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