The rapid expansion of urban systems in both area and population represents the most significant landuse/landcover change occurring in the world today. Urbanization is often accompanied by increasing environmental degradation. This degradation is related to stormwater runoff, air temperatures greater than surrounding rural areas, increased air and water pollution, losses of vegetated lands, and lack of access to sufficient and healthy foods in lower-income areas. Urban agriculture (UA), a practice long established in previous eras but neglected for many decades, can mediate such concerns by providing greenspaces to improve ecosystem services. Successful practice of UA requires recognition of interactions between social and environmental patterns. Neglect of these interactions leads to failure in spatially integrating social and environmental dimensions of the urban landscape, limiting the success of UA. This study investigates siting of UA within Roanoke, Virginia, a compact urban region characterized by social and environmental conditions that can be addressed by effective siting and practice of UA. This research takes a broader perspective than prior studies on UA and urban greenspaces. It proposes innovative applications of geospatial technologies for urban assessment. Studies on UA have typically focused on food insecurity, while studies on greenspaces focus on parks and tree canopy cover, without investigating interactions that promote synergies between these two efforts. Research over the past few years is now recognizing potential contributions for urban agriculture to alleviate environmental issues such as stormwater runoff, soil infertility, and the urban heat island effect. Little of this research has been devoted to the actual siting of urban agriculture to specifically alleviate both socio-economic and environmental issues. This research applies geospatial technologies to evaluate spatial patterns characterizing both environmental and socio-economic disparities within the City of Roanoke, Virginia. This approach has identified specific locations that are open and available for urban agriculture, and has appraised varying levels of socio-economic and environmental parameters. This research identified, at the census block group level, areas with varying levels of degradation. Thus, those locations in which a new urban agriculture greenspace can contribute to both socio-economic and environmental reparation. This research has identified spatial dimensions in which UA will assist in restoring ecosystem services to guide various food production activities. These results can be generalized to other urban locations and contribute to efficient use of urban land and space, improving the three pillars of worldwide sustainability – economic, environment, and social. / Ph. D.

Campostoma anomalum roanokense, a new subspecies of C. anomalum in the James and Roanoke Rivers of Virginia, West Virginia, and North Carolina is compared to C. a. kanawhanum, the most closely related form, and to other similar forms. Three races of C. a. roanokense: a. South Fork Roanoke River Race, b. North Fork Roanoke River Race, and c. James River Race, are described and their relationships discussed. A Roanoke River endemic (Notropis cerasinus) taken from the New River drainage and the interrelationships of the three races of C. a. roanokense may indicate a more recent contact between the New and South Fork of the Roanoke River watersheds than has taken place between the New and the James River watersheds. / Master of Science

The renovation of existing buiIdings is an alternative to new construction in urban renewal. The members of First Baptist Church of Roanoke, Virginia made the decision to utilize their existing structure after their new church facilities have been built. They believe that their building is an established landmark in the community, and that a reuse of this building would benefit the community. They feel that this building could become a vehicle to extend its ministry to the community. A workshop, with Halprin scoring, role playing, and brainstorming, was used to establish the buiIding program. The program established the foundation for the design of the renovation of the church building. A description of the workshop and results, the design process and final design are included. / Master of Architecture

Corporate leaders at Dominion Bankshares Corporation established an on-site child care facility at its operations center for its Roanoke, Virginia employees. The immediate supervisors of parents of children enrolled in the Dominion Child Development Center were surveyed to determine the factors they believed affected worker productivity and their perceptions of how employees' work habits had changed as a result of the opening of the child care center. A description of the demographic characteristics of persons who supervise employees who use Dominion Bank's Child Development Center is included. The supervisors of persons using the on-site child care center were primarily white males from 36 to 45 years old with ten or fewer years experience with the corporation. These supervisors perceived that employee productivity is mostly affected by employee morale, emotional stress level, and absenteeism. Supervisors believed that employee morale, productivity, and absenteeism related to child care improved after the opening of the Dominion Child Development Center. Some corporate leaders call the lack of affordable, licensed child care an economic problem for our society. Many supervisors are not aware that their employees' child care dilemmas affect job performance. Inservice training could provide educational opportunities to improve attitudes and increase awareness. / Master of Science

The Precambrian age rocks of the Blue Ridge thrust sheet near Roanoke, Virginia, comprise an igneous and metamorphic assemblage with the predominance of porosity and permeability of the formations attributed to secondary factors. Aquifer characteristics of transmissivity, storage coefficient, hydraulic conductivity and fracture NL) permeability are determined from evaluation of pump tests conducted on ground water supply wells developed in this fractured aquifer. Evaluation of pump test data indicates that aquifer response is similar to a double porosity medium in some instances. Comparison of pump tests at locations close to, and further removed from, the leading edge of the Blue Ridge Thrust Fault indicate little variability in fracture permeability. The data suggest that deep circulation of ground water in the Blue Ridge allochthon may be more likely than previously thought. / Master of Science / incomplete_metadata

The evolution and relative importance of four issues -- civic boosterism and community autonomy, public services and planning, financial considerations, and race-related considerations -- were examined and analyzed as critical factors in Roanoke, Virginia's historic use of annexation. Particular attention was paid to the 1943, 1949, and 1962 annexation suits because they occurred during the period of increasing county opposition to annexation. An historical and political geographic methodology, which focused on Guelke's idealism, was used to analyze the role of the two principal actors, city and county officials as public personae, whose actions on the four issues constituted the scenario for the city's thirteen annexation suits. Civic boosterism and community autonomy played the initial role motivating the two principal actors in each suit. Expanding population, urbanization, and the statutory changes in Virginia’s annexation laws in 1904 increased the importance of public services and planning and financial considerations. Race-related considerations, however, were publicly ignored until the late 1960s after passage of the civic rights legislation. Rising county opposition resulted in passage of numerous bills permitting counties to provide services and other government functions comparable to those offered by cities. This gave Roanoke County officials and their constituents an alternative to annexation. As a consequence, Roanoke County increasingly opposed the city's annexation plans. In 1980 Roanoke County gained immunity from further annexations. / Master of Science

Roanoke, as a city, needs to redefine itself and to constantly respond to what new should come to the city. Society and culture become an important factors in design. The insertion into an existing fabric requires a careful dialogue between past, present and future. The proposed building sets in contrast to the existing structures in the neighborhood of the site, establishing its own response to time. Although contrasting the existing buildings the proposition is responsive to context in terms of scale and materials. The context is important to continue the harmony and rhythm of the urban fabric. The site is located at one of the main entrances to downtown Roanoke and market square and hence the proposed building acts as a gateway to the future of the city. Due to its location the building will project the first image of the city. Therefore the proposed building should enhance and adapt to the social and cultural roots of the city. My thesis is a reaction to the existing conditions at the site for what I believe to be a lack of sensitivty to the context and the needs of the people of Roanoke. A museum is a public institution to provide insight into the attitudes and values of the local community. Through design the building is intended to symbolize the gateway to the future of the city. The basic shape of the building is curved in response to the plan of the site while allowing for an urban plaza in front. Cantilevered masses which radiate from Market square are inserted into the primary building mass providing a connection to a larger context. The cantilevered masses(which hosts art galleries)hover over and project into the urban plaza providing Roanoke city with a public space downtown. Thus the two most important elements i) Cantilevered masses and ii) The Urban Plaza are means to weave the thesis project into the existing urban fabric of the Roanoke. / Master of Architecture

Laotse has said, "Man's loss of his original nature comes from the distractions of the material world acting through the five senses.”1 That we have not regained our original nature is self-evident. Our society indicts us; its works convict us. We have become slaves to the extent that we have diverged from, as well as our own nature, the nature of our universe. It is to the cutting through the haze of invalidities which constitutes much of the atmosphere in which we design and build that this thesis is directed. First, in this search, this one for freedom in a sense, the nature of man, of universe, and the relationships which do and could exist between them, will be explored in terms of building. If, perhaps, subsequent analysis of existing relationships appear too critical, it must be borne in mind, that much is based upon, as well as observation, introspection. Second, cultures will be explored in an effort to more clearly establish the relationships which exist between man and the pattern he produces. With this relationship in mind, our contemporary pattern will be examined and an attempt will be made to evaluate the dominant trends which now seem to be directing it toward the contradictory expressions so apparent today. Third, designs will be given of a natural community and of a natural living unit, illustrating through application of these same natural relationships, but two of many levels of planning. A site in the Blue Ridge Mountains, northeast of Roanoke has been chosen as the area for development which, although topographically undesirable for building by present criteria, permits demonstration of the flexibility attainable through application of spirit and technics of natural building. This thesis is an attempt to see the whole more clearly in terms of its parts. Design today, as attested by almost every area of development, is in a state of chaos, less conscious of the world for which it was executed than it is of itself. The method of approach, not being purely scientific, is in itself a questioning of contemporary methods of inquiry. Natural law, in the academic sense, is but the notation of physically observed phenomena and has been taken more as a boundary than as a fluid instrument of understanding cognizant of omnipresent relativities. Natural law, in its broadest sense, at best, but an instantaneous approximation (for what has become of Euclidean geometry and Newtonian physics), is here suggested as a criterion for design. A criterion which will continue to grow together with science and art in the interests of man. / Master of Science

Greenway trails, or linear community parks, are growing in popularity around the world and are increasingly prevalent in cities of all sizes in the United States. At their best, greenways can provide affordable transportation, access to jobs, safe recreation space, community building, biodiversity protection, stormwater drainage, and air and noise quality benefits. Yet, commonly, neoliberal governance and design of greenways leads to diminished social and environmental design in favor of economic development. Intentional design for social, environmental and economic stability is crucial for successful greenways, though they are often viewed as innately sustainable. Urban Political Ecology (UPE), Actor Network Theory (ANT), and Campbell's Sustainable Development are used together as lenses to better understand the greenway development process and its outcomes. This research is a case study of the Roanoke River Greenway (RRG) in Roanoke, Virginia which was conducted in attempt to discover who benefits from the greenway, in what ways, and by what means. Semi-structured interviews, participant observation, and mapping combined to answer research questions. Participants were eleven neighborhood residents, five greenway commissioners, and five city and regional leaders involved with the greenway. Interviews were transcribed, coded, and grouped into themes, along with map data and field notes. I combined these methods to draw conclusions that shed light on the complex system surrounding the RRG. Conclusions are (1) that residents who live near the greenway and want to use it for recreational purposes as well as the City of Roanoke and its elite class of businessowners and homeowning residents who live near the greenway benefit the most from the RRG benefit because the greenway is catered toward recreation and economic development, in form, function, and process, (2) that the system which enables these benefits and prioritizes their beneficiaries is the greenway's evolving planning process, a system both steeped in mindsets of traditional economic development and exclusive planning aesthetics and imbued with innovative approaches of connecting residents to the outdoor environment, and (3) that Roanoke's greenway movement is strong because of its popularity but is vulnerable, because there are no provisions to officially protect it for the future, in terms of maintenance, increased use, and public opinion. Implications for praxis are that communities with greenway trails should diversify the people and perspectives who have power in the planning practice, that environmental and social design should be addressed directly and consistently in greenway development and maintenance, and greater outreach efforts should be made to residents in order to make the greenways more accessible and welcoming to diverse users. Implications for research are for increased research conducted with low-income and minority residents and on microlevel social and economic impacts in neighborhoods. / Doctor of Philosophy / Greenway trails, or linear community parks, grow in popularity around the world and are increasingly prevalent in cities of all sizes in the United States. At their best, greenways can provide affordable transportation, access to jobs, safe recreation space, community building, biodiversity protection, stormwater drainage, and air and noise quality benefits. Yet, commonly, neoliberal governance and design of greenways leads to diminished social and environmental design in favor of economic development. Intentional design for social, environmental and economic stability is crucial for successful greenways, though they are often viewed as innately sustainable. Urban Political Ecology (UPE), Actor Network Theory (ANT), and Campbell's Sustainable Development are used together as lenses to better understand the greenway development process and its outcomes. This research is a case study of the Roanoke River Greenway (RRG) in Roanoke, Virginia which was conducted in attempt to discover who benefits from the greenway, in what ways, and by what means. Semi-structured interviews, participant observation, and mapping combined to answer research questions. Participants were eleven neighborhood residents, five greenway commissioners, and five city and regional leaders involved with the greenway. Interviews were transcribed, coded, and grouped into themes, along with map data and field notes. These combined to draw conclusions that shed light on the complex system surrounding the RRG. Conclusions are (1) that residents who live near the greenway and want to use it for recreational purposes as well as the City of Roanoke and its elite class of businessowners and homeowning residents who live near the greenway benefit the most from the RRG benefit because the greenway is catered toward recreation and economic development, in form, function, and process, (2) that the system which enables these benefits and prioritizes their beneficiaries is the greenway's evolving planning process, a system both steeped in mindsets of traditional economic development and exclusive planning aesthetics and imbued with innovative approaches of connecting residents to the outdoor environment, and (3) that Roanoke's greenway movement is strong because of its popularity but is vulnerable, because there are no provisions to officially protect it for the future, in terms of maintenance, increased use, and public opinion. Implications for praxis are that communities with greenway trails should diversify the people and perspectives who have power in the planning practice, that environmental and social design should be addressed directly and consistently in greenway development and maintenance, and greater outreach efforts should be made to residents in order to make the greenways more accessible and welcoming to diverse users. Implications for research are investigations into residents who do not use the greenway, for long-term and minority residents.

A masonry wall or panel is made by the stacking of individual units; typically brick, stone, concrete block or glass block. These units are bound together by mortar to form continuous vertical surfaces. Traditionally, mortar is a paste made from a mixture of sand and cement. What other materials might serve as "mortar"? For this thesis project a panelized system for binding brick with metal has been developed. Each panel consists of a steel frame, within which the bricks are stacked and bound together. Metal rods hold the bricks in place horizontally, while metal spacers maintain the correct vertical positioning. The panels are hung onto a steel grid and bound together to form surfaces. / Master of Architecture