Shared Space and Res publica

One of the more radical ideas that the East Campus Redevelopment Initiative plans to employ is the idea of ‘Shared Space’. This East Campus Initiative will bring people together in a close area for socializing. There will also be moderate vehicle traffic for parking. This concept of ‘Shared Space’ plans to combine both vehicle and pedestrian traffic into one space. This idea has worked before in Europe and the developers of the East Campus Initiative believe that they can utilize it here in College Park.

The ‘Shared Space’ idea is an example of ‘res publica’. Res publica is a public space where citizens hold public activities. This is the opposite of res privata; in which the private space is constituted by personal activates.

Here is a concept drawing of Shared Space and an example of res publica:

An example of res privata would be a front yard of a house. Although a front yard is out in the open, it is for the private use of the house owner. Someone may put up hedges or a fence to separate the public and private spaces. These barriers are not meant to offend or shut people out completely. They are just there to emphasize that it is their private space.

This has already caused some controversy. Some people think this idea will not work in the US because it is dangerous. Others disagree. You can learn more about Shared Space and the controversy on the blog post (and comments) of the Re-think College Park website here: http://rethinkcollegepark.net/blog/2008/544/

The Connection between the City of College Park and the Students of the University

There has always been some conflict between the non-student residents of the city of College Park and the students of the university. In fact just today I saw in an article in the Diamondback (the student newspaper at the University of Maryland) that many off-campus student residents are getting noise complaints from regular family homes right outside of campus. This was in an article in the April 22, 2008 issue of the Diamondback entitled “Students, Permanent Residents clash over noise”. I believe this issue of dis-connectivity though the College Park community is a continuing problem.

As I mentioned in the blog post entitled “The East Campus Initiative and Gentrification”, the university isn’t concerned so much about the need for student housing. As for the permanent residents of College Park, they also need to realize that this is a college town with college residents and there will be college-like behavior. I believe that the community needs to be more connected for there to be any progress in resolving these issues.

The picture below is a good representation of the College Park community. Yes, an old broken payphone may show that there is a high contrast of cleanliness and class between the city of College Park and the university. However, may also reveal to the viewer that there is a lack of communication and connectivity between the different sects of the College Park community.

The East Campus Innitiative and The issuses of Gentrification and Influence

There is no doubt that the east campus initiative will bring change to the College Park community. Hopefully this change will be for the better. However, a change this drastic can cause some complications for the community and its residents. Another word for change is ‘gentrification’; specifically change in neighborhood developments. Gentrification can also be code for the phrase ‘not like us’. The east campus initiative will possibly bring a whole new culture to the area. This may be a very different culture that already exists in the east campus area.

Gentrification is a very relevant term to the East Campus Initiative because of another term associated with it: displacement. The East Campus initiative calls for the demolition of many old buildings in the East Campus area. This deconstruction includes Old Leonardtown. Old Leonardtown is a student housing community that is (like all university of Maryland student housing) desperately sought after by students. UMD is currently in a student housing crisis. There is not nearly enough on-campus student housing. This causes more students to look for housing in the neighborhoods of permanent residents of College Park (which I will talk about further in the next blog post). The East Campus Initiative will cause the displacement of all the students currently living in Old Leonardtown (which is a result of the gentrification of east campus). Destroying already existing student housing when there is not enough to go around is not in the best interest of the students. However, even though the east campus initiative includes the construction of student housing, there must be a way to do it without destroying already existing housing.

This brings me to my next point. The students of Old Leonardtown have no real ‘say’ is they get kicked out of their student housing. This is relevant to the terms “Yuppie” and “Bubbas”. These terms were coined by Catherine Bisher in the article, Bubba, and the Politics of Culture. Bisher says a yuppie is someone who is usually wealthy and is in the high class of society. Yuppies are often associated with being a “market professional”; someone who has useful professional knowledge and training. In the case of College Park community and the East Campus Project, the administration of the University and the people heading the East Campus Project are yuppies. They have all the power and influence on what goes on in the community. Bubbas are the working class of the society, in college park, this could also be considered the students. These terms are relevant to the East Campus Project because it is about who controls what goes on in the east campus project. Since the yuppies have all the influence on which buildings get destroyed, the bubbas are left in the dust, and in this case without housing (until new housing is built, which could be a year or more).

Below are two pictures I believe represent the yuppies and bubbas in the College Park community. The first picture is distant shot of the administration building at the University of Maryland. I believe this well represents the yuppies in this community.

This second picture is of students walking up and down a path leaving from the student union. I believe this well represents the bubbas in the college park community.

An Overview of the East Campus Redevelopment Innitiaive

The East Campus Redevelopment Initiative is a project under the 'Rethink College Park' program. It is mainly focused on the east campus community in College Park, Maryland. This is located just to the east of the main campus and Route 1. As it stands right now, the land that being planned for the East Campus project is now occupied by old University service buildings and student housing. The initiative plans to re-vamp the image in that area by demolishing most the currently standing building and replacing them with (among other things) new retail shops, restaurants and student housing. This is a huge initiative and will require a lot of cooperation between the non-student residents of the city of college park and the university itself.

Here are a couple of concept picture of what the developers of the East Campus Redevelopment initiatives hope to accomplish:

The purpose of this website

Welcome to this site. The University of Maryland is very unique in many ways. If someone ever takes the time to tour the campus they will see just how a beautiful and well kept place it is. However one of the most interesting things about the school itself is the city that surrounds it. College Park, Maryland is a small city located just 9 miles outside Washington, DC. Although the University itself may represent high-class and sophistication the city of College Park itself gives off a very different vibe.

If someone who has never seen the school drives down Route 1 to get to the University of Maryland they may be a little confused by the city they are driving through. The city has a very dirty look. This is only emphasized by the fact that the city itself has such a high contrast to the University. Crime is also a pretty big problem (although not major) .The image of the city does not portray the same image that the University does.

The 'Rethink College Park' program plans to change the image of the city of College Park. This Program consists of many different initiatives that are renovation which will happen on off the campus (on Route 1 especially).

Below is a map of college park with each park of the Re-think College Park program shaded a different color. The part shaded in green is the East Campus Redevelopment Initiative.

One of these many initiatives is the 'East Campus Redevelopment Initiative'. This initiative plans to redevelop the Route 1 corridor to the the east of Route 1. The ultimate goal of the East Campus project is to strengthen the image of College Park and Route 1. The purpose of this website is for me to give my commentary on the East Campus Project. I will also be relating the East Campus project to the themes of "Historic Preservation 200: The Everyday and American Environment" course at the University of Maryland.

I hope you enjoy the site and feel free to leave comments and feedback on the blog posts. Thank You.