ABSTRACT
As we probe the meanings of the material world of the modern metropolis, we cannot overlook the living landscapes of poverty in contemporary urban America. Forsaken and vilified, the people who subsist on the streets in major American cities experience the built environment of these places very differently from their neighbours. Homelessness makes manifest the consequences of urban renewal, deindustrialization, the dismantling of the welfare state, and chemical addiction. The existence of people who are homeless represents the shortcomings of capitalism and democracy. Amidst this dystopia, I would like to turn our attention to a transitional housing programme for women that operates two sites in Washington, DC to explore more fully one segment of the population of people who live in poverty. In doing so, I am concerned with the cultural landscapes of homelessness and with the possibilities for solutions. A cultural landscape is a place, bounded by both its inhabitants and its students, through which we may learn about human experience. An examination of the pasts and present of the site offers an opportunity to assess the ways in which the material world enables and constrains human experiences, and the ways in which human experiences enable and constrain the material world (Groth 1994; Hayden 1995; Jackson 1984; Lewis 1979; Meinig 1979). The built environment of homeless shelters reveals a great deal about the meanings of gender, race, and class at the turn of the twenty-first century. Through an examination of such environments, we may also explore the dynamic relationship between artefacts and people. This study suggests the crucial roles that privacy and creativity play in nurturing the development of women who are homeless and in transition from the streets to independent living. This essay asks to what degree does the material culture of a sheltering programme affect its success? Does the traditional vocabulary of domestic architecture instil a sense of ‘home’ in such a programme? And, finally, what factors contribute to making a shelter a home?
