Abstract
The scope of the technical portion of my thesis focused on developing a site plan for a new fire station in Chester County (just South of Richmond) alongside a new park facility for the nearby community. My STS research explored the relationship between efficiency in the civil industry and the displacement/resettlement of communities. I did not focus my research on any elements related to my capstone because I did not see any clear ethical concerns with the fire station and park design. Instead, I focused on the topic of displacement because it has been an element of civil engineering that I have been curious about since I began majoring in civil. Displacement tangentially relates to my capstone because there were a couple of homes and businesses that were purchased and demolished by Chester County in order to create space for the fire station. Displacement is a jarring and unpleasant process for anyone who has to experience it. Examining this process through the lens of STS allows civil engineers to make a more conscious effort to protect the rights of those that they subject to displacement.
The technical portion of my thesis resulted in a 30% plan set for the fire station and park project. The final plan sheets included existing conditions, demolition plan, final site plan, 2-D utility design, grading of the entire site (ensuring land around the site is not too steep), stormwater management, erosion control plans for pre and post-construction, and detail sheets for different site elements. The final site plan had the fire station footprint connect to a drive aisle leading to the existing West Hundred Road. My team included 25 and 20 parking spots for the fire station and park, respectively, each having one handicap spot. We ran a 10-foot-wide trail from the park parking lot through the site, connecting to the Future Fall Line trail located just North of the site. Along the trail, we added a playground, a restroom facility, and three 10-foot by 10-foot shelters. Between the fire station and the park, we included a basketball court to help connect the community to the emergency providers. All elements of the design were connected with five-foot-wide sidewalks that met the standards set by the Americans with Disabilities Act.
My STS research looked at the gap in research between technological efficiency in the construction industry and displacement/resettlement. Most of the articles focused on technological efficiency explained how progress in machinery and software had helped the construction industry become safer, bigger, and faster. Technologies such as Civil 3D, drones, GPS, steel, concrete, hydraulics, etc., all helped the industry pump out more and more projects worldwide. Research in displacement looked at how mismanaged the process had been historically, and offered frameworks for how it could be done better. Most of these frameworks had companies being more involved in the community earlier, communicating with residents on how they could make the process as seamless as possible for them. The conclusion of my research, however, led me to believe that companies don’t want a fair and drawn-out process. Partially because lengthening the process can add operational costs, but also because being as efficient as possible forces people to move on more quickly. People don’t have time to gather the resources to oppose a project if it is done within a year or two of it being announced. If developers gave residents a heads-up about being displaced, then that could give people time to stop the project altogether. Instead, companies can take the more profitable route of bulldozing through a site, and implementing a new building before people have time to process what’s happening. By the time enough people do care, there’s already a new building that has established a new status quo for the area.
These projects, in tandem, taught me how easy it is to forget the core of your morals as an engineer. It was almost beneficial not to have these two projects be related to each other because I would switch between modes of “wow, look at how construction can affect people” to “I can draw up the demolition sheet for this site”. It was shocking when I realized just how much I saw the space I was designing in as just maps and lines in Civil 3D. Especially when I had just finished writing about how engineers need to be more aware of who they are impacting with their projects. Hopefully, I can learn from myself and be more conscious as a professional engineer.
For my technical work, I would like to thank my faculty mentor, Teresa Culver, my industry mentors, Rachel Brelage and Samantha Collins, and my teammates, Nora Collinsworth, Sean Lacey, Joice Small, and Deonna White. For my STS research, I would like to thank my advisor, William Davis.
