{"62796":{"#nid":"62796","#data":{"type":"news","title":"Graduate Student Profile - Gloria \u0022Glo\u0022 Ross, HTS","body":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EUrban agriculture can provide communities with environmental \nsustainability and a reliable food source; they can also generate \nsocial, economic, and energy-saving benefits.\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003EPh.D. student and community-organizer Gloria \u201cGlo\u201d Ross researches \nthe social, economic, and technological landscape of urban agriculture \nand explores models for developing community gardens. \u201cWhat does it look\n like for an urban area to be environmentally sustainable using urban \nagriculture and urban gardening? And what does it look like for \ncommunities to actually guide that process?\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003ERoss is in her second year in the History, Technology, and Society \n(HTS) Ph.D. program. Atlanta is an ideal city for Ross to conduct her \nresearch. There are many existing urban garden systems that were \nbuilt from successful models. There are production-oriented gardens, \nwhere residents farm on individual plots where they can grow their own \nfood and harvest it for themselves. In community-supported systems, \nseveral members of the community put forth a collective effort to grow \nand harvest the food as products, and the contributing members divide \nthe earnings. Another model is strictly educational, where the food is a\n byproduct but the purpose is to educate the members of the community \nabout agricultural systems and gardening. There are many Atlanta \ncommunities that have potential for using these models to build \nsuccessful urban agriculture systems, but are presented with difficult \nchallenges. It is these communities that Ross has focused her energy on \nto help guide the planning process and overcome the challenges.\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003ERoss is particularly inspired by the work happening in English \nAvenue, East Point, and Edgewood. These neighborhoods are close-knit \ncommunities, but suffer from low property values, abandoned homes, and \ncrime. Ross questions, \u201cWhat\u2019s happening in communities that have \nparticularly been disinvested? What are they envisioning? What do they \nsee in their future to strengthen their communities and to strengthen \ntheir safety and their role in the economy?\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003EUrban gardens may not seem like a priority in neighborhoods facing \nsocial and economic challenges every day, but gardens have the potential\n to turn neighborhoods like these around. And people in these \ncommunities envision urban gardens. Ross spoke with a woman in English \nAvenue who expressed her desire for a community garden but was unsure of\n how to make it a reality. She asked if she could start a garden in the \nyard of the abandoned home across the street, unsure of who owned the \nproperty. The woman obviously wanted to improve the neighborhood, but \ndidn\u2019t know where to start.\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003ERoss understands community challenges and knows how to plan and \nimplement successful public projects. In New York City, she worked with \nhomeless lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) youth on a project to develop a public garden space. \nRoss worked with architects, public planners, and the community to put \nthe project together. In order to plan a successful urban garden in \nAtlanta, Ross knows that she will need to navigate both the political \nsystem and neighborhood organization and help bridge the gap between \nthem. In her current research, she is examining what plans exist for \nAtlanta, what is needed by communities here, and the alignments and \ndisparities between the two. She\u2019s also exploring the process for \nmerging those efforts. Ross notes that \u201csourcing local food\u201d is a \nbenchmark of the strategic plan for the City of Atlanta put forth by \nMayor Kasim Reed. Atlanta also aspires to be an environmentally \nsustainable city. Ross is preparing feasibility studies incorporating \nqualitative data from the communities with the intention of presenting \nthose to the Mayor\u2019s office. Ross will participate in an initiative to \nassist Westside\u0026nbsp;communities to develop patterns of \nsustainability\u0026nbsp;spearheaded by Ivan Allen College Dean Jacqueline J. \nRoyster and Dean Alan Balour in the College of Architecture.\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cem\u003EStory by Lauren Langley, Master\u0027s Student, \u003C\/em\u003E\u003Cem\u003EDigital Media Program\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003C\/em\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E","summary":null,"format":"limited_html"}],"field_subtitle":"","field_summary":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EUrban agriculture can provide communities with environmental \nsustainability and a reliable food source; they can also generate \nsocial, economic, and energy-saving benefits. Ph.D. student and \ncommunity-organizer Gloria \u201cGlo\u201d Ross researches the social, economic, \nand technological landscape of urban agriculture and explores models for\n developing community gardens.\u003C\/p\u003E","format":"limited_html"}],"field_summary_sentence":"","uid":"27418","created_gmt":"2010-11-16 13:30:00","changed_gmt":"2016-10-08 03:07:46","author":"Lauren Langley","boilerplate_text":"","field_publication":"","field_article_url":"","dateline":{"date":"2010-11-16T00:00:00-05:00","iso_date":"2010-11-16T00:00:00-05:00","tz":"America\/New_York"},"extras":[],"hg_media":{"62791":{"id":"62791","type":"image","title":"Gloria \u0022Glo\u0022 Ross","body":null,"created":"1449176394","gmt_created":"2015-12-03 20:59:54","changed":"1475894547","gmt_changed":"2016-10-08 02:42:27","alt":"Gloria \u0022Glo\u0022 Ross","file":{"fid":"191576","name":"Glo_Ross_200x300.jpg","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/Glo_Ross_200x300_0.jpg","image_full_path":"http:\/\/www.tlwarc.hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/Glo_Ross_200x300_0.jpg","mime":"image\/jpeg","size":37027,"path_740":"http:\/\/www.tlwarc.hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/images\/Glo_Ross_200x300_0.jpg?itok=ysKhNWps"}}},"media_ids":["62791"],"related_links":[{"url":"http:\/\/hts.gatech.edu\/graduate\/phd","title":"History, Technology, and Society"}],"groups":[{"id":"1281","name":"Ivan Allen College of Liberal Arts"}],"categories":[{"id":"134","name":"Student and Faculty"}],"keywords":[{"id":"11276","name":"Gloria"},{"id":"2518","name":"hts"},{"id":"11278","name":"Urban Agriculture"}],"core_research_areas":[],"news_room_topics":[],"event_categories":[],"invited_audience":[],"affiliations":[],"classification":[],"areas_of_expertise":[],"news_and_recent_appearances":[],"phone":[],"contact":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003ERebecca Keane\u0026nbsp; 404-894-1720\u003C\/p\u003E","format":"limited_html"}],"email":["rebecca.keane@iac.gatech.edu"],"slides":[],"orientation":[],"userdata":""}}}