Barrett, The Honors College Thesis/Creative Project Collection
Barrett, The Honors College at Arizona State University proudly showcases the work of undergraduate honors students by sharing this collection exclusively with the ASU community.
Barrett accepts high performing, academically engaged undergraduate students and works with them in collaboration with all of the other academic units at Arizona State University. All Barrett students complete a thesis or creative project which is an opportunity to explore an intellectual interest and produce an original piece of scholarly research. The thesis or creative project is supervised and defended in front of a faculty committee. Students are able to engage with professors who are nationally recognized in their fields and committed to working with honors students. Completing a Barrett thesis or creative project is an opportunity for undergraduate honors students to contribute to the ASU academic community in a meaningful way.
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7
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- All Subjects: Community Gardens
- All Subjects: community
- Creators: School of Sustainability
Description
Community gardens are used worldwide to promote sustainable, urban living. They can be used to improve the physical, mental, emotional, and social health of the gardeners and volunteers who utilize their grounds. The gardens may also have a positive impact on the local environment and wider community. This study examines a community garden seeking to expand its involvement in the local neighborhood and searching for ways to include local residents in garden related activities. To this end, the garden was waiting for approval on their non-profit, 501(c)3 status, and was seeking additional data on local residents and perceptions of the garden's activities. This thesis first reviews the literature on the benefits community gardens provide for the individuals living in their communities and their impact on urban development. The thesis then turns to an analysis of one garden, Mesa Urban Garden, rooted in the Downtown District of Mesa, Arizona, and how they are impacting their neighborhood and how garden organizers can respond in new and creative ways to local residents.
ContributorsBooher, Samantha Rose (Author) / Glick, Jennifer (Thesis director) / Dumka, Larry (Committee member) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor) / Hugh Downs School of Human Communication (Contributor) / School of Sustainability (Contributor)
Created2014-05
Description
Community gardens are used worldwide to promote sustainable, urban living. They can be used to improve the physical, mental, emotional, and social health of the gardeners and volunteers who utilize their grounds. The gardens may also have a positive impact on the local environment and wider community. This study examines a community garden seeking to expand its involvement in the local neighborhood and searching for ways to include local residents in garden related activities. To this end, the garden was waiting for approval on their non-profit, 501(c)3 status, and was seeking additional data on local residents and perceptions of the garden's activities. This thesis first reviews the literature on the benefits community gardens provide for the individuals living in their communities and their impact on urban development. The thesis then turns to an analysis of one garden, Mesa Urban Garden, rooted in the Downtown District of Mesa, Arizona, and how they are impacting their neighborhood and how garden organizers can respond in new and creative ways to local residents.
ContributorsBooher, Samantha Rose (Author) / Glick, Jennifer (Thesis director) / Dumka, Larry (Committee member) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor) / Hugh Downs School of Human Communication (Contributor) / School of Sustainability (Contributor)
Created2014-05
Description
Abstract
Local organic gardening once experienced great popularity with Americans. At one time promoted and prominent, local gardens became obscure, old-fashioned, and outmoded. However, in the last few decades, for various reasons, local organic gardening has made some progress. This study seeks to assist high-density, low-income, inner-city Americans, who often do not have have easy or affordable access to fresh whole food by creating sustainable, resilient, local, urban gardens. However, this effort does not attempt to address the needs of entire populations of census tracts, rather one suburban home, one small apartment complex, or one small community garden. O ne solution to the problems associated with food insecurity is to put the creativity and responsibility into the hands of those who need the food, allow them to work within a self-sustaining garden, and decide what to do with any excess food. W ith the help of Greg Peterson, Phoenix’s own urban farmer, this project set out to create a system using Phoenix’s limited amount of rainfall to create a aquaponic gardening system which will be used in micro-communities such as multi-family complexes, middle schools, or high schools, in order to help grow food for these communities and alleviate some of the difficulties of finding fresh food in the desert.
Local organic gardening once experienced great popularity with Americans. At one time promoted and prominent, local gardens became obscure, old-fashioned, and outmoded. However, in the last few decades, for various reasons, local organic gardening has made some progress. This study seeks to assist high-density, low-income, inner-city Americans, who often do not have have easy or affordable access to fresh whole food by creating sustainable, resilient, local, urban gardens. However, this effort does not attempt to address the needs of entire populations of census tracts, rather one suburban home, one small apartment complex, or one small community garden. O ne solution to the problems associated with food insecurity is to put the creativity and responsibility into the hands of those who need the food, allow them to work within a self-sustaining garden, and decide what to do with any excess food. W ith the help of Greg Peterson, Phoenix’s own urban farmer, this project set out to create a system using Phoenix’s limited amount of rainfall to create a aquaponic gardening system which will be used in micro-communities such as multi-family complexes, middle schools, or high schools, in order to help grow food for these communities and alleviate some of the difficulties of finding fresh food in the desert.
ContributorsField, John William (Author) / Hagen, Bjoern (Thesis director) / Kelley, Jason (Committee member) / School of Public Affairs (Contributor) / School of Geographical Sciences and Urban Planning (Contributor) / School of Sustainability (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2018-05
Description
"Black in Bleu" is a reflection on my life as a young, Black woman in America told through poetry, and music in conjunction with feminist activists' work as well as results from a survey amongst other young, black students. This paper is a window into Blackness reflecting my experiences as well as many others in a way to find love in that reflection. There is a playlist that goes along with the paper meant to be listened to simultaneously with the reading.
ContributorsDowning, Ciarra (Author) / Acierto, Alejandro (Thesis director) / Reyes, Ernesto (Committee member) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor) / School of Geographical Sciences and Urban Planning (Contributor) / School of Sustainability (Contributor)
Created2023-05
Description
Working in collaboration with the Clark Park Community Garden (CPCG), we sought to identify and implement practices and creative processes that increase community involvement and connection by further transforming the space into a community gathering place. Our primary goal was to foster greater community involvement within the garden through various methods while exploring our own creative outlets to represent what the concepts of “community” and “garden” mean to us.
When initially planning our project, we outlined a research process to conduct interviews with garden participants to determine the best practices for community garden connection-making. However, after our initial discussions with the CPCG Advisory Committee, it became clear that their goals could be better achieved through an applied project focusing on increasing community connection than from a research project. We have adopted our former research question--which asked how community gardens could serve as a means for community connection-- as our premise, and we seek to build upon it through the creation of programs, partnerships, and pieces of art that collectively expand the garden’s connection to its surrounding community. To begin this process, we worked with the leaders of the CPCG to identify the group’s main goals that they sought to achieve with our support. In collaboration with the CPCG Garden Advisory Committee, the three goals that we identified were: 1) increasing neighborhood participation in the space, 2) launching the site’s new subscription program, and 3) transforming the garden space into a place of community.
When initially planning our project, we outlined a research process to conduct interviews with garden participants to determine the best practices for community garden connection-making. However, after our initial discussions with the CPCG Advisory Committee, it became clear that their goals could be better achieved through an applied project focusing on increasing community connection than from a research project. We have adopted our former research question--which asked how community gardens could serve as a means for community connection-- as our premise, and we seek to build upon it through the creation of programs, partnerships, and pieces of art that collectively expand the garden’s connection to its surrounding community. To begin this process, we worked with the leaders of the CPCG to identify the group’s main goals that they sought to achieve with our support. In collaboration with the CPCG Garden Advisory Committee, the three goals that we identified were: 1) increasing neighborhood participation in the space, 2) launching the site’s new subscription program, and 3) transforming the garden space into a place of community.
ContributorsMercer, Madeline (Co-author) / Shea, Jacqueline (Co-author) / Cloutier, Scott (Thesis director) / Vitullo, Juliann (Committee member) / School of Sustainability (Contributor) / Department of Psychology (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2020-05
Description
Food waste is a significant problem in many developed nations, especially the United States. Each year millions of pounds of uneaten or partially eaten food scraps are thrown into landfill, where it degrades anaerobically, producing methane gas emissions, contributing to foul odors, and contributing to an unsustainable food system. This thesis project set out to conduct a small-scale composting system that diverted would-be food waste from a local food bank to a community garden, where food scraps would decompose into compost to then be turned into a valuable, nutrient-rich amendment in that local garden. Engaging with this food bank and community garden allowed us to leverage the existing relationship between the two, and experiment and develop a framework that would demonstrate the feasibility of a long-term composting system in this community. By conducting this project throughout 2021, we saw where strategies worked well, what challenges remained, and where future opportunities could be expanded on. In the end, we diverted over 2000 lbs of uneaten food away from the food bank and into our composting system. We concluded our project report by providing a set of actionable recommendations and future framework guidelines that could be used by the local community garden in the future or be referenced to by other interested parties.
ContributorsBardon, Lee (Author) / Marshall, Meghan (Co-author) / Nelson, Melissa (Thesis director) / Winburn, Morgan (Committee member) / School of Sustainability (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2021-12
Description
Food waste is a significant problem in many developed nations, especially the United States. Each year millions of pounds of uneaten or partially eaten food scraps are thrown into landfill, where it degrades anaerobically, producing methane gas emissions, contributing to foul odors, and contributing to an unsustainable food system. This thesis project set out to conduct a small-scale composting system that diverted would-be food waste from a local food bank to a community garden, where food scraps would decompose into compost to then be turned into a valuable, nutrient-rich amendment in that local garden. Engaging with this food bank and community garden allowed us to leverage the existing relationship between the two, and experiment and develop a framework that would demonstrate the feasibility of a long-term composting system in this community. By conducting this project throughout 2021, we saw where strategies worked well, what challenges remained, and where future opportunities could be expanded on. In the end, we diverted over 2000 lbs of uneaten food away from the food bank and into our composting system. We concluded our project report by providing a set of actionable recommendations and future framework guidelines that could be used by the local community garden in the future or be referenced to by other interested parties.
ContributorsMarshall, Meghan (Author) / Bardon, Lee (Co-author) / Nelson, Melissa (Thesis director) / Winburn, Morgan (Committee member) / School of Sustainability (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2012-12