Understanding Opportunities and Challenges: A Review of the Purple 
Line Transit Corridor. University of Maryland, College Park: National Center for Smart Growth Research and 
Education, 2015. 
 85 
tertiary industries, such as professional, scientific, and technical service, public administration, 
and health care and social assistance. Although there is another side, Competition may result in 
increased rent and the consequential price-out of local small businesses. Particularly, those 
located within 500 feet of the tracks may suffer more negative impacts during the construction 
period.  
The Takoma/Langley Transit station shows that the number of jobs accessible within 30 
minutes will increase by 33 percent, with jobs increasing by 29 percent and 17 percent for 45-
minute and 60-minute commutes, respectively.  
Transit-Oriented Neighborhoods  
Transit-oriented development has become a common term in the vocabulary of real estate, urban 
planners, designers and transportation officials. There are many definitions of this phenomenon 
but as a general definition, The Federal Transit Administration Defines TOD as such:  
 ?A development which includes a mix of commercial, residential, office, and entertainment 
centered around or located near a transit station. Dense, walkable, mixed-use development near 
transit attracts people and adds to vibrant, connected communities? TOD primarily occurs when 
regional or local governments encourage it through land use planning, zoning laws, and changes 
to building codes, among other things. When a TOD coincides with a federally funded transit 
project, FTA may provide financial assistance, technical assistance, training, and other resources 
to complement the regional or local TOD.?  
 
 86 
Today, bike trails, bike lanes, bike-share systems, and other forms of active transportation 
infrastructure are helping spur a new generation of ?trail-oriented development.? This trend 
reflects the desire of people around the world to live in places where driving an automobile is just 
one of several safe, convenient, and affordable transportation options. The Urban Land Institute?s 
America in 2015 report found that, in the United States, over half of all people (52 percent) and 
63 percent of millennials would like to live in a place where they do not need to use a car very 
often; half of U.S. residents believe their communities need more bike lanes99. These 
developments can range in many scales and locations from suburban to urban contexts. Different 
Types of Transit Oriented developments can be found in Appendix I.   
Over the past two decades, TOD has been used in the United States as a tool to create well-
balanced, complete communities.  TOD is considered an attempt to realign the dispersed, low-
density development model that dominated much of America?s growth following World War II. 
When TOD is done well, it is a development strategy that integrates housing, transportation, 
public space, neighborhood retail and services, and community amenities in good urban form and 
design. Building housing at transit stations can increase ridership and reduce the economic and 
environmental burden of car dependency100.  
? People who live in TODs are 5 times more likely to use transit and people who work in 
TODs are 3.5 times more likely to use it101. Studies have found that proximity of dense 
 
99 Transportation and Real Estate; The Next Frontier . Washington DC: Urban Land Institute ; Building 
Healthy Places Initiative, 2016 . 
100 BCW. affordable housing & tod assessing parking lots as stimulus to affordable housing 
development at dart rail stations. Texas: buildingcommunity workshop, 2016. 
101 Ibid 
 87 
development to transit significantly reduces vehicle-miles traveled (VMT) and the number of 
vehicle trips while increasing the number of transit trips102.  
? Households in walkable neighborhoods with good transit access spend 9 percent of their 
income on transportation, while households in auto-dependent neighborhoods spend 25 
percent103. By living near and using a well-serviced transit node, the average American can expect 
to cut their transportation costs in half. In addition, considering that many extremely low-income 
households (0 %-30% AMI) spend up to two-thirds or more of their income on housing and 
transportation combined104. 
? living in TODs can help improve the residents? physical well-being105.  
? Many urban sustainability advocates point to transportation as the number-one issue to 
address in creating sustainable cities, and gradually, federal, state, and local transportation 
agencies have included nonautomotive modes as relevant parts of transportation systems 
(Newman and Kenworthy 1999).  
? TOD nodes promote better urban form; reduce the infrastructural burden resulting from 
suburban sprawl; reduce traffic congestion; promote equitable distribution of affordable housing 
developments to high opportunity areas and support increased access to employment106. 
 
102 Hersey, John, and Michael A. Spotts . Promoting Opportunity through Equitable Transit-Oriented 
Development (eTOD). submitted for the 23rd Annual Congress for the New Urbanism Conference: Meeting the 
Demand for Walkable Places, Columbia, MD: Enterprise Community Partners, Inc., 2015 . 
103 BCW. ?affordable housing & tod assessing parking lots as stimulus to affordable housing 
development at dart rail stations.? 
104 Curtis, Renne & Bertolini, 2009, p.155 in Smith, Jerah A. Transit-Oriented Development and 
Affordable Housing in Prince George?s County: A Case Study-Based Approach. Independent Study in Urban 
Studies and Planning, College Park: University of Maryland, 2018. 
105  Smith ?Transit-Oriented Development and Affordable Housing in Prince George?s County: A Case 
Study-Based Approach? 
106 BCW. affordable housing & tod assessing parking lots as stimulus to affordable housing development 
at dart rail stations. (Texas: buildingcommunity workshop, 2016). 
 88 
? When done well, TODs support the development of diverse housing products at multiple 
price points. This, in turn, creates, supports, and maintains neighborhood diversity and vitality. 
Communities that offer ?housing for a mix of incomes produce better economic, social and 
environmental outcomes for all residents.? Additionally, income diversity is shown to support it 
107. 
o equal access to safe neighborhoods near well-funded schools and good city services  
o greater access to a wider variety of jobs and opportunities  
o enhanced community stability and sustainability  
o reduced concentrations of poverty and the isolation of low-income households.  
? TOD projects catalyze economic development, neighborhood investment, and increased 
tax base. Leveraging private investment, TODs can also deliver public benefits, including housing 
affordability and high-quality public spaces. TODs also108: 
o Create jobs during and after construction.  
o Increase disposable income for households.  
o Attract increased commercial and retail activity around transit stations.  
o Increase the utilization and efficiency of public resources.  
o Increased property values and add value taxes.  
? TODs can create public spaces by leveraging the density of the development more 
strategically. Public spaces located in ?high-density, mixed-use developments are often safer, 
pedestrian-friendly, active, and contribute to creating vibrant and lively neighborhoods?.25 A key 
 
107 Ibid.  
108 Ibid. 
 89 
element of TOD is the need for station area planning. Without proper coordination and planning, 
this key element of quality placemaking can be lost109.  
Transit-Oriented Developments and their Impacts  
The purple line is an opportunity that promises better access to jobs and amenities, reduces 
congestion and revitalizes commercial areas. But at the same time transit brings with itself the 
unfortunate side effects of an increase in housing costs and displacement of many communities 
especially ones of low-income status, and decrease in property value for more affluent, suburban 
communities. The question here is will current communities, many of whom are people of color 
or immigrants benefit from planned transit stations, or will they be displaced by wealthier and less 
diverse residents, many of whom are car-owning residents who move to the area for other 
amenities than public transit?  
There are many different research processes and conclusions answering these questions. 
Dependent on the place and history of the location of these researches, and the indices used, a 
conclusion on how much the addition of transit affects its surroundings varies. The majority of 
past research has established such links between transit infrastructure and an increase in property 
values.  It is important to understand these impacts in the purple line corridor- and specific to this 
project the Langley park section of the International Corridor- on home prices, rents and property 
taxes which will determine who gets to enjoy the benefits of this transit amenity.  
What is important to consider is that the entire point of transit-oriented development is to 
create access to different areas of a region and lower vehicle usage. Therefore, we need users who 
 
109 BCW. ?affordable housing & tod assessing parking lots as stimulus to affordable housing development 
at dart rail stations?  
 90 
will use this public infrastructure. The problem the gentrification of such areas brings with itself 
is that usually, higher-income residents have the financial ability to be car owners and therefore 
do not necessarily increase public transportation usage even if they live in the proximity of transit. 
But, low-income households, renters, ethnic minorities and people of color are less likely to live 
in households with car ownership and have higher rates of public transport usage. Transit planners 
frequently speak of the need for transit-oriented development to support ridership, but what transit 
stations need is transit-oriented neighbors who will regularly use the system. There is a symbiotic 
relationship between diverse neighborhoods and successful transit: transit systems benefit from 
and depend on the racial and economic diversity of the neighborhoods that they serve, just as low-
income households and people of color depend on and benefit from living in neighborhoods 
served by transit110.  But if we accept theoretical explanations for why property values and 
housing costs  ?should? be higher near transit due to easy travel, less money on transit, access to 
higher-paying jobs, close amenities, walkability and extra time due to less time in traffic, then 
these desirable establishments command a price premium in nearby housing. On the other end of 
the spectrum, Some residents near the proposed Purple Line corridor (especially in more affluent 
areas) have expressed opposition to the transit because they claim it would damage the natural 
environment, disrupt their neighborhoods? wooded character and carve up well-connected 
neighborhoods. They have also expressed concern about harm to their home values caused by 
these externalities. Since the Purple Line corridor is heterogeneous, its effects on property values 
may vary for different segments or stations and may even be opposite at opposite ends of the 
corridor. There is likely even variation between the effects of a single station in different adjacent 
 
110 Pollack, Stephanie, Barry Bluestone, and Chase Billingham. Maintaining Diversity In America?s 
Transit-Rich Neighborhoods: Tools for Equitable Neighborhood Change. )Northeastern University Boston: 
Dukakis Center for Urban and Regional Policy, 2010). 
 
 91 
neighborhoods. These effects will then have different consequences in the different types of 
neighborhoods.111  
Pollack, Bluestone, and Billingham (2010) researched patterns of neighborhood change in 
42 neighborhoods in 12 metropolitan areas first served by rail transit between 1990 and 2000 and 
draws conclusions about the likely mechanisms underlying the observed patterns of change in 
those neighborhoods. They also looked at the TNRs based on the mode of transit that they shaped 
around, heavy rail, light rail, and commuter rail They found that the studies which show higher 
rates of change with more initial renter housing to be true. Their research did not find strong 
evidence of disproportionate changes in the racial/ ethnic composition of the newly transit-served 
neighborhoods. Despite evidence of gentrification based on housing values, rents and incomes, 
they did not find that new transit stations led to a reduction in the proportion of blacks and 
Hispanics or a substantial increase in the proportion of non- Hispanic white households in most 
TRNs. They conclude that displacement is not the only concern in new transit neighborhoods, but 
higher housing cost burdens for renters and an influx of automobile-owning households less likely 
to use transit for commuting are more likely to happen.  These issues were much stronger when 
the type of transit was considered.  Light rail transit magnifies almost every aspect of 
neighborhood change (between 1990 and 2000); median household income rise (77% more than 
larger metropolitan area), racial and ethnic composition (a small percent whiter), Motor Vehicle 
Ownership (households owning two or more cars outpaced the metro areas by 52 percentage 
points ),  Public Transit Use for Commuting (declined in 12 of the 16 light rail TRNs after the 
 
111 Duckworth, Richard. "Preparing for Light Rail in the Purple line Corridor." Georgia Tech Library; 
School of City and Regional Planning (SCaRP). Georgia Institute of Technology. 5 2017. 
http://hdl.handle.net/1853/58539 (accessed 3 2019). 
 
 92 
transit station went into operation ),  Housing Costs (house value rose by 500%, median rent by 
50%),  in-Migration (4%).  Whether by displacement or replacement, or a combination of the two, 
in some transit-rich neighborhoods the pattern of change is working against the goal of attracting 
transit-oriented neighbors: the most likely potential transit riders are being crowded out by car 
owners less likely to be regular users of transit. This cycle raises concerns both about equity, 
because core transit riders are predominantly people of color and/or low income, and about the 
success of new transit investments in attracting desired levels of ridership112.  
Studies vary in their results regarding displacement, household income, racial and ethnic 
mix up, and in general gentrification. According to much literature, plans for the existence of 
transit stations and amenities commonly found in transit-oriented developments generally 
increase nearby land and housing values, but the magnitude of the increase varies greatly 
depending upon several other characteristics. The studies generally conclude that increases occur 
because residents place a premium on land and housing the closer each is to a transit station. 
Although the presence of transit generally affects land and housing values, increases in some 
cases are modest, and results can vary throughout an entire transit system depending on several 
characteristics such as; Retail development (can increase value with presence), neighborhood 
characteristics (more amenities and character more value), proximity to job centers, pedestrian 
amenities, and quality or frequency of transit service. Some characteristics may have negative 
influence such as; non-transit oriented land uses and prevalence( decreased land and housing 
values, particularly near rail stations with an adjacent surface parking lot, and industrial areas),  
 
112 Pollack, Stephanie, Barry Bluestone, and Chase Billingham. Maintaining Diversity In America?s 
Transit-Rich Neighborhoods: Tools for Equitable Neighborhood Change. )Northeastern University Boston: 
Dukakis Center for Urban and Regional Policy, 2010). 
 93 
poor economic environments(with lack of development, job centers, and economic decline, may decrease 
land value)113.  
The Case for ETOD and Affordable Housing  
Families who pay more than 30 percent of their income for housing are considered cost-burdened 
and may have difficulty affording necessities such as food, clothing, transportation, and medical 
care. An estimated 12 million renter and homeowner households now pay more than 50 percent of 
their annual incomes for housing. A family with one full-time worker earning the minimum wage 
cannot afford the local fair-market rent for a two-bedroom apartment anywhere in the United 
States114. The 30% standard can be applied to any income group. It is mostly used, however, to 
assess housing available to families earning less than the area median income. Those families are 
typically classified into ?very low income? families earning less than 50% of area median income 
(AMI), ?low income? families earning 50 to 80% of AMI, and ?moderate-income? families 
earning 80 to 100% of AMI115. Although there are critics that take into question the 30% amount, 
for the sake of the thesis we will use this definition. Langley Park residents fit into this definition 
with a median income of 80% of the state, a large percentage of the residents pay more than 30% 
of their income on housing.  
 
113 GOA. Affordable housing in transit-oriented development: Key Practices Could Enhance Recent 
Collaboration Efforts between DOT-FTA and HUD. Report to the Chairman, Subcommittee on Transportation, 
Housing and Urban Development, and Related Agencies, Committee on Appropriations, U.S. House of 
Representatives, United States Government Accountability Office, 2009. 
114 HUD. Affordable . n.d. https://www.hud.gov/program_offices/comm_planning/affordablehousing/ 
(accessed 3 28, 2019). 
115 Pivo, Gary. The Definition of Affordable Housing: Concerns and Related Evidence. 
www.FannieMae.com. 3 28, 2013. 
 94 
Equitable Transit-Oriented Development (ETOD) is one tool to ensure that high-
opportunity neighborhoods are inclusive. A primary approach to ETOD is the preservation and 
creation of dedicated affordable housing, which can ensure that high-opportunity neighborhoods 
are open to people from all walks of life116.  
 There is a need for committed affordable apartments for people that the market does not 
serve. Various funding sources and programs are used to create ?affordable housing? units, which 
are income-restricted and cap monthly payments. Preserving or producing affordable housing in 
station areas protects against market pressure to increase housing costs, burden and/or displace 
residents, or to prevent access to high-opportunity neighborhoods while improving residents? 
mobility and decreasing their costs of living117. TOD developments and affordable housing are 
driven largely by state and local governments, transit agencies, and private developers. For 
example, state and local government agencies provide many of the necessary infrastructures of 
transit-oriented developments, including transit stations, connections to other transportation 
modes, sidewalks, utilities, and other public amenities. Local governments also create the zoning 
environment, which may, for example, allow developers to build a mix of uses at higher densities 
and affordable housing118.  
Higher land and housing values have the potential to limit the affordable housing units that 
are market rate, government-subsidized or incentivized. Increased land and housing values can 
 
116 Hersey, John, and Michael A. Spotts . Promoting Opportunity through Equitable Transit-Oriented 
Development (eTOD). submitted for the 23rd Annual Congress for the New Urbanism Conference: Meeting the 
Demand for Walkable Places, Columbia, MD: Enterprise Community Partners, Inc., 2015 . 
117 Ibid.  
118 GOA. Affordable housing in transit-oriented development: Key Practices Could Enhance Recent 
Collaboration Efforts between DOT-FTA and HUD. Report to the Chairman, Subcommittee on Transportation, 
Housing and Urban Development, and Related Agencies, Committee on Appropriations, U.S. House of 
Representatives, United States Government Accountability Office, 2009. 
 95 
raise the market price of sale and rental housing beyond an affordable percentage for households 
at or below an area?s median household income. Subsidized or incentivized affordable housing 
units can also be affected by higher land and housing values. For example, if rents for units near 
transit stations increase above fair market rents, tenant-based rental vouchers, provided through 
HUD?s housing choice voucher program, may be insufficient to cover the increased rents. In 
addition, the ending of subsidized housing contracts (HUD section 8 etc.), or land speculations 
can affect affordability in the long term. Other local decisions that can affect the availability of 
affordable housing near transit are Local economic conditions (can suppress), Local transit station 
location decisions (placing transit where housing is low to generate development), State and local 
commitment to preserving or developing affordable housing (can ensure development) 119.  
Examples of state and local affordable housing incentives and requirements that have been 
used in transit-oriented developments but are not specifically designed for use in transit-oriented 
developments include the following120:  
? Density bonus permits allow developers to build more than the maximum number of 
allowable units permitted by local code if they agree to designate a certain number of units as 
affordable housing.  
? Parking reductions allow local governments to reduce minimum parking requirements 
set forth in local building codes for developers that build near transit. This incentive allows 
developers to build fewer parking spaces and use the money saved from the reduced parking 
construction costs to support additional affordable units.  
 
119 GOA. ?Affordable housing in transit-oriented development? 
120 GOA. ?Affordable housing in transit-oriented development? 
 96 
? Tax increment financing is used by local governments to encourage economic 
development by issuing municipal bonds to subsidize development, which is repaid using 
incremental future tax revenues. Some localities dedicate a portion of tax increment financing for 
affordable housing.  
? Affordable housing trust funds are distinct funds set aside by cities, counties, and states 
that dedicate sources of revenue to support affordable housing development.  
? Inclusionary zoning: Some states or localities may require that all new housing 
developments, regardless of location, include a portion of units as affordable housing. Some 
inclusionary zoning ordinances allow developers to pay the local government for each affordable 
unit they choose not to build.  
? Affordability requirements on publicly financed residential development: Some state 
and local governments include affordable housing requirements when they sell land to housing 
developers or when any government financing is involved in the project.  
? Local housing providers have used HUD programs in several cases to support affordable 
housing in transit-oriented developments; HUD generally provides rental housing assistance 
through three major affordable housing programs?housing choice vouchers, public housing, and 
project-based rental assistance. These three programs generally serve low-income households?
that is, households with incomes less than or equal to 80% of area median income (AMI). Some 
of these programs include targets for households with extremely low incomes?30 percent or less 
of AMI. HUD-assisted households generally pay 30 percent of their monthly income, after certain 
adjustments, toward their unit?s rent. HUD also administers formula grant programs, such as the 
 97 
Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) program and the HOME program, which help 
low-income households obtain access to affordable housing121.  
Ending Note 
Transit-oriented development, especially in low-income neighborhoods, will inevitably 
bring about two folded changes. The purple line will put into motion changes in Langley Park. 
Prices will rise and pressure will be brought upon the neighborhood structure. How do we control 
these impacts?  
While there is no single intervention that dictates the success or failure of ETOD, 
prioritization and engagement among key stakeholders in transportation, housing, government, 
finance, and development are paramount. This buy-in is crucial to bring the necessary resources to 
bear ? whether human, financial, or real estate ? to tackle this complex issue.  
The national center for smart growth gives six different policy guidelines to control 
affordable housing and protect the residents122: 
1. Maintain the quality and affordability of the existing rental housing stock.  
2. Create and expand tools that enable nonprofit housing developers to acquire and 
rehabilitate existing multifamily properties.  
3. Explore land-value capture strategies to create and preserve affordable housing in areas 
near proposed Purple Line stops.  
4. Increase household participation in HUD-subsidized rental housing assistance programs.  
 
121 GOA. Affordable housing in transit-oriented development: Key Practices Could Enhance Recent 
Collaboration Efforts between DOT-FTA and HUD. Report to the Chairman, Subcommittee on Transportation, 
Housing and Urban Development, and Related Agencies, Committee on Appropriations, U.S. House of 
Representatives, United States Government Accountability Office, 2009. 
122 Lung- Amam, Willow, Casey Dawkins, Zorayda Moreira- Smith , Gerrit- Jan Knaap, and Alonzo 
Washington . Preparing for the Purple Line: Affordable Housing Strategies for Langley Park, Maryland. University 
of Maryland, College Park & CASA: National Center for Smart Growth Research and Education Center, 2017. 
 98 
5. Minimize displacement as new development occurs.  
6. Explore strategies to enable more Langley Park residents to transition to 
homeownership.   
Their recommendations overlap with other researches such as   Pollack, Bluestone, and 
Billingham (2010) that recommend the following123: 
? Planning tools:  
o Comprehensive Transit-oriented Development Strategy  
o Community Benefits Agreements  
o Broad-based Community Engagement  
o Coordinated Planning by Local Governments and Transit Agencies  
o Transit Corridor Planning  
? Housing tools:  
o Transit-oriented Development acquisition Funds  
o Housing Trust Funds and other acquisition Funds  
o Corridor-Based Tax Increment Financing Districts  
o Inclusionary Zoning  
o Incentive Programs for Housing Production  
o Incorporating affordable Housing in Joint Development  
? Transportation management tools:  
o Transit incentives for Housing Developments  
o Reduced Parking Requirements for Residential Development  
 
123 Pollack, Stephanie, Barry Bluestone, and Chase Billingham. Maintaining Diversity In America?s 
Transit-Rich Neighborhoods: Tools for Equitable Neighborhood Change. Northeastern University Boston: Dukakis 
Center for Urban and Regional Policy, 2010. 
 
 99 
o Unbundling the Price of Parking  
o Car Sharing  
Housing, income and population diversity throughout the purple line corridor has resulted 
in mixed feelings of support and fear for its development. The light rail system will be a win for 
real estate buyers who bought homes near proposed Purple Line, Metro riders traveling within 
Maryland, bus commuters who travel in the area, and homeowners close to stations. But fear of, 
displacement, eminent domain, environmental impact (especially impacts of construction on the 
crescent trail), noise in the suburbs, and more importantly negative impacts on land and home 
value for the more affluent communities of the west end, are existent on the other side of the 
spectrum. 
If we consider these recommendations to be enough, how will such development take into 
consideration the cultural and historical background of the neighborhoods in a way that can be 
considered inclusive and integrated at the same time?   
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 100 
CHAPTER 6: Principles of Design; Diversity, Transit, and the city  
Introduction  
 
If we are blindfolded and put into the street of what cities will we immediately be able to 
recognize them upon opening our eyes? The streets of Rome, the boulevards of Paris the squares 
of Isfahan, public plazas in Latin America? why is such a quick recognition so very natural?  
Identity and place identity are rooted in the places we remember the most. It is placed 
where we see distinctiveness, continuity, self-esteem and self- efficacy124.   
The desire to find uniqueness and distinctiveness of identity and lifestyle; the desire to 
preserve continuity, self-concept and collective memories/ history; the desire to evaluate oneself 
positively with one?s group, social value and worth; the desire to be capable of to meet situational 
demands. All that we feel in relation to such places may be categorized in the above. But how do 
we create such places? How do we design for a multicultural future? 20th century international 
and modern design principles although have created a holistic and similar architecture-related in 
very culture and location, but they have failed considerably in creating relatable and identifiable 
spaces to the historic streets of any city in Europe and Asia. The historic street has the romantic 
charm of history, tradition, culture, and people. With time their value rises.  
In thinking about Langley park, the aim of this project is to look, at different scales. 
Therefore, to achieve this goal we must look at design principles at the three different scales in 
mind.  
 
124 Breakwell?s (1986, 1992, 1993) Identity Process Theory about the relationship of place and 
identity. Best found in Twigger-Ross, Clare, and David L. Uzzell. "PLACE AND IDENTITY PROCESSES." 
Journal of Environmental Psychology (Academic Press Ltd), no. 16 (1996): 205?220. 
 
 
 101 
1- The neighborhood scale: the relationship of homes to each other and the public 
and common spaces adjacent to them. In addition, how the hierarchy of spaces connects to a 
larger scale.  
2- The scale of the community and region: how the mixed uses and transit-oriented 
development is shaped along the International/ University Boulevard corridor.  
3- How services and needs are dispersed along this corridor and within Langley 
park, and how they connect to the larger-scale services of the city and the proposed purple line 
connection.  
Scale 3 
Peter Calthorpe 125 names 7 principles that make up a better city. These principles can be scaled 
down to a region, to a neighborhood, especially one which is to be transit-oriented and walkable:  
1. Preserve the natural environment: the history and critical agriculture.  
2. Mix: Mixed-use is popular, but mixed as in; mixed incomes, mixed-age groups as 
well as mixed-land use.  
3. Walk: There's no great city that you don't enjoy walking in. You don't go 
there. The places you go on vacation are places you can walk.  
4. Bike: is the most efficient means of transportation we know. China has now 
adopted policies that put six meters of bike lane on every street. They're serious about getting 
back to their biking history.  
5. Connect. It's a street network that allows many routes instead of singular 
routes and provides many kinds of streets instead of just one.  
 
125 7 principles for building better cities. Directed by TED.com. Performed by Peter Calthrope . 2017. 
 
 102 
6. Ride: We must invest in transit. There is no silver bullet. Autonomous vehicles 
are not going to solve this for us. They are most probably going to generate more traffic, more 
VMT, than the alternative.  
7. Focus: We have a hierarchy of the city based on transit rather than the old 
armature of freeways. It is a big paradigm shift, but these two things must get reconnected in 
ways that really shape the structure of the city. 
All the factors mentioned above can be found in the principles shaping TOD developments. 
Some of these principles can be further expanded due to their importance in the Langley Park 
area.  But the factor above does not incorporate culture, history, and identity. What we must 
consider in the development of Langley park is the connection of the networks created within the 
community and to the networks of the city as a goal to connect the culture and identity of the 
neighborhood to the larger scale of the city. A city made of different identities that bleed into each 
other and are connected through technology and transit. The purpose of transit is a connection; to 
jobs, to education, to services and to opportunity, whether it is from the community out or vice 
versa. Therefore, we will look at the different layers of information and services within the larger 
context of the city. This will be the basis to locate where services will be located along the 
corridor.  
 
Scale 2; Designing for Diversity  
 
What if the community can be based on the overlapping space that diverse groups occupy? What 
if this space is where diverse communities are made to share their stories? What if these stories 
are what make a community?  
 103 
Architecture and urban design implicitly and explicitly will shape our future as a society. 
With the growth of immigration, the mixing of cultures and in other words multiculturalism will 
be inevitable. Urban spaces are where much of these connections and relationships will manifest 
itself. This is the scale of social connections, where we come together as a group, the scale of 
relationships and change. This is the scale we ?feel? the most and remember our cities by. As 
Churchill has said, first we shape our buildings and thereafter they shape us.  It is, therefore, our 
job to shape them as places of meeting, interaction, integration, exchange, and diversity. This 
scale is much of where our focus is to be aimed at shaping the community of Langley Park. 
As a good example of design and planning research in diverse neighborhoods, Emily 
Tullen126 brings together varied ideas on this matter, closer to social diversity, within a framework 
of three interrelated strategies: Mix, connection and security. All which can be either interjecting 
design elements that support diversity, finding elements that support diversity and preserving 
them, or finding what is detracting from diversity and trying to lessen the negative effects: 127 
? Mix: means the diversity in housing types, housing ages, and policies that sustain a mix 
of affordability levels. And principle in ETOD and New Urbanism. Codes that should address 
housing mix small unit integration, housing near transit, housing commercial area and new 
innovative housing types. Diversity also includes a diversity of form and form-based building 
codes (parametric and allowing ranges of options), open space configuration, transitional areas, 
services and facilities, small businesses, home, and workplace mixes. 
 
126 Tullen, Emily . Designing for Diversiy: Exploring Socially Mixed Neighborhoods . Oxford, UK: 
Elsevier, 2008. 
127 Tullen, Emily . Designing for Diversiy: Exploring Socially Mixed Neighborhoods . Oxford, UK: 
Elsevier, 2008. 
 
 104 
? Connection: Networks of neighborly relations are related to networks of pedestrian 
streets and the internal neighborhood access those street networks engender. To some extent loss 
of diversity mirrors the rise in privatized realms. The public restaurant is replaced by the private 
indoor kitchen, the public playground is replaced by private backyard, and the American industry 
is sustained by ensuring that the masses are housed in places large enough to substitute for a 
community. Given this background, re-establishing a well-functioning public realm as an 
essential aspect of sustaining diversity will not be easy but the approach will need to be 
incremental a small in scale. This put into perspective the relationships and differences of cultures 
meeting together. The meeting of the individualistic culture of the host society (US) and the group 
culture of immigrants such as Latinos meet, manifests itself in all the different scales of the public 
urban spaces and the relationships between units and buildings. These spaces need to house all 
needs and differences, but at the same time create placeholders for connectivity. Tullen (149) 
focuses on 4 relatively modest aspects of connectivity: 
o Identity space: the images, symbols, and landmarks of neighborhoods and different 
cultures of the population. Finding the heart of the neighborhood, or where communities and 
populations meet or cross paths, all have opportunities to enhance the public realm and create 
more meaningful places.   
o Collective space: collective space is about finding opportunities for interaction and 
promoting exchange as a way of counteracting the distrust or fear residents may have about 
people unlike themselves. These points of connection can be woven into everyday movement and 
activity space (schools, libraries, etc.), they can be spaces that do not have any specific agenda but 
can be used by multiple people for multiple purposes. Best to be within walking distance of 
everyone. These spaces can be smaller in grain and located near places with a high level of 
 105 
diversity, located at places intersection and well-traveled streets. They are middle ground spaces, 
not intensive enough for neighborhood-level retail, not the commercial function of the main 
street, but provide nonresidential focal points to support diverse surroundings (even streets).  
o Institutions: institutions such as local churches, schools, retail-like corner markets, 
grocery, hardware stores, etc. can serve as community centers. we can see the remnants of such 
spaces in diverse neighborhoods now. These spaces should be walkable and easy to access. As 
Bacon wrote in the design of cities (1976), it was the movement of systems between points that 
constituted the organizing framework of Baroque Rome.  
o Networks:  residents should be able to move in multiple ways throughout the 
neighborhood to increase pedestrian access and increase opportunities for social transactions.   
? Security: Diversity brings with it the fear of low-status people hurting the high-status 
people. This kind of security goes beyond Jacob?s notion of eyes on the street and CEPTED, but 
there must be a balance between social mix and the need for people to feel safe and secure. 
Perhaps attention to design can lessen these concerns. Tullen names four ways to address security 
through design:  
o Housing integration: new developments should be integrative, not walled off and have a 
portal or connections to surrounding neighborhoods, a kind of building a fabric that can transition 
well and tie together different typologies.     
o Surveillance: buildings should face public spaces. 
o Activity: by activating dead zones, especially in commercial corridors. Replacing parking 
lots with garages, traffic calming measure, build to line codes are all examples.  
 106 
o Edges: diverse places have strong edges. In dealing with harsh edges two ways are 
considered, buffering and integration-softening and separation. Green spaces, light industrial, 
office space is an option that can buffer neighborhoods from harsh edges such as highways.  
There is evidence that prejudices are declining, and that tolerance for diversity has 
increased128. And yet, embracing place diversity requires not just a tolerance for diversity, but a 
tolerance for conflict. It may also require a recreated notion of community. If the basis for 
commonality is not linked to a common race, ethnicity, social class, occupation, or stage in the 
life cycle, can it be based on common space129? How can this space be the synthesis of all 
differences?  
We can take comfort in the fact that the quest for diversity has always been part of the 
planning profession, from Garden Cities to British New Towns to New Urbanism. And there has 
always been recognition of the significant challenges it entails. It has always been difficult to 
translate ideas into actual physical form, moving from the rhetoric of ?communities of tolerated 
difference? to the provision of an actual context for them to grow and flourish130. 
Scale 1; Places of Identity Manifestation ?Cosmopolitan Canopies; where 
cultures meet and The Gardens of Growth 
 
Regarding this thesis, we are faced with the question of how to design for a ?place? in one 
location but for people from another location. This is where place and human relationship 
research becomes challenging.  To find a framework Theories of identity and place provided 
acceptable principles. There have been different approaches to identifying factors of architecture 
 
128 Farley et al., 1997 in Tullen, Emily . Designing for Diversiy: Exploring Socially Mixed Neighborhoods . 
Oxford, UK: Elsevier, 2008. 
129 Tullen, Emily . Designing for Diversiy: Exploring Socially Mixed Neighborhoods . Oxford, UK: 
Elsevier, 2008. 
130 Tullen, Emily . Designing for Diversiy: Exploring Socially Mixed Neighborhoods . Oxford, UK: 
Elsevier, 2008. 
 107 
regarding identity, many of which are mostly contributing to place and location identity.  
However alone in the context of architecture regarding the question above, we face many 
challenges. therefore, our focus to create a framework for an interview protocol is to collect the 
factors of place within a framework. Of the place identity theories (for example, Place Identity 
Theory, Social Identity Theory, Identity Process Theory) used to explain how architecture and the 
natural and built-physical environment influence a person's identity, Breakwell?s Identity Process 
Theory (IPT) in regard gives a useful framework of analysis to incorporate architectural and 
planning guidelines within it. Breakwell (1983, 1986) formulated an identity process theory that 
has been useful for research on identity with respect to the built environment131. The four 
principles of Breakwell?s theory are132: 
o Distinctiveness: Is one?s desire to maintain personal distinctiveness or uniqueness.  For 
example, Research into perceived distinctiveness associated with being a ?city?, ?town? or 
?country? person suggests that distinctiveness summarizes a lifestyle and establishes that person 
as having a specific type of relationship with his/her home environment, which is clearly distinct 
from any other type of relationship. 
o Continuity:  Is the desire to preserve the continuity of the self-concept is the second 
motivator of action. It is defined as continuity over time and the situation between past and 
present self-concepts. Two distinct types of self?environment relationship which focuses on the 
maintenance and development of the continuity of self are discussed in the researches; Place-
referent continuity refers to the maintenance of continuity via specific places that have emotional 
 
131 Hauge, Ashild Lappegard . "Identity and place: a critical comparison of three identity theories." 
Architectural Science Review, 2007. 
132 Twigger-Ross, Clare, and David L. Uzzell. "Place And Identity Processes." Journal of Environmental 
Psychology (Academic Press Ltd), no. 16 (1996): 205?220. 
 
 108 
significance for a person, whereas place-congruent continuity refers to the maintenance of 
continuity via characteristics of places which are generic and transferable from one place to 
another. 
o Self-esteem: Showing interest, pride and honor in being part of a particular ethnic or 
national, etc. group, and furthermore, willingness to show these differences. Self-esteem refers to 
a positive evaluation of oneself or the group with which one identifies; it is concerned with a 
person?s feeling of worth or social value. For example, favorite environments can support self-
esteem such as living in a specific place that makes one feel good about themselves.   
o Self- efficacy: defined as an individual?s belief in their capabilities to meet situational 
demands. It is used as a measure of personal agency. The ability and ease to provide for daily 
activities and environmental manageability. With respect to the environment, researchers suggest 
that feelings of self-efficacy are maintained if the environment facilitates or at least does not 
hinder a person?s everyday lifestyle, and if not manageable, it is considered a threat to self- 
efficacy.  
A good example of such places can be found in the examples below:  
Elijah Anderson133, a distinguished professor of the social sciences and professor of sociology at 
the University of Pennsylvania writes of ?Cosmopolitan Canopies?. Heterogeneous and densely 
populated bounded public spaces within cities that offer a respite from the wariness of today?s 
public streets. A setting where a diversity of people can feel comfortable enough to relax their 
guard and go about their business more casually. He focusses on Philadelphia?s Reading Market 
 
133 Anderson, Elihjah. "The Cospopolitan Canopy." In Mapping the Social Landscape, by Susan Ferguson, 
384-398. New York: McGraw Hill Companies Inc., 2010. 
 
 109 
as a strong example. A colorful place with booths and stalls representing a wide variety of local 
and ethnics food as are the customers from various classes, races, and ethnicities. Food is a major 
theme. A place where people seem to be on their best behaviors, more relaxed and interacting 
across the color line. The market has always been known as a place where anyone can expect 
civility. Anderson explains that perhaps the focus on food is a reason for this, suggesting a kind of 
festival of ethnic foods.  When diverse people are eating one other food, strangers in the abstract 
can become somewhat more human. Design features also contribute to interactions; at some lunch 
counters people sit elbow to elbow, and encouragement to interact, at some counters talking to 
strangers is a norm. as people become intimate through such shared experiences, certain barrios 
are prone to break. In contrast to certain neighborhoods and public streets and spaces where a and 
unknown Stranger would be the first line of defense, in the terminal is not defended in such a 
manner. In such places, although not completely, people relax their guards. They engage in 
spontaneous conversations with strangers, test others and their own social judgment of the other, 
look more directly at others and observe the goings-on and move about with a greater sense of 
security.  
The Reading market is one of many cosmopolitan canopies that serve to the same 
environments; Rittenhouse Square Park, Italian markets in New York, Hospital waiting rooms, a 
multiplex theater, some indoor malls, sporting venues among other places are further examples. 
We may argue that Anderson has a point when he mentions Food as the purpose. In all the 
examples mentioned in his writing above, what seems to be similar are places where people chose 
to spend time in, but each space has a reason for being that encourages interaction. Markets 
maybe being the most fluid of them all. Places where race and differences are represented to some 
extent equally and everyone regardless of their background and class has equal access to goods. 
 110 
This equality seems to bring down barriers and differences and create an environment to test one 
another. We leave such places with more social knowledge and intelligence of the others that we 
came into and this affects our later travels within the city and for example different ethnic 
neighborhoods.  As Anderson put it: ?In these circumstances, they may see profoundly what they 
have in common with other human beings, regardless of their particularity. A model of civility is 
planted in such settings that may well have a chance to sprout elsewhere in the city. People are 
repeatedly exposed to the unfamiliar and thus have the opportunity to stretch themselves 
mentally, emotionally, and socially.? (page 396) 
What we must add to this ethnography is the importance of design. What is seen very well 
Figure 35 Reading Terminal Market and former train shed, now the Grand Ballroom 
of the Pennsylvania Convention Center. Photo courtesy Reading Terminal Market. 
(from: https://www.planning.org/greatplaces/spaces/2014/readingterminal.htm) 
in places such as the Reading Market is the consistency and equality in space and places design 
 111 
within these open plans? A variety of special designs for a variety of interactions is also of 
importance. People feel at ease where they have the freedom to choose the type of interaction they 
please. As we saw in the integration of immigrant, you where you feel free to do as you please are 
where you feel at home. Home may as well just be that feeling.  
 
Figure 36 Reading Terminal Market, (Author: James Cridland, from 
https://www.flickr.com/photos/jamescridland/42779866775/in/photostream/) 
 
Morris and Brown134 identified five types of neighborhood riches; homes and gardens, 
community streets, neighborhood niches, anchoring institutions, and public gardens, to be the 
basis of community-oriented planning and design. The smallest scale in this project is of the 
deeper and closer relation of neighborhood residents. We will later investigate the special 
 
134  2000, in Tullen, Emily . Designing for Diversiy: Exploring Socially Mixed Neighborhoods . Oxford, 
UK: Elsevier, 2008. 112  
 112 
relationships and connections of the interior of homes. But in this section, we aim to look at 
community gardens as a natural environment of connection and growth that contributes to social 
and mental health. activities in the natural environment serve as a protective factor in the health 
and well-being of this population, providing emotional and physical nourishment in the face of 
adversity135. 
Hondagneu- Sotelo136 in his yearlong ethnographical and interview research in the 
community gardens of the Latino community in Los Angeles, extends the definition of the 
domestic sphere to include urban community gardens as a critical ?home-like? places that 
marginalized Latina/o immigrants use to sustain themselves and to re-create homeland.  He 
suggests community gardens as an immigrant collective agency exerted in a third space that is 
neither home nor the workplace, a hybrid domestic place as an alternative to home. For Latino 
immigrants from rural backgrounds, rural places of destination have profound consequences on 
immigrant integration, alternatively inspiring comfort and familiarity, while vast landscapes with 
sparse immigrant populations may heighten fears of surveillance and deportation. Urban 
community gardeners are cultivating an alternative domestic sphere, one that helps remedy and 
compensates the many losses inflicted on them by poverty, racial discrimination, unjust 
immigration policies, and economic marginalization. 
In inner-city Los Angeles, people from Central America and Southern Mexico, some of the 
indigenous and many of them undocumented, gather at urban community gardens to grow 
homeland foods, and as they do so, they are also creating hybrid-domestic spheres, cultivating 
 
135 Hordyk, Shawn Renee, Jill Hanley, and Eric Richard . ""Nature is there; its free": Urban greenspace and 
the socialdeterminants of health of immigrant families." Health and Place (Elservier Ltd. ), no. 34 (2015). 
136 Hondagney- Stelo, Pierrette . "At home in Inner CIty immigrant Community Gardens." Journal of 
House and Built Envionment, no. 32 (2017): 13-28. 
 
 113 
bonds of care and connection. In the garden, they find belonging, inclusion, and a re-created 
homeland. Food is a critical part of the community and cultural memory for immigrants and at the 
urban community gardens, Latino immigrants grew foods that reminded them of home.  
? Growing and preparing foods; improvising a kind of intra-ethic Latinidad, sharing food 
(from different regions), joint cooking, cooking for the family, new family like relations,  
? Healing the sick; social and cultural exchanges between women from different regions of 
Mesoamerica who shared different medicinal uses of the same plant. 
? Protecting and nurturing children; teaching instruments, a place free from small 
apartments where children can play.   
? At the gardens, they also shared tips on where they could go for low-cost dental clinics or 
immunizations. women were learning how to make a home by cultivating key institutional ties 
and garnering the best resources for their families.  
? The community gardens became places where parents from Mexico and Central 
American could teach their children about ancestral-like connections with the soil, la Tierra.  
? The garden also served as a refuge for children with home troubles. 
? The re-creation of home; The materiality and decor of the community gardens also 
manifest the recreated domestic homeland. Latino immigrants are spatially re-appropriating re-
coding it with material plant life from Mesoamerica, such as sugar cane, mango trees, and corn 
stalks. The gardeners all reported that they took comfort in the visual appearance of the gardens, 
which they crafted to look and feel like ??home.??  
? Recreation: sociability, play, and rest and festivals (birthdays, Dia de Los Muertos (Day 
of the Dead) holiday on November 1) 
 114 
These are places where people who feel excluded are made to feel as though they belong, 
with the community gardens serving as backyards and as domestic homeland re-creations. These 
are sites of belonging and attachment, and vehicles for strategically re-orienting to better futures. 
But is home always a safe site? The domestic sphere has always been a loaded place, a site of 
comfort, sustenance, and belonging and replenishment, but also, as classic feminist scholarship 
reminds us, home is also the site of patriarchy, with hierarchies of duty, power and conflict, and 
sometimes, violence. So, it is with the urban community gardens.  
In conclusion, I contend that these urban community gardens are neither places of 
assimilation nor transnationalism, but rather they serve as minizones of autonomy and restoration, 
where there is room to congregate with others and engage in the materiality, practice, and 
effective meaning-making of home137. 
 
Ending Note  
 
What was talked about in this chapter was a focus on looking at the future of Langley park form 
the community?s point of view. What must be emphasized is the importance of looking at the 
community in all the scales mentioned.  
Recommendations of Policy, design, and process can be  
1- Appoint a citizen planning group: local leaders that represent the diversity to develop a 
shared set of goals that all can unite around138: 
 
137 Hondagney- Stelo, Pierrette . "At home in Inner CIty immigrant Community Gardens." Journal of 
House and Built Envionment, no. 32 (2017): 13-28. 
 
138 Tullen, Emily . Designing for Diversiy: Exploring Socially Mixed Neighborhoods . Oxford, UK: Elsevier, 2008. 
 115 
2-  Build public awareness: maintenance of diversity requires a publicly stated commitment 
to inclusiveness and that image creation and marketing are important strategies. Diversity can be 
celebrated through graphics in public spaces and websites.139  
3- Implement the plan through establishing a management process, codes, recommendations 
for public investment. All which need a high level of community participation processes140.  
4- Find common ground in places that represent and service all cultures such as food 
markets and public plazas.  
5- Bring elements of ?home? in planning for the community such as community gardens.  
6- Locate design elements and places that allow for residents to make their own an represent 
their cultures within them.  
7- Allow for smaller-scale communal areas to be located close to neighborhoods for 
different scales of interaction.  
8- Use public space hierarchy to create spaces with different levels of public/ private 
characteristics.  
We can provide cosmopolitan canopies in food markets and restaurants, in community gardens 
and market streets. These are places of distinctiveness and continuity.  By providing such places 
of income and by designing with an inclusive urban landscape that is home to business 
incubators, job training centers, community centers, health centers, and social services, we can 
provide places of self-esteem and self-efficacy that foster identity and dignity for the community.    
 
139 Tullen, Emily . Designing for Diversiy: Exploring Socially Mixed Neighborhoods . Oxford, UK: Elsevier, 2008. 
140 Ibid  
 116 
CHAPTER 7: Precedents   
 
Due to the large population of Latinos in the South West of the country, all of the precedents 
mentioned are located in California.  
Fruitvale Village Oakland California 
Figure 37 Fruitvale village (source: Google Maps, 2019) 
The Fruitvale Transit Village, located west of East 12th Street between 33rd and 35th Avenues, is 
a major mixed-use development project that has revitalized the Fruitvale BART Station area. 
Three out of four phases, as well as a major public pedestrian plaza that connects the 
BART station with International Boulevard, have been completed. Phase I included the 
construction of Las Bougainvilleas, a 68-unit senior housing development. Phase II comprised 
demolition, utility realignment, and streetscape improvement along East 12th Street. Phase III saw 
the construction of two major mixed-use buildings flanking the pedestrian plaza. In this phase, the 
Fruitvale Development Corporation (FDC) provided space for a new senior center, a daycare 
center, senior and family housing, a community resource center, a health clinic, and shopping and 
 117 
public pedestrian plaza. Phase IV, planned for construction on the East 12th Street BART 
supplemental parking lot, will include 275 units of market-rate rental housing to complement the 
transit village?s existing mix of retail and community services141.  Fruitvale Village is the product 
of a grassroots organization called the Unity council.  
 
Figure 38 Fruitvale Village (Source: PGAdesign)  
The Unity Council was founded in 1964 as a response to some of these problems. This 
organization emerged as a social service provider that also defined its mission as strengthening 
and organizing the political voice of the local community. Originally, the Council focused its 
efforts on the large Latino population but has since expanded and diversified to meet the needs of 
new immigrant groups. Today, the population of Fruitvale Village is very diverse. There are many 
 
141 Landreth, Sabrina, and Robert Davila. Oakland Redevelopment Agency FY 2011-13 Adopted Budget. 
oakland: City of Oakland, 2011. 
 118 
recent immigrants, and over half of all families in the area speak a language other than English at 
home. Spanish, Chinese and Vietnamese are typical first languages. One-fifth of the households 
in the Fruitvale community live under the poverty line142.  
Figure 39 Fruitvale Village (Source: PGAdesign) 
Important services in this project include:  
? La Clinica: a clinic which its main customer base is the Latino Population.  
? Unity Council office space  
? Head Start Center: A Learning center for children.  
? Library 
 
142 Shibley, Robert, Emily Axelrod, Jay Farbstein, and Richard Wener. Reinventing Downtown; 2005 Ruby 
Bruner Award for Urban Excellence. Excerpt, Cambridge, MA: Burner Foundation, INC. , 2005. 
 
 119 
? Commercial Corridor and plaza connecting the BART station to the International corridor 
above via pedestrian access.  
The planning process and stakeholders int his project set a strong precedent of the power of 
community engagement, local organizations, and stakeholder outreach. We can see this process in 
the project?s timeline143:  
? In 1991 BART announced plans to construct a multi-layered parking facility next to the 
Fruitvale station. Although the community agreed that new parking was necessary, the design and 
location of the facility were not ideal for the residents and business owners. Worried about the 
increase in traffic and further separating the neighborhood from the BART station, The Unity 
Council galvanized neighborhood opposition to the parking structure design and location and 
argued that any development around the BART station should be guided by a community 
planning process. In response, BART withdrew its proposal and agreed to work with the Unity 
Council on a plan for the area.  
? In 1992, the City of Oakland awarded the Unity Council $185,000 in Community 
Development Block Grant (CDBG) funds to initiate a community planning process for 
revitalizing the area around the Fruitvale BART station. That year, the Unity Council held a series 
of workshops bringing together different stakeholder groups from around the community.  
? In 1993 DOT awarded the agency a $470,000 FTA planning grant for the Fruitvale 
Transit Village. The Unity Council used the money to conduct a series of community workshops 
and carry out economic, traffic, and engineering studies about the immediate station area.  
 
143 "Partnerships, Enhancements, and Public Involvement." n.d. 
 
 120 
? Unity Council partnered with the University of California at Berkeley?s National Transit 
Access Center (UC NTRAC) to sponsor a community design symposium at which architects 
translated ideas of participants into a plan for the station area.  
? In 1994, the Unity Council, BART, and the City of Oakland signed a Memorandum of 
Understanding establishing the Fruitvale Policy Committee to guide further planning and 
development activities at the station. The Policy Committee was a very different approach to 
project development for BART and one of several ways that BART exhibited flexibility and 
innovation during the planning and design phase of the project. The Policy Committee members 
included two representatives from the Unity Council, one representative from BART, the Mayor 
of Oakland, and the city council member representing the Fruitvale district.  
? 1995, the Council organized a series of community site planning workshops to help 
stakeholders reach a consensus on a conceptual site plan (3 workshops were held).  
? In 1996, the Unity Council established a nonprofit subsidiary corporation called the 
Fruitvale Development Corporation (FDC) to serve as the developer for the Transit Village and 
manage contracts. Although normally Bart uses a competitive bidding process, BART policy 
allowed since it was in the best interest of the community.  
? In 1999, BART received $780,000 from the FTA in flexible funds transferred from the 
FHWA to construct the pedestrian plaza portion of the Transit Village. BART was also awarded a 
$2.3 million grant through the FTA?s Livable Communities Initiative, which uses sustainable 
design concepts such as transit-oriented development to strengthen linkages between 
transportation services and communities. This grant provided funding for the construction of the 
project?s childcare center, which will be developed by the Unity Council.  
 121 
? FDC architects finished the comprehensive plan for the Fruitvale Transit Village in 1999, 
and groundbreaking for the project took place later that year.  
Figure 40 Architects translated the ideas from community workshops into a plan for the station area. (source: (Shibley, et al. 
2005) ) 
? To date, FDC has secured over $82 million of public and private financing for the $100 
million venture. 
? In terms of spaces, services, and uses within the project, we can find them in the table 
below:  
 122 
Table 5 Square footage tables (source author) 
 
 
 123 
The Fruitvale Transit Village project shows several key practices that are central to 
incorporating the principles of environmental justice into transportation planning and design144: 
? The power of a community-based organization in rejecting plans for their neighborhood, 
negotiating alternatives and finding the community and financial support to back up their 
proposals.  
? It demonstrates the effective use of partnerships to generate funding and other resources 
necessary to plan and implement a costly and complex project.  
? The Unity Council?s success in building relationships with a wide range of key players 
helped overcome the formidable legal, regulatory, and financial hurdles the project initially faced.  
? The project illustrates a strong commitment to public involvement by the lead agencies 
involved. The Unity Council?s leadership role in the project helped ensure that the community?s 
own vision was represented.  
? Effective partnership: the Unity Council improved the community for its constituents 
(and increased its income and equity, as well as developing its capacity); BART increased 
ridership (estimated to be between 300 and 600 new daily riders) and improved safety at a 
problematic station, and the City increased property taxes, became more effective in delivering 
services, and reduced crime and other problems in a troubled neighborhood145.  
? Power of leadership  
? Perseverance: around 10 years of planning.  
 
144 Partnerships, Enhancements, and Public Involvement." n.d. 
145 Shibley, Robert, Emily Axelrod, Jay Farbstein, and Richard Wener. Reinventing Downtown; 2005 Ruby 
Bruner Award for Urban Excellence. Excerpt, Cambridge, MA: Burner Foundation, INC. , 2005. 
 
 124 
? Creative financing146: about 31 sources were used.  
Spaces distribution for this project can be found in the diagram below.   
 
 
 
 
Table 6 Diagram of space relationships (source: author) 
 
 
 
 
 
Mexico Plaza, Los Angeles, California  
  
 
146  Find financing sources in appendix  
 125 
 
Figure 41 Plaza Mexico, Lynwood (source: google maps) 
Located in the city of Lynwood, California, and only 14 miles south of downtown Los Angeles, 
Plaza Mexico encompasses the area bounded by Imperial Highway, Long Beach Boulevard, State 
Street and the 105 freeway.  It is a 420,000 square feet area of retail, food, dining, and office 
space blended to create a mix of shopping, dining, and entertainment147. Surrounded by parking 
and highways, this is still in some ways a strip mall, but at the same time, the plaza, its open 
space, its fountains, bright colors, and architectural design, recreates the image of a Mexican 
Pueblo 148.  
 
147 Plaza Mexico. About the Plaza. n.d. https://www.plazamexico.com/about-us (accessed 5 24, 2019). 
 
148 Typically, a pueblo?s main plaza is a quadrant surrounded by a church, government buildings, markets, 
and museums. Within the landscaped plaza there are fountains and a "kiosco", which is a raised platform used as a 
stage. The purpose of the plaza design is to accommodate social gatherings and public entertainment. (from: Plaza 
Mexico. About the Plaza. n.d. https://www.plazamexico.com/about-us (accessed 5 24, 2019).) 
 126 
According to their website, Plaza Mexico draws inspiration from prominent urban centers 
such as Guadalajara, Mexico City, Dolores Hidalgo, Oaxaca, Guanajuato, Taxco, and San Miguel 
de Allende and follows the basic principles of the ancient city of Monte Alban, located 
approximately 300 miles south of Mexico City.  
At first glance, this development may seem like just another themed strip mall. But 
somehow it is much more than that.  Firstly, it has historically been a marketplace for generations. 
With more development by Korean entrepreneurs (private sector), this aspect was kept but 
surrounded by a mix of small independent and locally owned shops and a larger chain store. 
Second, the mall and plaza have emerged as a cultural center as well as a center to feature 
Figure 42 Event in Plaza Mexico (source: plazamexico.com) 
 127 
Mexican art and dance149.  It has become a hub of Hispanic and Latin-American culture, by 
holding cultural festivities to celebrate Mexican Flag day, Cinco De Mayo, Festival De La 
Primavera/ Benito Juarez, Viernes Santo (Good Friday), Santo Nino De Atocha, Dia Del Abuelo, 
and so on.  
What is important in this project is that it attracts a wide audience of locals and adjacent 
communities to find goods and socialize at the same time, and a place of destination for the larger 
metropolitan area to celebrate cultural festivals.  Regarding cultural tourism, the plaza has become 
a destination for visitors to Lynwood to see a piece of Mexican culture.  
Lessons learned in this case study are:  
? Cultural tourism as an economic development strategy.  
? The entrepreneurship of a private investor, mixed with embracing cultural events by the 
mall owners? managers, resulted in a cultural/ ethnic landscape that benefits its ethnic community 
on every scale. At the same time, it is a tourist destination for visitors and a place to educated and 
celebrate cultural differences.  
? Private and public partnerships can have a leading role in creating such places. The 
public sector?s role is important in creating a safe neighborhood infrastructure that facilitates 
everyday life. in addition, planners can facilitate the regulations to allow for informal design 
elements such as public art and street vendors to exist in such locations to further enact the 
 
149 Loukaitou-Sideris, Anastasia. "Using Cultural Tourism as Competitive Advantage; Attracting Cultural 
Tourism in Latino Neighborhoods." In Dialogos; Placemaking In Latino Communities, by Michael Rios, Leonardo 
Vazquez, & Lucrezia Miranda, 69-82. New York and Oxon: Routledge, 2012. 
 128 
landscape150.  The private sector can build upon and celebrate the community's cultural 
opportunities and benefit from the profits.  
Ending Note 
 
Whether with public or private investment, these ethnic landscapes have succeeded in revitalizing 
their neighborhoods and creating both every day and a cultural destination. According to 
Location- Siders about places like Plaza Mexico, part of the success of such projects and the key 
to their long-term viability and stability, is that they are widely used by locals151.  Therefore, 
stakeholders should not only expand their scope to a wider audience, but they must answer to the 
local needs of the immediate residents.  
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
150 Loukaitou-Sideris, Anastasia. "Using Cultural Tourism as Competitive Advantage; Attracting Cultural 
Tourism in Latino Neighborhoods." In Dialogos; placemaking In Latino Communities, by Michael Rios, Leonardo 
Vazquez, & Lucrezia Miranda, 69-82. New York and Oxon: Routledge, 2012. 
 
151 Loukaitou-Sideris, Anastasia. "Using Cultural Tourism as Competitive Advantage; Attracting Cultural 
Tourism in Latino Neighborhoods." In Dialogos; placemaking In Latino Communities, by Michael Rios, Leonardo 
Vazquez, & Lucrezia Miranda, 69-82. New York and Oxon: Routledge, 2012. 
 129 
CHAPTER 8: Research Methodology   
Different methods have been used to quantify and document the unique qualities and 
characteristics of the place. One of the important aspects of urban space that is an important factor 
in this thesis is the impact on culture and ethnicity on placemaking, to understand how cultures 
can come together and find a common ground of interaction. Lack of serious attention to these 
issues has often characterized the work of architects and planners, especially in modern suburban 
America. The contribution of cultures to urban resiliency, particularly in older or neglected 
neighborhoods suffering from lack of capital and investment is often unrecognized or neglected 
(Lara, 2018).  
We can mention the following qualitative research methods with respect to future 
investigation in the Langley Park Area:  
? Participant observation: 
Observing behavior means systematically watching people use their environments in 
physical settings to generate data about people?s activities and the relationships needed to sustain 
them. Elements in environmental behavior observation are basically the answer to who is?  doing 
what?  with whom? In what relationship? In what context? And where? 152.  John Zeisel 
categorizes the different aspect of this observation in the following table: 
 
 
 
 
 
152 Zeisel, Jhon. Iquiry by Design: Tools for Environmental Behavior Research. Monterey: Brooks/Cole 
Publishing Company, 1981. chapter 8 
 130 
 
Table 7 Different aspects of observing environmental behavior (source: Zeisel 1981) 
Observing environmental behavior  
Qualities of the method Empathetic 
Direct 
Variably intrusive 
Observers vantage points Secret outsider 
Recognized outsider 
Marginal participant  
Full participant 
Recording devices Notation (observation and comment table)  
Pre-coded checklist 
Maps 
Photographs 
Videotapes and movies  
What to observe Who: actor? 
Doing what: act 
with whom: significant others 
Relationships 
context 
Setting 
 
A secret observer-participant observation was done close to the Intersection behind the 
northeastern shopping mall where the residential buildings meet the wall of the shopping mall 
was conducted. This section was chosen to be observed since it was at the intersection and 
transition of the residential and more public areas of the intersection and shopping mall. From this 
point on the path to the shopping mall is quite clear and from this point on into the residential 
area. This looked like the transition point. Results of the observation of paths that people take to 
get to and from the intersection show:  
o lack of imageability, identity, and transparency.  (Ewing & Handy, 2009 & Lynch 1960)  
o Unsafe 
o Use carts to transport goods bought from stores. Shopping carts are seen all around the 
neighborhood and in front of garden apartments.  
 131 
In a conversation with an older woman walking across University Blvd. she believed that 
?if you know how to take care of yourself, the intersections are ok to cross?. I am hoping more 
conversations such as this in interviews will help with gaining more information.   
Table 8 Walking tour results and interpretation table (source: author 
Description of the walking tour behind northeast shopping mall   Interpretation  
? North access to the transit center and shopping mall is through How is this? The parking feels 
the parking lot. unsafe at night 
? Again, people pass through the Edward st to parking lot from  
place with no signage on the street.  No clear path! 
? This part of the parking lot is only for one furniture store;  
therefore, the parking lot is mostly empty, and kids are using it  
to skateboard.   
? Past the parking lot, there is a set of stairs that are used to access  
the lower parking lot and from there the shopping mall or transit  
center.   
? Security car circles Parking lots.  
? The residential area adjacent to this area has a big playing area  
for children. It is gated with only one entrance which was open Safety issues?? 
at first, but from around 7 o'clock it was closed and there was  
no access to the residential area from this area. There were also  
no more kids playing in it.   
? Several openings and walkways into a residential area. Not a porous area. What are the 
? Behind the infrastructure building, a group of men was sitting issues? Is it safety?  
and talking Away from public eye + unsafe 
feeling for other pedestrians 
especially a woman. How is a crime 
in the area?  
 
 
 
 
 132 
Description Interpretation  
? Wind is blowing  
? Sound of birds chirping  
 
? Sound of children playing is coming from behind me (the other side of 
 
the building I am sitting in front of has a low fence/gate which kids are 
 
playing within. I believe it is in front of where they live. Around 10 
 
kids. But they stay within the small gated area.) 
Carts seem to be very normal in this area, in other 
? A girl with a cart comes to form the hill and walks toward the first sections people bringing their goods from the store with 
residential section, casually talking on the phone at the same time as a cart have been seen before.  
she steers the cart.  Maybe they don?t own cars? 
? In the parking lot in front of me, a man is blasting mellow and calming  
music form his car. He has his truck up and is selling sneakers from Selling shoes this way is probably illegal. But if he is 
there. He talked Spanish once when I was walking past him.  here then people probably do by form him. What is the 
? Three men are talking together where the hill meets Edwards St.  economic status of the residents behind this?  
? A girl speaking Spanish on headphones comes from University Blvd.   
? Side of the street adjacent to the gas station does not have sidewalk and  
cars are parked beside it. Families with kids walking into the residential Most residents are Latino  
area walk on side of the street.   
? again, carts seem to be a thing here Young man and friend walk from the hill to the tree gate with the cart. 
 
The man with cart has a built body, looks like he is strong, but has only 
 
a few plastic bags and still taking them with a cart. 
This is the edge of the residential area, not many homes 
? Cars come every few minutes, not many passes. They come from 
are accessed from this section. Therefore, not many Cars 
Edwards st toward University Blvd. mostly. Not many Cars are seen 
go through here. This also affects the number of eyes on 
going the other way.  
this edge and can make it less safe.  
 
The clothes are very similar to middle-aged men. 
? Many single traveling men pass. Mostly wearing hoodies or coats with Working-class. Cultural?  
caps.   
  
? Everyone is passing through, no one stops or stands to do anything for  
me to write about their actions.  No kind of urban furniture is present for anyone to use. 
? Over twenty people are seen coming and going from the or to the This is just an intersection to get to where you want to 
residential area that uses the hill as there access. All of them cross the go. There are no visual interesting aspects either to 
street in this section without any pause for cars.  create a pause in movement.  
? There is no painting sign on the street for pedestrian crossing. But  
everyone just passes the street very casually.  
? The sidewalk in front of me ends at the end of the gates when it reaches  
a beside the road parking area. Pedestrians do not know what to do at  
this point. A woman with children is seen trying to navigate her kids The same thing happened to me. How to fix this?  
around the cars and into the side of the street to continue walking  
ahead.  
 
? Buildings all are brick. Windows are small. can't tell what is behind the 
What is the history behind this?  
windows, living room or bedroom.  
 
? The environment around the homes is just grass. No plants or flowers Why don?t people show their identity?  
or gardens  
? Most windows are covered, either with blinds or curtains. A lot of the Do people care for the place? Do they feel committed? 
blinds are crocked. Look like they are not taken care of What is place attachment here? Do they take care of the 
? All green spaces are grass. Nothing else. No one has added anything.  area?  
? Cars are parked on either side of the road.   
? There are many garbage disposal cans scattered beside the shopping  
mall walls. Beside back access to stores.  
 
? The back wall of the shopping center is around 2 stories high with no 
How is it at night? Does it feel safe?  
openings. 
 
? Sidewalks seem to be less wide than other places in the city or other biking? Walking?  
 residential neighborhoods. 
Table 9Participant observation results and interpretation table (source author) 
 133 
 
Figure 43 Participant observation location (source: author) 
? Interviews and community engagement  
Interviewing as in-depth participant observation, lets us learn about places we have not 
been and could not go and about settings in which we have not lived. In this sense, we can learn 
about the quality of neighborhoods, what happens in families, how organizations set their goals, 
about cultures and the values they sponsor, about challenges people confront as they lead their 
lives. We learn about their relationships and their groups and families153. We learn about their 
homes, places, and spaces they associate certain feelings too. We learn about cultures traditions, 
histories, identity both individualistically and within their groups. In terms of this thesis, because 
we are looking for residents? perceptions of place, collective memories, identities and self-
 
153 Weiss, Robert S. Learning from Strangers . New York: The Free Press, 1994. 
 
 134 
identification with respect to places, and such qualitative data, semi-structured interviews seem to 
be the best option.   
Drawing from the research of the relationship of place and identity, a preliminary interview 
protocol can be derived from the table:  
Table 10 Preliminary interview protocol (source: author) 
  Question probe 
Distinctiveness  Thoughts on cultural difference Where do you go that is 
Do you think these differences should close by to spend time with a 
be expressed in the environment?  friend? Where in the 
neighborhood do people hang 
Would you like to live in a place that 
out?  
reminded you of home?  
What are the specific 
Different traditions and customs 
lifestyles in a different culture?  
Lifestyle?  
What kinds of group 
Describe your current home 
activities and identities are in 
Relationship with neighbors?  place?  
Are you part of a group?   
What do you do in free time?  If you had to describe 
Tell me about Langley park Langley park with 3 words what 
What makes it different?  would they be?  
Continuity  What do you know about the history of This section may be 
your country and us? showing a map and talking 
Have you been to your country of about important and memorable 
origin?  places can be helpful.  
What do you remember?  Maybe conducting the 
interview while walking through 
What were your favorite places? 
the neighborhood can be 
What are the differences in terms of 
helpful.  
place between the two countries?  
 
What reminds you of there?  
Where are the places 
Do you think it is important to pass on 
with collective memories?  
cultural values to the next generation?  
Where do people meet? 
Where are the places of gathering 
How do they use the open 
here?  
spaces?  
Where do people meet?  
 
Where do kids play?  
Self- esteem Do you feel connection and attachment Can you loan money 
to your community here? from each other? Do people help 
What brings people together? What in finding jobs for each other?  
events?  
What do you like best here?  
 135 
How would you describe Langley Are there people here 
park?  you would tell important things 
Do you feel like you should take care to? 
of the shared spaces? Suppose you needed to 
Is there anything in the neighborhood borrow something, where would 
you would like to move away from?  you go?  
 Would you continue to live here?   
Self- efficacy  Did you know anyone before you  
moved here?   
How are the neighbor's relationships?   
Do you have close friends here?    
Do you feel safe?  
Do you have access to your daily  
needs?  
What are the social 
How is transportation? Do you use services needed? What do you 
public transportation? have and benefit from and what 
Are your social services met here?  are you missing?  
What is it about the carts?  
 Is there anything else I should know  
about Langley park?  
Are there any questions you think I 
should ask as I move forward? Is there 
anything you think I should pay attention to?  
Is there anything you would like to ask 
me about this project and interview?  
Would you be interested in seeing the 
results of this project?  
 
Interviews were done with residents, an attorney who works for the community, a 
University of Maryland Ph.D. planning student, a University of Maryland student from El 
Salvador, and a program manager form the Neighborhood Design Center active in the 
community. In addition, a community meeting was attended and a focus group with teenagers was 
conducted in the Langley Park Community Center. Results show that the community is very 
active. The community center is home to Senior Activities throughout the day and Teenager 
activities in the afternoon. Residents show interest in living near their own culture due to 
language and cultural acceptance. Many advocacy groups are working with the residents to raise 
 136 
awareness and help with legal issues. Today, much of the work done in this area is focused on 
raising awareness for participation in the 2020 census.  
 
Figure 44 Teenager focus group at the Langley Park Community Center and results (Source: Author) 
A list of needed spaces and places was extracted from these interviews and the focus group (see 
figure 43).  
 
? Soundscapes:  
Soundscape methodology can reveal the social and economic dynamics of a place. 
Pioneered by composer and environmentalist R. Murry Schafer in the 1960s, this tool has been a 
way into the historical identity of place and a tool to target and understand unwanted and 
unhealthy sounds, today can be used as a tool for planners. Valuable data such as languages 
spoken, conversations, street activities, environmental sounds, street rhythms, the existence of 
street vendors, types of commercial activity, volume wars, and so on are what can be found in 
 137 
these recordings. Projects such as MIT?s Community Innovators Lab (CoLab) are asking people 
around the world to send in 2-minute recordings or audio portraits of their neighborhoods.154 
A short soundscape recording walk was done to assess the walkability to the new Takoma- 
Langley Transit center for the immediate residents and users of the area.  The soundscape was a 
walk from one of the residential courtyards to the transit center. From the nearest courtyard, this 
is about a seven-minute walk. The aim was to experience the soundscape of a resident as they 
walk to the main intersection of the area and its different uses, either the transit center of the 
shopping mall etc. The result is from the edge of the residential area to close to the intersection. 
The walk was done at a busy time in the afternoon of a weekday. What was very interesting was 
the difference in the sounds and how the change so quickly between the residential and street/ 
shopping areas. It goes from calm to noisy very fast. Starting with the singing of the birds and the 
sound of children, an ice cream truck with its specific sound, and ending with traffic and cars. 
Another interesting aspect was the sound of music in the residential area. For example, car 
blasting music, but surprisingly calming music. Maybe this can be traced to the Latino culture. In 
addition, most of the voices heard in the area are of people speaking Spanish, in a sense of 
walking through a different country. Another interesting point was the sound transitions between 
different functions and district of the urban area. The sound experience is a factor that should be 
considered in urban design, pedestrian access and in this case, the walkability to and from 
different places. As a designer, I would have looked at the shopping mall edge as a negative edge 
to the residential area. Although design-wise it is, but with this walkthrough sound experience, it 
seems that this negative edge, has one good quality, and that is contributing to the calmness of the 
 
154 Poon, Linda. What a City's 'Soundscape' Reveals About Its Character. 9 17, 2015. 
https://www.citylab.com/life/2015/09/what-a-citys-soundscape-reveals-about-its-character/405733/ (accessed 5 22, 
2019). 
 
 138 
residential area, almost giving it privacy and creating a barrier to the public shopping mall and 
intersection. The intersection of University Blvd. and New Hampshire Ave. is a very big and 
confusing intersection. What is now apparent from the soundscape is how much sound elevates 
this confusion. The different pedestrian lights, wide crossing sections and the mixed-up cityscape 
of the shopping centers and parking lots on all four corners all create visual confusion for the 
pedestrian user elevated by the loud sounds from every direction. Maybe such intersections not 
only need a design for handling this visual and usage confusion but also barriers to create calm 
environments for pedestrians from traffic and noise. 
Catcalls from the men standing beside the intersection, in search of daily work is a 
reoccurring event. This can be considered a cultural dynamic to what are the norms of the street 
interactions of this culture. Catcalling although a typical and everyday event in many countries 
and cultures, in the host society of the united states is not typical or welcome and can be a basis 
for cultural conflict.  
The aim of this exercise was to understand the environment of Langley Park and the 
influence of different streets and spaces on the residents. We can conclude that in future design, 
we will need an extra set back and design buffers from University Blv. and the Purple line, places 
for day labor workers must be places not just for less cultural conflict but for them to have a better 
designated and dignifies space to wait for work.    
 
 
 
 
 
 139 
CHAPTER 9: Design 
Langley Park is the intersection of immigration, real estate, and design. To bring together our 
research, we must ask the question of how we can translate concepts of integration and diversity 
into design. Here we must look at the principles of place and identity, distinctiveness, continuity, 
self-esteem, and self-efficacy. Places can be distinct and find continuity to historic and cultural 
backgrounds. Such places as we saw in our research are places where immigrants and 
communities are ?free to be?. We can find these places in different scales. The scale of the home 
and community gardens. At the scale of cosmopolitan canopies, such as in food markets and 
public plazas. Self-efficacy and self-esteem can be found in places that provide pride, income, 
and support. Therefore, we must provide job markets, business incubators, affordable housing, 
community buildings, education spaces, and spaces for social Services.  
Drawing for the research done in previous chapters our design objectives are as follows: 
? Design a Sustainable and Walkable Community 
? Were People and Live, Work and Play   
? Mixed-Income/ Multicultural 
? Create Connections Across the Neighborhoods  
? Create Places Where People are ?Free to Be? 
? Take Advantage of Transit 
? Best Management of Natural Resources 
After listing the community needed services dissected from the interviews and looking at 
the area from a regional standpoint of services such as libraries and schools provided, the first 
step of design was diagraming links between the green infrastructure present to the north and 
south of the site. This green would move through the site, connect to CASA and from there move 
 140 
to the north toward the Langley McCormick Elementary School. This thesis recommends the 
existing community center beside the school be relocated and the building added as extra needed 
space to the school. The second important points were to focus on mixed-use development toward 
the two purple line stations and transition to housing in between. create a line of green connection 
to link the transit center and the CASA mansion. 
 
Figure 45 Green Connections (Source: Author) 
 141 
The library and community center were places in the center of this green, as a transition from the 
commercial area around the transit centers into the residential focused area. Creating street 
hierarchy and breaking the large parcels into smaller blocks was a key component to organizing 
Figure 46 Synthesis (Source: Author) 
 142 
the large scales of open space. By placing the uses extracted from the research and community 
engagement phase, amenities were placed, and urban spaces designed.  
Figure 48 Placing Services (Source: Author) 
Figure 47 Places diagram (Source: Author) 
 143 
Figure 49 View from South-West (Source: Author) 
 
Places 
First, we look at the intersection of University Blv. and New Hampshire avenue which 
houses Mercado Langley Park and its public plaza as our first cosmopolitan Canopy. Adjacent 
Figure 51 Mercado Langley Park, the intersection plaza, the green and places for food trucks (Source: Author) 
Figure 50 Mercado Langley Park (Source: Author) 
 144 
buildings are two-story retail, restaurants, and bars. Toward the end of the plaza, a large pine tree 
is located as an ending element. Further on, the service street of the food market doubles as an art 
walk with street art covering the brick walls.  
 
 Next, we have the public plaza and green open space as places of freedom and open spaces 
that can house festivals, farmer's markets, concerts, an ice rink (teenager focus group outcome), 
etc. There are also designated places for street food and food trucks by the edge adjacent to 
Mercado Langley park. 
 
Figure 52 The Green Plaza (Source: Author) 
 145 
In the middle of the liner plaza and park, we find the library and community center. The 
library's first floor has the children?s section, bookstore, and a small amphitheater. The second 
floor is used as the Head Start education center for teaching after school classed and language 
classes for adults. This floor is connected via bridge to the second floor of the community center. 
Figure 53 Library and plaza events (Source: Author) 
On the third floor, we have an open study area for students that can function as a senior activity 
center with a large multi-function room.  
The community center spaces consist of activity rooms, a community kitchen and a multi-
function room that extends to the outside and into the community gardens. The community 
gardens are not just places where people and elders can come together, but with a large amount of 
Square Foot Gardening, they can produce income for the community and its residents by selling 
 146 
the produce in Mercado Langley Park and to the local restaurants.  Steps and a platform are 
provided for outdoor film screenings, performances, and festivals. 
Figure 54 Rendering of Library (Source: Author) 
 
Figure 55 Rendering of Community Center and Gardens (Source: Author) 
 147 
To the south of the Library and Community center, we have a bakery and caf?, the Langley 
Park health center and Dentistry, The Langley Park Art Gallery, a gym and dance studio which 
has relocated the boys and girls club of the community to its top floor. The vocational school is 
also located beside the gym. The vocational school consists of job training workshops, job finding 
services and landscaping workshops within its courtyard. The south side of the courtyard is aimed 
to function as a location for workers to wait for day jobs and above it is co-housing targeted to the 
population of male immigrants that are in the united states alone without their families for work. 
These services can be aimed at legal and illegal immigrants.  
Figure 56 Ground floor plans (Source: Author) 
 
Extending to the east of the community gardens, The Langley Park Day Care is located at 
the edge of the last section of the linear green space.  
 
 148 
 Langley Way Market Street is designed to have an extra 15-foot setback for local shops 
to have spaces on the sidewalk for seating or merchandise. This is where local and ethnic shops 
will have the opportunity to show their identity and shape the space as they wish. Some of these 
spaces are covers by loggias for further distinction. Housing is placed above these buildings with 
a 10 ft set back. The market street ends with a small neighborhood block that shifts to the scale 
of walk-up apartments and townhouses. Moving forward along the street we reach a denser 
residential area and end with the 14th Street Park. 
 
Figure 58 Langley Way street section (Source: Author) 
Figure 57 Rendering if Langley Way (Source: Author) 
 
 149 
Housing 
 
Housing was briefly looked at as a concept for future development. With the aim of bringing 
down construction and mechanical costs, the main idea is to create a modular system that can be 
added and subtracted as needed. Units range from studios to three and four bedrooms. Modules 
are designed to be 12?6 x 28? or 12?6x 24? as a minimum. To provide larger and more market-
rate units, modules can simply be added for larger square footage. Modules can be taken out to 
provide communal spaces on each floor. On the Ground floor, we can provide laundry rooms, 
multi-function rooms, and a communal kitchen. Parking will be located behind and in-between 
buildings with open green community spaces above them.  
An additional typology of two units with a shared kitchen is considered for families that may live 
with their extended family, in order to bring down rent prices.  
 
Figure 59 Housing concepts (Source: Author) 
 
 
 150 
Phasing 
 
Phasing is programmed in such a way to first take out the larger parcel commercial strip 
malls and replace them with mixed-used blocks. Housing parcels are demolished in such a way as 
Figure 60 Phasing (Source: Author) 
 151 
to first relocate the residents into built housing and replaced the demolished parcels with new 
development. 
In total, the focused area to the north of University Blv. was home to approximately 700 
housing units, with new development we have created enough square footage to create 
approximately 3900-4000 new units. Therefore, by only requiring 20% of the newly developed 
housing to be affordable, we can replace the existing residents. By further developing the parcels 
south of University Blv. and later other garden apartments adjacent to our development we can 
add to the stock of affordable and market-rate housing.  
In total, about 78 aces of housing and 21 acres of commercial space are provided in the 
focus area to the north of University Blv.  
 
Additional Aspects 
 
CASA Maryland 
 
The Area in front of the CASA Maryland mansion is known to the community as a 
dangerous place due to the extra street running in the middle of the open area in between the 
parking lots. This thesis proposes to repair this area by converting it into a neighborhood park.  
 152 
 
 
University Blv. Additions 
 
This thesis proposes the following changes to the University Blv. street section:  
 
 
 
Figure 61 University Blv. street section proposal (Source: Author) 
 153 
Other additions consist of a large parking lot with ground floor street edge commercial and 
retail spaces behind the Langley Takoma Transit Center and University of Maryland Student 
housing to the south of University Blv.  
Figure 62 Takoma Langley Parking and University of Maryland Student Housing (Source: Author) 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 154 
Conclusion  
 
In conclusion, this thesis aimed to look at Langley park in 3 different scales.  
 
We strongly believe that the future of our communities is highly diverse and integrated. We 
must design these communities to be welcoming to all and provide everyone with the freedom to 
express their identities while at the same time creating a fair and organized environment. 
Communities that offer this welcome mat to immigrants will be the ones that benefit the most 
from this diversity.  
 
 155 
Boards 
 
Figure 63 Boards one and two (Source: Author) 
 
 
 156 
 
 
 
Figure 64 Boards three and four (Source: Author) 
 
 
 
 
  
 157 
 
 
 
 
Figure 65 Boards five and six (Source: Author) 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 158 
Appendix 
 
1- Ernesto Casta?eda? s book ?a place called home?:  
SAX.1 <b>NYC <b>Paris North <b>Barcelona 
Latino</b> African</b> Moroccan</b> 
Feel better off post-migration 90.5 31.3 29.6 
Have experienced racial 14.5 46.2 76 
discrimination 
Feel part of a community  68.7 19.2 46.2 
Visit place or origin  56.2 88.9 27 
Wish to return place of origin 48 60 7.38 
 
Category 1st 1.5th 2nd 3rd 
Feel better off post-migration 90.5 91.4 94 90 
Have experienced racial discrimination 14.5 12 7.2 14.3 
Feel part of a community  68.7 73.9 61.3 76.9 
Visit place or origin 56.2 72.2 64.1 50 
Wish to return place of origin 48 39.6 36.8 20 
 
Indicators New Paris Barcelona 
York City 
Urban population 8.5 2.2 million 1.6 million 
million 
% population foreign-born 37% 20% 18% 
Integration model Laissez- Assimilationist Multicultural 
faire 
Religious tolerance (vs secularism) High Low Medium 
Openness to identity-based groups High Low High 
Public practice of minority cultures and faiths Welcome Unwelcome Tolerated 
 
 
 
 
 159 
2- Financing sources for the Fruitvale village can be found in the tables below:  
 
3- Operating Budget of Fruitvale Village  
?The operating budget is almost as complex as capital financing. Given that FDC and the 
Unity Council are separate legal entities, they are reported individually. The FDC, which owns 
and operates Fruitvale Village and three other properties, has about $3 million in annual revenue. 
While its total expenses are about $4.5 million, much of the difference is accounted for by 
depreciation, so that the net bottom line cash operating loss is relatively small (around $30,000 for 
the Village and a similar figure for the other properties). FDC also shows net assets of over $32 
million. Since the operating loss is essentially an accounting artifact, it appears that the projects 
are viable at the current level of occupancy and interest rates. The Unity Council has an annual 
operating budget of over $10 million (plus an additional $1.5 million for two of its properties) and 
 160 
appears to operate with a small net asset surplus. The Council pays about $300,000 per year in 
rent to FDC for its office space ? 155.  
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
155 (Shibley, Axelrod, Farbstein, & Wener, 2005) 
 161 
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