Graduation Year
Spring 2013
Document Type
Open Access Senior Thesis
Degree Name
Bachelor of Arts
Department
Environmental Analysis
Reader 1
Lily Geismer
Reader 2
Brinda Sarathy
Terms of Use & License Information
Rights Information
© 2013 Emily C. Haynes
Abstract
This thesis analyzes how social and environmental inequalities have interacted throughout Washington, D.C.’s urban and environmental history to shape the Anacostia River and its Near Southeast waterfront into urbanized and industrialized landscapes. Drawing on the principles of environmental justice, urban political ecology, and environmental history, I examine the construction of urban rivers and waterfront space over time. I link the ecological and social decline of the Anacostia River and Near Southeast neighborhood to a broader national pattern of environmental degradation and social inequality along urban rivers that resulted from urban industrialization and federal water management. Finally, I discuss the recent national trend in redevelopment of formerly industrial urban waterfronts. In particular, I focus on two brownfield redevelopment projects in Near Southeast: the Washington National’s baseball stadium at Nationals Park, completed in 2008, and the ongoing construction of The Yards mixed-use development complex. The Anacostia River has served as a touchstone throughout Near Southeast’s shifting neighborhood identity and land use. This thesis uses the river as a starting point at which to begin an exploration of a long history of social and environmental inequality in waterfront Washington, D.C.
Recommended Citation
Haynes, Emily C., "Currents of Change: An Urban and Environmental History of the Anacostia River and Near Southeast Waterfront in Washington, D.C." (2013). Pitzer Senior Theses. 36.
https://scholarship.claremont.edu/pitzer_theses/36
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