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This case study focused on the Neshoba County Fair, located outside of Philadelphia, Mississippi, to investigate the role of design elements that foster a sense of community within the built environment. The fairground is unique because it exhibits two developed areas that portray different approaches to design: one that is sensitive to the landscape and one that is less respectful of original development practices. This research utilized a mailed survey, distributed to cabin owners within the fairground boundary. The survey examined whether cabin owners of the fair relate the sense of community with the elements in their built environment, as well as their perceptions of the fairgrounds. The results of this research indicate that cabin owners would prefer to be close to the areas of activity. Findings further indicate that how the individual elements are integrated into the built environment is what promotes sense of community, not the elements themselves.

Researchers agree that teachers are the single most influential school-related factor in a child's level of academic achievement. Teaching style may influence students' academic achievement as well as facilitate students' development of social skills and a sense-of-community within the classroom. The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between high-school choir directors' (n = 42) teaching-style and their high-school choir students' (n =1,108) psychological sense-of-community. Student participants in grades 9-12 within a mid-Atlantic state were members of a 9th-Grade Chorus (n = 2), Men's Chorus (n = 1), Women's Chorus (n = 8), Select Ensemble (n = 7), or Concert Choir (n = 38). Results from students' scores on the Classroom Community Scale revealed that 9th-grade students reported lower levels of sense-of-community, connectedness, and learning than students in grades 10, 11, and 12. Students in Select Ensembles reported significantly higher levels of sense-of-community, connectedness, and learning than students in Concert Choirs, and students in choirs that performed five or more times per school year reported significantly higher levels of sense-of-community than students in choirs that performed four or less times per school year. Results revealed no main effect for gender, students' years-of-experience in high school choir, or choir-class length and frequency. Teachers' scores on the Music Teaching Style Inventory revealed that teachers preferred the Assertive Teaching (M = 3.80), Nonverbal Motivation (M = 3.75), Time Efficiency (M = 4.33), and Positive Learning Environment (M = 4.27) teaching-styles that focus on teacher-led activities. Music Concept Learning (M = 3.48), Artistic Music Performance (M = 3.46), Student Independence (M = 3.30), Group Dynamics (M = 2.84), teaching-styles with a focus on student-led activities were least preferred by the teachers in this study. Group Dynamics teaching style was a low or the lowest preferred teaching-style for 40 of the 42 participating teachers. Results revealed no main effect for teachers' gender or years-of-experience teaching. Teaching-style preference was not a significant predictor for students' levels of sense-of-community or connectedness. Time Efficiency and Student Independence teaching-styles positively correlated with students' perceived level of learning while the Artistic Music Performance teaching-style negatively correlated with students' perceived level learning. Within teachers' reports of observed student behaviors, teachers identified all four elements of sense-of-community: membership, influence, integration and fulfillment of needs, and shared emotional connection. Teachers also reported purposefully planning activities in order to facilitate their choir students' sense-of-community. Activities included teaching behaviors found within the Positive Learning Environment, Group Dynamics, Artistic Music Performance, and Student Independence teaching-styles. Teachers expressed that a sense-of-community has importance in that it effects students' musical expression; students' ability to achieve their potential for musical performance; students' retention within choir ensembles; teachers' advocacy for choir programs; and student's participation in musical ensembles beyond high school. / Music Education

Newspapers have been shown to have positive correlations with their readers, sense of community, political participation, and civic engagement. Using McMillan and Chavis, Sense of Community Theory and its accompanying SCI-2 as well as questions on demographics and media use, political participation, and civic engagement, this thesis conducts a survey study of two community newspaper readerships in differing locations within the continental United States. This study aims to discover and develop further understanding of the social, political, and community-building effects of community dailies and their mirrored-content news websites. First, it examines media consumption preferences and measure the sense of community (SOC) felt by readers of print-edition newspapers and their mirrored-content websites. Second, it examines the differences in SOC felt by print and website readers. Third, it examines the influence of SOC and print-news website-reading on political participation, and fourth, it examines the influence of SOC and print newspaper-website reading on civic engagement, both with the intent of discovering how SOC might mediate this relationship. This thesis will provide contextual information and build a case for the relevance of community dailies in an ever-increasingly fast-paced, technocentric society. Findings include a significant relationship between SOC and both print and online readers, and the question of whether readers of both print and online community news feel a stronger SOC than either on its own is answered. Further findings include newspaper website-reading shares a significant relationship with both political participation and civic engagement, and print does not. Implications and limitations are discussed. / Master of Arts

Researchers have found that schools that support a students' sense of community (SOC) positively affect students' academic achievement, behavior, motivation, and social and emotional competencies (Bryk & Driscoll, 1995; Schaps, 2003; Schaps, Battistich & Solomon, 1997; Goodenow & Grady, 1993; Ladd, 1990; Resnick & Bearman, 1997; Wentzel, 1997). The purpose of this study is to explore, analyze, and describe characteristics of an elementary school that reports a high sense of community among students and to describe adult perceptions on the school's program, activities, and practices that are in place to contribute to the SOC. Schools that provide a high SOC appear to have certain collective key characteristics that have been identified in the research literature: respect, trust, and kindness; a sense of belonging; caring; regular contact; shared governance; and order and discipline among the students of the school. The following overall research questions focus this study: 1. How does an elementary school identified as having a strong SOC support its students' sense of community? 2. What are the administrator, teacher, and parent perceptions of why the students have a SOC within the selected elementary school? 3. What evidence is there that these six key characteristics (respect, trust, and kindness; a sense of belonging; caring; regular contact; shared governance; and order and discipline) are present within the selected elementary school? 4. What similarities and differences are seen between the perceptions of teachers, administrators, and parents regarding these key characteristics (respect, trust, and kindness; a sense of belonging; caring; regular contact; shared governance; and order and discipline) within the selected elementary school? A mixed methods approach was used. The study used surveys, interviews, observations, and document analysis to investigate administrator, teacher, and parent perceptions of the students' SOC at the selected school. The researcher identified and examined distinct characteristics that can assist schools in supporting a student's SOC. The study describes a school program and identifies key activities and practices of a school that reports a strong SOC among students. / Ed. D.

Inner-city neighborhoods are being recognized for their potential to contribute visually, economically, and culturally to the urban core. Efforts to revitalize these neighborhoods will need to address the economic, cultural, and social structure of the neighborhood. Resident groups, in particular long-time and newer residents, will likely be affected by the cultural changes that inevitably accompany revitalization. This project explores the processes of community life and place attachment, and their role in fostering healthy communities. Residents, depending on their length of time in the neighborhood, will be at different stages of these processes. Design and planning may support community life and place attachment by understanding this continuum and providing for the processes that engender them. This project began with a review of literature on the subject of inner-city neighborhoods, gentrification, community life, and place attachment. From this literature design and planning criteria were extracted. These criteria were then applied to the Belmont-Fallon neighborhood in Roanoke, Virginia, and were evaluated based on the conditions of the neighborhood and levels of attachment of long-time and newer residents. Design implications were developed that may support the process of place attachment within this community. These implications were then illustrated and tested through design. / Master of Landscape Architecture

Sense of community (SoC) positively promotes persistence and graduation rates of college students by helping them to feel cared about by others, accepted as members of the campus community, and that they matter to their peers and other community members (Cheng, 2004; Harris, 2007a; Schlossberg, 1989). The college union is one of the most influential settings in developing SoC (Barrett, 2014; Janisz, 2014; Maxwell, 2016; Smyth, 2016) and improving student persistence (Tierno, 2013). However, scholars and educators lack understanding of the ways in which the physical and organizational environments of college unions contribute to SoC development among students. The purpose of this narrative study (Clandinin, 2013) was to understand the role of the college union in developing SoC among college students. Anchored in a modified version of Strange and Banning's (2015) campus ecology framework, the study explored how physical and organizational environments within a college union influenced the community conditions necessary for supporting the educational purposes of student engagement and learning. To understand the role of the physical and organizational environments of the college union in students' SoC development, this study used photo-elicitation methods and semi-structured interviews with seven participants from one large, public, historically White university with high research activity. Students' stories revealed a College Union Sense of Community (CU-SoC) Actualization Model in which students progressed through developmental stages: feeling overwhelmed initially, connecting with campus sub-communities, building localized community, and deepening connections and strengthening bonds with administrators and peers. By progressing through these stages, students developed a SoC toward the institution. The data also highlighted how the college union's physical and organizational environments advanced the SoC development process by creating a home-like feeling, encouraging and enhancing interactions through design, cultivating lasting memories, and nurturing a student-centered culture. These findings represent a narrative account describing the students' personal experiences in relation to how the college union shaped their SoC. / Ph. D.