Social Justice and Urban Planning

While there are many, many, many layers to unpack when it comes to social justice, a common retort I've seen posted around is, they need to "fix their communities." As someone who does research on cities, I want to take a moment to share some thoughts about how planning underpins aspects of what is occurring now. Note: this is a super quick overview/summary and many of the sources I link to explain things in far more detail. Dr. Gilmore's video explains the intersection of capitalism and racism extremely well. This relationship is important to understand as it relates to the policies described below:

Redlining, a policy from the 1930s until the late 1960s, had disastrous impacts on BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, and People of Color) on purchasing homes and building equity. Essentially, the Federal Housing Administration subsidizing the construction of suburbs for white families and, at the same time, drew up maps of areas (hint: BIPOC areas) where they wouldn't insure mortgage loans.  You can also explore the impacts of redlining and restrictive deeds in Minneapolis.

Redlining in Chicago

They also recommended highways as an excellent means to separate people of color from the new developments- which is a known health risk (1). Plus, keeping neighborhoods separate creates a fear of others. This article is a good summary on redlining from NPR:
https://www.npr.org/2017/05/03/526655831/a-forgotten-history-of-how-the-u-s-government-segregated-america

The Fair Housing Act of 1968 didn't magically make things better, either. Even though redlining was gone, homeownership and lending remained almost unchanged:

https://www.citylab.com/equity/2018/04/how-the-fair-housing-act-failed-black-homeowners/557576/

And yes, this happened in Tucson:

https://news.azpm.org/p/findinghome/2019/6/20/153570-roots-of-housing-discrimination-in-tucson/

Especially troubling was the "urban renewal" effort in the 1960s, which saw the historic barrios in downtown razed for government offices and the Tucson Convention Center:

https://www.tucsonweekly.com/tucson/bulldozing-the-barrio/Content?oid=5910350

To this day, razing the barrios has created massive distrust between residents in the downtown area and the city when it comes to any project.

What about the people who own homes? 

Changes in housing in Detroit

Using Detroit as an example, the county, as recently as 2020, "overcharged homeowners on property taxes- to the tune of thousands of dollars (2). And when they can't pay, the county forecloses on them and keeps the proceeds (3). Often, the homes are bought by housing corporations that evict the owners, charge high rents, and don't maintain the property (4)."

More often than not, US housing policies have worked to keep BIPOC out of homeownership and concentrated near locally unwanted land uses (LULUs)- basically industrial sites, highways, warehouses, etc. (5). These areas are often located in food deserts, making it difficult to access affordable and healthy foods (7). Lack of affordable and healthy food, as well as living near current or former industrial sites, leads to health issues and inequities.

And let's not forget about Broken Windows policing- the idea that by cleaning up the streets and preventing disorder, you could empower neighborhoods. However, this policy leads to things like stop and frisk. "If broken windows meant arresting people for misdemeanors in hopes of preventing more serious crimes, "stop and frisk" said, why even wait for the misdemeanor? Why not go ahead and stop, question and search anyone who looked suspicious?" (10). One of the results of stop and frisk was the death of Eric Garner in 2014 (11).

Additionally, you have to look at gentrification- buying homes and flipping them, building trendy loft apartments, and rezoning areas. All of this works to drive up property values and drive out residents who can no longer afford to live there (6). 

Gentrification forces rent higher and people out.

Why don't these communities come together to fight this? Partially because the public participation process doesn't always work for them. How so? A bad public hearing goes like this (and this could be rezoning, a road widening, a new development, etc.):

-Announcement: usually placed somewhere in the local newspaper, maybe online, and on a sign near the property. Unless you are paying super close attention, these are easy to miss.

-Hearings: Often scheduled during working hours or right after (say 5:30 pm) and sometimes at locations underserved by transit (either due to the timing or the location). It can be hard to attend these hearings if you work multiple jobs, lack access to childcare, or don't have reliable transportation.

-The process: the meetings can be structured so that public feedback has minimal impact on the actual decision. You leave feeling as if you wasted your time. Sometimes, terms and phrases are used that most people don't understand and don't have time to prep for before the meeting. Plus, planners often perceive their effort as being more inclusive than it is. In reality, minimal decision making is left up to the residents most impacted (8).

This isn't to say all public participation meetings are bad; there is an effort to increase the accessibility as well as empower residents more. Tucson Bike-Ped Program has done some wonderful public participation such as ice cream socials at parks and sought out residents' concerns first before bringing a plan. Bottom line is: you're also more likely to continue to engage with the process if you feel your voice is being heard.

How does this all relate to what is happening now? For decades our urban policies have worked to undermine BIPOC's most basic needs: food, shelter, and security (see Maslow's Hierarchy, 9).



The system was designed to hold BIPOC down, and even though the federal policy has changed, what is happening on the ground is still not working. How can we expect people to "fix their community" when their basic needs are frequently undermined? People have been ignored again and again- you shouldn't be surprised by the protest.

So, what can we do? One thing is gaining an understanding of how systems keep people down. Hopefully, this post has helped, and you spend more time reading. Use your voice: become aware of the projects and policies going on in your community through your neighborhood association, speak to your neighbors, organize groups, attend the hearings, speak out, and demand cities and local governments are held accountable. Be an informed citizen and vote for politicians that have platforms to address these issues- from policing, to planning, to social justice. Or join advocacy groups that work to address access to food, housing, jobs, etc. Be involved and don't sit idly by.

Other sources:
1.) https://www.latimes.com/local/california/la-me-freeway-homeless-housing-20171217-htmlstory.html
2.) https://www.detroitnews.com/story/news/local/detroit-city/housing/2020/01/09/detroit-homeowners-overtaxed-600-million/2698518001/
3.) https://www.bridgemi.com/detroit-journalism-cooperative/sorry-we-foreclosed-your-home-thanks-fixing-our-budget

4.) https://poverty.umich.edu/files/2019/08/Akers-et-al-Eviction-Machine-Revised-August-12.pdf

5.) https://www.epa.gov/cleanups/cleanups-my-community#map
6.) https://news.azpm.org/p/findinghome/2019/8/1/155922-gentrification-and-changing-neighborhoods-in-tucson/

7.) https://www.ers.usda.gov/data-products/food-access-research-atlas/go-to-the-atlas/

8.) https://uknowledge.uky.edu/ktc_facpub/5/

9.) https://www.simplypsychology.org/maslow.html

10.) https://www.npr.org/2016/11/01/500104506/broken-windows-policing-and-the-origins-of-stop-and-frisk-and-how-it-went-wrong

11.) https://www.vice.com/en_us/article/3k3ga5/nypd-commish-james-oneill-teared-up-in-an-interview-about-eric-garner

Miller on Thinking

Miller mentions the use of analogies when teaching thinking as a powerful tool. I do this as well in the classes I teach...however, we have to make sure we use analogies everyone in the class understands! A basketball reference may not make sense to everyone (and a cycling analogy wouldn't make sense to anyone!) We also have to make sure they are relevant and timely- we don't want to date ourselves by using an analogy from the Brady Bunch when most likely few students have seen the show. So it is tricky and something that requires a lot of careful thought to ensure it is useful.

The best way for me to learn difficult topics has been trial and error. I learn best by doing, seeing what worked/didn't work, revise, and try again. I also can learn well by sitting on an idea/topic and thinking through possible outcomes/scenarios and then writing down my thoughts. I think if its something like a process (i.e.: learning Photoshop or ArcMap), then trial and error work best for me.

Week 6- websites and adobe

Yesterday, we spent time in class exploring the new Google Sites app. I have experience with the old Google Site, and the new version is much easier to use. No coding experience is required, and you can build robust websites. I can see Google Sites easily used as a tool for teaching and assessment. For example, I could use this in my SBE 201 (Intro to Sustainable Design and Planning) course and have students create a website to supplement their final project (for the class they have to select a sustainable project in Tucson...such as the ENR2 building and discuss the different aspects of the project).

The Adobe Spark program is also a handy tool for students who want to design custom pieces for any visual project but perhaps do not have experience with the full design suite. I'll be showing my capstone class this program when it comes time for them to design a poster.

We also spent time doing concept mapping, and I chose to do Geography and Urban Planning and how they relate. This can be helpful when describing complex topics and how they relate to each other. I struggled with where to place certain topics, but I think I captured the essence of it.

Technology or Teaching

I wasn't about to make it to class this week due to a snafu with my comprehensive exams schedule; however, after going through the pre-class work and the links on D2L, I can write a bit on teaching or technology spurring learning.

It's a bit of both. The best technology in the world cannot make up for poor teaching. However, good teaching can be elevated with the use of technology. Clickers are a great way to spur class engagement as it empowers students who may be too shy to speak up during class. The effectiveness of clickers in improving public participation in urban planning has been well documented (the work of Keiron Bailey and Ted Grossardt is the best example). In their work, participants are allowed to rank their concerns and values for a project (say a new bridge) and then a computer generates a compilation of outcomes that satisfy the majority of those concerns and values. Participants then vote on preferred design strategies that meet these outcomes. This is more effective than traditional public meetings where the public is given 2-3 design treatments (with no prior ask on their values/concerns) to choose from. Often the loudest voices in the room are the ones listened to.

Teaching is similar in that we want to spur participation and engagement in the class...but we don't want it to be dominated by the loudest voices. Technology, such as clickers, lets us empower the quiet voices.

Week 3 Reflection

Desire 2 Learn (D2L) is one of the many course management platforms available. I have experience using Blackboard and WebCT as a student back at Purdue and I'd say D2L is far easier to use. As an instructor, D2L provides fantastic flexibility to build either an online course or a repository for an in-person course. I have a ton of background experience building courses in D2L for online courses as I helped Ladd Keith launch the SBE Online program and build out some of our earlier courses. So I spent plenty of time editing HTML learning how to link pages internally in D2L, building in VoiceTheads, Panapto to stream movies (although this ended over the summer), discussion groups and more. D2L was tricky to get to work (thankfully it is much easier now) in the way we wanted, but we ended up getting our SBE 201 course through the online course review with a 98% (if I remember correctly).

It is incredibly time intensive to go through and set up an entire course as we have done in SBE. In fact, I couldn't imagine doing it on my own on top of other work responsibilities.  Luckily, our department hired an instructional designer to build out the other courses as well as update/refresh the other ones. This helped give our program a unified appearance across all courses. It also gives me, and other instructors, the ability to just focus on updating content, release dates, discussion questions, quizzes...the meat of the course...and leave the overall design alone. Don't get me wrong, it's still time intensive to update all of the content, but I'm so glad to not have to focus on the design aspects as well.

With that in mind, I think the best way to organize a course site is by Modules and Lessons. For example:
Module 1 for my PLG 301- Regional Planning course is: Overview and Climate Change
Lesson 1: What is planning?
  -Text lesson with embedded videos, links, and photos
  -VoiceThread that is an overview of the lesson with powerpoint captured
  -linked readings or uploaded PDF files of readings
  -Discussion post on the topic
Lesson 2: Climate Change
  --see above
Lesson 3: Movie that summarizes the themes discussed in lesson 1 and 2
  --just a discussion post on this
Quiz 1 that covers lesson 1-3

I think by nesting things together, it keeps everything focused by topic area and makes it easier for students to find the lesson and associated materials. I try to vary the lessons by having multiple types of content (video, text, outside resources, etc.) as well as multiple ways to engage in the course. Is it perfect? Nope. But I find it works well for this type of course. 

Week 2 Reflection

A good quiz is after the material has been presented (maybe at the end of class or maybe a day later) and is a mix of questions. I try to avoid relying on just one type and include M/C, T/F, short answers, and a longer response. I usually go for the written questions on the themes and concepts I really want them to remember and apply because that happens best when they have to think and write out a response.

Good questions should be clear, avoid negatives (ie: "Select the option that is not true..." is a bad question), avoid "All of the above" (that is a clear sign of the correct answer in most cases), and if possible has the student's apply the knowledge rather than just recall it. 

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Reference management tools
So, I teach a senior capstone (Sustainable Built Environments 498)- this is a year-long course in which students complete a thesis/project. Since this involves a lot of research on their part, I strongly recommend they use a reference management tool such as Mendeley. I usually spend part of a class walking them through how to set it up and use it. Often I hear, "Why are we hearing about this our senior year??" They're usually more excited that it makes it super easy for them to do in-text citations and the reference page. I'm excited that it helps them avoid plagiarism because they can cite as they write.  Win-win!

IA 697B- Week 1 Review (What did we do?)

Re-starting the blog...this time for use in as a class journal of sorts for a college teaching certificate. If you'd like to read about my racing updates through like 2012...feel free. It's nothing interesting.

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8/22/18

Anyway, so today we looked a couple of different ways to assess student's prior experiences and preferences. For us, this was ranking, in order of importance and then difficulty, different situations such as "design, implement, and facilitate online and hybrid learning experiences" and "ensuring the use of technology is done safely, legally, and ethically." We did this in two different mediums:
-Online using qualtrics- which allows for instant data analysis for the instructor
-On paper- during which we worked in small groups to reach consensus on the ranking.

This key because it demonstrates two ways of assessing prior experiences/learning preferences. For smaller classes, perhaps the paper method is more effective. For online or larger classes, the qualtrics (or insert your preferred online quiz or survey platform) would be best. From here, as the instructor, we can adjust our class topics and how much time we'll spend on them to better match up with the student's wants and experiences.