RUL Sustainable, Inclusive and Just Cities, Vol. 2

SUSTAINABLE INCLUSIVE & JUST

School of Geography and Sustainable Development

Radical Urban Lab

University of St Andrews

CITIES

Copyright © 2024 selection and editorial material: Infrastructure: Lily-mae Rolls, Piotr Tokarski and Alice Vine; Housing: Lucie Martikan, Victoria Lee and Kenneth Worden; Social Inclusion: Nora Krogsgaard, Laura De Laguiche and Wallis Brune; Environment: Priscilla Forson and Helen Simon; and Antonis Vradis; individual chapters: the contributors.

Contributors: Priscilla Forson, Helen Simon, Paul Koumbourlis, Iona MacLaren, Akshay Joshi, Sasha Van Vredenburch, Amy Quinn, Kenneth Worden, Leela Stoede, Lucienne Martikan, Mhairi Rodger, Pia Stefani, Victoria Lee, Libby Hernandez, Audrey Bowen, Ece Canlıel, Joseh Dowey, Emily McMenamin, Elizabeth Ngiam, Gardner Robinson, Lily mae-Rolls, Palakshi Aggarwal, Piotr Tokarski, Thomas Player, Erica Ostlander, Henry Smith, Seema Machaca, Alice Vine, Avery MacLear, Greer Campbell, Laura De Laguiche, Abbie Darroch, Will Morris, Lydia Allen, Rory Kopplin, Nora Krogsgaard, Emma Wainwright, Olivia Huseman, Wallis Brune, Sophie Swift, Rebecca Mitchell, Angus Mather, Hannah Stewart, Mili McCoy, Verity Blackburn.

Layout and cover by Chris Craig-Neil and Mustafa Horuş.

The right of the editors to be identified as the authors of the editorial material, and of the authors for their individual chapters, has been asserted in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.

First published in 2024 by Radical Urban Lab, University of St Andrews Irvine Building, St Andrews, KY16 9AL

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Every effort has been made to contact and acknowledge copyright owners. If any material has been included without permission, the publishers offer their apologies. The publishers would be pleased to have any errors or omissions brought to their attention so that corrections may be published at later printing.

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Sustainable Inclusive & Just

8 Accra, Ghana

Agbogbloshie the Town that was Never Meant to be: An Analysis of the Waste Management Conditions of the Largest Slum Settlement in Ghana, and the Way Forward.

Priscilla Forson

16 Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA

Opportunities for Revitalization: Exploring Minneapolis Brownfields

Helen Simon

25 Phoenix, Arizona, USA

The Effects of Extreme Heat on Low-Income Communities in Phoenix, Arizona, U.S.A.

Paul Koumbourlis

32 Edinburgh, Scotland

Nature and community: green solutions to sustainability in private housing estates

Edinburgh

Iona MacLaren

40 Mumbai, India

The potential of community-level recommendations in tackling traffic congestion on LBS Marg

Akshay Joshi

54 New York City, New York, USA

Flood Risk Management in Lower Manhattan

Sasha Van Vredenburch

70 Edinburgh, Scotland

The Waterfront Regeneration and the Future of Granton’s Housing: Recommendations for the Granton

Community

Amy Quinn

81

Toronto, Canada

The Challenge of Housing Toronto’s Largest Immigrant Groups during the City’s Housing Crisis

Kenneth Worden

89 Boulder, Colorado, USA

Engaging in community with our unhoused neighbors – Boulder, Colorado

Leela Stoede

98 Berkeley, California, USA

The Intersection of Racism, Homelessness and the Pervasive Housing Crisis in Berkeley, California

Lucienne Martikan

105 O’ahu, Hawai’i, USA

Paradise for who? Houselessness in Native Hawai’ian populations -Kapolei, Hawai’i Mhairi Rodger

113 Paris, France

The Seine-Saint-Denis and the legacy of the Paris 2024 Olympics infrastructures Who actually benefits?

Pia Stefani

121 New York City, New York, USA

Community engagement as changemaking for NYC public housing residents

Victoria Lee

130 Miami, Florida, USA

Shifting Tides: Climate Gentrification in Miami, Florida

Libby Hernandez

139 Toronto, Canada

Homelessness and the Housing Crisis in Toronto

Audrey Bowen

147 Istanbul, Turkey

The Gentrification of Fikirtepe in Istanbul, Turkey

Ece Canlıel

156 St Andrews, Scotland

Addressing the Housing Crisis at St Andrews: A Student Perspective on Solutions and Strategies

Joseh Dowey

163 Queens, New York, USA

The Housing Crisis of Queens New York: Perpetuating Social and Economic Inequities

Emily McMenamin

170 Infrastructure

174 Manila, Philippines

Battling Traffic Congestion in Tondo, Manila: The Power of Vital Communities

Elizabeth Ngiam

183 New Orleans, Louisiana, USA

New Orleans and The Lack of Adequate Infrastructure to be able to Withstand the Natural Environment: A Community-Led Grassroots Approach to Solutions

Gardner Robinson

191 Calgary, Canada

Redefining Mobility in the Fossil Fuel Capital of Canada

Lily mae-Rolls

203 Faridabad, India

Water, Water Everywhere leading to waterlogging issue in the smart-city of Faridabad, Haryana

Palakshi Aggarwal

208 Stuttgart, Germany

Stuttgart 21: David and Goliath? How Can Citizens Defend Themselves Against a Mega-project?

Piotr Tokarski

217 Bucha, Ukraine

Reconstructing war-torn Ukrainian Cities: Addressing the Need for a Communitybased Recovery model in Bucha, Ukraine

An Open Letter to Bucha Residents

Thomas Player

225 Loiza, Puerto Rico, USA

The Abandoned Building Crisis in Loíza, Puerto Rico: A Community Briefing

Erica Ostlander

233

Charlotte, North Carolina, USA

The Queen City’s Castle is Crumbling: Discussion on Auto-Motive Dependency; Insufficient Transportation Infrastructure; and an Unwalkable, Unbikeable Charlotte, North Carolina

Henry Smith

241 Beirut, Lebanon

Taking Control of the Energy Crisis - A community-owned solar panel system in Beirut, Lebanon as a way forward

Seema Machaca

249 Oxford, England

No more back pedalling: infrastructure changes to make cycling safer in central Oxford

Alice Vine

259 Fort Myers, Florida, USA

Infrastructure to combat the Affordable Housing Crisis in Fort Myers, Florida

Avery MacLear

269 Charlotte, North Carolina, USA

Charlotte’s Transit Troubles: Exploring the Public Transportation Predicament Greer Campbell

278 New Delhi, India

Disintegrating congestion with development of infrastructure in and around the National Capital.

Aditya Goel

286 Social Inclusion

290 San Antonio, Venezuela

The Colombo-Venezuelan border: a magnet for the social exclusion of younger generations in the San Antonio Community

Michelle Becerra De San Cristobal

299 Brasilandia, Brazil

Achieving food security and sovereignty in Brasilândia, peripheries also deserve good food

Laura De Laguiche

309 Vancouver, Canada

Feminist Indigenous Resurgence in the DTES: Reclaiming Culture, Sovereignty and Community

Abbie Darroch

317 Queens, New York, USA

Community Resilience in Edgemere, Queens

Will Morris

325 Ordsall, England

Ordsall: How Community-Level Strategies Can Combat Exclusionary City-Level Governance Changes

Lydia Allen

334 Chicago, Illinois, USA

Separate and Unequal:

Improving Equitable Public Education in Chicago, Illinois

Rory Kopplin

342 Copenhagen, Denmark

Denmark’s Ghetto Plan

Nora Krogsgaard

350 Cape Town, South Africa

What the taxi strikes have shown about Cape Town’s stark inequality: A Community Briefing on the Nyanga area

Emma Wainwright

361 San Francisco, California, USA

San Francisco’s Education Systems’ Relationship to the Fentanyl Crisis

Olivia Huseman

369 New York City, New York, USA

Fighting Food Apartheids in New York City

Wallis Brune

377 Glasgow, Scotland

‘The Glasgow Effect’: How Poverty Impacts Health in the City of Glasgow

Sophie Swift

386 Glasgow, Scotland

Mental health inequalities in Glasgow

Rebecca Mitchell

393 Leith, Scotland

Social Exclusion of the Working Class in the Regeneration of Leith

Angus Mather

401 Hartford, Connecticut, USA

Beyond the Food Desert: A Comprehensive Approach to Food Insecurity in Hartford, CT

Hannah Stewart

411 Hong Kong, China

The Exploitation and Abuse of Migrant Domestic Worker Communities in Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, China

Mili McCoy

418 Bridgeport, Connecticut, USA

Fostering Resilience in the Face of Racial & Urban Trauma: Addressing Mental Health in African-American Bridgeport Communities

Verity Blackburn

Preface SUSTAINABLE

By Deb Cowen

We are living in defining times. Warnings of apocalypse surround us and fuel fear, rage, and denial - but also beautiful and courageous action. This a time of both profound urban crisis and radical urban repair. This means that what we do and how we know matters profoundly. The material stakes of urban knowledge and practice are hardly new, but as we hurdle through all the cautions from scientists, scholars, communities and social movements about collapsing ecologies, precarious economies, failing infrastructures and deepening divides, it becomes clear that we are at the edge of a precipice. Just and sustainable planetary and urban futures are more contingent than ever on how we apprehend and act at this precise and fraught conjuncture. This collection of exciting work offers deeply thoughtful and creative ways to meet these massive challenges, and thus makes a vital contribution to our collective urban futures.

As the collection demonstrates, cities and urban life both drive and diagnose so many things that are failing to sustain planetary ecologies and economies. Formal processes of urbanization produce untold toxicity and devour precious lands and waters, while they divide and dispossess populations, often failing to provision the bare necessities of life. Almost regardless of the specific topics or places we look to, we can observe these frightening trajectories. Mainstream approaches to urbanization today are not just implicated in processes of planetary change that threaten the very integrity of future life. Because of their anchors in unfettered and extractive growth and unfailing commitments to market models of value, they are often building an expressway to that precipice. This means that trenchant and rigorous critique must be central to any project of sustainability.

As cities and urban life continue to climb out of COVID-19 lockdowns and prepare for the next unknown but anticipated global pandemics, the challenges have accelerated. While people were locked down, capital moved perhaps faster than ever before. Even during ‘lockdowns’, circulation of all kinds required the labour of millions, and countless ‘essential workers’- warehouse workers, port workers, bus drivers, meat packers, nurses and cleaners – succumbed to premature death. In most of the world’s cities, wealth continues to concentrate massively and in fewer hands, as the urban landscape polarizes along the lines of income and race. Dispossession and displacement - long features of settler colonialism – have become trademarks of urban life. Displacement sparks mass movement at all scales – refugees flee economic, climate, and political crises – and they encounter sometimes insurmountable borders within cities in the form of checkpoints, but also borders of belonging and mobility that line nation states. Displacement within cities is often a feature of gentrification, but increasingly it is fueled specifically by its financialized forms. In some places,

this has meant the wholesale and high-tech remaking of urban landscapes – elite housing complexes complete with private social and physical infrastructures.

The abundance of global precariousness in labour markets elevates precarity to an epoch-defining concept. In response, urban security and surveillance have intensified in many places, now policing a perpetual crisis that has deep roots in old imperial forms. Elsewhere, imperial forms are actively being assembled and deployed. Urban warfare is a standard of our time, whether in Syria or Sudan, while ‘urbicide’ and its corollary, urban genocide, take shape in Gaza in real time for planetary, multi-media witness. So clear are the devastating impacts on Palestinian human life, but so too, the toxic bombardment of munitions, chemical weapons and fossil fuels exhaust local and wider ecologies.

And yet, all these troubling trajectories are being actively and productively challenged by communities and movements around world. Rather than a race to the bottom, we see people and communities making active decisions to change course. Indigenous feminist economist and community leader, Winona LaDuke, explains how Anishinaabe prophecies have long identified this conjuncture, when two distinct paths open before us. She describes how one path is well worn, making it easier to amble along. But the other path, while more challenging initially, can take us much farther and in better ways. The second path that she describes is a sustainable one, which promises to heal relations and ecologies.

We only need look to Glasgow or Toronto to see examples of cities that are working to address the afterlives of relations and infrastructures of urbanization that were first shaped by slavery and colonization. The courageous persistence of Black and Indigenous communities in their demands for redress and repair offer a precious path for us all to walk and help build.

We can look to the projects of urban farming and alternative food economies as example of efforts in many cities, not only to address the immediate question of affordable and nutritious food supply, or to repair local ecologies, but also to generate alternative economies and infrastructures otherwise. In this way, people are working to heal urban landscapes and social worlds and reassemble them in a just and sustainable manner.

In the realm of employment and work, we see growth of cooperative enterprises that at once refuse the tenets of a cutthroat global competitiveness while re-investing in the possibility for democratic economic relations. Simultaneously reconfiguring economies, infrastructures and wider social and ecological relations, co-operative initiatives are offering inspiration that cross sectors. In the field of housing, cooperatives have long provided an inspiring alternative and addition to market or public forms. Co-ops are also accompanied increasingly by community land trusts, which likewise emphasize collective and collaborative governance of urban land and infrastructure. Land trusts sometimes start small, but they can have significant impact on much wider relations by virtue of how they work to bring land into community ownership and care.

We can likewise highlight the rejuvenation of the labour movement, and perhaps

most notably in the very sectors that have engineered its global urban decline. Efforts are underway by precarious workers to assert their voice and power in the urban economies that constitute global supply chains. As prime example, we can look to the work of New York’s Amazon Labour Union and their multiracial and gender diverse leadership, who model a form of aspirational politics for precarious young workers of the world.

Of course, infrastructures of circulation and security are being challenged and remade in cities around the world. The proliferation of transit riders’ unions, who demand a seat at the planning table point to a sea change in top-down modernist planning practices. While certainly not brand new, these movements for infrastructural change often emphasize demands for a different process as well as outcome in their claims o city building. Alongside these vital efforts to encourage ecologically and socially enhanced mobility, urban citizens are also fighting carceral forms that erect barriers to movement and sometimes violently contain communities. These are thankfully too numerous to name in all their creative form, but we can simultaneously acknowledge movements for migrant justice, for Black lives, and for a generative politics of ‘abolition’ anchored in efforts to rebuild our social infrastructures.

I write these reflections from New York City, where multi-racial and multi-faith student movements are once again leading the way, courageously rejuvenating faith in the promise of just futures. Columbia students have made powerful stands for global and local justice anchored in their solidarity with Palestinians. But as they confront the crisis in the Middle East, they also come into conflict with campus administrators, and New York police, once again reminding us that the promising change that is underway at the critical conjuncture is often scaled in multiple, intentional and planetary ways.

These reflections highlight some of the beautiful lessons of this book, which brilliantly traces transnational urban geographies and circulation of transformative practice, as much as it also marks the multiple articulations of crises. People are working hard and collaboratively to assemble alternative futures in response to every single challenge named above and the authors guide us expertly in exploring otherwise urbanism. I am deeply grateful to the authors for their powerful efforts.

ENVIRONMENTAL JUSTICE

ENVIRONMENTAL

Introduction

By Priscilla Forson and Helen Simon

With 55% of the population living in urban areas, matters of urban sustainability are integral to the success of global sustainability endeavors. Sustainable Development Goal 11: Sustainable, Inclusive, and Just Cities therefore has an imperative role on the global agenda. This set of community reports explores several environment-related urbanization challenges in cities worldwide. Sustainability, justice, and inclusion are key theoretical standpoints from which to view urban environmental issues.

Roy (2016) discusses the distinction between the ‘urban’ and the ‘rural’ as being a product of government categorization that creates distinct governed populations. The argument that these categories are arbitrarily created holds that the environment is often evidence of the divide between the urban and the rural, with the absence of nature being a feature of traditional urban settings, while its abundance, a feature of the rural. This is changing today, with active efforts in establishing green and blue spaces in urban settings. From a traditional SD perspective, protection of the natural environment is at the heart of efforts to promote sustainability. In built environments, there is a particular need to encourage wildlife and environmental protection, but the interconnected nature of urban issues suggests this needs to work alongside social and economic priorities. Connection with nature and natural history is crucial to understanding urban impacts on biophysical environments and the implications for sustainable development (Lyengar, 2017). Connection with natural environments establishes a sense of identity and social cohesion in urban spaces which is potentially diminishing or shifting because of emerging global urban spaces and the “everywhere city.”

Sustainable urbanization has become an increasingly relevant and pressing topic in the 21st century, as urban cities around the world continue to face challenges such as overcrowding, unemployment, and environmental problems (Hannah and Roser, 2018). Rapid urbanization in Accra, Ghana, has led to a significant increase in the amount of waste generated in the city. Ghana is estimated to produce about 12,000 tonnes of waste per day (UNDP, 2022). Though some residential areas have been able to implement initiatives to address this issue, the average community in Accra, like Agbogbloshie, still struggles with this menace. In such places, efforts are now being made to raise public awareness to promote community involvement in waste management. These measures are crucial in building sustainable and safe cities to ensure a healthier environment.

Themes of environmental justice are crucial in discussions surrounding urban sustainability. Pearsall and Pierce (2010) touch on how many urban governments make sustainability a specific policy goal, yet many fail to include specific guidelines which address environmental justice. The unequal social distribution of negative environmental impacts in urban areas acknowledges the inherent spatial and structural element of these issues. The environmental aspects of both participative and distributive justice are critical to mitigating these disparities. Justice is also an important consideration for solutions to environmental issues. Certain communities in urban areas disproportionately face negative environmental impacts while failing to benefit from solutions presented. Brownfield redevelopment in Minneapolis, Minnesota outlies implications of environmental justice in issues of sustainability through the frequency and proximity of toxic and abandoned industrial sites to low-income communities and communities of color.

Justice and community-oriented redevelopment planning of brownfields considers the risks of gentrification within disadvantaged areas of the city. Furthermore, the issue of extreme heat in Phoenix, Arizona demonstrates how low-income communities are disproportionately suffering from the effects of the heat while also being excluded from the solution, as demonstrated by the wealthier areas having higher access to greenery in comparison to the low-income areas.

Similarly, inclusive environments are vital to success for sustainability within urban areas and the goals of equity and community involvement. There is often a lack of equal say and consideration for stakeholders when urban planning policies are made by government organizations. Increasing the level of citizen involvement in environmental planning and policy will also positively impact the outcomes of these projects. This is tied to Brenner, Marcuse and Mayer (2012), who provide alternative urban strategies that prioritize social and environmental sustainability. They focus on grassroots and community movements alongside policy suggestions which can create more inclusive urban environments. This communitylevel focus can help achieve meaningful solutions during the time-lag that occurs while undertaking larger-scale actions by local governments. LBS Marg, a heavily congested road in the Eastern Suburbs of Mumbai faces challenges of high traffic levels, inefficient road use, an incomplete metro line and clogged pedestrian footpaths. The local consensus belief of inadequate municipal support in resolving this problem is a valid concern. However, without action by local authorities, steps towards community-based solutions from the apartment complex of Kalpataru Aura could alleviate traffic congestion. Technology-based solutions like apps for community carpooling and parking spots give power to the community to act.

Sustainable development efforts allow green spaces to become more prevalent and used as a resource and protected entity within cities. Similarly, the environment itself should be included and prioritized in all plans and policies for urbanization. Placing the environment under a lens of inclusion in urban planning fosters a greater sense of care and ongoing effectiveness for sustainability efforts.

The environment also plays an important role in how we develop our sense of identity (Relph 1976). In Edinburgh, huge demand for housing is leading to large private companies creating new housing developments across the city. The development of 640 new homes built on closely guarded greenbelt land at Cammo, in the Northwest of Edinburgh raises the issue of the lack of place identity which is found in the large swathes of ubiquitous architecture that has replaced a valued greenspace. To overcome these issues of separateness, disconnect from nature, and loss of place identity, the report recommends the implementation of various nature-based solutions such as community activities that make use of greenspace and help with wildlife/ habitat creation. These efforts will improve social interaction through a common goal and help communities develop their distinctive character and sense of place through connecting with and cultivating their natural surroundings. By supporting sense of community and identity through nature-based solutions in the Cammo Meadows development, environmental and personal health will benefit at the local scale, contributing to wider urban sustainability and the dynamic nature of the city.

Agbogbloshie the Town

that was Never Meant to be: An Analysis of the Waste Management

Conditions

of the Largest Slum Settlement in Ghana, and the Way Forward.

Priscilla Forson

INTRODUCTION

Current data shows that more than 50% of the global population lives in urban areas (Dodman et al, 2013. The 2010 Census Population Report of Ghana highlighted that 50.9% of the country’s population lived in urban countries (Ghana Statistical Service, 2014). This move, according to the report, was fueled by the perception that urban areas and cities receive better attention with regard to resource allocation and policy implementation as compared to rural areas (Ghana Statistical Service, 2014). While urbanization itself presents great opportunities for development in growing economies like Ghana, the lack of critical fundamentals has created more urban-related challenges than benefits (Cobbinah and Erdiaw-Kwasie, 2018). The country’s rapid urbanization does not align with its development or planning capacity and has created a great imbalance between existing resources and the influx of rural inhabitants (Yankson and Bertrand, 2012).

Most urban cities in Ghana grapple with crowded cities, unemployment, poverty, and other environmental problems such as air pollution, shortage of water, and access to social amenities (Yankson and Bertrand, 2012; Ghana Statistical Service, 2014). As urbanization has become a characteristic feature of the 20th and 21st centuries, it has drawn the attention of researchers and other stakeholders, championing the course, ‘sustainable urbanization’, which aims to push for the reduction of inequalities, promoting the well-being of inhabitants, and ensuring environmental protection. (Hannah and Roser, 2018; UN-Habitat, 2019).

Environmental protection is particularly central to the theme of sustainability as it aligns with the idea of preserving resources for future generation use (Vij, 2012; UNHabitat, 2019; Lissah, et al., 2021). Empirical evidence has established that urbanization directly leads to increased environmental challenges (Anarfi, Hill and Shiel, 2020;

(Vij, 2012; Chen, 2018; Opara et al., 2016) such as waste generation. Therefore, it can be concluded that without proper waste management structures, countries like Ghana face exacerbated waste management challenges (Lissah, et al., 2021). Ghana’s waste challenges are mostly associated with its urban areas (Owusu and Yankson, 2017). Sustainable urban development is central to the development of effective strategies that can enhance urban waste management and lead to enhanced well-being of the inhabitants (UN- Habitat, 2019). Focusing on the case of Agbogbloshie, a major slum town in Accra- the country’s capital city; this briefing undertakes a critical review of the existing waste management structures and proposes sustainable strategies to manage waste effectively to enhance the well-being of the Agbogbloshie community.

POSITIONALITY

I grew up in Western Ghana always admiring the capital city of Accra as the hub of urbanization and development. It was therefore a surprise when I moved to Accra and discovered a formerly luscious lagoon, now a dump site, emanating a strong stench, right in the middle of the city. Though I am not a resident of this community and I have not personally experienced these issues firsthand, I have encountered flooding –caused by blocked drainage systems, before, and I made it my resolve to contribute to better systems and structures that prevent such unfortunate incidents from happening. With this commitment to building sustainable cities, my positionality is shaped by a combination of personal experiences, extensive travel, and professional expertise. Having visited various countries, I have witnessed firsthand the successful implementation of waste management practices, such as waste segregation systems and incentivizing recycling. Despite facing other sustainability challenges, these

cities have prioritized effective waste management, demonstrating the crucial role it plays in preserving the environment and biodiversity. Unfortunately, this is not the case in Agbogbloshie, where inadequate waste management has led to devastating consequences.

As an expert in Sustainability and urban planning, I possess the necessary knowledge and skills acquired through my education, volunteer work, and field experience to address sustainability issues critically and analytically in different contexts. This community briefing has been tailored specifically to the context of Agbogbloshie, taking into consideration the town’s history, cultures, and capacity of its residents. Urgent action and a shift in attitudes towards sustainability are needed to effectively address the pressing issue of waste management and secure a better future for its residents.

THE COMMUNITY: HISTORY AND CONTEXT

Agbogbloshie is a town in the capital city of Accra, Ghana. The Centre on Housing Rights and Evictions COHRE (2004) describes the town as an “informal settlement” located along the bank of the Odaw River and the Korle Lagoon in Accra. The Korle Lagoon, pre-independence of Ghana, was said to be a lively attraction, with aquaculture that provided a source of livelihood and income to settlers near the banks (Biney, 1982). The Odaw River flows into the Korle Lagoon, which then flows into the Gulf of Guinea. These two water bodies were originally created to be a source of drainage for the city of Accra but have failed to achieve this purpose due to the congestion of sediment and waste flowing into and blocking the waterway (Biney, 1982).

The settlement, now known as Agbogbloshie, began around the 1980s when people

relocated from slums in other parts of Accra to make a home along the river/lagoon’s bank. Soon after, immigrants from rural areas in the Northern part of Ghana also trooped down to Accra in search of security and better living conditions, fleeing the civil war that was ongoing at the time. The town grew gradually and now has a population of about 40,000 people (Adusei et al., 2020).

The e-waste dumping site earned the town an unpleasant reputation as one of the “most toxic places in the world” (Scientific American. (n.d.). An article by Kwan (2020) revealed that about 215,000 tonnes of e-waste were imported into Ghana as of 2009. Most of these, from personal encounter, are barely reusable even though they are imported under the guise of being reusable. The rest of the imports, and those generated internally in the country, are the main sources that feed the scrap industry in Agbogbloshie. The dumping site was a budding commercial ground that saw the recycling of scraps on a commercial basis. Scraps that were dumped there underwent a process of dismantling and separation, extraction of minerals such as aluminium (Citi TV, 2019), copper, and others, burnt and used for steel (Learn Something New, 2022). Some parts of the original materials after dismantling were also sold as parts or scraps, and plastics that contained the wires were burnt and dumped along the bank of the Korle Lagoon (Citi TV, 2019).

The fact that this settlement was unplanned may explain why adequate structures and systems were not put in place to support human interaction. In May 2002, the government of Ghana took steps to restore the Korle Lagoon and salvage the situation. The Korle Lagoon Environmental Restorative Project (KLERP) was initiated to undertake this mission, and one of its methods was to demolish the Agbogbloshie settlement to achieve this (COHRE 2004). A drastic attempt was made by the Accra

Metropolitan Assembly (AMA) to evacuate all residents of Agbogbloshie as a solution to this issue. The residents, however, filed a case at the Court of Appeal, which was denied. Still, the eviction never happened, and residents occupy the area today and even operate one of the largest open food markets in Ghana – the Agbogbloshie Food Market. The AMA gave three reasons for this eviction. The first was illegal occupation because the settlement of Agbogbloshie was unplanned. Second, the physical location- explained that the proximity of the settlement was responsible for the pollution of both the Odaw River and Korle Lagoon. The third and final reason was the health risk residents were likely to face in an unplanned settlement from poor environmental health conditions. (COHRE, 2004).

In July 2021, the e-waste site was suddenly closed down by the government, which simply relocated the trade from the former e-waste site to a nearby settlement known as Old Fadama. Therefore, though the site was demolished, it did not achieve the desired results. Rather, it exacerbated the problem as it moved the toxic activities closer to the human settlement and farther away from the former commercial site.

THE COMMUNITY CHALLENGES

1- Flooding caused by pollution of the Korle Lagoon.

Even though COHRE (2004) argued that the higher fraction of the waste that pollutes the Korle

Lagoon does not emerge from the surrounding community, findings from Biney (1982) and Mensah (1976) suggest otherwise. According to them, the waste found in the Lagoon is mainly from human waste in the form of glass, plastics, tins, textiles and even excreta. All these elements, mainly from the township, are directly deposited into the Lagoon or flow into the water body through smaller channels,

choking the lagoon and preventing it from flowing into the sea. As a result of this, the area is prone to flooding, especially during the rainy season, as there is no wellconstructed drainage system. Those that exist and are expected to flow into the lagoon and subsequently into the sea have also been choked due to irresponsible waste disposal practices.

2- Air and Land Pollution

With most of the unregulated recycling practices that took place at the former e-waste dumping site in Agbogbloshie, the air and land experience high levels of pollution. Scrap dealers who burn scraps or wire metals for copper, aluminium, and other materials to sell expose the soil to these strong fires and harsh chemicals, polluting it and rendering it infertile for cultivation. While this is happening on the ground, fumes emitted from these burning sessions also contain high levels of carbon monoxide, dioxins, and other toxic substances. (Learn Something New, 2022). Residents also contribute to air pollution through backyard burning of domestic waste. This poses health risks not only to the workers on the site but to residents and other workers in nearby cities and towns. With this direct impact on the land, not only is the land affected, but also the quality of food produced. This is corroborated by a 2019 report by The International Pollutants Elimination Network (IPEN) and Basel Action Network (BAN) which described eggs that were laid by freerange hens in the area as the “most toxic eggs” as they contained high levels of chemicals such as dioxins and polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs).

3- Health and life implications-

A study on the health implications of e-waste processing in Agbogbloshie by Adusei et al. (2020) revealed that the onsite workers suffered from skin issues such as burns, scars, abrasions, and lacerations.

However, in addition to these relatively minor conditions, the poor sanitation state of the environment leaves residents at risk of diseases like malaria, cholera, and exposure to other harmful bacteria. Lives are sometimes lost during heavy rains and floods, with children especially at risk of drowning in stagnant water that is unable to flow away through the right channels. Dr. Carl Steven Osei of the Occupational and Environmental Health Unit of Ghana, in an interview with Citi TV, (2019), declares that respiratory and cardiovascular diseases may be developed or aggravated with continuous exposure to toxic pollutants. The impact of pollution on the health of residents is a matter worthy of concern that requires urgent attention and addressing.

The insufficient amenities that are available for the effective management of waste in this town have created pollution on several levels that put the lives of residents at risk and continue to contribute to the high levels of inequality and poor health conditions. In addition to the pollution, drainage ways that are meant to carry water are full of filth, and this situation leads to flooding that causes loss of life and property during heavy rains.

RECOMMENDATIONS

Limited use of rubber and plastics

Limiting the use of single-use plastics and rubber in Ghana may seem impossible, but it is one of the best practices that can be adopted to take effective steps in saving the environment. There is a high reliance on the use of rubber, as most food items, groceries and even water are packaged and transported in these products. Admittedly, it will be difficult to ban rubber from the system entirely, so a gradual shift by first limiting the rate at which it is handed out and or used for processing will be a commendable first step to take.

Fabrics made out of fabric or paper can be given out in place of rubbers and plastics. Stores in the community should encourage this practice and urge buyers to bring along their own non-plastic bags to pack their items. As a way of providing an incentive for this, business owners can consider adding a free gift to buyers who adhere to this initiative and diligently carry it out.

Reuse/ Reduce/ Recycle/ Upcycle

The slogan “Reduce, Reuse, Recycle” is one that is popular on television screens as it has been the headline for numerous sanitationcentred campaigns in the last decade. The concept of reusing is not foreign to residents, as they are well known for their ability to reuse plastics domestically as storage bowls for food and water. However, it is about time urgent attention is given to the other parts of this phrase. Consumerism is an issue prevalent in the Global North and South. It refers to the practice of acquiring more than one needs to survive. With affordable secondhand clothing and accessories markets, residents are fond of purchasing more items, especially for new seasons or events. To take active and effective steps towards restoring the environment, residents are encouraged to limit the purchasing of new items and work to preserve belongings to last only. New purchases should be resorted to only when necessary.

Where plastic must be purchased, there should be an investment in environmentally safe products or reusable rubbers or plastics. Most of these can be recycled after multiple sessions of use, but even if they cannot be recycled, they will limit the rate at which we use and dispose of single-use products. There should also be a shift toward upcycling. Upcycling is neither the same as recycling nor reusing which is more common here. The usual practice of collecting plastic bottles, washing them and using them to

sell other products is merely reusing them and does not effectively help to manage plastic waste. In upcycling, the product is creatively transformed into another item for use. Plastics are generally considered a nuisance because of ineffective management practices. However, when upcycling is adopted, the potential and versatility of plastics will be harnessed, and they will be transformed from weapons of destruction into creative tools and resources. The range of products that can be made from upcycling is – making backpacks and shopping bags from plastic bottles, converting plastic bottles into seedling jars or flowerpots, and designing old cans into storage jars for stationery or even coin jars, among many others. An ideal starting point for this recommendation will be to introduce this in schools as extracurricular activities, which will, in turn, promote creative and critical problem-solving skills in students. The capacity of teachers must also be enhanced to lead on such projects. Thankfully, there are a lot of resources on the internet, which is just a click away, but internal training can also be organized with local experts who have experience in upcycling and recycling.

Community Initiatives – Friends of the Environment Clubs/ Societies

Kosoe & Ahmed (2023) point out that factors such as poor planning, low knowledge of sanitation by personnel, lack of political will and lack of capacity are to account for the failed sanitation byelaws/ government interventions over the years. Examples of the byelaws resulted in the establishment of Agencies such as Town Councils in Sekondi – Takoradi and Cape Coast Kosoe & Ahmed (2023), and the declaration of monthly National Sanitation Days (Arku, 2014). The latter was initially quite effective, but it eventually lost its efficacy. It is crucial to approach community involvement from another angle, one that goes beyond a

monthly intervention to a daily one. The community can consider the formation of sanitation-centered clubs and societies that implement activities daily to check filth and indiscriminate littering. These clubs and societies can ensure the daily picking up of waste on the main roads and public spaces. Members of such clubs can take turns daily to go around the community and pick up plastic and other forms of waste. Any member of the community caught littering by a member of a club on duty will be fined and made to render community service in the form of taking over the picking of litter.

Investment in an Effective Waste Management System

As a community, residents can come together to invest in an effective waste collection and disposing system that does not harm the environment. Residents must mobilize resources internally to ensure bins are situated at vantage points in neighborhoods. An option will be to consider the revenue generated from the environmental clubs, such as from member dues or from fines to be invested in purchasing dustbins and situating them at vantage points in the community. There should be further investments in the management of such binssuch as ensuring a timely collection of full dustbins and paying people to ensure their timely emptying. This will help reduce the likelihood of waste slipping into drainage holes and gutters meant to be passageways for water. Next, the community elders must ensure that all homes have bins to manage internally generated waste effectively to reduce the risks of diseases such as cholera and malaria, which are directly and indirectly caused by filthy environments. The most crucial step in this recommendation is for the entire community to decide on some waste management solutions that aim to remove waste from society, so it does not

cause any negative impacts. Some options to consider include landfills or incinerators, which are commonly used in high schools across the country. When this is done, there must also be a system to ensure the regular collection of waste from collection points and homes to these landfills to avoid people reverting to their old ways of dumping waste in the lagoon or resorting to backyard open burning or dumping.

Education Campaigns to educate residents

Education is a vital part of any great transformational process and is critical to any agenda of change. Residents must be educated on the environment (Boadi and Kuitunen, 2022) and the impacts their actions have on it. Regular campaigns to educate the residents on effective waste management practices are also equally important. Other topics, such as the effects of air and land pollution, can also be covered to expose the residents to the harsh realities of the consequences of their activities. It must not be taken for granted that some of these things are “common sense,” so everyone ought to know. Rather, efforts must be made to shift the minds and change the mentalities of the residents through conscious, impactful, and informative sessions that will be bound to influence their actions positively. When such fundamental changes are made, soon, though it may be gradual, the agenda to save the Agbogbloshie environment and restore it to its former glory will be achieved.

in Dynamic Formal Education for Youth

It was observed in the Citi TV documentary (2019) that most of the youth who migrate to the town in search of better living conditions resorted to working on the scrap site because they believed that formal education was not for them. A 2020 UNICEF report

on Education in Ghana documents the attrition rate of school children, showing an alarming 90% of non-transitions- i.e., those who “finish one level but do not go on to the next” at the secondary school level. It is highly likely, then, that some school-going children are still working in the new scrap centres. Schools in the area are encouraged to introduce new curricula that incorporate both vocational skills and theoretical knowledge to encourage all children to go to school irrespective of their individual strengths and weaknesses. Ensuring that children are enrolled will expose them to responsible living through the impartation of knowledge, in addition to preparing them to be responsible global citizens.

Education for Sustainable DevelopmentSGD 4.7 (United Nations, 2015) must also be structured within the curriculum, changing society, one individual at a time.

CONCLUSION

Concentrating urbanization in Accra has created a rural-urban migration situation with devastating effects. More people continue to leave their homes in rural areas in search of greener pastures in Accra, hoping to secure better opportunities and living conditions. Usually, the government or benevolent NGOs are implored to come to the aid of communities and assist with the necessary financial or infrastructural interventions. This time, however, it is imperative to rely on internal strength, capacity and initiative to address the problems that are faced within the community. Recommendations given along this line of interventions include community initiatives, investment in effective waste management systems and investment in education.

GLOSSARY OF ACRONYMS

AMA - Accra Metropolitan Assembly

BAN - Basel Action Network

COHRE - Centre on Housing Rights and Evictions

KLERP - Korle Lagoon Environmental Restorative Project

IPEN - International Pollutants Elimination Network

PCB - Polychlorinated Biphenyls

UN - United Nations

UNICEF - United Nations International Children’s Emergency Fund

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Opportunities for Revitalization: Exploring Minneapolis Brownfields

Helen Simon

INTRODUCTION

As a resident of the Twin Cities Metropolitan Area (TCMA) and having grown up in a particularly disadvantaged neighbourhood in St Paul, I have seen the aesthetic effect of brownfields first hand. Although I have not experienced direct effects they can have on health and environmental indicators, I witnessed the conversion of brownfields in my own community and observed the effect they can have on community empowerment and coordination, as well as community members themselves.

This paper outlines specific challenges associated with brownfields that are faced by multiple Minneapolis innercity neighbourhoods, and discusses environmental, social, health, and economic implications of brownfield clean up and redevelopment. It will also propose several recommendations for the local community; suggesting ways in which neighbourhoods can be active participants and take initiative of redevelopment strategies. The scale of this challenge is unique in that the severity of its implications are inherently spatial, as the proximity of brownfields to low-income communities and communities of colour is a coincidence of specific development and settlement patterns.

HISTORICAL CONTEXT

The city of Minneapolis, Minnesota, situated within Hennepin County, is the larger of the two cities within the TCMA. Highly sought after because of its placement surrounding the Mississippi River, Minneapolis possessed access to the only major waterfall on the river, St Anthony Falls, making it an industrial focal point in Minnesota (MHS, 2023). During the early 1850s, the falls were harnessed as a power source for industrial production, including the commercial lumber and flour milling industries (MHS, 2023). This economic growth of early Minneapolis through the exploitation of natural resources stimulated other ancillary activities such as the building of railroads, resource processing, and agricultural tool manufacturing (Tikkanen, 2023). Due to the push of industrial and economic development outwards towards suburban and undeveloped parts of the state, thousands of these abandoned and contaminated property sites were left across Minneapolis. Bjelland (2004) describes the effect of this rapid industrialization and subsequent disinvestment, claiming ‘Within a dynamic, competitive capitalist economy, capital moves with relative speed and ease while its imprint on the landscape

remains relatively fixed in space’ (p.652). The occurrence of this process in centrally located industrial properties in Minneapolis has led to the creation of many brownfield sites.

As defined by the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency (MPCA), brownfields are ‘abandoned, idled, or underused industrial and commercial properties where financing or redevelopment is complicated by actual or suspected environmental contamination’ (MPCA, 2023). Brownfields can exist in various forms, ranging from abandoned industrial sites to landfills and gas stations, or ‘any commercial site where prior uses introduced contaminants into the environment’ (Cich, Blair, and Faust, 2019). There are more than 10,000 brownfield sites spanning across the state, 78% of these being concentrated within the Twin Cities Metro Area (MPCA, 2021). Inner city suburbs contain a disproportionate number of contaminated properties, which is simply reflective of the historic concentration of economic and population activity within their borders (Bjelland, 2004). The City of Minneapolis has identified several neighbourhoods within its boundaries as ‘green zones,’ which are groups of communities containing elevated levels of pollution, as well as social, political, and racial marginalization (Green zones, 2023). These include both a Southside Green Zone and Northside Green Zone, spanning multiple neighbourhoods from the greater Phillips community and Cedar-Riverside neighbourhood to the neighbourhoods of Hawthorne, Mckinley, and Near North (Young et al., 2023; Green zones map, 2022). These green zones are the focus of several environmental justice projects undertaken by the city. Many are place-based initiatives, aimed at the improvement of several factors, including health, economic factors, and other vulnerabilities these communities face. Despite efforts towards the creation of strategies towards mitigating these

issues, community members of Minneapolis neighbourhoods have expressed concerns with the historic racism embedded in city planning. The Tangletown Neighbourhood Association has included several web pages detailing the purpose of the initiatives, as well as the impacts of environmental contaminants and pollutants from brownfields on health and their unequal exposure. Discussing discriminatory practices of housing and lending, they note: ‘low-income residents, Indigenous people and residents of colour in Minneapolis are disproportionately impacted by the cumulative effects of traffic, stationary sources of air pollution, brownfield sites, blight, substandard housing, lack of access to jobs, and the adverse effects of climate change’ (Young et al., 2023). The Northeast Midwest Institute states how historically unjust housing practices have contributed to these inequities, expressing that ‘African American neighbourhoods are disproportionately affected by vacancy and abandonment. This is not a coincidence, but an outcome explained by a history of explicit and implicit racially biased planning, development, and lending practices’ (Cain, 2016). Brownfields pose a multitude of environmental, social, and economic risks to communities in Minneapolis, as well as the inequalities driven by these factors.

CHALLENGES

Brownfields have negative social, economic, and health implications for inner-city neighbourhoods, particularly those specified in the city’s green zone initiatives. The challenge of brownfields is a unique community issue in that it is quite widely recognized by the state as a problem affecting local neighbourhoods, but it falters in that it lacks initiatives that adequately address the issues in ways most effective to the communities themselves. The majority of focus on research and redevelopment

of brownfields centres on economic, environmental, and community gain through the conversion of idle brownfields into compact development, whereas communities may benefit more from the formation of affordable housing, urban farms, and other environmental amenities.

Health

A previous study from Wang et al. has shown that one of the most powerful determining factors of health inequities is the physical environment; one that may be triggered by uneven spatial distribution of brownfield sites (2023). Contaminants present in brownfields due to past uses can migrate on and off site and can expose community members to harmful toxins through vapor or dust inhalation from the site, as well as drinking groundwater that has been contaminated (Berman et al., 2022). Common contaminants can have serious health effects, including decreased cognitive function due to lead poisoning in children and adults and lung diseases such as pleural disease, asbestosis, and lung cancers (Health effects of asbestos, 2016). Aside from health effects experienced due to environmental contaminants, studies also show that exposure to derelict or vacant land can have negative effects on wellbeing, including heart rate variability, stress-led inflammatory responses, and worsening mental health (South et al., 2015). Fears surrounding the impacts of environmental pollutants are felt by Minneapolis residents directly, one example being Kathryn Savage, a nonfiction writer from Shoreham Yard, Minneapolis. In her most recent publication, Ground Glass, Savage contemplates the loss of her father, and whether it was due to his living near a polluted industrial site in the Victory neighbourhood of the city (Manzella, 2022). The nonfiction piece confronts the offenses of brownfields against land, water, neighbourhoods, and people, drawing on her first-hand experiences of

growing up surrounded by environmental risk factors. Without proper redevelopment and decontamination of these sites, they run the risk of continued deterioration and subsequent environmental problems, compounded with a weakened economic base of surrounding communities (Collaton and Bartsch, 1996).

Economic

Brownfield properties can be unattractive to investors and developers for several reasons spanning issues of inadequate infrastructure, high crime rates in areas of potential development, or lack of a skilled workforce (Coffin and Shepherd, 1998). Leigh and Coffin (2005) also examine the effect of brownfields on property values in surrounding areas, finding that the labelling of a site as a brownfield can have negative impacts for housing value in nearby or adjacent properties. As a result of this, neighbourhoods containing brownfields sit at a lower achievable income for land and rental units before redevelopment, highlighting inequities between communities. Another substantial issue for potential developers of brownfield sites is the elimination of liability through the remediation of environmental contamination. Developers who choose to take on brownfield sites must account for a much longer development process to include pre-development investigation and clean-up of the property, legal logistics and costs of demolition if needed (Cich, Blair, and Faust, 2019). This contributes to the avoidance and fear of risks associated with clean up. Another issue for developers with the logistics associated with brownfield redevelopment is the fact that many sites tend to be located within already existing property groupings with multiple landowners (Cich, Blair, and Faust, 2019). Fragmented ownership presents a difficulty through the need to discuss and negotiate with multiple stakeholders.

Environmental Justice

Green gentrification (Becerra, 2022) is a term defined as the increase of local property value due to environmental repair or green development in a previously polluted and disadvantaged neighbourhood, which subsequently attracts a wealthier class, poses a risk to environmental justice and redevelopment initiatives in Minneapolis communities. While the creation of green spaces in urban areas seeks to amend problems of environmental justice as well as making neighbourhoods more attractive and residents healthier, these ‘improvements’ can increase housing and property values (Becerra, 2022). This then can create an even further separation between disadvantaged groups and environmental amenities through the supersedence of wealthier classes. A multitude of environmental justice studies have examined the existence of environmental burdens that are felt at disproportionate rates in low-income and minority neighbourhoods (Mohai, Pellow, and Roberts, 2009). Explanations touch on the perception of these areas as efficient locations for industrial developments, and because of a lack of political resources, these neighbourhoods are often targeted for the placement of dangerous and polluting waste and industrial facilities, as well as other land uses unwanted by local communities (Lee and Mohai, 2012). Approximately 25% of all minorities in the US live within 1 mile of a brownfield site, as well as 29% of all households below the poverty level, and 31% of the black population in the US (US EPA, 2021). The Environmental Protection Agency briefly addresses this injustice, claiming ‘While there is no single way to characterize communities located near our sites, this population is more minority, low income, linguistically isolated, and less likely to have a high school education than the U.S. population as a whole’ (US EPA, 2021, p.2). The recognition and consideration

of the ways in which brownfields have manifested spatially and are indicative of pre-existing residential segregation and class divisions in tandem with the processes of deindustrialization is key to understanding brownfield site creation in Minneapolis.

WHAT HAS BEEN DONE?

Much of the focus for brownfield redevelopment programs is placed on economic advancements, including tax base expansion, increasing property values, and market demand for compact developments. Few are dedicated to the incorporation of improved public health and sustainability, which may serve to lessen the social and environmental inequalities experienced in areas with brownfields (Berman et al., 2022).

The United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) estimates that there are nearly 450,000 brownfield sites in the US (US EPA, 2023). The United States EPA Brownfields Program began in 1995 and provides funding for functionary levels of the brownfield redevelopment process, including environmental assessment, clean up, and job education (Berman et al., 2022). Other site remediation programs can be unique to regions or states, which causes problems with the complexity of a national approach to redevelopment of brownfields. Despite the EPA’s involvement with brownfield redevelopment, ‘less than 7% of the estimated brownfields in the U.S., however, have undergone assessment and only a fraction of these have been cleaned up with U.S. EPA funding’ (Berman et al., 2022).

Currently, state agencies can provide funding assistance to facilitate various stages of brownfield development. The Minnesota Pollution Control Agency (MPCA) Brownfield Program, which includes both the Voluntary Investigation and Cleanup (VIC) Program as well as the Petroleum

Brownfields (PB) Program, each of which aid towards investigations into contaminated sites and their clean up (Cich, Blair, and Faust, 2019). The 2001 Brownfield Revitalization and Environmental Restoration Act (BRERA) provides developers and brownfield site purchasers with federal liability exemptions once the state and local governments have set clean-up standards for sites (Lee and Mohai, 2010). Because of this, there has been a clear lowering of development standards in order to reduce costs for developers and has potentially jeopardized public health (Lee and Mohai, 2010). In light of environmental and class disparities also existing along racial lines with the proximity of these communities to brownfields, the standard for site remediation and clean up should be of great concern. In order to not further exacerbate environmental burdens that are spatially concentrated, clean-up standards should be reconsidered.

COMMUNITY RECOMMENDATIONS

Brownfield redevelopment is unique in that multiple steps to achieve beneficial development of sites requires effective removal of potentially toxic or dangerous substances, ones that may put community members at risk if not properly remediated. Because of this, neighbourhood groups working in partnerships with corporate communities, environmental professionals, and potential developers of brownfield sites is the most realistic route of site repair. To ensure that brownfield redevelopment is within the best interests for the affected community, clear goals must be set, and economic, environmental, and social benefits considered. Before targeting local brownfield sites, being knowledgeable about the local regulatory environment and potential funding opportunities is essential, and determines which sites are potentially economically and environmentally viable. A process in which local sites are considered

in tandem with social and environmental factors unique to their neighbourhood will be most effective in the process of revitalization.

Before targeting local brownfield sites, being knowledgeable about the local regulatory environment and potential funding opportunities is essential, and determines which sites are potentially economically and environmentally viable. A process in which local sites are considered in tandem with social and environmental factors unique to their neighbourhood will be most effective in the process of revitalization. The recognition of structures of disinvestment, racism, and oppression that must be disassembled (by elected leaders and investors) is of extreme importance to the process of restoration and in order to understand local histories associated with brownfield development. This is also crucial in the prevention of creating further disparities through phenomena such as green gentrification.

Reaching out to Developers, Environmental Professionals, and Corporate Communities

Eckerd and Keeler (2012), maintain the notion that ‘realistically, few brownfield sites are remediated without at least some infusion of government funding’ (p.296). This confirms recommendations that propose leading with stakeholder development, as it is crucial in community-facilitated brownfield development. Private-led brownfield development, which would be most likely to occur in a location where there is significant development potential for the property, as well as a market demand that would warrant an acceptable return on their investment, necessitates the involvement of stakeholders such as private developers (US EPA, 2019). Communities can find success in reaching out to developers through encouraging consideration of positive impacts of

brownfield site clean-up and reuse. Despite the negative perceptions that may be associated with a site, such as ‘the longer timeline associated with pre-development investigation and clean-up; upfront capital costs of demolition and remediation; legal protocol and communication with state and federal agencies’ (Cich, Blair, and Faust, 2019), realization of the health, financial, and environmental benefits for infill development on brownfield sites is a key argument in the subject of profitability for developers. as many seek projects or sites that will maximize capital gain. In a survey of state regulatory and economic development agencies conducted by Wernstedt and Hersh (2006), they question relative importance of the reasoning for redevelopment in local contaminated properties, finding that ‘In general, respondents identified environmental and health rationales more frequently than they did economic impacts (tax revenues and jobs), but both were viewed as very important by significant minorities’ (Wernstedt and Hersh, 2006). This suggests that developers and other corporate communities hold significance to environmental and health factors, offering an applicable avenue for persuasion on the importance of redevelopment of environmentally hazardous brownfields within communities. The encouragement of environmental professionals to pursue further research and development of brownfields can also alleviate some burden of private developers in the process of risk minimization as well as safety during the redevelopment process. Knowledge surrounding economic, environmental, and social consequences of brownfield sites as well as benefits from their redevelopment could also be extremely beneficial to the broadening of redevelopment training and avenues to brownfield clean-up. Finally, the utilization of and collaboration with nonprofits such as The Minnesota Brownfields, an organization focused on the support and enhancement of brownfield

reuse and development, will foster valuable connections through partnership with regulatory agencies, environmental consulting firms, as well as both the private and public redevelopment communities (MN Brownfields, 2023).

Urban Farms and Greenspaces

Urban greenspaces provide a range of environmental services in cities and are in some ways a determinant in the ‘liveability’ of cities. Carroll (2016) notes how the underused or vacant structures on brownfields where contamination is present offer opportunities for urban agricultural projects and developments (Carroll, 2016). Urban agricultural renewal projects, although they vary nationwide, offer an opportunity for community reuse of brownfield properties, which can be advantageous for several reasons. Brownfield land may be available at a lower cost to other properties, and therefore are more accessible for community redevelopment (Carroll, 2016). Brownfield sites are also more common in disadvantaged areas where few alternatives to urban agriculture exist, which may be targeted by public health and sustainability advocates, as well as the local food movement. In their search for the expansion of local production and improved access to fresh and healthy produce and foods, they may focus on neighbourhoods with brownfield properties. Urban farms are significant for this reason in the prevention of forms of gentrification associated with increased housing prices and contribute to improved environmental resources for residents (Carroll, 2016). Community familiarization with local or state brownfield programs, reviewing grants, and consulting educational materials for organizations and individuals is necessary for a thorough understanding of redevelopment organization.

Community residents possess an understanding of environmental problems and social needs plaguing their neighbourhood, which are essential for just and inclusive sustainable development planning. Steps such as identifying the sites of most concern and defining clear goals for redevelopment are vital to processes of renovation. McCarthy (2002) argues that local participation in redevelopment processes of brownfields produces quicker and more community-oriented resolutions. In order to broaden the level of involvement and capacity of neighbourhood groups, it is beneficial to fully understand the process of redevelopment. Brownfield redevelopment training programs, which are generally designed for the private sector, offer the opportunity for local community members to engage directly with redevelopment projects. Although emphasis on these trainings is placed for developers, environmental engineering firms and financial institutions, they would allow for members to gain a more comprehensive understanding of brownfields and the realistic level of involvement community members can have in the redevelopment process. Community-based organizations can offer significant pathways for the process of predevelopment work on brownfield sites, which often inhibit private sector interest. This would include the assessment of environmental conditions, confirmation of site control or ownership, protection from liabilities, and the elicitation of support from the local community for the project (Brachman, 2003). Furthermore, community cooperation and collaboration with developers and corporate communities can facilitate the beginning of investment in local brownfield properties, as well as protect the inclusion of community-oriented uses for viable properties. McCarthy highlights

the ways in which local participation in brownfield redevelopment is effective, maintaining that ‘early involvement of the community can help foster understanding and consensus, and prevent protests and litigation,’ highlighting the ways in which local participation in brownfield redevelopment is effective (2002, p.294). Community land trusts (CLTs), which are non-profit organizations made up of community members, are also a strategy to minimize displacement of local communities and maintain housing affordability (Strategies to minimize displacement, 2023). In their most basic form, community land trusts buy or are gifted land, and contract building facilitators and project managers in order to build outwards, providing homes and other assets that are and will remain affordable to rent and buy. CLTs can use grants and subsidies at the town, state, and federal levels for funding, and can also receive grant funding from private institutions, and living costs can be dramatically reduced and based upon what communities earn. This may ameliorate some risks related to gentrification through brownfield redevelopment and prevent the displacement of lower-income residents and small businesses (Strategies to minimize displacement, 2023).

CONCLUSIONS

The rectification of brownfield sites in the city of Minneapolis is a serious environmental and health issue; one that is most acutely experienced by communities of colour and low-income communities. Recommendations outlined in this briefing for community-led redevelopment focus on the involvement of multiple stakeholders, community capacity building through brownfield training programs, the transformation of urban farms and greenspaces, as well as community partnership and community-based

organizations. It stresses the importance of strengthening action towards dismantling structural racism and working to reduce the disproportionate effects of brownfields through environmental justice initiatives and dialogue with community members. Finally, collaboration with environmental professionals, developers, non-profit organizations, and other corporate communities will greatly increase the accessibility of redevelopment projects as well as a favourable outcome that best serves the community.

REFERENCES

Berman, L. et al. (2022) ‘An Overview of Brownfields Redevelopment in the United States Through Regulatory, Public Health, and Sustainability Lenses’, J Environ Health, 84(9), pp. 8–14. Available at: https:// www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10191173/ (Accessed: 2023).

Bjelland, M.D. (2004) ‘Brownfield Sites in MinneapolisSt. Paul: The Interwoven Geographies of Industrial Disinvestment and Environmental Contamination’, Urban Geography, 25(7), pp. 631–657. doi:10.2747/02723638.25.7.631.

Brachman, L. (2003) Roles of community-based organizations in brownfields redevelopment, LILP. Available at: https://www.lincolninst.edu/publications/articles/ roles-community-based-organizations-brownfieldsredevelopment (Accessed: 20 October 2023).

Cain, C. (2016) Fighting Blight in the Northeast-Midwest Region: Assessing the Federal Response to Vacant and Abandoned Properties. rep. Washington, DC: NortheastMidwest Institute, pp. 1–27. Available at: https://www. nemw.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/2016-FightingBlight-in-NEMW.pdf (Accessed: 2023).

Carroll, A. (2016) ‘Brownfields as Sites for Urban Farms’, in S. Brown, K. McIvor, and E. Hodges Snyder (eds.) Sowing Seeds in the City. Springer, Dordrecht, pp. 339–349.

Cich, A., Blair, H. and Faust, M. (2019) Benefits of Brownfield Redevelopment in Minnesota. rep. Minnesota Legislative Reference Library. Available at: https:// www.lrl.mn.gov/docs/2020/Other/201184.pdf (Accessed: 2023).

Coffin, S. and Shepher, A. (1998) ‘Barriers to Brownfield Redevelopment: Lessons Learned from Two Great Lakes States’, Public Works Management & Policy, 2(3), pp. 258-266. Available at: https://doi. org/10.1177/1087724X9800200309 (Accessed: 2023).

Collaton, E. and Bartsch, C. (1996) ‘Industrial Site Reuse and Urban Redevelopment—An Overview’, Cityscape - Issues in Urban Environmental Policy, 2(3), pp. 17–61. Available at: https://www.jstor.org/stable/20868420 (Accessed: 2023).

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Leigh, N.G. and Coffin, S.L. (2010) ‘Modeling the relationship among brownfields, property values, and community revitalization’, Housing Policy Debate, 16(2), pp. 257–280. doi:10.1080/10511482.2005.9521543.

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Phoenix Arizona

United States

The Effects of Extreme Heat on Low-Income Communities in Phoenix, Arizona, U.S.A.

Paul Koumbourlis

INTRODUCTION

The southwestern area of the United States of America, or more commonly known as the ‘Southwest’, is a region which would be considered by many as incompatible to sustaining human life. The Environmental Protection Agency (2023) describes the region as one that has high temperatures, a minimal water supply, and an overall arid landscape. These qualities of the Southwest are antithetical to the functions of modern society that require consistent access to water and arable land. Despite these challenges however, the Southwest region of the U.S. has experienced considerable growth over the past few decades. One city in particular that has seen some of the highest growth in the region in recent years is Phoenix, Arizona.

Located in the northeastern reaches of the Sonoran Desert, Phoenix is a quintessential desert city with its year-round hot temperatures and sunlight. As mentioned in the previous paragraph, Phoenix has also experienced significant growth which shows no indication of slowing down. Between July 2021 and July 2022, the city saw a population increase of 19053 people, making it the second fastest growing city in the United States and the largest city in the Southwest with a population close to 1.65 million people (United States Census Bureau, 2023).

Phoenix’s ability to sustain and accommodate this growth in a harsh desert climate can be attributed to its proactive city planning. For example, one major issue which plagues the Southwest region is droughts and Phoenix has been able to mitigate this by planning its water supply many years into the future and through the diversification of its water sources, thereby ensuring a consistent water supply regardless of droughts (City of Phoenix, 2023). Even though the city has been able to adapt to the Southwest region’s major challenge of water supply, the city has yet to do the same for the equally significant desert issue of extreme heat.

Cities across the world are struggling with the issue of extreme heat and its wideranging consequences that impact different groups of society in a multitude of ways. While Phoenix has always experienced high temperatures, factors such as climate change and the increased urbanisation spurred by population growth have worsened heat and its effects on the people of the city in recent years. In particular, the low-income communities of Phoenix are disproportionately impacted by the increasingly high temperatures which the city is facing.

This community briefing seeks to address the unequal impacts of extreme heat in Phoenix,

Arizona in regard to the city’s low-income communities and will provide potential solutions on how to narrow these inequalities. Firstly, this briefing will examine the effects of extreme heat on Phoenix as a whole and will describe the low-income communities of the city in conjunction with the disproportional effects which they face from extreme heat. Afterwards, this briefing will also summarise and analyse policy actions taken by the city of Phoenix that attempt to combat the effects of extreme heat. Finally, this briefing aims to provide recommendations which members of low-income communities can utilise in order to lessen the many impacts of extreme heat on their neighbourhoods. Overall, this paper seeks to provide advice on how the low-income communities can address this issue without wholly relying on the help of the city government of Phoenix.

STATEMENT OF POSITIONALITY

I believe that it is essential to state my positionality given that this is a complex and multi-faceted issue. To start, I am an outsider who comes from an upper-class background. I am not a resident of Phoenix, Arizona nor have I ever visited the city. As a result, I am not fully aware of or accustomed to what it is like to be a low-income resident of the city. Therefore, my recommendations are only a product of my analyses of primary and secondary sources. Given the fact that I am an outsider, I aim to base my recommendations as much as possible on community and policy actions that were already taken in the city of Phoenix and elsewhere in Arizona. By doing this, my recommendations could potentially be easier for members of the community to follow and ultimately be more realistic. Lastly, because my outsider perspective does not allow me to be fully attuned to the abilities and limitations of Phoenix’s low-income communities, I aim to make my recommendations as inclusive as possible by forming them as ones which all of the city’s residents could contribute

to, therefore increasing the chances that these recommendations can implemented successfully.

THE CHALLENGE

As the title of this briefing suggests, the challenge which the city of Phoenix is facing is heat. Being in the Sonoran Desert, Phoenix has always had to cope with heat and its effects. Yet in recent years this heat has become more extreme. In fact, during 2023, Phoenix had temperatures of over 110 Fahrenheit (43.3 Celsius) for 54 days, breaking a previous record set in 2020 (PBS, 2023). This extreme heat can have fatal consequences as evidenced by 425 people dying of heat-related causes in Maricopa County—which consists of Phoenix and its metropolitan area—in 2022 alone (Healy, 2023). Unfortunately, it is exceedingly difficult for the city of Phoenix to mitigate the issue of extreme heat because the city’s rapid growth is one major factor which is worsening it.

As mentioned earlier, Phoenix is one of the fastest growing cities in the United States, but its explosive growth is exacerbating the issue of extreme heat through a concept known as the ‘urban heat island effect.’ In essence, the urban heat island effect is a phenomenon where the air temperature in an urban area is higher than the air temperature of the surrounding rural environment (Kleerekoper, Esch and Salcedo, 2012, p. 30). One way in which Phoenix’s increased urbanisation creates a heat island is due to the extensive presence of the materials which urban environments are made of: asphalt and concrete. According to NASA (2023), materials such as asphalt absorb up to 95% of solar radiation and have a high heat capacity, meaning that heat is easily stored during the day but is consequently released slowly at night. Due to the already extreme heat levels in Phoenix, the urban island effect is made more profound as the intense heat stored in the pavement releases so slowly

that even temperatures at night hover around 33 Celsius (Partlow, 2023). The urban island effect essentially makes it so that the residents of Phoenix rarely receive any relief from the heat, even when the Sun is not out.

While heat is an invisible force, its impacts on people are quite visible. In the city of Phoenix, extreme heat poses significant risks towards people’s health. Aside from the risk of fatality, extreme heat can cause issues such as heatstroke, dehydration, and even severe burns from pavement which reaches temperatures of up to 71 Celsius (Partlow, 2023). In other words, people in Phoenix can quite literally get cooked on the ground which they walk on. Furthermore, according to Arizona PBS (2023), heat can cause long-term health issues in people such as worsened mental health, sleep problems, and an increase in migraines. These serious health risks are compounded for vulnerable populations such as the elderly or those with pre-existing conditions like diabetes.

With factors such as climate change and urbanisation working in tandem to increase heat levels in Phoenix, the major obstacle for the city is finding a way in which it can grow sustainably without worsening the effects of extreme heat. Most crucially, this challenge highlights the need for solutions to take into account all of the city’s residents, including vulnerable populations such as members of low-income communities, as these members of the city face the brunt of the consequences from extreme heat.

THE COMMUNITY

As emphasised throughout the briefing, extreme heat affects all the residents of Phoenix, yet there are a variety of elements which create disproportionalities. The most influential of these elements is socioeconomic status, as evidenced by the increased hardships which Phoenix’s low-income residents receive from extreme heat in comparison to the city’s wealthier residents.

It is important first to define where Phoenix’s low-income residents live. Generally speaking, Phoenix’s low-income residents are concentrated in the urban core of the city while the wealthier residents tend to reside in the suburbs surrounding the peripheries of Phoenix. More specifically, as explained in a case study performed by the Economic Innovation Group (2023), the city’s lowincome residents are concentrated in the southern part of the city in neighbourhoods adjacent to the airport such as Central City as well as in the neighbourhood of South Phoenix. However, the neighbourhood of South Phoenix contains the majority of the city’s low-income residents with a population of around 359,000 people or nearly one-fifth of Phoenix’s total population. The level of poverty in these neighbourhoods are significantly higher than the overall level of poverty within Phoenix’s metropolitan area. In South Phoenix for example, the poverty rate sits at 31.9 percent with a median household income of $36800; A stark contrast to Phoenix metropolitan area’s overall poverty rate and median household income of 12.7 percent and $67100 respectively (Economic Innovation Group, 2023). The element of low socioeconomic levels alone plays a massive role in making neighbourhoods such as South Phoenix disproportionately affected by extreme heat. In fact, there is a high correlation between socioeconomic status and heat levels in Phoenix as residents in low-income neighbourhoods on average show temperatures 3 to 5 degrees higher than wealthier neighbourhoods (James, 2023).

Low-income communities in Phoenix are more vulnerable to extreme heat for a variety of reasons. The most noteworthy reason is the lack of heat-mitigating measures in lowincome neighbourhoods. One of the most effective forms of heat-mitigation is through vegetation because it does not absorb heat as effectively as surfaces such as concrete or asphalt. In Phoenix, wealthier residents tend to reside in low-density areas where they have the space and money to grow ample

vegetation, resulting in cooler temperatures than the urban heat islands of dense and industrial low-income neighbourhoods such as South Phoenix (Chow, Chuang and Gober, 2012, p. 289). Socioeconomic status plays a role in this because the low-income residents of Phoenix simply do not have the space or the income necessary to maintain the amount of vegetation required to cool an area. The lack of vegetation means that low-income residents are unable to receive relief such as shade from trees and are therefore highly exposed to extreme heat. This disparity also applies to other forms of cooling as evidenced by wealthy neighbourhoods having increased access to relief measures such as swimming pools and air-conditioning in comparison to low-income neighbourhoods (Chow, Chuang, and Gober, 2012, p. 288). For the poorest residents of low-income communities, their vulnerability to extreme heat is only magnified. In particular, homeless members of the community are the most disproportionately affected by extreme heat. Healy (2023) explains that of the 425 heatrelated deaths in Maricopa County in 2022, a majority of the victims were homeless. This can be explained by the fact that homeless people tend to be outside for longer periods of time which increases their exposure to extreme heat. In combination with other risk factors such as drug use, the consequences can be severe as evidenced by incidents such as homeless drug users falling unconscious within urban heat islands and consequently receiving severe burns (Partlow, 2023). Even the low-income residents who have access to housing are just as vulnerable as those who are homeless as they tend to be employed in outdoor positions such as landscaping and are reliant on public transportation— which often requires them wait outdoors at unshaded bus stops—at a higher rate than Phoenix’s wealthier residents (Economic Innovation Group, 2023). Overall, the disproportional impacts which Phoenix’s low-income residents face highlight the crucial role which socioeconomic status plays in regard to resilience towards extreme heat.

POLICY ANALYSIS

For years, the city of Phoenix’s government had not implemented any meaningful policies which addressed the issue of extreme heat, simply treating it as an unavoidable reality of living in Phoenix. However in the recent decades as extreme heat has become more prevalent, the city has taken a variety of steps to deal with the effects of extreme heat on the city as a whole and for its low-income communities. For example, one of Phoenix’s most significant strides in addressing extreme heat was in 2021 with the creation of the first publicly funded Heat Response & Mitigation Office (Garza, 2023). The implementation of an office that exclusively concentrates on heat demonstrates a formal commitment from the Phoenix city government that it takes the issue of extreme heat seriously and that extreme heat poses a threat to the city’s sustainable growth. The city has also implemented specific policy plans in the past which have sought to address the issue of extreme heat in a variety of ways, yet these policy actions have had varying degrees of success.

One of Phoenix’s most comprehensive policies relating to extreme heat is the ‘Tree and Shade Master Plan’ created in 2010. Essentially, this master plan aims to cool the city by lessening the urban heat island effect through the utilisation of shade provided by trees as well as by extensively growing native desert plants. According to the City of Phoenix (2010), the plan aims to achieve an average of 25 percent canopy coverage in Phoenix by 2030 with an added focus on planting trees in low-income neighbourhoods such as South Phoenix. If successful by 2030, the plan could reduce temperatures in neighbourhoods with little to no vegetation by as much as 7.9 degrees Fahrenheit (Lurie, 2014). Unfortunately, since the city’s last official tree cover measurement in 2014 which estimated the coverage to be at 10 to 11 percent (the same levels since the plan started implementation in 2010), the city has barely made any progress as current estimates put canopy coverage levels in 2023 at

only 12 percent (Yurow, 2023). This indicates that Phoenix’s city government has made little progress with this master plan and still needs to essentially double the percentage of tree coverage that the city currently has. As Montanari (2020) explains, reaching the goal by 2030 would require the city to plant 10000 trees each year from 2020 until 2030, ultimately making the master plan unrealistic as the most trees that the Phoenix city government had ever managed to plant in a year was around 5000 trees. Based off the city government’s current progress with the Tree and Shade Master Plan in combination with an absence of any significant increases in funding to the program, it is unlikely that they will reach the goal of 25 percent coverage in 2030 and have therefore failed the city and its low-income residents on this ambitious policy.

In regard to policies which provide immediate relief from extreme heat, Phoenix’s government once again falls short as evidenced by their implementation of ‘cooling centres’ placed around the city. Cooling centres are essentially air-conditioned buildings available to the public often used by low-income residents who cannot afford adequate cooling at home and are especially important for low-income residents who are homeless. According to Garcia (2023), during the summer of 2023, the city had 62 cooling centres yet only one is open 24 hours a day. This presents a major issue as the urban heat island effect causes night temperatures in low-income neighbourhoods to still be dangerously hot and this leaves low-income residents more vulnerable to heat-related injuries and illnesses. Moreover, the city government fails to adequately communicate the locations of these cooling centres and only lists them on an online map. As Healy (2023) explains, this causes issues for low-income residents as many of them do not have access to phones or the internet, therefore leaving them unaware that such centres exist and consequently increases their vulnerability to extreme heat.

The examples of the two policy actions listed above demonstrate that Phoenix’s government has been largely ineffective at implementing long-term and shortterm policies that combat extreme heat. The Phoenix city government’s inability to adequately implement such policies emphasise not only the need for solutions to be inclusive, but they also highlight the need for community action in order to help make the goals of such ambitious policies a reality.

COMMUNITY RECOMMENDATIONS

Community Gardening Fund

The first community recommendation is the creation of a ‘Community Gardening Fund’ which would tackle extreme heat by mitigating the urban heat island effect. This recommendation builds upon the city government’s Tree and Shade Master Plan and would make vegetation more accessible for low-income communities in Phoenix. One issue with the city’s Tree and Shade Program is that many of the trees have to be planted on private property in order to provide effective shade and this also means that residents are in charge of maintaining them, leading many low-income residents to be hesitant towards trees on their property as they feared that they would be unable to afford the maintenance (Lurie, 2014). However, Lurie (2014) emphasises that lowincome residents in Phoenix still desire to have trees as it helps reduce heat and they believe it beautifies their neighbourhoods. The Community Gardening Fund would help alleviate the issue of affordability by acting as a general fund which could be utilised for covering the costs of planting and maintaining the trees. With the Community Gardening Fund, anyone outside low-income communities could also donate to the fund in order to widen the potential donation sources and increase funds available for utilisation. This means that low-income residents could contribute little to no money and be able

split the costs of planting and maintenance between the entire community. In other words, low-income residents would have access to heat-mitigating trees for a fraction of the cost. With the combination of this Community Gardening Fund and the Phoenix city government’s existing policies, the urban heat island effect could more realistically be lessened and most importantly, the members of the city’s low-income communities could see relief from extreme heat.

Community Heat Action Plan

The next recommendation to mitigate the effects of extreme heat towards lowincome communities in Phoenix is for the low-income communities of the city to create a ‘Community Heat Action Plan.’ A Community Heat Action Plan is highly comprehensive and encompass all aspects of heat mitigation, making it the strongest community-based solution to addressing extreme heat. Furthermore, Community Heat Action Plans have already been utilised in different towns and neighbourhoods in Arizona with successful results (Guardaro, et al., 2020). The main benefit of a Community Heat Action Plan is that it encourages inclusivity and community bonding because it requires multiple workshops in order to create a comprehensive plan. The workshops which create the Community Heat Action Plan are also significantly helpful as they make residents more aware of the problems and inequalities which they are facing compared to other neighbourhoods (Guardaro, et al., 2020). Such a workshop would be useful for low-income communities such as South Phoenix as it would likely make residents more motivated to take action as they become fully aware that they are being disproportionately impacted by extreme heat. Furthermore, these workshops can utilise academic volunteers who are experts in the field of sustainability and heat-

mitigation from places such as Arizona State University in order to aid the residents in the workshops. According to Guardaro, et al. (2020), in workshops done elsewhere in Arizona, the academic volunteers helped to guide the members of the community and they also helped make information more understandable. Given the wide range of people who live in Phoenix’s low-income neighbourhoods, these academic volunteers can help to make the process towards a Community Heat Action Plan more inclusive and unambiguous. The last benefit of a Community Heat Action Plan is that they are designed to be tailored towards specific neighbourhoods based off the feedback from residents in each community. In Phoenix, this means that low-income neighbourhoods like Central City and South Phoenix could have more realistic plans for addressing extreme heat because it is based on the unique wants and needs of the residents in their respective neighbourhoods rather than having both neighbourhoods rely on a generic plan provided by the city government. Overall, a Community Heat Action Plan gives lowincome residents the power to make specific policies that adequately address extreme heat in their neighbourhoods in a comprehensive and inclusive manner.

CONCLUSION

This briefing has made clear that the issue of extreme heat in Phoenix, Arizona effects everyone in a myriad of ways, yet it is the members of Phoenix’s low-income neighbourhoods who are disproportionately affected by extreme heat. Factors such as the urban heat island effect and ineffective implementation of policies by the city government foster these inequalities. Most crucially, the unequal effects faced by Phoenix’s low-income residents stress the need for community-based solutions which are comprehensive, inclusive, and realistic.

REFERENCES

Arizona PBS (2023) Heat-related health problems. Available at: https://azpbs.org/horizon/2023/08/heat-related-health-problems/ (Accessed: 22 October 2023).

Chow, W. T. L., Chuang, W. C. and Gober, P. (2012) ‘Vulnerability to extreme heat in Metropolitan Phoenix: Spatial, temporal, and demographic dimensions’, Professional Geographer, 64 (2), pp. 286-302. doi: 10.1080/00330124.2011.600225.

City of Phoenix (2010) Tree and Shade Master Plan. Available at: https://www.phoenix.gov/oepsite/Documents/ Tree%20and%20Shade%20Master%20Plan.pdf (Accessed: 26 October 2023).

City of Phoenix (2023) Water Supply Q & A. Available at: https://www.phoenix.gov/waterservices/resourcesconservation/drought-information/climatechange/ water-supply-q-a#:~:text=The%20city%20of%20 Phoenix%20’s,which%20transports%20Colorado%20 River%20water. (Accessed: 22 October 2023).

Economic Innovation Group (2023) Advancing Economic Development in Persistent-Poverty Communities. Available at: https://eig.org/persistent-poverty-in-communities/ case-studies/south-phoenix/#:~:text=Geography%20 and%20background&text=The%20persistent%2Dpoverty%20tract%20group,adjacent%20to%20the%20 city’s%20airport. (Accessed: 24 October 2023).

Environmental Protection Agency (2023) A Closer Look: Temperature and Drought in the Southwest. Available at: https://www.epa.gov/climate-indicators/southwest#:~:text=see%20Figure%203).-,Background,to%20its%20 characteristic%20desert%20climate. (Accessed: 22 October 2023).

Garcia, N. (2023) This is the only 24-hour cooling center in Phoenix. Available at: https://www.fox10phoenix.com/ news/this-is-the-only-24-hour-cooling-center-in-phoenix (Accessed: 26 October 2023).

Garza, A. D. L. (2023) The Mayor of America’s Hottest City Learned a Lot From July’s Heat Wave. Available at: https:// time.com/6303354/phoenix-mayor-kate-gallego-interview-heat-wave/ (Accessed: 26 October 2023).

Guardaro, M., Messerschmidt, M., Hondula, D. M., Grimm, N. B. and Redman, C. L. (2020) ‘Building community heat action plans story by story: A three neighborhood case study’, Cities, 107. doi: 10.1016/j.cities.2020.102886.

Healy, J. (2023) In Phoenix, Heat Becomes a Brutal Test of Endurance. Available at: https://www.nytimes. com/2023/07/11/us/phoenix-heat-wave.html (Accessed: 22 October 2023).

James, I. (2023) Low-income and Latino neighborhoods endure more extreme heat in the Southwest, study shows Available at: https://eu.azcentral.com/story/news/

local/arizona-environment/2021/03/15/poor-and-latino-neighborhoods-endure-hotter-temperatures-studyfinds/6920826002/ (Accessed: 25 October 2023).

Kleerekoper, L., Esch, M. V. and Salcedo, T. B. (2012) ‘How to make a city climate-proof, addressing the urban heat island effect’, Resources Conservation and Recycling, 64, pp. 30-38. doi: 10.1016/j.resconrec.2011.06.004.

Lurie, B. T. (2014) Growing Phoenix’s urban forest offers cooling potential. Available at: https://news.asu.edu/content/growing-phoenixs-urban-forest-offers-cooling-potential (Accessed: 26 October 2023).

Montanari, S. (2020) Will Phoenix Be Able to Plant 100,000 Shade Trees in the Next 10 Years. Available at: https:// www.phoenixmag.com/2020/10/26/will-phoenix-beable-to-plant-100000-shade-trees-in-the-next-10-years/ (Accessed: 26 October 2023).

NASA (2023) NASA Data Shows Fierce Surface Temperatures During Phoenix Heat Wave. Available at: https:// www.nasa.gov/centers-and-facilities/jpl/nasa-datashows-fierce-surface-temperatures-during-phoenixheat-wave/ (Accessed: 22 October 2023).

Partlow, J. (2023) Burning pavement, scalding water hoses: Perils of a Phoenix heat wave. Available at: https://www. washingtonpost.com/climate-environment/2023/07/13/ phoenix-heat-wave-conditions/ (Accessed: 22 October 2023).

PBS (2023) Phoenix hit 110 degrees on 54 days in 2023, setting another heat record. Available at: https://www.pbs. org/newshour/nation/phoenix-hit-110-degrees-on-54days-in-2023-setting-another-heat-record#:~:text=It%20 was%20the%2054th%20day,streak%20could%20 reach%2055%20days. (Accessed: 22 October 2023).

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Nature and community: green solutions to sustainability in private housing estates Edinburgh

Iona MacLaren

BACKGROUND

In Edinburgh, there is a recognised housing shortage. The latest Housing Need and Demand Assessment estimates that Edinburgh will require between 36,000 and 52,000 new homes from 2024-2050 (HHFWC 2022). With this high demand in the market, new private housing estates are rapidly being established on vacant sites throughout the city. These new builds are made in line with recent environmental standards in terms of energy economy, heat retention and sustainable use of materials (govscot, 2023). However, the economic incentive for more housing, quickly has a strong influence on the quality and character of what is being built. Large monopoly companies have established hundreds of developments across the UK, meaning that most new private housing has a ubiquitous design that lacks a unique identity and sense of place (Kruczkowski 2014). Meanwhile, as community is something which is established predominantly with the help of time and shared life stages (Winstanley et al 2003), the latest builds lack such a sense of social cohesion – an important element of urban resilience and sustainability (Rapaport et al 2018).

Alongside this is the UK-wide backdrop of biodiversity loss and nature deficit. 42% of the UK’s species are in decline (NBN 2019), whilst the UK now ranks in the bottom 10% of countries globally for biodiversity (Davis 2020). As more and more of the country has been urbanised following the industrial revolution a century ago, functioning habitats have diminished, and time individuals spend in nature (or merely outside) is limited. These two sides of one coin simultaneously cause issues for the health of ecosystems and human health and represent an important and challenging context for sustainability in UK urban spaces. This report explores the potential of Naturebased Solutions for creating a stronger sense of place identity and community togetherness, with sensitivity to biodiversity issues, in one of Edinburgh’s recently built private housing estates.

Additionally, it emphasises the importance of local scale, community-lead change in creating sustainable urban environments. At government scales, one of the greatest priorities is to encourage business (Powers et al 2021). This itself can be seen in Edinburgh’s context, where the development of the new Cammo Meadows was ultimately Edinburgh

permitted as a lucrative cash injection for the area, despite transport and environmental concerns. Therefore, by focusing instead on the grassroots solutions available within this community, social and environmental needs can be given priority where government actors may instead be focusing on economic needs foremost. More power is given to individual and community needs, enabling urban sustainability to be achieved more authentically and dynamically.

CAMMO MEADOWS

Cammo Meadows features 655 new units built by CALA Homes and David Wilson Homes (DWH), on Maybury Road. The proposal to build on greenbelt land, just off two of Edinburgh’s most polluted and congested highways, was controversial and originally didn’t receive planning permission. Greenbelt land is closely guarded by local councilors and residents alike on account of its value as habitat, for recreation and wellbeing, farming, and as a space which symbolises the divide between the ‘urban’ and the ‘countryside’ (CPRE 2023). However, the housing demand is such that Edinburgh Council eventually granted the developers permission and with final plans including a 500m green corridor, play parks, 700 saplings planted and improvements to the bus routes and cycle network, the development went ahead with some sensitivity to issues of transport and diminishing green space.

The development includes 164 affordable homes, whilst the remaining 500 residences are priced anywhere between £400,000 for 2-3 beds to £1 million for 4-5 beds (CALA 2023; DWH 2023). This means that the majority of buyers in this new community will be securely employed families or young professionals with sufficiently highincome brackets to afford these prices. Consequently, the neighbourhood will likely

have low levels of deprivation, experiencing good health, education and low crime, avoiding many of the urban issues which disadvantage citizens elsewhere in the city.

CALA and DWH combined have 90+ housing developments across Scotland alone. Their websites display pictures of immaculate new builds across the country, all with a similar appearance. Cammo Meadows has been built with the architecture and landscape features typical of these developers, and thus, in terms of layout and architecture, is indistinct from many new neighbourhoods across the UK, giving it a distinct lack of identity at present. However, Cammo Meadows, having been built next to the Cammo estate and the river Almond, has plenty of nature and history surrounding it. This natural landscape contributes significantly to the identity of the area and could help create a community identity for the new housing estate.

POSITIONALITY

My theoretical stance in this report is influenced by my personal experience of finding a sense of belonging and identity through connection to the natural environment where I lived. I lived in a neighbourhood not disimilar to Cammo, with walking access to green space and a low deprivation score (SIMD 2020). Over the course of my upbringing, I particularly benefitted from the local nature reserve (around 400m2 of woods behind my house) which I would visit with my primary school, take part in afterschool activities in, and build dens in with my friends at weekends. When I entered high school, these woods remained a crucial space, helping downregulate my nervous system and provide a neutral, empty environment in which I could process emotions. Although it was only a fragment of habitat, it supported considerable wildlife and improved the biodiversity of the

neighbourhood. It was important in shaping the identity of my neighbourhood and my own inward development and health. Additionally, it was a site of community interactions (dog walkers, running groups, children playing, adolescents socialising etc.) which supported place-bound social connections. My personal experience leads me to believe such connection to local greenspaces is incredibly powerful in mitigating the issues found in developed, majority wealthy urban environments such as lack of community, identity and dislocation from nature and sustainability values (. These benefits are particularly relevant for Cammo Meadows which has not yet developed a distinct community, and additionally represents the tensions between greenspace and modern housing demands in Edinburgh. As discussed throughout this report, academic literature supports this firsthand experience.

NATURE-BASED SOLUTIONS

Nature-based solutions (NbS) are defined by the UNIL as actions to mitigate or manage sustainability issues – both social and environmental – providing human well-being and biodiversity benefits simultaneously (Cohen-Shacham 2016). They’re relevant for the context of Cammo Meadow in that they encompass solutions that could mitigate loss of wildlife whilst supporting the development of community interactions and identity.

In fact, the importance of nature for urban society has been researched and discussed in depth. Biodiversity is valued from an anthropocentric perspective for the environmental services it delivers. For example, street trees, living walls, roof gardens, vegetated drainage basins (etc.) can mitigate pollution and adverse weather in urban environments (Ibid. 2016). Meanwhile, the presence of nature also

benefits the social dimensions of the city. Exposure to biodiversity is related to lower stress levels and improved psychological and emotional wellbeing (Capaldi et al 2014). Green spaces can encourage social cohesion and community interactions as well as contributing to a sense of place (Kaźmierczak 2013). Additionally, positive connections with nature are correlated with pro-environmental behaviours (Lumber et al 2017; Capaldi et al 2014) and inward development to reflect peaceful, cooperative and loving values (Zelenski et al 2023). Because of its impact on human wellbeing and society, having a positive relationship with nature is of comparable importance as indicators such as income and education (Capaldi et al 2014). Consequently, encouraging interactions with local nature is a potent method for ensuring community, identity and by extension sustainability are established in newly built housing estates.

Edinburgh’s supply of new builds is expanding to form a significant enough proportion of the city to demand recognition. Therefore, by putting careful thought into how these new neighbourhoods establish themselves, sustainable communities can be fostered, with local benefits extending into the wider context of the city.

LACK OF COMMUNITY AND IDENTITY IN NEWLY ESTABLISHING CAMMO MEADOWS

Community is necessary for urban resilience and human health. Resilience refers to a system’s capacity to cope with a disturbance and return to a functioning state either to a new baseline or the initial situation (Ribeiro & Goncalves 2019). Applied to the urban environment, this refers to the city system and its ability to cope with events such as pandemics, natural disasters and conflict, or other challenging situations

such as population changes, technological developments or a gradually changing climate. Resilience is therefore an important contributor to urban sustainability which needs to be fostered for cities to survive the compounding crises of the 21st century.

Having strong communities supports the city’s ability to adapt effectively to rising challenges and thus community is important for sustainability and urban resilience (Ribeiro & Goncalves 2019). As Edinburgh experienced the covid 19 pandemic in 2020, informal community resilience initiatives such as providing food for isolating people emerged within neighbourhoods across the city. These bottom-up, local endeavors were part of an existing network of strong community interactions (Fransen et al 2021). Without community in the situation of the recent pandemic, vulnerable citizens would rely solely on top-down governance interventions to respond appropriately. However, as it stood, pre-existing communities provided an important, place-specific security net out with formal governance with the power to come up with some solutions for their problems.

The social ties and support networks found in strong communities are of equal importance for personal health. Loneliness levels are increasingly concerning for policy makers in advanced societies (Kearns et al 2014). Social isolation adds significantly to individuals’ chances of developing heart conditions, cancer and psychiatric conditions (Malcolm et al 2019), posing a threat to health and wellbeing in urban contexts such as Edinburgh. Consequently, having strong communities within localities helps mitigate loneliness and protect mental and physical health in these areas and thus the sustainability of urban life there.

However, because of the processes of urbanisation and technological development

changing work patterns, increasing mobility and developing communication methods, community cohesion within urban lifestyles is diminishing (Kaźmierczak 2013). This creates issues for the highly modern, brand-new neighbourhood which Cammo Meadow represents: modern lifestyles in well-off urban neighbourhoods demonstrate a disparate network of social connections which are no longer bounded by place (Winstanley et al 2003). Whilst these dispersed interactions may fulfil citizens’ needs for social connection, they fail to support close ties forming between people sharing a living situation. Indeed, in modern housing estates in Auckland, residents stated that it wasn’t that there were barriers preventing them from interacting with neighbours, but rather they preferred to “keep a nice friendly distance”, with the reasoning of protecting their privacy. Similar to this New Zealand example, modern citizens like those moving into Cammo Meadow are not part of a placebound community. This means that there is no cohesive group which can advocate for sustainability, wellbeing and quality of life within their locality’s unique context, which is an issue in that it weakens the resilience of the area and reduces health and wellbeing benefits.

Community can be the product of having a shared identity and values, which in turn have a strong impact on the individual (Rapaport et al 2018). By using nature as a way to solve lack of social cohesion in a neighbourhood, community can be established which is founded on valuing wildlife/ greenspace and thus incorporates nature positive attitudes into its identity. This not only ensures urban resilience and wellbeing benefits for residents through local interactions with nature and each other, but also extends into the sustainability of the city as love of nature is related to proenvironmental behaviour (Lumber et al 2017).

BIODIVERSITY LOSS AND URBANISATION OF EDINBURGH’S GREENBELT

Alongside the backdrop of absent community and identity in brand new parts of the city is the environmental context of urbanisation and biodiversity loss. Whilst councillors and residents tend to closely guard greenbelt land out of a fear of endless urban expansion, there is yet a real need for more housing and well-planned urban environments where people can comfortably support their lives. Necessarily this has meant sometimes building on greenfield sites on the outskirts of the city. Cammo Meadows is a clear example of this trade-off in action. However, this of course comes with the loss of historical habitats and biodiversity as land is modified and built on. Given that so much of Britain’s wildlife is in decline, this is no light compromise and poses issues for the resilience of the natural environment in coming years as traditional habitats become increasingly marginalised by ever-expanding cities.

Loss of nature has social impacts as well as environmental ones. A study of citizens in Manchester found that on average healthy adults spent less than an hour outside a day on weekdays (Diffey 2011). This hour is merely being in the open air – it doesn’t specify that this time is spent in a green environment. Because of indoor modern lifestyles it is very easy for individuals in urban environments to be disconnected from nature, and thus forget about its presence and not notice its absence. This has negative consequences for sustainability and decisions around environmental protection as the eco-centric values necessary for conservation and wildlife protection don’t have a chance to develop. Zelenski et al (2023) discuss the ways in which contact with nature can encourage inner development. They suggest that cultural and spiritual transformations necessary to

combat detrimental societal attitudes are possible through greater connection with nature. Meanwhile, their findings infer that emotional and social development are therefore stunted as we have less exposure to nature, altering the norms of how people behave and what people value. The knockon effect for society is concerning and has society-wide implications from the personal up to the global scale in terms of how we manage living with the earth and each other into the future (ibid. 2023).

Despite decreasing ‘countryside’ area in the UK, opportunities for improving biodiversity and wildlife habitats are abundant: urban environments are themselves valuable habitats and with appropriate planning can support a variety of wildlife. This can be seen in wildlife corridors, parks, gardens, residences and local nature reserves. However ‘wild’ and ‘domesticated’ nature have different effects on nature connection and wellness benefits and thus need to be considered in the improvement of urban biodiversity. Wells & Leckies (2006) found that immersion in wild nature resulted in higher nature relatedness scores whilst contact with domesticated nature had less effect. At Cammo, there are acres of greenspace within walking distance, whilst the housing development has incorporated nature into its landscaping with trees and park spaces. However, these spaces represent domesticated nature and thus foster a different impact on community members than areas with ‘wild nature’ that lend themselves to awe and solitude (two other dimensions which influence nature connection and wellbeing (Mateer 2022)) and thus foster stronger emotional bonds with nature.

Conscious efforts are needed to ensure that encounters with nature are a prominent part of urban lifestyles in order to combat biodiversity loss and create stable, sustainable urban environments.

RECOMMENDATIONS

Participation is necessary for appropriate measures to be established which are specific to residents needs in the Cammo Meadow locality. This could look like focus groups which allow members to voice their needs and opinions on what kind of community they want within their neighbourhood, as well as how increasing biodiversity might affect them on a practical level. By holding participatory discussions solutions can be conceptualised which account for the unique needs of the community and thus are more sustainable.

I recommend the implementation of NbSs to establish a strong community and sense of identity, which simultaneously encourages biodiversity at Cammo Meadows. Green spaces (such as parks) are beneficial NbSs as they facilitate social interactions that can help residents form connections with one another (Kazmierczak 2013). Meanwhile, ‘green exercise’ has been related to greater nature connection and health benefits compared with indoor activities (Miyazaki, 2018).

Therefore, my first recommendation is to establish activity groups which encourage community members to spend time in the surrounding green spaces. Which specific activities are effective will depend on the wants/ needs of the different age groups within the community. However, some examples include fitness groups such as running clubs, ball sports, outdoor strength and conditioning, yoga, and dog walking. These activities can take place in public parks within the housing development, or in Cammo Estate. This creates physical health benefits but also social and environmental ones, creating community alongside nature connection. Other outdoor activities could include regular walk and talking groups: individuals forming bonds over shared experiences or similarities in life stage as

this is something which has been found to establish community ties (Winstanley 2003). Possible groups who could benefit include parents of small children, elderly residents, or single adults, however value and benefits could also be gained from these walk-andtalk groups having a mixture of people from different ages and experiences.

Horticultural therapy and gardening likewise have benefits for health and nature connection (Soga, Gaston, & Yamaura, 2017) and are an additional method for creating a sustainable community with nature as a part of its identity. I recommend that community gardens are created in the development’s green spaces with weekly sessions running where residents can meet with a shared goal of creating beautiful communal space and growing food.

The importance of “wild” nature as opposed to “domesticated” nature has been highlighted by Wells & Leckies (2006) – parks, gardens and other instances of ‘domesticated’ nature are valuable social and natural assets, however ‘wild’ nature can be more biodiverse and has a greater impact on pro-environmental attitudes than ‘domesticated’. Therefore, I would suggest the community invests in regeneration projects – allowing dedicated areas to grow wild with limited management. This of course brings with it biodiversity benefits, but to retain the functionality of these wild spaces for residents, discussion within the community about needs and uses will need to be undertaken. One example of such a project could be wildflower meadow making. This offers residents the incentive to learn traditional skills such as scything and wildflower/ pollinator identitfication which gives them a sense of connection to history and connection to the land. As with community gardening, having a shared goal to work towards in the community will likely help cohesion between residents to establish. Wild areas can also provide opportunities

for urban foraging which is beneficial for individuals’ connection with their food and their local environment, creating a stronger sense of place (Martin 2018). The community can work with Cammo Estate and also make use of wild green spaces they’re establishing around the development to run foraging workshops across the seasons.

By fostering shared times in nature, residents can connect to their natural environment and to each other. Cammo Meadow can then develop a unique identity intertwined with local wildlife and a community which is strengthened by frequent interactions and shared environmental responsibilities. With proper participation from all groups living at Cammo Meadows, these solutions can be implemented to solve the issue of isolated, stress-filled, unsustainable lifestyles being led in localities that lack a sense of place and a tangible community. As Edinburgh grows, it’s important that this can occur sustainably, with sensitivity to the needs of people and the environment. Through encouraging and connecting with urban nature, this intersectional goal could be realised.

REFERENCES

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The potential of community-level recommendations in tackling traffic congestion on LBS Marg

Akshay Joshi

INTRODUCTION

Mumbai is a symphony of beauty and chaos, with vibrant colours, sounds and smells evoking a visceral experience. Its bustling streets portray the pursuit of ambitions in the ‘city of dreams’, whose allures have helped mould it into the financial capital of India. The result of this is an ever-growing urban population, with the Mumbai Metropolitan Region (MMR) being home to approximately 22 million people, at a per km² density of 20,000 (Bharadwaj et al., 2017). The city’s roads are a mix of “cars, trucks, pedestrians, animal-driven carts, two-wheelers, cycles... auto-rickshaws” and cattle (Verma and Kulshrestha, 2018). This has resulted in Mumbai being one of the most congested cities in the world, with road trips in the MMR taking 51% more time than they would under “free flow conditions” (Bharadwaj et al., 2017). Congestion contributes to an economic loss equivalent to “17% of the GDP of Maharashtra”, as the average Mumbaikar spends “11 days a year stuck in traffic” (Jain et al., 2021). This congestion causes and exposes citizens to higher emissions and air and noise pollution, while “[decreasing] productivity and [imposing] costs on society” (Bharadwaj et al., 2017). Traffic

problems continue to grow as a significant middle-class population resides in “the periphery of Mumbai” (Shirgaokar, 2014), and primarily uses road transport for travel to commercial districts (Das and Mandal, 2021). Traffic troubles are aggravated by largely unchanged road infrastructure in a time of increasing car ownership (Jain et al., 2021). Between 2005-2017, Mumbai’s “vehicular population” increased by 60%, while vehicular speeds in the last decade decreased by 50% (Bharadwaj et al., 2017). This trend is set to continue as growing incomes, inconvenient public transport, successful car marketing and the ease of auto loans incentivize private car ownership (Das and Mandal, 2021; Shirgaokar, 2014). In addition, sociocultural tendencies and the comfort of private transport means that a growing middle class continues using their cars despite increasing levels of traffic congestion (Lesteven, 2014).

CONTEXT

Lal Bahadur Shastri Marg, hereon referred to as LBS Marg or LBS is a 21km, four-lane arterial road that traverses through areas of high population density in the Eastern

Suburbs, where 400,000 vehicles use the road everyday (Kulkarni and Pancras, 2015; Sen, 2018). This report examines traffic congestion on the stretch of LBS that passes through Ghatkopar West (Appendix 1 and 2), with the specified geographic area highlighted in Appendix 2. This area is notorious for traffic jams, with near complete halts in traffic and vehicle speeds regularly going down to 3km/h (Sen, 2018; Soni and Chandel, 2020). Here, wrong-side driving (Appendix 3), illegal parking (Appendix 4), metro line construction (Appendix 5), street vendors occupying footpaths (Appendix 6) and insufficient traffic rule enforcement, exacerbate traffic congestion. I am a resident of a large residential apartment complex located on this stretch of LBS, called Kalpataru Aura, referred to hereon as Kalpataru. This report will focus on the experience of Kalpataru residents with traffic congestion. Kalpataru’s entry and exit points (named ‘A’ and ‘B’), open directly onto LBS Marg, making this the only way to enter or exit the compound (Appendix 7,8 and 9). Consequently, unpredictable traffic conditions on LBS hold direct repercussions for Kalpataru residents, who face uncertain travel times, reduced leisure hours, increased fuel usage, increased car maintenance, and added stress (Metropolitan Council, 2020). Alongside residents, the report’s target audience is the residential complex’s administrative body, Kalpataru Management. Recommendations made will be directed at Kalpataru Management, who have the executive power to undertake initiatives.

Problems within Kalpataru

The Kalpataru Aura residential complex is a bustling community, home to over 1200 families living in 17 buildings (Kalpataru Limited, 2014), who regularly host social and religious events. Kalpataru is visited by guests, alongside hundreds of drivers who

enter the compound every day for taxi and delivery purposes. This means that along with navigating traffic on LBS, residents must also deal with congestion caused by vehicles within the compound. The consequences of Kalpataru’s congestion are especially significant given the risks to children and the elderly, who are most vulnerable. Cars pose a safety risk for children who use the open space between apartments for recreation. When I was younger, I remember callously batting an eye at the risks, as my friends and I played around moving cars and commotion. However, retrospectively the risks this poses are alarming. Today, a simple walk around the compound requires one to navigate around the numerous cars, autorickshaws and two-wheelers that drive through. The often chaotic crowd of cars in Kalpataru contrast the image of a well-maintained residential area. Given that Kalpataru residents pay a monthly maintenance fee of ₹10,000 (£100), it is no surprise that this disorder is cause for frustration. Given this context and the significance of congestion within Kalpataru, solutions that focus only on congestion on LBS and not within the compound would be tunnel-visioned.

The nature of problem-solving efforts

Past policy failure complicates efficient traffic management in Mumbai, with the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC), often placing significant focus on “public transport improvement”, while disregarding “traffic demand management” (Alam and Ahmed, 2013). Here, it is valid to criticize the BMC for inadequate road infrastructure improvements, metro construction misplanning, failure to establish targeted fuel subsidies or the neglection of efforts in “driver education” on “road safety” (Alam and Ahmed, 2013). Even efforts by the traffic department of the Mumbai Police have not yielded sufficient action from the

BMC (Kulkarni and Pancras, 2015). There is no question that bigger-picture solutions from the BMC would reduce congestion. However, in their absence, it is imperative to seek local, community-level solutions, which, albeit on a smaller scale, seek to make meaningful change. This report believes that such community-level solutions hold the potential to alleviate traffic congestion on LBS and within Kalpataru. Thus, this report aims to provide community-level recommendations that seek to find local activities that exacerbate congestion and tackle them in an intertwined manner, whereby solutions build upon each other. Recommendations try implementing a twopronged approach to traffic congestion in the relationship between Kalpataru and LBS Marg. First, congestion within the apartment complex will be addressed, followed by efforts to reduce congestion on the adjacent stretch of LBS.

Recommendation 1: Parking Management using a mobile application

Let us begin by addressing the congestion within Kalpataru that stems from parking mismanagement. Kalpataru is frequented by visitors, guests, autorickshaws, taxi and delivery drivers, who face challenges in navigating the unfamiliar compound and finding a parking spot. The inability to reserve parking spaces means that even drivers familiar with the compound cannot know if spaces are occupied or free to park. This leads to cars chasing the same space or roaming around the compound, exacerbating localized congestion. The solution here is inspired by a proposition from Kazi et al. (2018), who suggests the implementation of a ‘Reservation-based Smart Parking System’. I recommend the implementation of a similar system within Kalpataru, with a mobile application that functions through user reporting. Let us tentatively refer to this

app as ‘Kalpataru Smart Parking’. A map feature in the app will mark unoccupied slots in green, whilst occupied/reserved slots will be red. Before starting this system, a Kalpataru management team member will visit all parking sites and check which slots are free. Given that Kalpataru has security guards in the parking lot and around the compound, these guards can be tasked with checking the app once a day to ensure that slots marked available (green) on the app are indeed unoccupied. This allows a layer of verification on top of user reporting.

The app will require users to create profiles and input the following information: their name, contact details (phone and email) and specifics of their vehicle such as its type and registration number. This information is stored on the app’s server and does not need to be re-entered and is used to validate reservations. After a user’s reservation expires, they can choose to extend their stay or vacate the slot. Upon vacation, the slot is listed as unoccupied for other drivers. Given information on the slot’s availability comes directly from the driver who last used it, we can ensure that the information is “the most up to date” (Zargayouna, Balbo and Ndiye, 2016). The recommendation is for 2 hours of free parking, followed by an hourly charge of ₹50, which falls under the guidance of the BMC (Baliga, 2013). Payment options here will be cashless, with the app accepting credit/debit cards or the popular GPAY and/ or UPI payment options. A timer feature on the app enforces this, tracking the parking time and calculating the parking fees that goes beyond 2-hours. This feature also sends a notification 30 minutes before the end of the parking time, acting as an alert for drivers. User reporting allows drivers to flag parking slots that are marked as available but are occupied. If this is due to an error, the flagging helps Kalpataru Management with quick troubleshooting. If the flagged parking slot is being occupied without the occupant

paying, then the vehicle will be fined ₹2000, which disincentivizes this practice.

This recommendation helps facilitate a remote search for parking space, devoid of ticket machines, sensors, or any additional physical infrastructure. Through user reporting from residents and frequent visitors, this solution seeks to tackle parking mismanagement and problems stemming from it. Having targeted congestion within Kalpataru, we can now look at recommendations that primarily focus on alleviating congestion on LBS Marg.

Recommendation 2: Relocation of street vendors

The stalls of street vendors are a familiar sight on LBS Marg, dotting the footpath adjacent to Kalpataru (Appendix 10). A by-product of this is reduced footpath space for pedestrians, who opt to walk on the road itself, in process worsening traffic congestion and posing safety risks. While acknowledging the role they play in aggravating congestion, we must also recognize the effects roadside vending has on the vendors. These individuals spend a significant time on the hectic LBS, which exposes them and their products (notably fresh food and vegetables) to vehicle emissions such as “carbon monoxide, carbon dioxide...hydrocarbons, nitrogen oxides [and] particulate matter” (Bharadwaj et al., 2017).

The recommendation here asks management to approach vendors who primarily cater to Kalpataru residents and offer to relocate their shops within the Kalpataru compound. Alongside relocation, management will assist vendors in adding their stall on the popular InstaMart platform, an online chain of convenience stores. Here vendors can list the products they sell and set prices. This will expand vendors’ digital presence, allowing them to appeal to Kalpataru residents and non-residents, who can make

physical or online purchases. By assisting with relocation and the move online, we not only empower vendors but also improve the physical conditions they work in, reducing their exposure to negative externalities of traffic on LBS Marg. Kulkarni and Pancras (2015) interviewed vegetable vendors on the Kurla stretch of LBS, learning that potholes, noise and air pollution had become a daily nuisance for them. This is why the relocation benefits vendors, who are placed in a privately maintained apartment complex that provides a better work environment and gets them off the footpaths. Importantly, for this report, the relocation means that LBS’s footpath can now accommodate more pedestrians, who are less encouraged to walk on the road. Part of this move involves charging vendors a small weekly rental fee for being based in the thriving residential community, which increases their exposure to a large customer base and expands their reach beyond a temporary structure on LBS.

The feasibility of this recommendation is high as the solution falls in line with current trends of digitization and online delivery in Mumbai. Cashless transactions are at an all-time high in India, with banknote demonetization and COVID-19 contributing to a 30% “growth rate” (Panda and Sahoo, 2022) in digital payments. Furthermore, this recommendation is logistically feasible for Kalpataru Management, given the compound has space to host these vendors. The vacant space under several buildings is used to store miscellaneous construction waste, such as cement sacks (Appendix 11). I recommend the decluttering of these spaces, followed by their use in hosting the street vendors. There is precedent for this, as Kalpataru’s main parking lot hosts a fresh fruit and vegetable vendor (Appendix 12), who is in high demand. The accommodation of this vendor shows that similar, smaller street vendors can set shop within the compound.

Alongside vendors, residents benefit from being able to purchase products within the comfort of the compound, avoiding the crowd, noise and pollution of LBS. The convenience of purchase is greater for children, who avoid safety concerns of the busy LBS footpath. Furthermore, InstaMart’s delivery option allows online orders and home deliveries, which is an upside for vendors and residents. Both parties benefit from established product availability and prices, while also avoiding the traditional bargaining that is a common shopping practice in India (Dawra, Katyal and Gupta, 2016). This recommendation provides benefits for residents and vendors while reducing congestion on LBS. On top of this, the collected rental revenue allows the funding of the app in the next solution, a carpooling initiative.

Recommendation 3: A carpooling initiative

As the peripheries of Mumbai expand, more people commute to business districts such as Nariman Point, Bandra-Kurla Complex, Lower Parel and Worli. In Kalpataru, the daily work commute means that during rush hours, the influx of drivers leaving Kalpataru worsens traffic congestion on LBS Marg. A recommendation here is a planned carpooling system, whereby groups of officegoers travel together. Currently, several cars leaving Kalpataru during rush hour are occupied by only the driver. Carpooling remedies this, maximizing the movement of people by increasing the number of passengers per car, hence reducing “the number of vehicles on the road and the travel times” (Sandaruwan et al., 2019). Carpooling’s success depends on Kalpataru management taking leadership in the early stages. Before implementation efforts must be taken in promoting and advertising this initiative (Dewan and Ahmad, 2007). At the heart of this recommendation is an app that

facilitates carpooling, focusing on morning and evening office commuters. The rental revenue from the previous solutions can be used to outsource the creation of this app, tentatively called “Kalpataru Kommuters”. Through real-time matching and facilitating the “on-the-spot arrangement of rides”, this initiative makes last-minute commuting easier and minimizes “irregular trips” (Massaro et al., 2009), providing residents with an alternative to driving on their own.

Management must emphasise the advantages of carpooling to residents, especially individual benefits such as reduced “fuel, maintenance and parking” (Dewan and Ahmad, 2007) costs for those who drive alone to work. In an example from New Delhi, Dewan and Ahmad (2007) calculate that a group of four carpooling 40km a day would save “Rs.4044 per month” by travelling together. Conveying this cost saving is important in kickstarting carpooling culture. There is promising carpooling potential in Kalpataru, especially given that commuters have the same pickup and drop-off location. Compared to other carpooling initiatives in the city, residents have the added comfort of travelling with those who live in Kalpataru and work in a similar area. Plus, carpooling provides the opportunity to build a wider social network. If not new social opportunities, the option to carpool with known individuals allows greater ease in accepting the initiative.

The app requires users to create profiles and request a ride. From here, a sophisticated route-matching algorithm will bring users together based on the time of day and destination. The server will use registered phone numbers to connect users. If all parties accept the ride, they will receive a notification confirming the match. From here, users can discuss their means of commuting (if one of them drives or if they share a taxi service). An app feature allows users to either “request for a ride” or offer to drive (Massaro et al.,

2009). Here, with the novelty of carpooling in Kalpataru, individuals might have concerns of “security and safety” (Das and Mandal, 2021). Therefore, privacy protection and safety are high priorities. After consent from users, a GPS feature will assist tracking and user safety. The safety aspect can be strengthened through users needing to verify their status as Kalpataru residents. Trust is further reinforced through the app allowing users to link their professional pages, such as LinkedIn, to their profile. Furthermore, as suggested by Massaro et al. (2009), the app will allow users to “block” or “favourite” others, a feature that would then “give preference” to or eliminate options when deciding a match. Another point of resistance to carpooling is the discomfort of “negotiating finances” (Massaro et al., 2009). To remedy this, an app feature will automatically calculate the fares, helping split the bill if the group uses a taxi service or helping reimburse the group member who opted to drive. By implementing these features, we streamline carpooling, reducing barriers to its acceptance and, in the process encouraging consistent app use.

This recommendation seeks to reduce the number of vehicles entering LBS from Kalpataru during rush hours. This is done through an initiative that seeks to maximize individual benefits for users and fulfil the social benefit of maximizing the movement of people, consequently reducing congestion on LBS.

CONCLUSION

This report addressed community-level solutions implemented by Kalpataru Management to reduce traffic congestion within the Kalpataru Aura complex and on the adjacent stretch of LBS Marg. We began by acknowledging the extent of congestion, its growing trends, and the absence of adequate action by the municipal

corporation. Then, three recommendations provided direction in resolving this issue. The first addressed parking mismanagement in Kalpataru using an app that guided drivers to unoccupied parking spaces. The aim here is to make parking easier and to reduce the time drivers spent in search of unoccupied spaces. This allows a reduction in the flow of traffic and alleviates the safety risks that roaming vehicles pose, especially to children. The second recommendation suggested the relocation of street vendors from the LBS footpath to the Kalpataru compound. I further suggested assisting these vendors with setting up their shop on InstaMart. The goal here is to incentivize relocation by giving vendors a better work environment, a digital presence and greater exposure to their customer base. These moves also benefit residents by making the process of product purchase more convenient. Most importantly, by reducing the number of vendors on the footpath, this recommendation allows for greater room for pedestrians, who have less reason to walk on the road. This reduces safety concerns and congestion on the road. The revenue earned from these two solutions helps fund the third recommendation, a carpooling initiative. Here, an app helps connect individuals commuting during morning and evening rush hours. Motivated by economic benefits and considerate app features, commuters are urged to travel together. This helps reduce the number of vehicles leaving Kalpataru, while increasing their occupancy, in the process, maximizing the movement of people on LBS.

While prioritizing the needs of community members, these recommendations provide feasible solutions that seek to minimize maintenance costs and avoid building new infrastructure. This is done through the cascading, intertwined nature of solutions. For example, parking management reduces the flow of traffic in the compound, making it

easier for vendors to set up shop. The revenue earned here then helps fund the carpooling app. While the reduction of congestion directly helps Kalpataru residents, the community also benefits through what these recommendations bring to the table. To a resident, the parking management solution reduces congestion, chaos and disorder in the compound, while also making it safer for their child to play. The relocation of street vendors opens the LBS footpath for more pedestrians, while making it easier and more convenient for residents to make purchases. The carpooling initiative reduces the number of cars leaving Kalpataru while holding economic benefits and allowing the expansion of social networks.

With Kalpataru Management taking a leadership role, there is potential for these solutions. As the administrative body, this group holds the ability to influence actions and usher in meaningful change. It is high time for action. Management needs to show enthusiasm and openness in actively disseminating information and answering questions that residents might have. Given inadequate action from the BMC, we cannot be dependent on local government. In the absence of bigger-picture action, it is the responsibility of communities like Kalpataru to act, rather than sitting idle and being victims to worsening traffic conditions. I believe that the recommendations presented in this report do just that, providing a viable and practical course of action in reducing traffic congestion in Kalpataru and on LBS Marg.

REFERENCES

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Baliga, L. (2013). Area-wise parking rates approved in Mumbai. The Times of India. [online] 12 Dec. Available at: https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/mumbai/ area-wise-parking-rates-approved-in-mumbai/articleshow/27231126.cms [Accessed 27 Oct. 2023].

Bharadwaj, S., Ballare, S., Rohit and Chandel, M.K. (2017). Impact of congestion on greenhouse gas emissions for road transport in Mumbai metropolitan region. Transportation Research Procedia, [online] 25, pp.3538–3551. doi:https://doi.org/10.1016/j.trpro.2017.05.282.

Das, D. and Mandal, P. (2021). Comparative evaluation of commuters’ preferences and expectations for sharing auto-rickshaw. Case Studies on Transport Policy doi:https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cstp.2021.08.006.

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Kazi, S., Nuzhat, S., Nashrah, A. and Rameeza, Q. (2018). Smart Parking System to Reduce Traffic Congestion. International Conference on Smart City and Emerging Technology (ICSCET), pp.1–4. doi:https://doi.org/10.1109/ ICSCET.2018.8537367.

Kulkarni , N. and Pancras, K. (2015). LBS Marg: Road that slows the city. [online] The Indian Express. Available at: https://indianexpress.com/article/cities/mumbai/lbsmarg-road-that-slows-the-city/ [Accessed 27 Oct. 2023].

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Massaro, D.W., Chaney, B., Bigler, S., Lancaster, J., Iyer, S., Gawade, M., Eccleston, M., Gurrola, E. and Lopez, A. (2009). CARPOOLNOW - Just-in-Time Carpooling without Elaborate Preplanning. [online] WEBIST 2009 - Proceedings of the Fifth International Conference on Web Information Systems and Technologies. University of California, Santa Cruz: SciTePress - SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY PUBLICATIONS, pp.219–224. doi:https://doi.org/10.5220/0001808902190224.

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Panda, S. and Sahoo, A. (2022). Impact of Digital Payment on Business Performance: A Study of Street Vendors in Odisha. SEDME (Small Enterprises Development, Management & Extension Journal): A worldwide window on MSME Studies, 49(2), pp.181–191. doi:https://doi. org/10.1177/09708464221103310.

Raj, K. (2018). wrong side driving. [Online Image] The Times of India

Sandaruwan, A., Karunarathne, T., Edirisinghe, J. and Wickramasinghe, V. (2019). Carpooling: A Step to Reduce Traffic Congestion in Sri Lanka. 13th International Conference of Eastern Asia Society for Transportation Studies (EASTS). University of Peradeniya.

Sen, S. (2018). LBS Marg traffic goes from a crawl to virtual standstill. The Times of India. [online] 28 Nov. Available at: https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/ mumbai/lbs-marg-traffic-goes-from-a-crawl-to-virtualstandstill/articleshow/66836723.cms [Accessed 27 Oct. 2023].

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APPENDIX

Appendix 1: Location of Ghatkopar West in Mumbai (Google Maps, 2021)

Appendix 2: The geographic area that this report focuses on (Google Maps, 2021)

Appendix 3: Wrong side driving and illegal parking on LBS Marg (Raj, 2018)

This is a common sight on LBS. An illegally parked heavy goods truck and wrong-side driving, with the two-wheeler and autorickshaws driving in opposite directions.

Appendix 4: Illegal two-wheeler and van parking (Srivastava, 2019)

Appendix 5: Metro construction in front of Kalpataru Aura Entry and Exit Point A (Google Maps, 2023)

6: A street vendor occupying the footpath on LBS Marg (Self Captured, 2023)

Appendix

Appendix 7: Kalpataru Aura Entry and Exit Point A (Google Maps, 2021)

Appendix 8: Kalpataru Aura Entry and Exit Point B (Google Maps, 2021)

Appendix 9: Entry and exit points A and B, marked on the map (Google Maps, 2021)

Appendix 10: Vegetable vendor located right outside Kalpataru (Self Captured, 2023)

Several vendors set up shop in front of the compound. Here, Kalpataru Aura’s entrance sign can be seen in the background.

Appendix 11: Miscellaneous construction waste stored under a building in Kalpataru Aura (Self Captured, 2023)

Note, unfortunately, Monsoon conditions and dim lighting posed challenges in acquiring a clearer image.

Appendix 12: Fruits and vegetables vendor set up in the Kalpataru parking lot (Self Captured, 2023)

New

New

United

Flood Risk Management in Lower Manhattan

Sasha Van Vredenburch

INTRODUCTION

The topic of this community briefing is largely inspired by my father, who was born and raised in the Netherlands, which is heavily prone to flooding. The Dutch concept of working “with” water, as opposed to “against” can be applied throughout my recommendations. My father eventually immigrated to the United States, and met my mother in Lower Manhattan. New York City is where my sister and I were born, and, at only a 40-minute train ride away, is the city we’ve spent most of our life in close proximity to. This proximity means that we were also affected by Superstorm Sandy in 2012, luckily not nearly as badly as others, but we experience generally the same storms that Manhattan does. My interest in this topic was further spurred by the videos of New York City’s recent flash flooding I saw all over social media this past September. I don’t necessarily feel able to speak for communities in Lower Manhattan, which is why I have mainly drawn upon existing strategies and relied on research that I feel can be successfully applied to these areas. I recommend these solutions with the sole purpose of providing any sort of aid to residents of these neighbourhoods.

BACKGROUND

Part of the Atlantic Ocean coastal zone and containing nearly 1,500 kilometres of shorelines, New York City (NYC) and its densely populated, ageing and largely impermeable urban landscape harshly feel the effects of flooding (Solecki, 2012). NYC is vulnerable to four types of flooding: tidal, riverine, inland (“flash”), and, most notably, coastal flooding, which is “primarily caused by storm surge - the rise in water levels caused by a storm’s strong winds and low atmospheric pressure” NYC Emergency Management, 2014, p. 69). NYC has historically experienced both extratropical cyclones and hurricanes, which can lead to the latter three flooding categories (Ibid). Inland flooding, which is “caused by shortterm, high-intensity rainfall” (Ibid, p. 70), is also very prevalent, and only a few months ago the world was shocked by the flash flooding in NYC. These extreme rainfall events are predicted to occur 30% more frequently by the 2050s (NYC Economic Development Corporation, 2019). The focus of this paper is on flooding as a whole.

NYC sea-level has risen a foot in last century, and is projected to rise another 8-30

inches by the 2050s (NYC Planning, 2016) Factoring in the “rapid ice melt” puts sea level rise (SLR) at 0.9-1.5 metres by the 2080s (Solecki, 2012). SLR increases the severity of coastal flooding-causing storms, which has already increased from years past (Gornitz, et al., 2020). A 1992 nor’easter saw 8-foot high water levels in the Battery. (Colle, et al., 2008) 20 years later, Sandy hit Lower Manhattan with a combined tide level and storm surge at over 14 feet (NYC Special Initiative for Rebuilding and Resiliency, 2013). There is also the issue of the “100-year flood,” which refers to floods that have a “1 percent or greater chance of occurring in any year” (NYC Emergency Management, 2014, p. 73). In 2016, it was estimated that 400,000 people lived within the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s (FEMA) 523 million square foot floodplain area (NYC Planning, 2016). These numbers have grown since, and will continue to grow as SLR does (Ibid). The frequency of these floods will also increase, and are expected to occur every 15-35 years by the end of the century (Solecki, 2012).

THE COMMUNITY

Lower Manhattan has one of the most famed and well-known waterfronts globally; many might recognise it in Figure 1. It’s the economic hub of NYC, and has millions of people travelling through it daily (NYC Economic Development Corporation, 2021b). The effects of flooding and proposed recommendations in this briefing will be centred around Lower Manhattan as the Economic Development Corporation (2019) designates it: encompassing Two Bridges, the Seaport, the Financial District, the Battery, Battery Park City, and Tribeca. Focusing on this condensed group of districts allows for scalable community initiatives to be realistically suggested, while targeting one of the most low-lying and flood-vulnerable parts of the five boroughs. It’s estimated that by 2100, part of Lower Manhattan’s

border will be submerged in 3 feet of water (Ibid), and severe storms will cause 15-foot floods that extend to five blocks inland (NYC Economic Development Corporation, 2021a).

THE CHALLENGE

“Superstorm Sandy” was unprecedentedly devastating to New York City. Although it was a combination of the storm’s size, timing, tides, and route that made its damage so unparalleled, there will be more storms like this in the future. In fact, Sandylike storms have already increased three-fold in the past two centuries, and are projected to become 3 to 17 times more common by 2100 (Emery, 2016). The storm left 10,000 New Yorkers homeless, 800,000 without electricity, killed 43 people (Faber, 2015), and cost approximately 19 billion in damages (Gornitz, et al., 2020). In Lower Manhattan, Superstorm Sandy killed 2 people, flooded 21,000 homes, caused 5.2 billion gallons of untreated or partially treated sewage to be released into NYC’s water ways, and caused widespread job loss. (NYC Economic Development Corporation, 2019).

Throughout NYC the effects of Superstorm Sandy were disproportionate amongst vulnerable or marginalised groups. Nearly 80,000 residents of public housing in NYC lost electricity, heat and hot water (Faber, 2015). Others couldn’t afford to evacuate or stay in hotels, or weren’t able to because subways were closed and transportation was limited (Ibid). The Lower East Side of Manhattan is home to 26 public housing units with over 30,000 residents, “exposing ~ 21,000 low income and predominantly people of colour to the floodplain” (Herreros-Cantis, et al., 2020, p.21). The inequalities flooding results in are extensive and significant, but the issue this briefing is targeted towards is flooding, and this will be the primary target of the recommendations.

The effects of flooding cannot be understated. Flooding has and will impact all sectors of life, from transportation of food, to telecommunications, hospitals, civilian transportation and electricity hubs (NYC Emergency Management, 2014). On top of Sandy’s aforementioned anthropocentric effects, flooding effects extend much wider. Floods pollute water thus releasing contaminants, degrade natural resources, cause and exacerbate illnesses and affect incomes (Ibid). Ultimately, everyone can be affected by floods, and their repercussions pervade society and life.

Existing Government Policies and Initiatives

Sandy spurred the creation of numerous government-backed studies and frameworks for flood risk management (FRM) in NYC. These plans primarily consist of top-down strategies that rely heavily on structural approaches. Figure 2 depicts Lower Manhattan’s 100-year floodplain predictions in 2050 and 2100, and it contains a pretty sizable amount

of land (NYC Economic Development Corporation, 2019). After Sandy, NYC’s construction codes were updated with new requirements for infrastructure within the 100-year floodplain. (NYC Emergency Management, 2014). Additionally, FEMA dictates that “All owners of property within the 1 percent annual chance floodplain who hold federally-backed mortgages must purchase flood insurance” (Ibid, p. 76). This effort to implement more building codes attempts precaution for the ‘hundred-year flood,’ but unfortunately makes housing too expensive for low-income people (Faber, 2015). This further outlines the disparities that inundation, and some of its proposed solutions, fosters. The concept of the 100year floodplain also feels redundant, as Hurricane Sandy exceeded its boundaries by 53% (NYC Special Initiative for Rebuilding and Resiliency, 2013). Unfortunately, a preflooding governmental effort ultimately hurts lower-income households under this nominal concept.

The Lower Manhattan Coastal Resiliency study (LMCR) was published in 2019, and

Figure 1: Lower Manhattan Waterfront (Economic Development Corporation, 2019).

provided in-depth research and proposals for comprehensive projects. The city dedicated $900 million to this research, and its resulting projects have each been dedicated further hundreds of millions of dollars from various funding (NYC Economic Development Corporation, 2021b). The LMCR describes five approaches to FRM, and six resiliency projects being proposed for its districts. These plans primarily revolve around structural approaches, like dry floodproofing: ‘deployable barriers around buildings’ and elevated streets: ‘streets raised above future high tide and floodplain’ (NYC Economic Development Corporation, 2019, p. 28). One project that stemmed from LMCR was the Battery Park City Resilience Project, which proposes deployable protection, raised edges, and structure hardening to combat storm surges (Ibid). The Battery Coastal Resilience Project was dedicated $165 million, (NYC Economic Development Corporation, 2021b) but won’t be completed until mid2026, 14 years after Hurricane Sandy (NYC Economic Development Corporation, 2023). SLR predictions might fluctuate in the meantime, and other research might arise that can affect the capacities of these

projects. There needs to be a certain degree of immediate action. While community stakeholders are mentioned in the briefing, as is community involvement, it is brief and limited, and it’s evident that citizen participation is viewed as secondary. Community involvement is further limited in these projects due to their sheer magnitude, funding and length.

As these plans wait for approval and start construction, flooding continues to decimate NYC at unprecedented levels. Hurricane Ida in 2021 set a new rainfall record (NYC Economic Development Corporation, 2021a). This past September, countless people were putting themselves in danger during the NYC flash floods, either because they were unaware, or because they didn’t have a choice. Residents walked home trudging through waist-deep water, recorded from subway platforms as water rapidly flooded towards them, and continued to drive as flood levels rose to their car windows. Whether the culprit to these actions is lack of awareness or lack of resources, both can be remedied through targeted communityled initiatives. Lower Manhattan’s low lying geography makes it extremely

Figure 2: Lower Manhattan Projected 100-Year Floodplain (NYC Environmental Development Corporation, 2019).

susceptible to all sorts of flooding, and by 2080 it will experience daily tidal floods (NYC Economic Development Corporation, 2021a). This makes recommendations aimed at ‘controlling’ floods feel temporary and fruitless. The LCMR might be able to foster resilience for a period of time if climate change predictions remain the same, but it has little room for community involvement, and requires vast quantities of time, money and resources. These government policies work against flooding, and are simultaneously wasting the untapped potential of incorporating citizens into management processes and solutions.

Community Recommendations: Overview

Ultimately, holistic frameworks resulting from a collaboration of both public and private sectors will need to be implemented for maximally successful FRM. However, the purpose of this briefing is to provide recommendations for residents of Lower Manhattan’s urban communities. Flooding is only getting worse, which is why this briefing prioritises relatively easily-adaptable recommendations. A fundamental and overarching principle to community action is citizen science, which is defined as “the process of producing scientific knowledge in which non-scientific or non-professional actors, individuals or groups actively and intentionally participate” (Murthy and Khalid, 2022, p. 78).

Citizen science is integral to community initiatives and participation. Revitalising Informal Settlements and their Environments’s (RISE) Flood Monitoring Program in Indonesia and Fiji portrays crucial benefits of citizen science (Wolff, 2021). During this project, volunteers sent daily pictures of flood gauges to assess water fluctuation levels, and a group chat was created where all these volunteers shared their pictures. (Ibid) The volunteers

were trained by RISE fieldworkers and said photographs gave important flooding insight and ultimately contributed to a flood risk profile (Ibid). This project used citizen science to further “[create] and collaborative space for knowledge sharing…and support local knowledge creation” (Ibid, p. 8). This concept of knowledge sharing, along with citizen knowledge and its subsequent reliance on participation is pivotal for the next three recommendations, both in their creation and proposed implementation.

Public Awareness and Local Representation:

The first recommendation draws upon UNESCO’s community-based project on flood mitigation in Jakarta to propose public awareness and local leadership. The flood mitigation project in Jakarta relies on three objectives: “1) community participation; 2) non-structural mitigation measures; 3) bottom-up approach” (UNESCO Office in Jakarta, 2004, p. 5). This plan was carried out in neighbourhood RW 06, but created to be implemented on a larger scale (Ibid). In RW 06, residents were hesitant and sometimes even outright refused to evacuate during floods, which highlights a necessity for communication between residents and the government, and, resultantly, trust (Faber, 2015). The plan consisted of two phases: 1) public education and training courses, and the establishment of a community forum, and 2) “implementation of the community forum’s proposals” (UNESCO Office in Jakarta, 2004, p.6-7). This community forum of twenty local representatives also acted as a communication channel between residents and the government (Ibid). One aspect of FRM this project aimed to tackle was RW 06’s struggle with waste management in rivers, which caused disease through flooding (Ibid). After the education of these dangers and easily-implemented solutions proposed by the community forum, there was already

stark contrast in the state of rivers within two weeks (Ibid).

A similar plan for the residents of Manhattan would replicate the establishment of community forums native to neighbourhoods. A grassroots approach like this, which assigns authority to community members could be very beneficial. Like in Jakarta’s Plan, the community forums could be trained in flood mitigation, first aid, and even leadership. (Ibid) This education could then be shared and circulated, as could fundamental community insight. While RW 06’s project was facilitated and aided by government organisations, this plan dates back to nearly twenty years ago, and arguably the technological innovations and resources available to communities today could allow a project like this to be independent of outside organisations. Neighbourhoods in Lower Manhattan could spearhead their own community projects on flood mitigation, could communicate through social media, and could use the internet to research FRM. Technology also makes it easier to facilitate communication between residents and their forum, which supports and nurtures knowledge sharing. Ideally the community representatives would eventually serve as a spokesperson between their communities and their district’s governmental authority. There is smaller-scale, but still significant, success that is able to be carried out through local leadership and public education.

Participation and Green and Blue Infrastructure:

The next recommendation revolves around citizen participation in building green and blue infrastructure. This is seen in the Granton Community Gardeners Project in Edinburgh, Scotland. This project is completely separate from the government, and relies on active citizenship of its participants (Buijs, et al., 2016). The Granton Community Gardeners Project started in

2010 when a group of neighbours converted a patch of grass into a community garden (Granton Community Gardener, 2023a). Years later, this community garden resulted in community meals open to all with food grown and harvested from the garden, a free shop with toys and clothes, a garden bakery, and the creation of more gardens all over Granton (Ibid). One of their foundational principles was: “To promote environmental improvement, including protecting and increasing biodiversity, by creatively imagining the best uses for our open spaces” (Granton Community Gardeners, 2023b). This active participation combines environmental efforts with social ones. This project also reflects green infracture’s potential to merge people of different cultures and economic stati, thus promoting social inclusion (Buijs, et al., 2016).

This example depicts a wholly communityled template for implementation of green infrastructure. It can be applied to Lower Manhattan through the use of rain gardens, which are “designed to trap and absorb rooftop, sidewalk, and street runoff… allowing rainfall to evapotranspire or slowly filter into the ground…[and] provide habitat for wildlife” (Denchak, 2022). There are also green and blue roofs, which gather stormwater using vegetation or basins and trays, respectively, and, while ‘planting trees’ might sound like an obvious and elementary recommendation, urban tree canopies are another form of green infrastructure (Ibid). These canopies are feasible and effective in mitigating rainfall, as “A mature deciduous tree can capture as much as 700 gallons of rain a year” (Ibid). The execution of green infrastructure also creates an opportunity to ensure that it is equitably distributed amongst varying demographics (Murthy and Khalid, 2022).

The case study of Granton also highlights the potential of active citizens. On a literal level, gardens, or in NYC’s case rain gardens, green

and blue roofs, and urban tree canopies are proficient forms of green infrastructure that citizens can implement. But on a conceptual level, this example shows that community action can be powered by active participation and collaboration, fostering both environmental and social benefits.

Innovation and Floating Communities

Citizen science also plays an essential role in innovation in research and development. The Netherlands is arguably the world’s foremost flood mitigator, and understandably so, seeing as a third of their country lies below sea-level. The final, and most ambitious, recommendation is to build floating communities. While this may seem extreme or impractical, at a certain point all the measures against flooding may not be enough as SLR continues to rise, and innovative ideas like floating houses might end up being the most economical, reasonable, and perhaps even the only viable, option. In Amsterdam, the Netherlands,

the community Schoonschip was put into effect in 2020 after years of research and planning (Schoonschip Amsterdam, 2019). While this could also be classified as ‘blue infrastructure,’ it will be used here in the context of its innovative ingenuity. Schoonschip homes are “relatively low-tech, constructed off-site and weighted by basins filled with recycled, water-resistant concrete, then pulled across the water by a tug and moored to the lake bed” (Shira, 2021). Their ability to float allows them to be pretty unaffected by sea-level rise. The creator of Schoonschip is Marjan de Blok, who had no previous experience in architecture, hydrology, or engineering (Ibid). She was just a resident of Amsterdam who had an idea and wanted to see it through. This is a remarkable example of citizen science and innovation, but de Blok encapsulates knowledge sharing as well. Her willingness to collaborate with others was what ultimately allowed this groundbreaking community to come to fruition. This is mentioned not to discount her research and role, but to highlight the collaborative efforts

Figure 3: Sustainability Efforts of Schoonschip (Schoonschip Amsterdam, 2019).

Schoonschip was built on. She collaborated with Space&Matter for urban planning, BartelsVedder for construction advice, and Metabolic for sustainability advice, along with over twenty other organisations for the actualisation of Schoonschip (Schoonschip Amsterdam, 2019).

Lower Manhattan is bordered by both the East River and Hudson River. Andrew Cuomo spent $400 million buying land destroyed by Superstorm Sandy, as to avoid the continuous flood damages it would face in the coming years, but ultimately displaced these residents (Faber, 2015). Floating communities would withstand the predicted inundation, while providing a place for their residents to live. Schoonschip goes above and beyond this by emphasising sustainability in every aspect of its creation and residents’ lifestyles. For example, the neighbourhood generates its own electricity, has floating gardens and green roofs, and was built with sustainable materials where possible (Schoonschip Amsterdam, 2019). Figure 3 depicts more of Schoonschip’s sustainability efforts. Floating communities also have lots of economic potential, which if implemented correctly, could help bridge financial disparities. These communities are small, so only smaller neighbourhoods of Lower Manhattan could relocate, but for those living right on the edge it might be worthwhile to consider. And eventually, as SLR continues, there will unfortunately be more room for these communities, leading to a possible increase in their prevalence.

Conclusion:

Citizen science and these recommendations hinge on the willingness of participation from locals. Thus, the overarching recommendation for Lower Manhattan resident’s is to get involved. Some of the aforementioned projects under LMCR have opportunities carved out for community engagement, and it is pivotal that residents

of Lower Manhattan attend these, and participate in any way they can to mitigate flood risk. Citizen science holds significant weight amongst sustainability solutions globally, both community-led and not. These three recommendations proposed have both tangible and conceptual aspects. Floating houses, gardens and community leaders are direct, physical ways that residents can improve FRM, whereas innovation, participation and education are concepts that can also be applied to communities. Additionally, these solutions don’t just solely focus on flood management, but also all have other benefits, including room for social inclusion. Sustainability must be considered in every aspect to combat the ongoing unprecedented nature of climate change.

Lower Manhattan has not seen the worst of its floods. The predictions mentioned in this briefing show that it will continue to get inundated at unparalleled levels. Ultimately what citizen science works to foster is collaboration. Collaboration is vital in FRM; amongst citizens, nations, and between public and private sectors. Unfortunately, bottom-up approaches are often limited financially. The intersection of these actors coupled with global collaboration will have the greatest chance at mitigating flooding. Citizen science is emphasised here because it puts communities at the forefront of solutions, and these communities are often overlooked. Citizens will also be more likely to participate in projects where they can see substantial change they’re directly contributing to. While these community recommendations were targeted towards Lower Manhattan neighbourhoods, ideally their frameworks could be implemented in other urban communities.

REFERENCES

Buijs, A., Mattijssen, T., Van der Jagt, A., Ambrose-Oji, B., ANdersson, E., Elands, B., Møller, M. (2016) ‘Active citizenship for urban green infrastructure: fostering the diversity and dynamics of citizen contributions through mosaic governance’, Current Opinion in Environmental Sustainability, 22, pp. 1-6. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cosust.2017.01.002

Colle, B., Buonaiuto, F., Bowman, M., Wilson, R., Flood, R., Hunter, R., Mintz, A., and Hill, D. (2008). ‘New York City’s Vulnerability to Coastal Flooding’, Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society, 89(6), pp. 829-840. doi:10.1175/2007BAMS2401.1

Denchak, M. (2022) ‘Green Infrastructure: How to Manage Water in a Sustainable Way’, Natural Resources Defense Council.

Emery, C. (2016) ‘Researchers predict growing number of Hurricane Sandy-like storm surges in future’, Office of Engineering Communications. https://www.princeton.edu/news/2016/10/10/researchers-predict-growing-number-hurricane-sandy-storm-surges-future

Faber, J.W. (2015) ‘Superstorm Sandy and the Demographics of Flood Risk in New York City’, Human Ecology, 43, pp. 363-378. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10745-0159757-x

Gornitz, V., Oppenheimer, M., Kopp, R., Horton, R., Orton, P., Rosenzweig, C., Solecki, W., and Patrick, L. (2020) ‘Enhancing New York City’s resilience to sea level rise and increased coastal flooding’, Urban Climate, 33, pp. 1-20. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.uclim.2020.100654

Granton Community Gardeners (2023a) Story so far... Available at: https://www.grantoncommunitygardeners.org/story-so-far

Granton Community Gardeners (2023b) About our organisation. Available at: https://www.grantoncommunitygardeners.org/about-our-organisation

Herreros-Cantis, P., Olivotto,V ., Grabowski, Z.J., and McPhearson, T. (2020) ‘Shifting landscapes of coastal flood risk: environmental (in)justice of urban change, sea level rise, and differential vulnerability in New York City’, Urban Transformations, 2(9), pp. 1-28. https://doi. org/10.1186/s42854-020-00014-w

Murthy, I.K., and Khalid, M.A. (2022) ‘Promoting BlueGreen Infrastructure in Urban Spaces Through Citizen Science Initiatives’, in Dhyani, S., Basu, M. Santhanam, H., Dasgupta, R. (eds) Blue-Green Infrastructure Across Asian Countries. Springer: Singapore, pp. 75-93.

NYC Emergency Management (2014) ‘Flooding’ in NYC’s Risk Landscape: A Guide to Hazard Mitigation. Pp. 69-85.

NYC Economic Development Corporation (2019) Lower Manhattan Coastal Resiliency Study. Available at: https:// edc.nyc/sites/default/files/filemanager/Projects/LMCR/ Final_Image/Lower_Manhattan_Climate_Resilience_ March_2019.pdf

NYC Economic Development Corporation (2021a) Climate Risks. Available at: https://fidiseaportclimate.nyc/ climate-risks/

NYC Economic Development Corporation (2021b) Protecting Lower Manhattan. Available at: https://fidiseaportclimate.nyc/protecting-lower-manhattan/

NYC Economic Development Corporation (2023) Lower Manhattan Coastal Resiliency February 22nd, 2023 Community Board 1 Update. Available at: https://www.nyc. gov/assets/lmcr/downloads/pdf/LMCR_CB1_February_2023FNL.pdf

NYC Planning (2016) Flood Risk in NYC. Available at: https://www.nyc.gov/assets/planning/download/pdf/ plans-studies/climate-resiliency/flood-risk-nyc-infobrief.pdf

NYC Special Initiative for Rebuilding and Resiliency (2013) Sandy and its Impacts. Available at: https://www. nyc.gov/html/sirr/downloads/pdf/final_report/Ch_1_ SandyImpacts_FINAL_singles.pdf

Rubin, Shira. (2021) ‘In Amsterdam, a community of floating homes shows the world how to live alongside nature’, The Washington Post. https://www.washingtonpost.com/climate-solutions/interactive/2021/amsterdam-floating-houses-schoonschip/

Schoonschip Amsterdam (2019) The Most Sustainable Floating Neighbourhood in Europe, developed by its residents. Available at: https://schoonschipamsterdam.org/ en/

Solecki, W. (2012) ‘Urban environmental challenges and climate change action in New York City’, Environment and Urbanization, 24(2), pp. 557-573. https://doi. org/10.1177/0956247812456472

UNESCO Office in Jakarta. (2004) ‘Flood Mitigation: a Community-based Project; maximizing knowledge to minimize impacts’, UNESDOC Digital Library, pp. 1-12. https://unesdoc.unesco.org/ark:/48223/pf0000154381

Wolff, E. (2021) ‘The promise of a “people-centred” approach to floods: Types of participation in the global literature of citizen science and community-based flood risk reduction in the context of the Sendai Framework’, Progress in Disaster Science, 10, pp. 1-11. https://doi. org/10.1016/j.pdisas.2021.100171

HOUSING

66 Introduction

Lucie Martikan, Victoria Lee and Kenneth Worden

70 Edinburgh, Scotland

Amy Quinn

81 Toronto, Canada

Kenneth Worden

89 Boulder, Colorado, USA

Leela Stoede

98 Berkeley, California, USA

Lucienne Martikan

105 O’ahu, Hawai’i, USA

Mhairi Rodger

113 Paris, France

Pia Stefani

121 New York City, New York, USA

Victoria Lee

130 Miami, Florida, USA

Libby Hernandez

139 Toronto, Canada

Audrey Bowen

147 Istanbul, Turkey

Ece Canlıel

156 St Andrews, Scotland

Joseh Dowey

163 Queens, New York, USA

Emily McMenamin

Introduction

By Lucie Martikan, Victoria Lee and Kenneth Worden

Housing plays a crucial role in the design of urban areas, reflecting people’s socioeconomic, cultural, and environmental identities. As a basic human right, approaches towards housing must consider all aspects of sustainability, inclusion, and justice. Housing within urban environments materializes in various forms depending on local norms, housing laws, aesthetic preference, a city’s history of industrialization, and contemporary urban approaches. Housing quality and accessibility in an urban environment can speak of distributive, procedural, and restorative justice, as the quality of housing that residents live in can affect many different social, environmental, and sustainable factors. Bledsoe and Wright (2019) highlight this connection between justice and spatiality: they illustrate that that the displacement of Black and migrant communities in urban contexts is related to their dehumanisation throughout history. These ideas can act as frameworks for ameliorating the sustainability of an urban environment at local levels.

As Raco (2015) suggests, current government approaches to housing issues such as housing shortages and homelessness are private sector-led, with solutions focusing on converting objectives to a series of definable and compartmentalized problems. Additionally, contemporary housing projects must shift away from prioritizing aggregate improvements in housing and place greater importance on focusing on specific housing inequalities among specific neighbourhoods or social groups. This movement towards community-based management of housing will put global societies on a more efficient path towards achieving sustainable cities, and ensure that we are evolving away from the tired and unjust housing agendas that are present in the current market.

The papers in this volume address four major topics: gentrification, homelessness, challenges posed by current approaches to the housing market, and low-income housing, and provide community-led solutions to their associated challenges. The following will briefly outline the perspectives highlighted by many authors on each topic.

Gentrification

Gentrification is an urban phenomenon whereby a less affluent neighborhood is transformed through the influx of more affluent residents and businesses, leading to raised property prices. These displace low-income families and long-time residents. While gentrification is associated with improvements in public areas, lower crime rates and better infrastructure, the impacts of gentrification include social, economic, and cultural impacts on the integrity of communities. As neighborhoods obtain increased investment and housing properties increase, so do rents and property taxes. This unequally affects long-standing inhabitants of the neighborhood, who face the challenge of adapting to the rising living costs or finding more affordable housing options. Homeowners also may feel the pressure to sell their homes to developers as property values increase, fueling the cycle of gentrification.

Gentrification results in a loss of identity and culture within neighbourhoods. Already established communities are at risk of losing their history, traditions, and unique close-knit

culture because of gentrification. Business and shared areas are also impacted by gentrification as they can be excluded from new initiatives. While proponents of gentrification argue that it brings necessary development and rejuvenation to dilapidated urban areas, critics point out that such changes do not have to result in the displacement of existing residents. It is therefore important to implement and promote policies that surround themselves with inclusive and fair development. Policies should include everyone and make sure that all classes of people are benefiting.

Homelessness

The legacy of colonialism and white supremacy has led many of our most vulnerable populations to disproportionately experience homelessness. Therefore, it is POC populations that are the ones most vulnerable in experiencing homelessness in our study areas – even in areas which have historically been their home. Homelessness in our study areas is caused by disparities of economic difference between typical wages and the lowest rents, in conjunction with increasingly high demand on the housing market. The crisis is exacerbated by people’s mental health, physical health, and lack of access to care - all of which can be both a cause and consequence of homelessness. Moreover, in the aftermath of COVID-19, with the drawback in funding and the release of laws prohibiting evacuations, many more are now considered unhoused or housing unstable. It is a community responsibility to care for our most vulnerable populations and pay reparations for the historical contexts of colonialism and white supremacy which have led these populations to be more vulnerable to these housing crisis’s today.

Economic Challenges Within the Housing Market

Tourism and a focus on capitalising on the tourist market has resulted in several cities becoming increasingly unaffordable to residents as individuals and businesses drive up Airbnb rental costs. This is best demonstrated by the housing market in Venice which is experiencing a crisis due to tourism. Many wealthy individuals are taking advantage of Airbnb prices and therefore purchasing multiple homes to rent to tourists. The increased competition for housing is raising prices to an unforgiving extent. Consequentially lower income residents are not able to afford properties. Locals are being forced to move further out of the center and therefore Venice is losing a local community of permanent residents.

There are also cities facing a challenge in accommodating their growing populations. This is highlighted by the city of Toronto where increased immigration and high property costs are impacting long-term and new residents across the city. As Canada and Toronto both increase their immigration targets this lack of affordable housing issue is bound to become more prominent and influential. Immigrants and refugees in Toronto are increasingly subject to the weather extremes as they seek housing in limited shelters across the city. These shortterm solutions, however, are unsustainable as they can increase reliance and do not set up new immigrants for success. The focus of the immigrant community in Toronto should be on community-based solutions. Addressing first and second-generation Torontonians and encouraging them to support new immigrants will be the focus of this discussion as it is these communities who have the experience coming to Toronto as immigrants and those who will effectively be able to integrate new immigrants in their communities.

Low-income housing

Low-income housing refers to both public and private housing developments provided for lowincome populations of a city. The various approaches to developing and managing low-income housing around the world reveal underlying perspectives and attitudes that governments and private developers have toward low-income populations. Often, these governments and private developers do not create long-term plans for social housing, indicating a sense of neglect toward low-income communities. From Granton in Edinburgh to New York City public housing, housing managers around the world and communities negotiate decisionmaking in their developments.

These cases provide a timeline of low-income housing – from development, to management, to options for the future. Taken together, they can serve as a frame of reference for communities in low-income housing around the world to see where problems can arise and use this insight to inform their own decisions in local context. and communities of color.

The Waterfront Regeneration and the Future of Granton’s Housing: Recommendations for the Granton Community

Amy Quinn

INTRODUCTION

For those unfamiliar with Edinburgh, and not a part of the community I am addressing, in the North of Scotland’s capital sits a small coastal community called Granton (Figure 1.1). Once known for its industrial prowess because of its gasworks, it now is the perfect example of a community suffering due to deindustrialisation. The brownfield sites littered with waste contrast with the beautiful scenery of the Firth of Forth, and the local housing estates are neglected and tired. It is hard to envision this area as a bustling hotspot, but that is in fact exactly what the Edinburgh Council plans to create. An ambitious project titled ‘The Granton Waterfront Regeneration’ poses as the revolutionary solution to Granton’s woes, with an investment of over one billion pounds into the proposed area (Figure 1.2). The prospectus states that “Granton Waterfront will nurture innovation and entrepreneurship, bringing together new homes, commercial opportunities, cultural activity, leisure and creative inspiration all within a 20-minute neighbourhood”

(Edinburgh Council, 2020, p.7). In terms of housing, on the surface the regeneration seems to solve issues of both affordability and sustainability, with the provision of “around 3,500 net-zero-carbon homes with health and wellbeing at their heart” (ibid, p.17). However, whilst walking through the neighbourhood, the disrepair of many of the community’s current housing is impossible to ignore. The buzzwords and positivity of the council’s plans surely mean nothing, as the homes already here, which contain lives and memories, are little mentioned in the prospectus. In the Scottish Index of Multiple Deprivation, the majority of Granton’s housing is in the 2nd most deprived decile (Scottish Government, 2020), indicating a severe problem that requires direct attention. The indirect impacts of the Council’s proposed new housing will not be sufficient to improve the quality of people’s current homes, due to economic priorities meaning “the rights of private property and profit trump all other notions of rights” (Harvey, 2008, p.272). Therefore, the importance of situating the existing Granton community within the project should not

be underestimated. The consideration of the living conditions of the local people is crucial at this stage of the development, where investments are yet to be finalised and plans are continually adjusted.

This briefing will highlight the challenges being brought by the waterfront regeneration to those living in Granton in poor-quality council, social and private housing and then proceed to suggest some recommendations for tackling these challenges. Community-led, smaller-scale strategies have the potential to be a major influence in making this development a more inclusive project, with its benefits being less confined to the new community it wishes to produce. Whilst the Council’s attention is on Granton, the people living in the area must use this spotlight to ensure both social and environmental justice is delivered. Environmental justice is particularly a concern in this case, as it entails “a struggle against distributional inequity regarding environmental amenities” (Pearsall and Pierce, 2010, p.570) due to the sustainable nature of the development, which may only benefit new residents and leaves existing affordable housing with continued high maintenance and heating costs and blighted natural surroundings.

POSITIONALITY

Before delving into a discussion of Granton’s housing challenges and consequent potential solutions, the positionality of myself, the author, must be addressed. Writing from the privileged position of never having experienced housing issues, such as those of accessibility, disrepair or struggling to afford bills, it must be said that statements made here come from situated, partial knowledge. The academic theories mentioned in this briefing have the potential to be irrelevant to the true reality of the situation, as firsthand experiences of those with housing issues in Granton depend greatly on local

context. Therefore, my recommendations given are not to be conceived as instruction but are just for consideration by those who are in this community and wish to further enact social change to improve their lives, and the lives of those living in Granton in the future. Growing up in Edinburgh, Granton is an area I have often visited, be it to see friends for the challenge of braving the walk up the pier in the piercing Scottish wind, or simply passing through on the bus – but I had never considered its rich history or stopped to question why it appeared to be so deprived in comparison to other areas of the city. With my study of sustainable development at university this has changed, and I have developed a certain frustration at my home city for often continually putting money into appearances rather than practicalities. Community-led approaches to social and environmental justice stand out as the key to the sustainable future that keeps being promised, and I now hope to use my academic privilege to facilitate these as much as I can. Whilst walking around Granton, the scale of this project seems unbelievable to me, and with this briefing I aim to suggest to the community a way in which a more achievable reality can be attained. My suggestions are open to contestation and rejection, but I have the opportunity, as part of an academic institution, to “make connections, construct new narratives and communicate alternative knowledge(s)” (Kaika, 2018, p.1715).

THE HOUSING REGENERATION – WHAT ISSUES DOES IT PRESENT?

Looking through the Council’s ‘Waterfront Prospectus’, the regeneration project is an excellent example of the development of a sustainable city that not only prioritises climate-conscious buildings and infrastructure, but also economic growth and environmental justice. Environmental justice

is recognised as an often neglected aspect of sustainability policies with its “specific focus on the uneven distribution of environmental costs/benefits and the unfair implementation of environmental regulations” (Campbell, 2013, p.77). However, with a slightly deeper look at what the prospectus promises, the balance and fair distribution of social, economic and environmental benefits is revealed to be an unreachable target. This project appears to have fallen into the trap of “privileging one position and marginalising the other.” (ibid, p.81)

Firstly, the sheer cost of this regeneration immediately raises questions as to where this funding is coming from, and as a result, from where has funding been diverted? Edinburgh Council states that over £250 million has already been invested, and “a further investment of around £1.3 billion will complete the regeneration that is well underway” (Edinburgh Council, 2020, p.7). The distribution of this funding is not transparent in the prospectus, but it is made evident that the vast sum is to be directed towards the new net-carbon-zero housing developments, with little mention of the current Granton housing estates, other than the unsubstantiated statement that “new and existing residents are at the heart of the plan” (ibid, p.31). However, due to the neoliberal values of those behind urban regeneration projects such as this, it could be assumed that existing residents will be neglected from access to this funding. Through discussions with some members of the Granton community, the University of Edinburgh’s ‘Edinburgh Futures Institute’ found that the residents believed regeneration money was not being put in the right places, with too much focus on expanding the housing market in the community instead of giving it means to improve and support itself, such as through investments in infrastructure, services, safety and facilities where the community could discuss and communicate issues (Henderson et al., 2023, p.13).

The community-led approach that is needed to solve arising challenges, and that the council claims it can assist, is difficult to achieve due to the misalignment of priorities that has been made evident in this example. For instance, in the Edinburgh Council’s Policy and Sustainability Committee’s ‘Outline Business Case’, one section states that “the objective of communications and stakeholder activity is to generate trust and empower local communities and stakeholders to contribute to the project”, (Edinburgh Council, 2021, p.80) – however, the business case summarises the financial status of the project, and its gap in funding is £381.2 million (ibid, p.7). The community’s current small-scale, local issues may well be a concern in mind for the council, but the importance of the future and large-scale, multi-sector fight for funding outweighs this concern. The need for the community to become more than just a stakeholder in a blur of financial plans and models, and instead an active part of the process could empower the community in the desired way, along with lessening the council’s burden. Williams (2009) highlights that a setback to the achievement of sustainable cities is the alternative ‘ideals’ based on context, with discussions surrounding them remaining “within their discrete worlds and are rarely acknowledge or understood outside their expert communities”(ibid, p.129). This is particularly relevant to the Granton regeneration due to the differing meanings of sustainability between the longterm environmental and economic future sustainability which the council envisages, compared with the community’s day-to-day living requirements which are not accessed equally throughout the neighbourhood.

Just a brief walk around the Granton area is enough to confirm that something is not being done right. The smooth, airbrushed graphics of the prospectus are an unpleasant contrast to the current state of the regeneration site. The rejuvenation of communal areas

to accompany the new housing certainly suggests that the new developments and their environs will not be the bustling sites as so colourfully presented. Though not directly related to housing, the recently completed Granton Station is an indicator of the lack of community participation that is causing the housing developments to be of concern. In the prospectus, the station is described as being “back to its former glory” (Edinburgh Council, 2020, p.15) as a place designed to inspire with events and local opportunities in the arts (Figure 2.1). However, the reality of this site is a rather bleak, out of place, refurbished old building which creates a stark contrast to its new concrete surroundings. It must be noted that the image (Figure 2.2) was captured on an average, rainy Thursday afternoon, however this does not take away from the fact there were very few seats, no picnic tables, no plants and no indication of any upcoming, or previous events, at this location. It is located in a perfectly accessible and often visited spot, with it being serviced by multiple bus connections from different areas of the city and is next to a large Morrisons and Edinburgh College, yet it appears as an unfriendly, slightly ominous, indicator of a once lively area. This raises worries surrounding the council’s ability to make this regeneration homely and welcoming. Something simple, such as a playground or a coffee stand, could make this site more attractive to locals, who in turn could potentially be encouraged to take part in activities for community building and improvement. The £4.75 million spent on this building (Wasps, 2023) as part of the council’s dedication to placemaking and the arts leads one to consider the more vital, pressing issues which could have been paid attention to either with this money, or with the use of the station building.

Walking closer towards the Forth, along the coast towards Leith and alongside various rubbish littered patches of empty land, you may come across one of the large housing

developments being constructed by the council. The sign in front of the building site (Figure 3.2) states “affordable homes for a better city” and “completed by Summer 2023”, yet the there is no indication of these homes becoming available any time soon (Figure 3.1). The lack of funding and transparency is unfortunately made hugely prevalent on this walk. It seems strange that there are no hoardings that state the actual price of these ‘affordable’ flats. Additionally, the distance from completion suggests that a lack of sufficient planning and funding has been present to see through this project. Whilst money is put into empty, contaminated and unmarketable plots of land, and construction continues on these new, tenure-blind flats, the contrast between the current housing is ironically emphasised, and the vast empty landscape looks more out of place with “notable success stories… they are dwarfed in scale by the amount of land that remains empty” (Kallin, 2021, p.621).

‘Community-led’ is a term that is thrown around wilfully, but the lack of consideration of the current community and its housing indicates that the council’s meaning of this term has resulted in unproductive solutions and disheartening results. Critical urban theory must be applied to Granton’s situation due to it being a location being transformed by means of power which is consequently leaving some behind. Brenner (2009) explains “critical urban theory emphasizes the politically and ideologically contested and therefore malleable character of urban space” (ibid, p.198) resulting in the need for “critique of power, inequality, injustice and exploitation” (ibid). This need for critique by the resident community and increased participation of local people is becoming more and more applicable as due to “fragmented land ownership” and “overly optimistic assumptions” (Edinburgh Council, 2018, p.102) this regeneration seems palpably no longer grounded in reality.

RECOMMENDATIONS FOR THE GRANTON COMMUNITY

The reality of economic gain being the Edinburgh council’s driving force means that the matter of the arising housing challenges requires the community to become more involved. The council’s focus on finance has begun to produce a soulless and inconsiderate environment that the Granton community should have the opportunity to have a say upon. Therefore, some suggestions will be made as to what can be done to improve housing in currently overlooked areas, how support can be given to those with difficult housing situations, and also as to what can be done to ensure the general environment surrounding housing caters to the current community as well as incomers.

A Representative Group for Housing Concerns

A recognised representative body made up of local people to communicate both social and private housing problems to authorities is a necessity if the Granton community is to be heard by the council. The lack of transparency by the council surrounding funding and plans could be excused by the fact there is no current formal, cohesive community group to discuss and share with. This group, which the council would have the requirement to include in meetings and other communications, would take away the council’s ability to make decisions solely based on what only they deem as advantageous. Two groups in the past, the Granton Improvement Society and Community Action North, hosted a conference which consulted the North Edinburgh community about concerns they had. In the report, many of the concerns surrounded energy efficiency and improvements in insulation and green energy needed for existing homes (GIS and CAN, 2016). Unfortunately, neither of these

groups are active anymore, but their findings indicate the need for their presence. Despite this conference taking place many years ago, recent research with Granton residents has found that these issues are still present (Henderson et al., 2023, p.13), demonstrating that there has been a missing driving force in community action groups of the past. This time, a group with a stronger emphasis on working with the council could ensure that issues go beyond discussion, and solutions are actually carried out. What Works Scotland, which was an “initiative that worked from 2014 to 2020 to improve the way local areas in Scotland use evidence to make decisions about public service development and reform” (WWS, 2020), explains that meetings concerning community planning projects are too ‘council heavy’ which subsequently creates an authoritative barrier and therefore prevents fair opportunities for deliberation on behalf of the community (Weakley and Escobar, 2018), further emphasising the need for increased local representation. Ideally it would be large enough, perhaps around twenty to thirty members, to ensure that a small number are not burdened with an overwhelming amount to do, as the balance of family, work and leisure is already a struggle for many.

How could this we make this happen?

For a recognised community body to function well, it is important that there are appropriate means provided for it to work. Firstly, funding could be provided by the government, the council and through community activities. The Scottish Government’s ‘Investing in Communities Fund’ for example has targets which interlink greatly with the goals of the Granton community and the regeneration project. These include “tackling poverty and inequality”, “developing and sustaining place-based approaches”, “community led regeneration” and “ensuring a just transition

to net zero” (Scottish Government, 2023) and the grants given so far have ranged from £22,050 to £350,000 (ibid). Additionally, Edinburgh Council have a ‘Community Grants Fund’ which provides up to £5,000 to support community projects. The financial support of these bodies would hopefully validate this community housing group, and therefore justify their participation in formal processes. For further funding, this could also be an opportunity for consolidation of this community through fun social events to raise money, such as ceilidhs, live music, football matches and quiz nights.

It is a necessity that members of this group would understand the financial matters and policies that they would be involved with. To ensure that it is as representative as possible, the necessary education could be provided to open participation up to more than those with previous experience. As Edinburgh College is a part of this community and a ‘strategic partner’ of the waterfront regeneration project (Edinburgh Council, 2021, p.3), it would be ideal if classes on the required basic skills in finance and leadership to be given and to be covered by funding. The local nature of the group is also to be emphasised, as they may have an insight through lived experience and naturally built relationships. Research which has consulted with community members has found that ‘consultation fatigue’ is an issue which arises from regular discussions and gathering of opinions, as it becomes repetitive with results continually not being delivered (Henderson et al., 2023, p.27). The group should therefore be formed of community members willing to carry messages forward through both participant observation and through casual conversations with community members, unlike local councillors. The members of the group should be happy to be approachable to ensure that informal, and therefore more honest, discussions can take place. Communication of upcoming meetings

and updates is also important to allow for the much-needed transparency, meaning an easily accessible community newspaper or newsletter could be produced, alongside the use of social media. This would also be an excellent place for residents to advertise their local businesses to fund the paper and increase their number of clients, and it could be shared both online and in local public spaces for a wider outreach.

Utilisation of an Existing Project

Community projects already taking place should also be expanded to further extend their benefits. An example of this is the ‘Granton Community Gardeners’, which bring locals together to “create and cultivate community gardens, host community meals and events, support anyone in the area who wants to grow food and think creatively about how best to make sure everyone in our area is fed well” (GCG, 2023). The community could offer the council their services to improve some of the still derelict patches of land surrounding their new developments to give this project more places to carry out their gardening, and grow more food. The council places much emphasis on ‘placemaking’ alongside housing in their Waterfront Prospectus (Edinburgh Council, 2020, p.6), however a place should be made and defined by the people who live in it and not by the council, making projects such as this a both useful and much needed opportunity to improve the currently unwelcoming new apartment buildings, which have a sense of ‘placelessness’ as they ‘lack distinctiveness’ (Relph, 2016, p.20). When people move into the newly built homes, a gardening project in their development would allow them to meet new people and join the community. Not only does it form friendships, but new skills could be engendered that could be an asset to improving the community, bringing new ideas and contacts.

CONCLUDING THOUGHTS

The power of the existing Granton community should be ignored by the Council no longer, and the implementation of community-led approaches could be revolutionary for this currently disjointed area, not just economically, but environmentally and socially too. Whilst these brief recommendations are coming from a situated academic perspective and are perhaps daunting and time-consuming processes, there is hopefully the potential for them to rouse discussions that will either put these recommendations, or alternative ones which emerge, into motion. The most crucial, and undeniable, consideration is that Granton has the privilege of being a place filled with wonderful, communityconscious people, and no matter how difficult somebody’s housing situation is, or any situation for that matter, their community should be there for them. The Edinburgh Council need to understand this power which can allow for this regeneration project to be more successful for all stakeholders. They must acknowledge that Granton is not just a collective of residents that can be pushed around. Granton has the opportunity to be an exemplary case of the beginning of a truly sustainable, inclusive and just city of Edinburgh, but local communities must keep pushing for the recognition to facilitate this and ensure their ‘right to the city’, which is “far more than a right of individual access to the resources that the city embodies – it is a right to change the city more according to our heart’s desire” (Harvey, 2010, p.18).

Figure 1.2 showing the area of Granton proposed for regeneration (Edinburgh Council, 2021)

Figure 1.1 showing location of Granton on map of Edinburgh (Google Maps, 2023)

Figure 2.1 showing a visualisation of what the rejuvenated Granton Station Square would be like (Edinburgh Council, 2020, p.22)

Figure 2.2 showing the Granton Station redevelopment in the present day (Author’s own, 2023)

3.1 showing the incomplete Plot S housing development at the waterfront (Author’s own, 2023)

Figure 3.2. showing the sign in front of the Plot S development (Author’s own, 2023)

Figure

REFERENCES

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Campbell, S. D. (2013) ‘Sustainable Development and Social Justice: Conflicting Urgencies and the Search for Common Ground in Urban and Regional Planning’. Michigan Journal of Sustainability. Vol. 1, pp. 74-91

Edinburgh Council (2018) ‘Granton Waterfront Regeneration Strategy’. Full Meeting Papers – Housing and Economy Committee. pp. 100-109

Edinburgh Council (2020) ‘Introduction’. Granton Waterfront Development Prospectus. pp.6-7

Edinburgh Council (2020) ‘A place to live, work, visit, love, enjoy…and be inspired’. Granton Waterfront Development Prospectus. p. 15

Edinburgh Council (2020) ‘Pioneering a climate-conscious place to live’. Granton Waterfront Development Prospectus. pp. 17-19

Edinburgh Council (2020) ‘People-led local development’. Granton Waterfront Development Prospectus. p. 31

Edinburgh Council (2021) ‘Introduction’. Granton Waterfront Regeneration – Outline Business Case’. pp. 1-7

Edinburgh Council (2021) ‘Management Case’. Granton Waterfront Regeneration – Outline Business Case’. p. 70-81

Google Maps (2023) ‘Granton, Edinburgh’. [online] Available at: https://www.google.com/ maps/@55.9677636,-3.213009,8201m/data=!3m1!1e3?entry=ttu (Accessed 22/10/23)

Granton Improvement Society and Community Action North (2016) ‘Housing Action Group’. North Edinburgh Community Conference. p. 11

Harvey, D. (2008) ‘The Right to the City’ in The City Reader. UK: Routledge, 6th Ed., pp. 271-278

Harvey, D. (2010) ‘The Right to the City: From Capital Surplus to Accumulation by Dispossession” in Accumulation by Dispossession: Transformative Cities in the New Global Order. USA: Sage, pp. 17-32

Henderson, J., Galanos, V., Escobar, O., Mcfall, L., McGowan, A., Bassett, K. and Earl, S. (2023) ‘Weaknesses and frustrations’. Community Leadership in North Edinburgh: Report from the Knowledge Exchange Labs 2022. p. 13

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Relph, E. (2016) ‘The Paradox of Place and the Evolution of Placelessness’ in Place and Placelessness Revisited. UK: Routledge, Ch. 1, pp. 20-34

Scottish Government (2020) ‘Granton’. Scottish Index of Multiple Deprivation 2020. [online] Available at: https://simd.scot/#/simd2020/BTTTF TT/13.56071820073593/-3.2269/55.9777/ (Accessed 20/10/23)

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The Challenge of Housing Toronto’s Largest Immigrant Groups during the City’s Housing Crisis

Kenneth Worden

BACKGROUND

Toronto’s housing crisis is caused by a lack of supply, increased demand, and skyrocketing costs. This lack of housing in Toronto has a particular impact on immigrants as 31.4% of immigrants in the last federal census were considered low-income, compared with 12.5% of domestic Canadians (Statistics Canada, 2016). Since 2016 the federal government has rapidly increased immigration numbers, targeting accepting 500,000 annually by 2025 (The Canadian Press, 2022). If historical data is to be followed approximately 36% of these immigrants will settle in Toronto, leading to a sizable increase in the city’s demand for housing (Walks, 2020). Therefore, finding safe, affordable housing for these immigrants is crucial. These immigrants come primarily from three countries, India, China, and the Philippines who make up 25% of all settled immigrants in Toronto and 40% of recent immigrants (City of Toronto, 2019). This report is written to you, members of the Chinese, Filipino and Indian communities across Toronto, regarding how you can provide community-based support to new Chinese, Filipino and Indian immigrants. This report will demonstrate the importance of community-led approaches but first it will explore why I feel qualified to speak on

this issue and define these communities in Toronto, second, it will investigate the current challenges posed by Toronto’s housing market and third, highlight community-led solutions that can be implemented to make housing accessible to all new immigrants in Toronto.

I am a Toronto-born resident who has lived in Toronto’s “Greektown” for almost all my life. I have engaged with immigrant communities, including first, second and third generation Canadians from various ethnicities in Toronto on a day-today basis, academically, and professionally. In recent years I have become increasingly aware of the pressing nature of Toronto’s housing crisis on new immigrants who make up a vital component of Toronto. While I am not a member of the Chinese, Indian or Filipino communities I feel qualified to suggest community-led housing solutions for new immigrants to these communities as I possess an extensive academic and experiential knowledge of Toronto’s immigrant communities and their importance to the city. Additionally, I have an excellent understanding of the advantages and challenges of implementing sustainable solutions that I have acquired over four years of university study in Sustainable Development.

TORONTO’S INDIAN, FILIPINO AND CHINESE COMMUNITIES

New immigrants from these countries continue to face challenges in finding housing across Toronto. New immigrants, particularly those in the low-income category will inevitably want to live near financial and cultural centres as they look to integrate into familiar communities in search of work. This is something Indian, Chinese, and Filipino immigrants have historically done with the establishment of various ethnicity-based neighbourhoods across Toronto.

Toronto’s Chinese community is large and Chinese people have immigrated to Toronto since the early 20th century and established businesses and communities with two downtown hubs, named East and West Chinatown (Flack, 2023). Recently, Chinese immigrants have spread out across Toronto increasing pockets of Chinese culture, with a basis of Chinese cultural influence downtown. Indian immigration to Toronto is increasingly influential as between 2013 and 2023 Indian immigration to Canada tripled from approximately 32,000 to 118,000 people annually, many of whom will aim to settle in Indian communities across Toronto and will face housing challenges (Anderson, 2023). Toronto’s Indian population is spread out across the city, however, there is a community hub for Indian culture and businesses called “Little India”, (Destination Toronto, 2023). Filipino immigration to Toronto also has a long history, with the first major increase in immigrants coming to Toronto in the 1960s (Heritage Toronto, 2020). There is also a history of community support within the Filipino community as the Silayan Community Centre has helped build housing for low-income Filipino immigrants (Heritage Toronto, 2020). There is also a Filipino cultural hub called “Little Manila” where there are several Filipino shops and cultural events (Mok, 2020). The importance of the “Chinatowns”, “Little

India” and “Little Manila” is that they are regions where new immigrants can find jobs without limitations of language and cultural differences and highlight the continued and integral presence of the Indian, Chinese, and Filipino communities across Toronto.

THE CHALLENGE: ACCOMMODATING NEW IMMIGRANTS IN AN UNSUSTAINABLE HOUSING MARKET

Toronto’s current housing crisis is impacted by two main issues: lack of supply and unaffordability. Some argue these issues are driven by Canada’s push to increase immigration and how approximately 36% of immigrants choose to settle in Toronto (King’s Printer of Ontario, 2023). However, others attribute the crisis to a lack of skilled workers and a low supply of raw materials, part of which could be addressed by immigration (Robitaille, 2023). This report, however, will highlight how the basis of Toronto’s housing crisis is the flawed approach of the provincial and municipal governments.

The government-based approach has focused on the construction of condominiums across Toronto to help increase supply. However, this approach has not considered the unavailability of many of these condominiums to low-income immigrants. Between 2000 and 2020 very little purpose-built rental housing was constructed across Toronto meaning private houses and condominiums took up most of the stock (Hawes and Grisdale, 2020). These private companies benefit by marketing their condominiums towards high income, luxury renters which has resulted in fewer lowincome housing options. This has resulted in Toronto’s housing bubble being supported by large corporate and individual desires for wealth causing high property values (Bunce and Livingstone, 2020). What highlights the influence of this lack of supply best is that in the summer of 2023 hundreds of newcomers

to Toronto were housed by the government and Non-Governmental Organisations in churches and hotels rather than being able to find rentable housing (Jackson and Rocca, 2023).

Additionally, Toronto’s housing market is generally unaffordable. In 2019 UBS stated that Toronto’s housing market was the second most overvalued in the world (Walks, 2020). This unaffordability is a direct result of the financialization of downtown Toronto. Financialization is essentially a process by which financial markets, their institutions and their actors gain increasing influence (Swayer, 2014). Walks (2020) argues this has led to more gentrification downtown and caused immigrants to move to suburbs away from cultural and financial hubs. Additionally, the government has catered its housing policy towards these private interests inevitably increasing the markets unaffordability (Bunce and Livingstone, 2020). However, this is more impactful on immigrant communities as they are represented disproportionately in Canada’s low-income category.

Another major challenge in supporting new immigrants in Toronto is shifting the perspective they are negatively impacting the housing market. 15% of Canadians believe that immigration is increasing housing costs and making housing unaffordable for Canadians (Zeidler, 2023). Additionally, experts say that there is a continued antiimmigrant and refugee sentiment with 57% of Canadians saying Canada should not accept any more refugees (Johnston, 2019). Whilst, refugees are different to immigrants, low-income immigrants require many of the same services, therefore it is safe to assume those opposing accepting refugees would also oppose supporting low-income immigrants. Thus, being seen as the issue could reduce support for immigrants. The number of immigrants should not be perceived as the challenge, rather the challenge should be understood as how to house them as they

are crucial to supporting the aging Canadian population as demonstrated by how Canada’s population increased by 1 million people in 2022, with almost 100% of this being driven by immigration (Shakil, 2023). This emphasizes the importance of housing immigrants in Toronto which is only further highlighted by how by 2032 almost 100% of Canada’s population growth will come from immigration (Zeidler, 2023).

Therefore, to maintain the flow of immigration from China, India and the Philippines into Toronto and to ensure these immigrants have housing three main issues need to be addressed, immigration needs to be understood as a benefit rather than a disadvantage, housing needs to be understood not as a commodity but rather as a necessity, and a new community-led approach needs to be implemented as the governmental approach does not effectively address the concerns of all immigrants.

THE SOLUTIONS: MAKING HOUSING IN TORONTO ACCESSIBLE TO ALL IMMIGRANTS

Experts argue not addressing the influence of Toronto’s housing crisis on new immigrants, including those from China, Philippines and India could result in a loss of talent, diversity, and a slower-growing economy (Jackson and Rocca, 2023). As the governments’ approach is ineffective, community-based solutions are the best way of addressing this urban challenge. This section will first explore the flaws of the municipal and provincial governments suggested solutions. It will then explore how your communities can support the many thousands of new immigrants looking for housing in your communities, at the individual level through refocusing your mindset regarding housing and being aware of the benefits of immigration and at the community level through the establishment of Community Development Corporations (CDCs) and immigrant organizations.

The Proposed Government Solution

The current approach of the municipal and provincial governments to addressing Toronto’s housing crisis is flawed. Toronto’s government has promised to construct 285,000 homes by 2031 (Balintec, 2023). The provincial government has promised to build 1.5 million homes by then, with many of those homes being built in Toronto (Jackson and Rocca, 2023). While there is no doubt the construction of additional homes is beneficial, simply building the homes lacks focus, and could have disproportionate effects on immigrant communities, like the effects the unfocused American housing plan has had on Hispanic immigrants. Across the United States 2nd and 3rd generation Hispanic immigrants do not access housing resources at a rate proportional to their poverty levels and face significant challenges accessing affordable housing (Aiken and Reina, 2021). Additionally, the governments’ approach is a continuation of the current understanding of housing as a commodity which has led to gentrification and the conversion of low-cost housing. Should this continue in Toronto we could see something like 1980’s Los Angeles, where the government focused on the financialization and commodification of housing, resulting in increased homelessness amongst immigrants and a housing crisis caused by the governments approach (Nielsen, 1989). Therefore, the focus must be on community-based solutions. Additionally, another reason you as a community are in an excellent position to help is that you have experience immigrating to Toronto and likely have a large base to draw potential financial support from as statistically speaking 1st generation immigrants across Canada underperform financially relative to 2nd and 3rd generation immigrants, with 2nd generation immigrants’ average earnings jumping 47% from those of their parents (Singer, 2018).

Refocusing your Mindset

Altering your mindset to fully support immigration and refocusing your conceptual understanding of housing is the first step to a community-based solution to ensuring housing is available to all new immigrants. Firstly, to ensure you and your communities remain supportive of continued immigration understanding the vital economic influence of immigrants on the Torontonian and Canadian economies is crucial. Economists agree the Canadian economy would not be able to sustain growth without an influx of immigrants (Zeidler, 2023). Additionally, they argue immigration increases wealth distribution across the country or city they choose to reside in and increases economic efficiency (Powell, 2018). Therefore, new immigrants will help drive the Canadian and Torontonian economies and can fill positions of need in terms of employment in your communities.

To provide housing support effectively, refocusing your conceptual understanding of housing is required. Toronto-based perspectives on housing are driven by private market providers where understanding at both government and community levels is that housing is a commodity not a right. (Lima, 2021). Understanding housing as a right is challenging as it opposes Toronto’s general economic approach. However, it can be done on the individual level through supporting non-profits who build and manage low-income units (Bates, 2022). Perhaps more influentially refocusing your perspective to community rather than financial needs will be far easier through the establishment and your potential participation in CDCs and immigrant organisations.

CDCs and community level support

Since the 1960s, CDCs have operated in depressed urban and rural communities and

are defined by Grogan (1996) as a citizenled group that aims to revitalize a particular neighbourhood or town and engage residents in taking direct responsibility for a communities’ future. They have had some historical success across the United States and between 1988 and 1994 constructed 410,000 houses in response to failing government approaches to low-income housing crises (Grogan, 1996). I believe establishing new CDCs could be effective in Toronto as it would allow for the easy integration of new immigrants from India, China, and the Philippines into your communities as they could access services in their native language and affordable housing provided to them via CDCs.

An excellent example of the benefits of CDCs comes from the Unity Council based around Fruitvale Station in Oakland California. This region is home to a high percentage of immigrants and the council provides extensive social services and has attempted to address threats of increased property values through creating a land bank to prevent local businesses and residents from being displaced (Kirkpatrick, 2007). Furthermore, they have also capped property taxes for long term residents and have gained federal and state funding to assess community concerns (Kirkpatrick, 2007). Thus, the CDC benefits local residents but also ensures affordable housing is continuing to be constructed in the neighbourhood despite increasing property values. Additionally, the board of the Unity Council includes residents, property developers and two impartial parties, allowing for developments within the community to be beneficial to both the community and property developers (Kirkpatrick, 2007).

This could easily be implemented across Filipino, Chinese, and Indian communities in Toronto. Different CDCs could be based in neighbourhoods where many of your communities’ businesses and residents live. One of the biggest advantages of using CDCs

is they combine public and private capital and that once they are seen as legitimate methods of acquiring housing more people use them increasing their influence and financial viability. Additionally, CDCs have a non-commodity-based goal of providing housing and services to residents, which can help shift the understanding of housing as a commodity (Grogan, 1996). Importantly, CDCs benefit both long-term and new residents as they can cap local property costs. Moreover, both the municipal and federal governments are pursuing various avenues to addressing the housing crisis and if a CDC in any of your communities gained significant traction, it is safe to assume that either or both the municipal and provincial governments would likely be able to provide financial support. Establishing a CDC offers an increase in jobs and positions of power to members of your communities and would be able to offer employment programs for new immigrants who would then be able to assist with finding housing for future immigrants. One major flaw to this approach in Toronto is that it assumes everyone from a community lives in the same neighbourhood. This evidently is not the case, however, the establishment of various CDCs in Indian, Filipino and Chinese communities across the city could be beneficial and reduce the impact of this. Grogan (1996) points out an additional limitation in that public policy is not designed thinking of the influence of potential policies on fragile CDCs. However, in Toronto’s immigrant communities I believe CDCs could bring people together across neighbourhoods and obtain financial support from a larger base of 2nd and 3rd generation immigrants across the city to help reduce the market-based influence that currently exists. Therefore, while there are certainly flaws in the CDC approach the benefits outweigh them and when combined with immigrant organisations as discussed below, they have the potential to be influential in addressing Toronto’s housing crisis.

Immigrant Organisations

An immigrant organisation is an organisation formed by individuals who are members of a particular national/ethnic group that focuses on providing social services to primarily the same ethnic group (Cordero-Guzmán, 2005). They are different from other social service providers as they explicitly incorporate cultural components and a consciousness of ethnic and national origins (CorderoGuzmán, 2005). According to CorderoGuzmán (2005) they are typically formed in large, growing immigrant groups and function by receiving government grants, contracts, and philanthropic donations. There are various advantages to immigrant organizations. Firstly, they ensure specific cultures are preserved and new immigrants are supported through various social services that are available in a cultural setting they are accustomed to. Secondly, unlike CDCs, immigrant organisations are not tied to one neighbourhood, rather they can move with the market and alter their contributions to different areas based on need. Thirdly, they have a wide range of potential supporters as through donations from corporations, foundations, and individuals these immigrant organisations can help provide low-cost housing solutions, construct purpose-built housing across Toronto for members of their communities and expand connections between immigrants across the city. There are however some disadvantages to the immigrant organisation approach. For example, like CDCs the housing market is not designed for the benefit of immigrant organisations, it is constructed with private corporations in mind. Additionally, there is no distinct focus of most of these organisations beyond supporting a specific ethnic group, they are not housing-focused and thus, the funds acquired by an organisation could be directed towards non-housing related issues. One last major advantage of immigrant organisations is the support that it can direct

towards smaller direct-action movements. For example, in your communities an immigrant organisation could support direct action movements looking to drive support for purpose-built housing in your communities. This does not necessarily need to be achieved via protest it can be achieved by immigrant organisations commissioning research into the impact of a private-market focused housing on their communities and presenting facts and figures to the media or the public that can help increase the social legitimacy of this distinct issue (Lima, 2021). Establishing more focused immigration organisations in Toronto would therefore be extremely beneficial as they could provide distinct support towards affordable housing initiatives.

What would be the most influential solution to providing new immigrants to Toronto with accessible housing would be a combination of a refocused communitybased mindset, CDCs, and immigrant organisations. The flaws of each solution would be partly mitigated by the strengths of the others. Investing in and establishing housing-focused immigrant organisations is crucial, as these have the potential to span across Toronto. These organisations could direct their financial resources towards CDCs with a focus on addressing the individual housing needs of specific communities. This solution would be driven by members of these communities rather than the private sector, who have developed a mindset of immigration as a vital element of Toronto’s economic success and a de-commodified understanding of housing. This will allow members of your communities to staff these organisations and challenge the financialization and commodification of housing. Take for example Indian immigrants, the Indian community could establish a central immigrant organization that would receive municipal, provincial, and philanthropic

funding. The organisation would direct this funding towards various CDCs operating within Indian neighbourhoods who required the funding to ensure affordable housing and social services were available to Indian immigrants. This immigrant organisation and CDCs would be led by boards that included community members who see immigration as beneficial and housing as a right and property developers who would therefore still benefit from the construction of purpose-built housing. What is important in this potential approach is that it is built by you, community members for your communities. Establishing these organisations allows the government to provide discretionary funding to communityled organisations to direct towards specific housing crises on a neighbourhood-byneighbourhood basis rather than simply constructing more housing in an unfocused manner as the municipal and provincial governments are proposing. Ideally, using this system your communities will be able to sustain an increase in the number of immigrants and develop and maintain new, affordable, purpose-built community housing. Additionally, the success of this solution would be reliant on community members and as CDCs and immigrant organisations were seen as more effective, they could gain more financial support and increased influence on Toronto’s housing market.

Conclusion: Toronto’s housing crisis significantly impacts current and future immigrants because of the unaffordability and lack of availability of suitable housing. This comes as a direct result of the municipal and provincial governments approaches that have focused on the commodification and financialization of housing and put the control of the market in the hands of private interests. To resolve this issue and help settle the 40% of immigrants that come from India, China, and the Philippines, you

1st, 2nd and 3rd generation immigrants from these communities could implement various potential solutions including: ensuring you understand immigration to not be the source of the problem, refocusing your perspective from housing as a commodity to a right and establishing CDC’s and housingfocused immigrant organisations across Toronto. While there are advantages and disadvantages to these solutions, and the fact it would be challenging to implement them in the current market, using all three proposed solutions together results in a far stronger collective solution and leads us to remain hopeful that community-based solutions will help ensure thousands of Chinese, Indian and Filipino immigrants can settle sustainably in Toronto every year.

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Engaging in community with our unhoused neighbors – Boulder, Colorado

Leela Stoede

INTRODUCTION

On January 30th 2023 there were 839 people experiencing homelessness in our community of Boulder County – 243 of which were unsheltered and exposed to the cold winter temperatures (MDHI). These numbers, although already strikingly high in Boulder, have risen, like most in the country (Sutherland et al., 2021), because of the difficulties faced during COVID and in the aftermath of COVID which means that we need to act now to actively help our most vulnerable populations. I, a citizen of Boulder Colorado, in this report call on Boulder City to come together and understand why this is happening in our community – why people are coming into homelessness and what the structures and cycles are that make it difficult for them to find housing again. This report addresses everyone living in Boulder – whether you are housed or unhoused - and asks that its citizens define our community the same way. This is because being homelessness is not an individual crisis, and often it is our most vulnerable populations that become chronically unhoused. The recommendations offered then investigate some of the more immediate needs of our

homeless population to make Boulder a better city for all. Together we can make that difference.

POSITIONALITY

I grew up in Boulder. Our house was in the Whittier neighborhood which meant that I had the ability to walk anywhere I might need/want to go, from school to downtown to grocery shops to friends’ houses. I was never homeless nor vulnerable to experiencing homelessness but, because I walked everywhere, I was deeply attuned to the homelessness experienced around me. On my walk to Boulder High School, I would pass through Pearl Street all and the Bandshell – both places where unhoused people take shelter – and the creek behind Boulder High, always had a large homeless encampment on its banks. I was constantly sharing space with our unhoused populations.

There is a parent-led campaign running right now for this current voting election in November to create “Safe Zones 4 Kids” which advocates for a 500ft buffer zone between any Boulder school and propane

tanks, illicit drugs, needles, etc (Safe Zones 4 Kids, 2023) - or in other words between the schools and the homeless encampments. Jennifer Rhodes, one of the leading parents calls on the community’s responsibility to “ensure that every child feels safe on their way to and from and during school” (Bounds, 2023).

I agree with the heart of this statement – every child should feel safe – but in truth Boulder High’s security team hasn’t even reported incidents with the homeless encampments in the last year. (Bounds, 2023). And the years prior I don’t recall my friends and I ever feeling unsafe around the people experiencing homelessness. If anything, being in such immediate contact with our vulnerable populations gave us a sense of shared responsibility; my friends would often spend their weekends working with Mutual Aid (Boulder Valley Mutual Aid) to hand out food to the unhoused populations. Influenced by these experiences, this report does not hold the potentially fatal stereotype that people experiencing homelessness are dangerous – the viewpoint campaigns such as Safe Zones 4 Kids run on – and growing up around them only showed me that they want less trouble than we do. Moreover, homelessness is not a monolithic population, but rather they are richly varied in their needs and reasons for being homeless –this report will cover the most prominent struggles I bear witness to.

TERMS

It must be acknowledged that this report uses the terms people experiencing homelessness, unhoused people, and homeless people. This is because although it is becoming more mainstream among social workers, service providers and the general public to use the terms people experiencing homelessness – “as homelessness is something people are going through and not who they are”

(Mission, 2020) – and unhoused people –since homelessness is at its heart a housing issue (Abrams, 2023) – most people experiencing homelessness still define themselves as homeless (Horvath, 2019). In fact, some ex-homeless people have taken offense to the newer terms as they don’t encompass the pain of homelessness nor the effort it took to pull out of the cycle of being chronically homeless (Horvath, 2017). As this report addresses everyone in Boulder City, the housed, the service providers, the ones vulnerable to experiencing homelessness and the homeless themselves, it will use all three terms intermittently asking you, the reader, to associate the term used with whichever term for which you feel the most affinity.

CHALLENGES

Although addressing the systematic changes needed to assist those experiencing homelessness goes well beyond the scope of this report, recognizing the systems that are in place is important in understanding why Boulder has such homeless populations, how these numbers were amplified by COVID and the cycles that keep the chronically unhoused homeless.

Systematic Challenges

While Boulder has a progressive origin, likely influenced by the University of Colorado in the heart of the town, systemic and societal factors have changed who is likely to call Boulder home. Boulder, with a population of 105,485 (United States Census Bureau, 2021), has housing restrictions outward, upward, and internally. With a stated primary focus toward preserving nature, these restrictions have significantly limited Boulders ability to expand (Sargent, 2023). Starting in 1959, Boulder enacted the “Blue line” which regulated where city water services could develop – preventing more development

into the mountains (Sargent, 2023). Next Boulder sanctioned a 55-foot height limit (City of Boulder, 2018) – roughly five stories – on any building so that regardless of where citizens are in the city there is always a view of the Flatirons and Rocky Mountains. In 1970 Boulder created the “Green Belt,” the donut like area of open space parks that encircles Boulder, further limiting the city’s water services and restricting urban spawl outward (Sargent, 2023). Most recently, in order to avoid becoming densely populated, Boulder has imposed occupancy limits, regulating the number of unrelated people - between three and four given the area –allowed to live together. There is now a 1 percent growth limit on the city’s housing stock (Sargent, 2023). Boulder cannot expand much, meaning that it is limited in its ability to create affordable housing – the most effective way in ending homelessness (National Alliance to End Homelessness, 2019).

Moreover, although all these regulations have incredible benefits to the nature around, it has also led to a steep increase in housing competition, changing who is likely to live in Boulder and the overall mindset of the town. Where once Boulder citizens were welcoming to people living alternative lifestyles, such as Rainbow Hippies and those living outdoors following the grateful dead, Boulder now charges camping fees (Miller, 2009). Although citizens are hesitant to admit it, Boulder is slowly losing its “hippie” town outlook. In fact, it is these very regulations that allow for easy access to nature, along with the tech opportunities Google has provided since 2001 that pushed Forbes – a business magazine – to announce Boulder as the best place to live in 2009 (Forbes, 2009) and the 6th most desirable place to live in Colorado in 2022 (Patoka, 2022). In 2022, the average home in Boulder costs $1.1million (High). Boulder has made itself a city for the wealthy.

Covid Induced Challenges

This has meant that the least financially secure populations in Boulder were greatly impacted by COVID-19. While COVID-19 funding and eviction bans helped prevent homelessness, the rollback of these initiatives and the aftermath of the pandemic has led to a sharp rise in evictions as people still affected are struggling to pay rent (Herrick, 2023). This experience was worsened by the proximity and capacity restrictions put in place during the pandemic. The Boulder Shelter for the Homeless – Boulders main homeless shelter - had to shut down its volunteer program during COVID (Boulder Shelter for the Homeless, 2022) meaning that its capacity to carry out the services typically provided with a full staff were deeply limited. The very services that give those unhoused the necessities for life - food and shelter - were limited.

Universal Homelessness Challenges

In addition to all that is mentioned above, our unhoused populations are also facing the cycles that universally perpetuate homelessness – primarily mental health concerns and drug/alcohol addiction. Based on the Point and Time count from July 27th, 2023 – the data of which can be affected by several variables since it is a snapshot of a random day – 62% of the unsheltered in Boulder have a mental health concern and 92% have a substance and/or alcohol addiction (City of Boulder, 2023). These two things become a vicious cycle as – while in some cases lead to people experiencing homelessness in the first place (TGTHR) –dealing with daily stresses of being unhoused can perpetuate mental illness and substance/ alcohol use can become a coping mechanism (Castle, 2022). Mental health disabilities and substance use/abuse are more often symptoms of homelessness (TGTHR).

Lastly, the largest problem this report would like to address is in the very way we think about the people experiencing homelessness. In 2022, a pilot program was approved that gave $1.8 toward clearing out homeless encampments (Herrick, 2022) and “collect belongings and trash;” belongings such as tents and sleeping bags and the very few necessities this incredibly vulnerable population has in order to stay alive. In 2021, the city cleared one of the largest homeless encampments replacing it with a skatepark (Herrick, 2022) – money put toward infrastructure that in no way helps the unhoused population. Admittedly, these are city implemented initiatives, but they reflect the value and outlook of its citizens. Yet, the majority of Boulder’s homeless are from Boulder (Castle, 2022). In treating them as something that can just be “cleared out” we are in accordance believing that they are not; that they have somewhere to go that isn’t “here.” That it isn’t our collective responsibility to take care of our most vulnerable population. It is.

COMMUNITY

The report addresses all people living in Boulder. This is because there isn’t a stark line between being homeless and not being homeless; some people are chronically homeless, some fall in and out of housing, some teeter the vulnerable line of experiencing homelessness, and some are consistently housed.

As previously stated, the people experiencing homelessness were most likely last housed in Boulder (HSBC, 2021). On July 27th 2023 of the 110 unsheltered people surveyed in Boulder County, 53% of them last lived in housing in Colorado - of which 17% last lived in Boulder (City of Boulder, 2023). Moreover, 59% first experienced homelessness in Colorado – 25% in Boulder (City of Boulder, 2023). This isn’t because Boulder has the best services to offer; in fact, Boulders camping

ban specifically makes it illegal to “conduct activities of daily living” in public spaces i.e. sleeping, eating etc (Boulder Camping Ban Ordinance, 2001). If people were focused on the services available, Longmont, CO would be far better than Boulder with free busses, better shelters, and safe parking (Castle, 2022). However, most people stay near the same neighborhoods they were last housed because they still feel a sense of home. Losing a house should not be synonymous with losing a home.

Moreover, this report advocates that it is the communities’ responsibility to care for one another. The people most likely to experience homelessness are our most vulnerable populations from people with developmental and physical disabilities and chronic illnesses (City of Boulder, 2023), to the aging populations, single moms, and youth (National Alliance to End Homelessness, 2019). In the aftermath of COVID students became the most vulnerable to experiencing homelessness (Herrick, 2023). Why should losing their house affect whether someone is seen as part of our community especially when our actions can directly affect their situation. In addition to where we put our energy and our capacity to volunteer, those who are landlords can choose who they evict and when. Some have actively chosen to not evict people when they are most vulnerable (Castle, 2018). This report addresses everyone in Boulder because we all influence homelessness as a whole – whether we are the ones vulnerable to it or not. Losing your house should not be synonymous with losing your community. Everyone living in Boulder is our community.

RECCOMENDATIONS

While this report acknowledges that Housing First (Raven et al., 2020) and low-income housing initiatives (National Alliance to End Homelessness, 2019) are the most effective way to end homelessness,

there are community-based solutions –individual and collective - that can meet the most immediate demands of our homeless population today.

Individual Influence

First and foremost, the most impactful way we can approach the homelessness crisis is by understanding and consequently actively changing the way we perceive it. As emphasized again and again in this report, we need to see our unhoused population as a part of our community. This is in part because not being able to relate to those experiencing homelessness is one of our largest hindrances in addressing it (Invisible People). Furthermore, we need to acknowledge that homelessness is a racial issue (Jizan, 2021) and a product of the structural racism embedded within the United States. Locally, as with the rest of the country, the people experiencing homelessness are disproportionately Latino, Black and Indigenous (MDHI, 2022). Although unpacking the structural racism behind this is well beyond the scope of this paper, understanding our own prejudices can have a huge impact on how we approach those unhoused in our community; “there is a direct correlation between what the general public perceives about homelessness and how it affects policy change” (invisible people). Thus, this report urges you to educate yourself, not only on who our homeless are but the social and physical structures themselves that perpetuate homelessness, and how you orient yourself within these spaces (Ahmed, 2007). It urges you to look closely into ballot issues such as Safe Zones 4 Kids - mentioned above – and understand what you are actively voting for before you add your voice to it (Solutions Not Safe Zones, 2023). It urges you to act against where there is discrimination. Individually we have an impact.

Individual Effect On Collective Action

We can have a great impact collectively by putting our energy into the initiatives that are already in place to help those experiencing homelessness. TGTHR is a non-profit based on Broadway in North Boulder that works towards ending youth homelessness and empowering young people. In 2022 alone they helped 247 young people, 112 of which have now moved into stable housing, and served 13,117 meals among a multitude of other services (TGTHR). This is in large part made possible because of community action: 66% of the dinners over the course of that year donated; $83,777 worth of items, such as clothing and hygiene supplies, were donated; and overall, $167,457 were saved based on the actions of the community (TGTHR, 2022), This meant that TGTHR was able to use those resources allocated to strengthen other services they provide for Boulders Youth. Additionally, at the tip of North Boulder is the Boulder Shelter for the Homeless, offering services to any homeless in need and superseding its sleeping capacity during the winter months. Like TGHTR Homes this non-profit relies on support from community donors and volunteers (Boulder Shelter for the Homeless, 2022). However, the Boulder Shelter for the Homeless will only accept sober homeless people. To meet these gaps, the Homeless Shelters Directory offer shelter to anyone in faith community buildings. The time and energy from the housed parts of our community have the capacity to expand the outreach of help given to our unhoused populations.

Building Inspiration from Collective Action

These non-profits, now firmly rooted in the services provided by Boulder, started as community initiatives. Founded in 1987, the Boulder Shelter for the Homeless was initially “concerned people who wanted

to do something for the homeless” said Barbara Fahari, one of the founders (2022). The first proper building the shelter had, the one at 5th and Canyon, was donated to the non-profit by a couple investors who were initially holding it for development; following this $15,000 were raised based in community donation alone and mattresses, sheets, washers and dryers and more were all provided by the surrounding community (Boulder Shelter for the Homeless, 2022). This never would’ve happened without the community (Boulder Shelter for the Homeless, 2022). Let us take inspiration from what the Boulder Shelter for the Homeless has become, a statement on the impact of community-based solutions can have, to believe in our capacity to do more.

Taking Action

Yet, despite the community efforts thus far, the help provided does not meet some of the most pressing demands for the people experiencing homelessness today. The Point in Time count for July 2023 showed that 91% of the unhoused surveyed that day do not stay in a shelter (City of Boulder). While these numbers certainly change between summer and winter months, a likely reason for this is that Boulders largest shelter, the Boulder Shelter for the Homeless does not accept unhoused people under the influence of any drug or alcohol – which is over half of Boulders unhoused population (City of Boulder, 2023). This is leading to a larger problem for the city. As most of us know, in December 2022, the Boulder Public Library closed because of methamphetamine (meth) contamination in the air vents (Boulder Public Library, 2023). Prior to that the public restrooms in the Downtown Boulder Bus Station closed also due to methamphetamine use (Herrick, 2023). Methamphetamine (meth) is a common drug used by people experiencing homelessness for protection as it is cheap and readily available (Daley, 2018).

Meth is a stimulant meaning that it allows those who are unsheltered to stay alert and thus alive, preventing their necessities – like their sleeping bags and jackets – from being stolen which can be especially prevalent during the cold of winter (Rocky Mountain PBS, 2023). It should be noted that this thievery is exacerbated by very systems like the 2022 pilot program - mentioned in the challenges section - where the city gave $1.8 million to clearing encampments and taking unhoused peoples things. When a person without shelter has their own sleeping bag, their source of warmth and thus life, forcefully taken from them on a cold winter night, the way they survive is by finding another source of warmth, like taking another person’s sleeping bag. As a city we should not be adding stressors to unsheltered people’s need to take meth and to protect themselves.

It is our responsibility to care for our public spaces – and the people therein. A consequence of the use of meth in public spaces has meant a closure in public restrooms around the city (Herrick, 2022) meaning that homeless have no choice but to urinate and defecate in public spaces – not only putting our homeless at risk for criminal charges but also rising a huge public health issue. Yet we can change this cycle and make Boulder better for all our community. Some homeless people are using the public restrooms to take meth because those are the only spaces available to them with the 2018 closure of the Arapahoe House, the state’s largest and Boulders closest treatment house (Daley). Internationally countries are creating drug consumption rooms and drug safe houses so that their most vulnerable populations can administer the drugs they use to survive safely, cleanly and in a space designed for it (Kappel et al., 2016). What if we were to do that? We would need funding, infrastructure, and healthcare professionals all of which the community of Boulder

can certainly provide if its willing. What if brought our resources together - like the community effort that founded the Boulder Shelter for the Homeless did – to create a safe space for our most vulnerable populations to do what they need to survive? It’s possible.

Additionally, the City of Boulder, as of January 2023, started a recovery program to begin to address the methamphetamine addictions which could be helped by our efforts. Currently the program is limited to 12 patients due to financial reasons and the struggle in obtaining a larger property (Herrick and Larson, 2023). If we were to come together as a community and donate what we have available for us to allow this project to grow, our homeless populations would have help readily available to them. This solution would benefit our entire community – making safer spaces for the unhoused, creating cleaner public spaces for everyone and ensuring that our public services are not compromised.

CONCLUSION

Collectively we can do just about anything. That starts with the individual – understanding our prejudice affects the way those around us act on their prejudices. Since Boulder zoning laws have made it near impossible to create low-income housing to help our unhoused, the capacity of community action uniquely has a greater impact. This report asks that individuals educate themselves on the pressing needs of our community and act accordingly. Currently there is a service gap for those with a drug addiction which this report works to address. However, continuing to stay aware means the Boulder community can impact future pressing issues. Together we can make Boulder better.

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The Intersection of Racism, Homelessness and the Pervasive Housing Crisis in Berkeley, California

Lucienne Martikan

Due to its high cost of living, and lack of affordable housing to appropriately support its high population, the San Francisco Bay Area has an inordinate homelessness crisis – up to 38,000 individuals as of 2023. This number has notably increased post-pandemic, by 35% since 2019 (Krivkovich et al., 2023). In Berkeley, a 2019 study found the city to have the second highest unhoused population in the Bay Area (Figure 1) – second only to Oakland (Petry et al., 2019). This community briefing explores the main factors which contribute to, exacerbate, and thus create the homelessness crisis in the city of Berkeley. It focuses on the lack of affordable housing, lack of support for mental health and drug addictions, the wealth gap, and economic inequalities in Berkeley. It details how UC Berkeley’s housing crisis contributes to that of the wider city of Berkeley. It describes the distinct racial and spatial inequalities that inundate racial minorities and contribute to higher rates of homelessness among these communities. It reviews city-led, and community-led actions combatting the homelessness epidemic, and uses these to inform further recommendations to the city of Berkeley.

POSITIONALITY

This briefing requires an acknowledgment of my privilege. I was born and raised in Berkeley, before movingin2011. IlivedintheBerkeleyhills,ina2-bedroomhous emyparentsboughtinthe1990sfor

$330,000, now valued at $1.5 million (Redfin, 2023). While my family faced financial challenges, we were never at risk of homelessness. I was exposed to high levels of homelessness in Berkeley and the wider Bay Area through volunteering at soup kitchens, but I haven’t experienced it firsthand, so my insights are primarily drawn from academic sources, news, and second-hand information. This briefing also discusses Berkeley’s history of racial residential segregation, and I recognize my privilege as a white person who lived in a highly segregated suburb. Again, I will rely on second-hand accounts, news reports, and academic literature for these discussions. Finally, I aim to provide a comprehensive, non- condescending review of the causes, factors, and solutions to offer well-informed, fact-based recommendations to address this crisis.

HOMELESSNESS IN BERKELEY

Berkeley is a small-to-medium-sized city located in the San Francisco Bay Area ,in the state of California. The Bay Area is a diverse and densely populated web of cities and towns surrounding the San Francisco Bay. Berkeley is a particularly coveted Bay Area city to live in - it hosts a vibrant downtown, a sprawling suburbia, and the most prestigious public university in California: UC Berkeley. Due its high desirability as an area and disproportionate population density to land mass, as well as its proximity to the city of San Francisco, the cost of living in the Berkeley is exceptionally exorbitant - 77% higher than the national average (Numbeo, 2023). It is home to a sizable wealthy population, but also over 1100 homeless residents, more than 800 of which are unsheltered as of 2019 (Petry et al., 2019).

When understanding the impact off actors like economic inequality and the lack of affordable housing on homelessness in Berkeley, it is imperative to acknowledge that these impacts are not felt equally. Distinct racial and spatial inequalities exist in Berkeley which inundate racial minorities and contribute to higher rates of homelessness among these communities (Petry et al., 2019). Notably, the profile of the homeless population in Berkeley and the wider Bay Area is disproportionately non-white. While Black residents onlymakeup7.5% of Berkeley’s overall population, they make up 57% of it sun housed population, asof 2019 (U.S. Census, 2022; Petry et al., 2019). This is not by chance, but rather a product of the structural racism ubiquitous in the United States – even in a liberal region like the Bay Area. Structural racism affects housing and homelessness in numerous ways, and the following sections will highlight these stark inequalities and emphasize how impacts of contributory factors are disproportionately felt by minority groups.

CONTRIBUTING FACTORS

There is rarely a singular cause of homelessness that exists in a vacuum, but rather a variety of contributing factors which are comorbid. While there are many contributory elements, this briefing will focus on the main contributing factors to homelessness which are characteristic to Berkeley.

Mental health and substance abuse

Untreated mental health conditions in housed individuals who are already in vulnerable financial situations can accelerate the homelessness process – causing strain on familial relationships, job loss, or legal trouble, ending in inability to pay bills and eviction (Newberry, 2022). In Berkeley, where housing and rent costs are exorbitant, this leap is not far. In 2019, 42% of Berkeley’s homeless population was reported to be suffering from at least one mental health condition. This number has most likely increased postpandemic, as it has in the wider population of the U.S. (Petryetal., 2019; Gramlich, 2023). There is a lack of mental health resources in California - particularly affordable ones, due to workforce shortages (Teare and Gaines, 2018). Facilities that are non-profit and lowto-no-cost have extensive waiting lists–and many people do not have the luxury to wait months for care (Newberry, 2022). Consequently, once people are unhoused, many are unable to receive care. While 82% of California’s homeless population reported experiencing a mental health crisis in their lifetime in 2023, only 18% reported receiving non- emergency mental health treatment recently, and just 9% had received any mental health counseling (Kushel & Moore, 2023). Additionally, homelessness as a severe stressor exacerbates existing mental health conditions.

Additionally, 32% of Berkeley’s homeless population reported alcohol and/or drug addiction in 2019 (Petry et al., 2019). This

number is also likely to have increased since – substance use, and drug overdose rates increased across the U.S. since the start of the Covid-19 pandemic (NIH, 2023). The number of opioid overdoses and deaths was also exacerbated by the pandemic. (Ghose et al., 2022).The US fentanyl epidemic is a particularly pervasive issue in California and the Bay Area – responsible for one in five youth deaths in California, and during the pandemic, more people died from fentanyl in the Bay Area than Covid-19 (Jung, 2023; López González, 2023). Drug overdose is the leading cause of death among homeless people in the U.S., but also a significant catalyst to homelessness in the first place (Bauer et al., 2016). For people who are low-income, experiencing poverty, and already on the path to homelessness, drug addiction can push them over the edge (Mosel, 2022). They may struggle to pay their bills on time, attend work, or engage with their community. Drug addiction presents health, legal, and financial problems which contribute to homelessness (Kushel and Moore, 2023). Importantly, people of color are far more likely to be charged and incarcerated due to drug possession than their white counterparts in the U.S. (Drug Policy Alliance, 2015). Drug addiction also keeps people homeless for longer, by impeding social and familial connections, and exacerbates existing mental health conditions, which makes the search for housing and support services more difficult (NCH, 2009). A 2023 report found that 1/5th of unhoused people who suffered from substance abuse want treatment but can not get it (Kushel and Moore, 2023). Again, in a city with such a severe housing crisis as Berkeley, many low- income residents struggling with addiction may face homelessness if left untreated or develop an addiction to deal with the stressors of homelessness (NCH, 2009).

Affordable housing

A key factor contributing to homelessness in Berkeley is the lack of affordable housing. This chronic housing shortage makes it increasingly difficult for low- and middleincome households to compete with highincome households for housing. Black and Latinx households, which lie significantly below the median income for the area (by 80%), are disproportionately burdened by housing costs, and thus are on uneven playing ground when competing for housing in Berkeley (Karlinsky, 2023). Berkeley is simply a player in the issue of the wider Bay Area: Of 358,500 housing units built in Bay Area between 2000 and 2018, 316,000 were sold to families above the area median income (AMI) leaving only 42,500 for families below the AMI. So, while prices in Berkeley are going up, and upper middle class and high-class residents are taking these houses, low-in come residents are left with little to no affordable options (SPUR 2023).

This lack of affordable housing can largely be attributed to the city’s strict residential zoning laws. Infact, Berkeley was the first city in the country to create single-family zoning – making the development of apartments or other multi-family housing in the city illegal. Single-family zoning contributes to the housing shortage, because despite high demand for more housing, only one home is allowed per lot. Structural racism is strengthened by post-civil rights era residential planning decisions as well, including Berkeley’s current single-family zoning (Chiu and Grayson, 2021). Prohibiting multi-family affordable housing from being built exacerbates the housing crisis, confines lower-income and residents of color to less desirable areas with less resources, makes it harder for families of color to purchase single family homes, and widens the wealth gap between white and non-white residents (Baldassari and Solomon, 2020).

Restrictive residential zoning laws are not only exclusionary but impede upward

mobility. Home ownership rates by race in California reveal stark racial inequalities –65% of white Californians are homeowners, while just 35% of Black Californians own a home (Chiu and Grayson, 2021). This is exacerbated by increased loan denial rates and higher mortgage costs among nonwhite individuals. Finally,it compounds the housing crisis by permitting only one house per lot, despite the urgent demand for more housing in Berkeley.

UC Berkeley also contributes to the housing crisis in wider the city of Berkeley, through their own lack of housing. UC Berkeley offers the least amount of student housing of all the UCs, housing just 23% of their student body (Jones and Brown, 2023). Despite this, the UC continues to increase enrollment each year, by 30% in the past 17 years (Dineen, 2022). This leads to a growing influx of new student residents in Berkeley every fall who must fight for a place to live, exacerbating Berkeley’s housing crisis and creating tensions with residents– sometimes boiling over into lawsuits and protests. Legal claims such as one filed by “Save Berkeley Neighborhoods,” alleged that the UC repeatedly breaches state environmental laws by increasing enrollment, without consideration of the impact to local housing costs (Dineen, 2022). The UC has attempted to build more housing, however. In the battle over People’s Park, a green space in downtown Berkeley with a large homeless encampment, UC Berkeley proposed student housing for 1100 students, leading to considerable community protesting around the park (Watanabe, 2023a). The proposed construction of housing was halted by a court ruling that the project violated state environmental laws (Watanabe, 2023b). This represents a larger issue in the city of Berkeley: both existing residents and university students are at risk of homelessness due to the city’s growing housing crisis, but the aid of one group has the potential to steal housing opportunities from the other.

Economic inequality

Berkeley is a particularly desirable location to live in, with a wealth of job opportunities: but a lack of housing to support the number of jobs in the area (SPUR, 2023). While the median cost of living has risen in the Bay Area, median in comes for Black and Latin house holds stay below the average, meaning while cost of living is rising, wealth among these communities is not growing to meet it (Karlinsky, 2023). The pandemic expedited the gap between rich and poor – making the 1% richer and the low-income population poorer (Griggs, 2021). Economic inequality and financial burden are key drivers of homelessness. A 2023 study conducted on homelessness in the Bay Area found that even if the cause of homelessness was caused by many factors, unhoused individuals believed increased financial support could have prevented it (Kushel and Moore, 2023).

Governmental practices, like redlining, widened the racial wealth gap and still perpetuate housing inequalities and economic disparities among minorities today (Krivkovichetal., 2023; Grayson and Chiu, 2021). Before its criminalization in 1968, “redlining” was a legal and intentional racially discriminatory tactic used by the U.S. Home Owners’ Loan Corporation (HOLC). Used to determine which neighborhoods could be considered “safe” for mortgage loans, neighborhoods on maps were either marked green or yellow for “safe,” or red for “unsafe.” Even if the physical neighborhood had desirable qualities and was technically “safe,” the mere presence of Black residents deemed it a red zone, allowing banks to refuse loans to people in those communities (Barber, 2018). The city of Berkeley has a history of redlining, confining racial and ethnic minorities to low-in come are as such as South and West Berkeley,as opposed to the majority-white and wealthy Berkeley Hills.

Redlining continues to influence residential segregation and economic inequality of Berkeley today. A comparison of a 1940’s HOLC redlining map (Figure 2) and the Othering and Belonging Institute’s contemporary segregation map (Figure 3) reveals an almost direct correlation between the neighborhoods the HOLC deemed “safe” and “white” and “unsafe” and “not white” with the neighborhoods that are most segregated today (Menendian et al., 2020). While redlining is illegal today, minorities still have higher rates of loan denial than white Americans, with Black Americans being denied a loan at almost double the rate as white Americans, and at more expensive mortgage rates (Chiu and Grayson, 2021). A 2023 study by SPUR found that decades of racism make it incredibly difficult for Black residents to buy a home in the Bay Area:

“As homeownership becomes affordable only to those with the highest incomes in the Bay Area, and those able to access intergenerational wealth, the long-term wealth inequality of Black households is exacerbated. Black house holds are less likely to have wealth or access to wealth due to systemic racism (SPUR, 2023)”

Barriers to homeownership for Black and Latinx households creates a significant disadvantage in Berkeley’s competitive rent market–owning a home provides stability to living costs, establishes a financial safety net, and thus guards against homelessness (Karlinsky, 2023).

CURRENT SOLUTIONS AND FURTHER RECOMMENDATIONS

This section identifies problem areas where improvement is needed to adequately address and combat the homelessness crisis in Berkeley. It details the current actions being taken by both governmentaland community-led organizations in these problem areas and makes further recommendations to support and strengthen these actions.

Ending zoning laws and building multi-unit housing

To combat the housing crisis, more housing must be built, and the most significant barrier to this in Berkeley is its strict, singlefamily zoning laws. California passed Senate Bill 9 (SB 9) in January of2022, which enables up to 4 housing units to be built on a singlefamily lot – a direct attack on the state’s long-lasting and strict single-family zoning laws. Unfortunately, according to a 2023 data report of SB9’s first year impact, it has scarcely been used (Garcia and Alameldin, 2023; Wiley, 2023). Berkeley approved 0 lotsplits or SB 9 applications in the past year, after receiving just 5 applications.

Accessory Dwelling Units (ADUs)secondary housing units on one property - have found greatersuccess in the state of California, with higher rates of applicants and approvals (Garcia and Alameldin, 2023). This may be due their more flexible nature, and the fact that California has passed multiple reforms on the law making it easier to build ADUs in the state, which greatly increased the number of ADU applications and approvals since–by88%from2019to2022. Onthebroaderscale,the adoptionof clearer guidelines and zoning standards for SB 9 by the state of California would most likely increase applications and approval for SB 9 units. On the local scale, however, modifying Berkeley’s SB 9 ordinances with flexibility and clear adoption strategies would improve the bill’s efficacy, and advance multi-unit construction by encouraging more homeowners to apply (Garcia and Alameldin, 2023). SB 9 units and ABUs have the potential to greatly increase housing in Berkeley, but regular evaluation of ordinance efficacy and reform is necessary at the city level to ensure these policies are reaching their full potential.

Early intervention for those on the brink of homelessness

To effectively decrease the unhoused population in Berkeley, intervention and support should also be targeted at individuals who are on the path to homelessness. Targeting extremely lowincome households before they fall into chronic homelessness represents a more cost-effective and resource-efficient strategy that mitigates the psychological and physical trauma, as well as the mental and physical health issues challenges associated with homelessness (Krivkovich et al., 2023). Extremely low-income households include those who lie below the federal poverty level or earn 30% or less of a city’s median income - $11,000 in Berkeley (HACLA, 2023; U.S. Census, 2022). A 2023 study of California’s homeless population found that all participants earned a median income of 950 dollars per month within 6 months of becoming homeless. Of those individuals, 90% believed a housing voucher would have prevented homelessness (Petry et al., 2019).

The U.S. requires that under Section 8 of the Housing Act of 1937, housing vouchers for rental subsidies which cover a portion of rent are available for extremely low- income households (BHA, 2023). Berkeley provides vouchers under Section 8, but not everyone who applies for a voucher will be placed on the waitlist, and even if a resident earns a spot on the waitlist, a voucher may take years to arrive. In July of 2022, over 21,000 residents applied for a waitlist spot, and just 2,000 earned spots. (Ravani, 2022).

Federal financial support like Section 8 is crucial, but the intense competition for a place on Berkeley’s waitlist - and long wait-time once approved - underscores the need for extremely affordable housing to supplement this demand. This means continuing to attack Berkeley’s long-standing single family zoning and taking advantage of state funding by supporting statewide programs,

such as California’s Project Homekey, which offers substantial grants to municipalities to convert existing buildings into extremely affordable housing (Reidetal.,2022).

California state funding for homelessness aid has skyrocketed post- pandemic – from $4.7 billion to $800 billion in the past three years - and it is the responsibility of cities like Berkeley to take advantage of these resources and promote and approve new building projects (Krivkovich et al., 2023).

Integrated social services for the chronically homeless

While creating more housing is pertinent, housing needs to be complemented by social support and transition programs, particularly for the chronically homeless (Krivkovich et al., 2023). Services could include residential rehabilitation programs, or permanent supportive housing (Kusheland Moore,2023). Step Up Housing in Berkeley has recently initiated construction for 39 new affordable housing units for lowincome and homeless individuals, which will offer on-site support services for retaining housing, maintaining mental and physical health, and forging community connections (BOSS,2023). Housing with on-site care can help mitigate the significant waitlists for affordable or free psychiatric and substance abuse care in California (Teare and Gaines, 2018). Longer term, the state should tackle this shortage and prioritize funding for non-profit and affordable mental health and substance abuse care programs toreduce delays in accessing non-emergency care. Locally, effective coordination among agencies and support systems, along with clear communication in Berkeley’s promotion of these initiatives is crucial (Krivkovich et al., 2023). This is particularly significant in a state such as California where numerous options could create confusion for individuals seeking care and unsure of where to go.

Striving for racial equity

The outcome of the stark economic and housing inequalities enforced by structural racism in Berkeley is reflected in the disproportionate amount of Black and Latinx individuals in the city’s unhoused population. There is an urgent need for racial equity in support services for the unhoused in Berkeley (Kushel and Moore, 2023). Acknowledgement of the racist past of housing segregation in Berkeley is not enough – direct policy change and municipal actions to dismantle residential zoning is necessary. Future homeownership policies should focus on Black and Latinx households, as well as create homeownership opportunities for all households bringing in 80% or less of the city’s annual median income (Karlinsky, 2023). Racial mobility strategies to support residential integration could be beneficial, for example offering similar rental subsidies to Section 8, which target Black or Latinx households moving into white- dominated areas in Berkeley (Menendian et al., 2020). Structural racism in the U.S. cannot be eradicated by one city, but it falls upon cities like Berkeley to continually confront aspects of their policies and urban landscape which perpetuate inequalities. It is imperative to consistently provide comprehensive data on the racial demographics of those most impacted by the cost of living and housing crisis and develop targeted solutions for these communities to achieve racial equity.

CONCLUSIONS

Alleviating the homelessness crisis in Berkeley requires a multi sectoral, comprehensive approach. Affordable housing must be coupled with a strengthened mental health and substance abuse support system, and policy reform must keep racial disparities of the city in mind. Federal and statewide funds and responses can make an impact, but only if effectively implemented

at the city level. This briefing recognizes the complexities of the path to homelessness, but with an adequate understanding of the main contributory factors, the city of Berkeley can create targeted, precise strategies to alleviate this crisis. Collaboration is essential, both with crafting responses and with promoting them among affected groups.

Paradise for who? Houselessness in Native Hawai’ian populations -Kapolei, Hawai’i

Mhairi Rodger

INTRODUCTION

This briefing is directed at Native Hawai’ians who are houseless, or at risk of becoming, in Kapolei, O’ahu, as well as those who support this community. Kapolei is the second largest city on the Hawai’ian island of O’ahu and is part of Honolulu County. According to the 2020 census, over one million (1,016,580) people reside on O’ahu and minor surrounding islands (U.S. Census Bureau, 2021), with over 21 thousand people (21,411) of this population living in Kapolei (U.S. Census Bureau, 2022). Considered by many as a ‘paradise’ destination, the reality for many Native Hawai’ians is houselessness or the constant threat of. Because Hawai’i is undeniably the home of native populations, I will use the term houselessness rather than homelessness throughout this briefing except when I feel the latter is necessary to properly represent material I am referencing.

An intensely present tourist industry and expat community throughout Hawai’i puts immense pressure on housing supply. Rents are constantly being driven up, and the stark mismatch between local wages for the majority and even the lowest rent costs

leave local populations struggling to meet the cost of living – many being pushed into houselessness (Bond, 2020). This briefing will analyse the background context and current situation of the housing crisis in Kapolei before drawing on examples of initiatives elsewhere to suggest actions the community in Kapolei can take – focusing on long-term solutions that hold community wellbeing and resilience at their centre, as well as the preservation of Hawai’ian culture. I hope that through creating this briefing, I can offer an outside perspective to the housing crisis in Kapolei that is unbiased and help amplify the voices of the marginalised communities around which this report is centred.

CONTEXT AND CURRENT SITUATION

Land Rights

The houselessness epidemic of native Hawai’ians is illustrative of the wider political and social landscape of the state. Western influence in Hawai’i began taking hold through the 18th century, one resulting consequence being the shift in perceptions of land rights that paved the way for the

prioritisation of profit over people that we see across Hawai’i today. Hawai’ians traditionally consider human relationships with the land to be one of stewardship, implying a responsibility to care for and a sense of belonging with the land. In contrast, the western concept of ownership of land does not encourage a reciprocal relationship, instead land is regarded as nothing more than a commodity for human use. In 1848, Hawai’ian land was assigned rights, with the vast majority going to elites and only 1.1% (28 thousand acres) of the total land allocated to the commoners. Native Hawai’ians who had previously lived with and from the land - gathering, hunting, and fishing – were now heavily restricted in what was now regarded as private property. Thousands of Native Hawai’ians were priced off land they had been on for generations (Arias, 2022, pp. 7476).

Tourism

Initial western influence paved the way for the illegal overthrowing of Hawai’i as a sovereign power and subsequently its seizure by the United States of America that resulted in the territory becoming a state in 1959 (Davis, 2022). Following statehood, annual tourist numbers increased by over 16 times to 8 million a year in 2015 (up from below 0.25 million) (Mak, 2015, p.2). Given that the population of Hawai’i in 2015 was 1.4 million (World Population Review, 2020), annual visitor numbers of nearly six times the resident population puts a huge strain on the space and resources of the nation. High demand of land for development has led to evictions across Hawai’i of the remaining people who were living off the land in traditional ways. In their place, rapid residential and commercial development has occurred. An end to many traditional ways of living has been forced, even activities as inoffensive as the gathering of traditional plants have been disallowed (Bates et al., 2018). As stated by Kalehua Krug, Principal

of Ka Waihona o Ka Na’auao school whose curriculum incorporates the revival of Hawai’ian culture, ‘they [the US] could lock up the water, they could lock up the food, they could lock up the ability of Hawai’i to self-sustain’ (as quoted in Davis (2022)). This forceful displacement of native populations made space for non-natives, predominantly rich Americans, to relocate to ‘paradise’ - a flow of people that shows no signs of slowing down (Haunani-Kay, 2018).

Housing for who?

Being a highly desirable location with limited space for further developments but experiencing relentless demand for property, Kapolei has seen rapid increases in property prices and rent in the area over the past years. In 2023, a two-bedroom apartment in Kapolei costs 2400 dollars per month on average to rent, a substantial increase of a third on the average two bed rental price only six years ago in 2017 which was 600 dollars less per month (1800 dollars) (Real Estates Network, 2022). Hawai’i is the state with the most expensive property to buy and is also the third most expensive state for renting property (Arias, 2022, p.77). Some see the booming property market as a sign of prosperity for the state, but we must ask who does it serve? As Arias (2022) explains, ‘[A]lthough Hawai’i may have a strong housing market for luxury-seeking individuals or families, the market is not conductive to the needs of local communities’ (p.78). This high demand for property and the resulting astronomical costs are a large contributing factor to the high cost of living in Hawai’i. Hawai’i has the highest cost of living out of all the American states (Arias, 2022, p.77). A study from 2021 carried out by The Department of Business, Economic Development and Tourism showed that individuals must make ‘significantly more than the minimum wage to be self-sufficient’ (Arias, 2022, p.77), that is to exist without government assistance or other subsidies

to afford life’s essentials, but no luxuries. A single adult would have to make 18.35 dollars per hour while working a forty-hour week to be self-sufficient (Arias, 2022, p.77). However, the minimum wage in Hawai’i in 2021 was only 10.10 dollars per hour (hawaii. gov, 2023). As a result, four out of five households consisting of a single parent with two children were below the self-sufficiency level. And in a family of four, even if two members are working on minimum wage, the family will only be at around half the income level required to be considered self-sufficient (Arias, 2022, pp.77-78). Households below the self-sufficiency level are under constant financial stress, unable to afford the bare-minimum and forced to make choices such as whether to pay rent or put food on the table (United for ALICE, 2023). This systemic issue of misalignment between income and rental costs because of property demand by rich expats and tourists mean that truly affordable housing for local populations is severely lacking in Kapolei and across the state of Hawai’i more broadly (Arias, 2022, pp.77-78).

Houseless but not Homeless

As stated previously, Hawai’i is obviously the rightful home of native Hawai’ians. However, as detailed throughout this report so far, these native populations are being forced out, largely due to issues of affordability. Consequently, Hawai’i has the highest rate of houselessness out of all the American states (Arias, 2022, p.78). With increasing pressure on current services, an area of particular concern is the rise in houseless population without any shelter. The unsheltered population in Kapolei (those that are staying on the streets rather than emergency shelters or transitional housing) increased by over six times in the ten years from 2012 to 2022 (Thielen, 2022). Being unsheltered increased exposure to violence and bad weather, as well as restricting access to food and safe water (Hodge, DiPietro and

Horton-Newell, 2017). One study found Native Hawai’ians or other Pacific Islanders to be 2.65 times as likely to be houseless compared with the general population. In contrast, White individuals were 0.26 times less likely to be houseless, and Asian individuals 0.79 times less likely. In Kapolei, over 80% (81%) of houseless individuals were chronically houseless (houseless for at least one year), with the main self-reported cause of houselessness in the city being inability to pay rent (Thielen, 2022).

Houselessness Impact on Health and Wellbeing

As Hodge DiPietro and Horton-Newell (2017) state, ‘Poor health is simultaneously a cause and consequence of homelessness’. Factors that restrict a person participating fully in contemporary societies (such as physical or mental illness) are typically more present in houseless populations than the general population, both contributing to them becoming houseless in the first place and/or remaining without shelter. In Honolulu County, over one third (36%) of houseless adults or unaccompanied minors were reported to have one or more physical or developmental disabilities. The same proportion of those surveyed (36%) had mental health illness (Pruitt and Barile, 2020).

As houseless seniors are more likely to suffer from physical disabilities or mental illness, a demographic of particular concern is the ageing houseless population on O’ahu. Nearly one quarter (22%) of the houseless population was over the age of 60 in 2023, up from 8% the previous year. This count could be somewhat inaccurate due to the practical difficulties in assessing houseless populations. But insufficient service provision combined with Hawai’i having the fastest aging population in the US is likely a sign that we will continue to see more Hawai’ians becoming and/or remaining houseless later in life (Terrell, 2023).

A Brief Critique of Current Mitigation Efforts

In 2015, the governor of Hawai’i announced a state of emergency regarding homelessness in the state. Subsequently, the declaration has been renewed four times. As a result, homeless service contracts have been extended, numerous laws that elongate the process of building shelters for houseless individuals have been suspended, and over one million dollars (1.3 million) has been invested in addressing the crisis. However, some of the implemented mitigation efforts are highly controversial. In Honolulu County, begging on the street has been barred, and informal camps of houseless populations are being disrupted and/or cleared (Hodge, DiPietro and Horton-Newell, 2017). Although the government and non-governmental organisations do provide services for houseless individuals across O’ahu, native Hawai’ians are underrepresented in the use of mainstream solutions like shelters and temporary housing that allow immediate care to be delivered. Nearly half (48%) of the native Hawai’ian houseless population are classed as ‘repeaters’ – observed to be houseless on more than one occasion (Pruitt and Barile, 2020). Current service provisions are clearly falling short of native Hawai’ian needs. Additionally, even if utilised, current services are not necessarily sufficient to prevent, or address the roots of, houselessness. A governmental report in Honolulu County found that ‘as quickly as service providers house people, new individuals fall into homelessness to take their place.’ (Pruitt and Barile, 2020). More must be done to prevent houselessness occurring in the first place or else this cycle of houselessness will continue perpetually (Pruitt and Barile, 2020). It is important therefore to consider action the community itself can take to break this cycle, rather than waiting for support from outside bodies which may never be provided and who have largely failed native Hawai’ians historically.

MOVING FORWARD - COMMUNITY RECOMMENDATIONS

Taking inspiration from Okinawan, Japan

As the main factor cited by those that are houseless in Kapolei is inability to pay rent (Thielen, 2022), this is clearly the area that must urgently be addressed in order to tackle the issue at its root and put a permanent end to the epidemic of houselessness that Kapolei, and Hawai’i in general, is currently experiencing. Solutions must be created that safeguard the financial security of populations at risk of houselessness in order to prevent houselessness in the first instance. One way this could be done is through creating a community financial support system. A similar system exists in Okinawan, Japan where small groups commit to supporting each other through life, including providing financial assistance when needed (Blue Zones, 2018). In Kapolei, with so many living in a precarious financial situation, this community provided insurance could allow rent to still be paid when unforeseen circumstances arise - in the instance of a missed pay-check due to illness, for example. Preventing the initial occurrence of houselessness is important as once this occurs, many more risks are encountered that often lead to people being trapped in a cycle of houselessness (Hodge, DiPietro and Horton-Newell, 2017). With such stark wealth disparities in Kapolei (Arias, 2022, p.78), valuable contributions akin to reparations could be made to the support group by more affluent members of the community and businesses that reap the benefits of tourism and expats in Hawai’i, if these groups can be appealed to. Beyond direct financial support, other factors that contribute to the likelihood of houselessness like substance abuse and domestic violence could be less likely to occur thanks to interventions and assistance from the support group (Pruitt and Barile, 2020).

Learning from the Pu’uhonua O Wai’anae community

One way the community can provide longterm solutions is by placing the focus on building relationships and the community itself rather than outcomes such as housing or overcoming substance abuse. By achieving this, the later issues can also be achieved with higher success rates and greatly reduced chance of relapse since people are able to put down roots and find stability that provides them with long-term support. Shelters can only take people for a maximum of 90 days, meaning that the same circumstances that led them to be there in the first place are often waiting for them again when they leave. In contrast, giving people time and space to form relationships within a community and shape their own life and path to healing with help from those around them means many initial issues that contributed to, or were encountered during, their houselessness dissolve or cease to impact the person (Puʻuhonua O Waiʻanae, n.d.).

As the true experts on the houselessness crisis are those who have direct experience of it, we can learn a lot from actions taken by other communities that have emerged from the same situation. One such community is Pu’uhonua O Wai’anae - a community also located on O’ahu, 12 miles north of Kapolei that is home to around 250 houseless people, two thirds of whom are Native Hawai’ians. It defines itself as being ’community first’ – believing relationships to be the key to healing and living well. Pu’uhonua O Wai’anae began organically as temporary structures on state land. It has since grown into a ‘village’, providing a dependable base for its members. Importantly, it is a community led project, managed and maintained by members of the community, decisions are made for the community by the community (Puʻuhonua O Waiʻanae, n.d.).

The power of collective action can be seen through actions this community has taken. For example, since the village of Pu’uhonua O Wai’anae is on state land, it cannot remain in its original location permanently. Fortunately, organised fundraising by the community has guaranteed its future –raising enough money to purchase 20 acres of land in order to transition to a permanent location. This transition is still in progress, with fundraising currently being carried out for necessary construction in their new location which will be capable of housing and providing services to around 300 people. Without members of the community endeavouring to make this happen, this would not have been possible (Puʻuhonua O Waiʻanae, n.d.).

Collective action is also necessary for communities to be resilient to policies that work against the interests of houseless populations. An example of this can again be found in the experience of the Pu’uhonua O Wai’anae village. The government, far from assisting this community that not only works to improve the health and wellbeing of members but also saves the state a significant amount of money every year (an estimated two million dollars annually), very nearly evicted the community in 2018. However, pushback from locals and the wider Hawai’ian population gained the support of organisations and led to a local governor intervening, avoiding this eviction being realised. This sort of community power and support can be recreated in Kapolei. Efforts could be made to rally support from local businesses, organisations, and even governmental officials in the early days of a community housing project similar to Pu’uhonua O Wai’anae. Another valuable effort would be seeking to create a dialogue and reciprocal relationship with the already established community of Pu’uhonua O Wai’anae, enabling similar communities to assist and learn from each other. This

would increase the resilience of new similar communities in Kapolei to destructive actions from the state that impede the ability of a community to provide for their people (Puʻuhonua O Waiʻanae, n.d.).

Centring New Developments Around Traditional Ways of Life

As well as ensuring housing is affordable, it is important to ensure communities can live in ways that honour their history and culture. Addressing the housing crisis in Kapolei offers an opportunity to undo some of the historic violent erasure of indigenous ways of life in Hawai’i.

Bates et al. state that ‘Indigenous practices are not understood as urban possibilities’ (2018). A priority when building infrastructure designed to make Hawai’i affordable for native populations should be the incorporation of indigenous practices and ideas into housing plans. Native Hawai’ians have traditionally had multigenerational living arrangements but this way of living that is not catered for by current housing provision in Hawai’i which is heavily influenced by western living arrangements designed for nuclear families (Laforteza, 2022). However, challenging western norms and moving toward this more traditional feature of native Hawai’ian living would not only honour indigenous practices, but it would also increase the resilience and self-sufficiency of the community. Land in Hawai’i is limited so designing communities that have co-living arrangements can reduce space requirements and development costs (and therefore rent) as well as offer a range of other benefits. Every household can still have private indoor space as well as some having a small area of private outdoor space. However, the vast majority of outdoor space and amenities would be shared. Gardens, kitchens, social spaces and laundry facilities would not exist for the private use of one household as is the norm in western societies today. Adopting

these co-living arrangements would allow traditional multigenerational living. Besides saving on space, resources and cost, this way of living would benefit the overall wellbeing of community members in other ways. For example, multigenerational living can provide a purpose for those that are unable to do paid work (Puʻuhonua O Waiʻanae, n.d.). Since the houseless population in Hawai’i is aging, it is important to design housing solutions where those unable to find paid work due to physical or mental barriers are provided with a purpose and are able to contribute to their communities as far as they are able (Terrell, 2023). Everybody benefits, with childcare being available for working parents, and other jobs that enrich the community like gardening or cleaning being covered. Additionally, wisdom can be passed down through generations, as well as the reassurance for everyone that every individual will be valued and cared for by the community no matter their economic contribution and ability to partake in paid work.

Within these co-living developments, another way indigenous practices can be incorporated is through the creation of shared community gardens. This would allow the growing of native crops and enable the community to harvest some of its own produce. This importantly preserves aspects of native Hawai’ian culture by allowing people to create and/or maintain a connection with the land, as has been done in Hawai’i for generations. Additionally, it would help reduce living costs by providing cheap food for people, reducing reliance on imports which are susceptible to price shocks (Loke and Leung, 2013). Once established, these gardens could help serve the wider community by establishing a food larder, providing food for others struggling with the cost of living and acting as a preventative measure to reduce the number of people that are forced into houselessness.

CONCLUSION

This briefing has outlined how the occupation of Hawai’i has led to a disproportionate number of native Hawai’ians being without housing in Kapolei. The compounding impacts resulting from colonialism over generations leaves native populations fighting for a place to live on the island that is their home. I have demonstrated how interventions from the state are falling short in addressing this and have made suggestions of actions the community itself can take that could help put an end to the crisis of houselessness that native Hawai’ians must currently contend with. It is important to note policy change that would provide reparations to native Hawai’ian populations is highly valuable and should continue being fought for, but as the state has historically let native populations down, it is important this takes place in conjunction with other action. I hope by offering the above suggestions, the community can regain some agency over its future - increasing quality of life for its members and undoing or at least preventing further loss of culture and native people in Kapolei.

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The Seine-Saint-Denis and the legacy of the Paris 2024 Olympics infrastructures Who actually benefits?

Pia Stefani

INTRODUCTION AND MY POSITION

The Olympics Games are an event that excites the world, places the host city at the center of worldwide conversations, and allows the world to tune in to support a team of athletes representing their country. However, is this the reality for the people who live in those host cities? I am addressing you today because this mega sports event is coming to your city, to your neighborhood. Indeed, Paris won the bid to host the 2024 Summer Olympics Games (Paris 2024 2020, 3). How does it concern you, the community of Seine-Saint-Denis? Because Paris 2024 is promising a focus on the department to massively contribute to its economic and social development (Paris 2024 2021, 7). While it sounds great on paper, I am writing this briefing to highlight the challenges that come with these promises, which you are currently living through, and how, as a community, you can ensure that you benefit from this pour of money and attraction.

I am writing to you, not as a member of your community but as an academic from a place close to yours who has done extensive research on your community, your history and the challenges you face. From that research, I write a list of recommendations based on other communities’ work worldwide that could ultimately benefit your case. I recognized that I am not from the same socio-political and economic background as you. Indeed, I was born and raised in France, like most of you, but in Versailles, the 4th city of more than 50 000 inhabitants with the highest standard of living in France (Molina 2020). While it is considered a banlieue as well, it is wealthy and prestigious with a very different reputation from your banlieue (Selby 2009, 90; Dikeç 2007, 4). Now you might be wondering why you should listen to my recommendations considering my background. I believe that change starts locally and focusing on communities and places around where we are from is crucial.

I want to put my research skills in urban planning and community-based actions to your benefit and offer you all the tools you might need, in addition to your experiences and local knowledge, to best face the challenges you are currently experiencing. I will bring you the stories and experiences of other communities like you that have managed or attempted to fight back to ensure that new infrastructures benefit them first and that promises are kept. You will find in this community briefing a contextualisation of this case with an explanation of the history of the banlieues, the link to your community, what challenges you are facing and finally some recommendations to best face those challenges.

HISTORY OF THE BANLIEUES AND ITS COMMUNITY

To best come up with fitting recommendations, it is crucial to understand where a community comes from and how it was created. In your case, I want to explain the origins of the banlieues, their link to France’s urban planning history and how this space has created or was forced to create, such a solid and unique community. Firstly, the word banlieue is the literal translation of suburb; however, with time, the term started to carry negative connotations (Dikeç 2007, 7). Indeed, while there are richer banlieues such as Versailles, the term is most often associated with a poor socio-political and economic situation as well as images of exclusion, social housing, unemployment and poverty that has been built and sustained by hundreds of years of French urban planning (Angélil and Siress 2012, 57; Selby 2009, 90; Dikeç 2007, 7). While banlieues can be found all around France, I decided to focus primarily on the ones surrounding Paris. These originate from the first major urban modernization undertaken in Paris by Baron Georges Haussmann at the

time of Emperor Napoleon III (Gandy 1999, 23). This massive transformation looked to convert “a congested medieval city into a dynamic modern metropolis” (27). With this grand urban reconstruction came the first movement that drove the poorer classes out of the city core towards the periphery, which, after 1918, became the banlieues (Cohen 2006, 92). What followed this movement was years of French urban planning that created and maintained this divide between the city core and the periphery, where the center represents power, wealth and exclusiveness while the outskirts are reserved for the lower classes, the immigrants, the marginalized (Angélil and Siress 2012, 59). It is clear that France’s urban planning deliberately placed the banlieues, both its location and its community, at the periphery of society.

The banlieues are populated by a majority of post-war North African immigrants and, therefore, are highly racially and ethnically diverse which leads to further social injustices and exclusion as French urban policy is tightly linked to its issues with immigration and citizenship (Cohen 2006, 93; Beaman 2017, 56; Dikeç 2007, 33). These injustices, such as poor living conditions, low employment rates and poverty, have led to the growing rage of banlieues residents and rising tensions between those residents and the authorities (Angélil and Siress 2012, 58-62). You probably remember the uprising of autumn 2005 when despair led the youth of the banlieues to acts of destruction around the neighborhoods to protest the injustices and the abandonment they were facing (Cohen 2006, 99). Similar protests and unrest happened last summer after the murder of a young banlieue inhabitant by a policeman (Radford 2023), showing the sustained injustices, violence and marginalization faced by the residents of the banlieues and the divide between their community and the privileged city-core and

its authorities. While those injustices create tensions, they also strengthen solidarity between community members (Beaman 2017, 59) and this solidarity and sense of community is the essence of this briefing. Indeed, it has been proven that French urban policies leave the banlieues at the periphery, so those communities must act to improve their living conditions.

The banlieues I am focusing on in this briefing are the ones in the department of Seine-Saint-Denis where the 2024 Paris Olympic Games are partly going to take place. Seine-Saint-Denis has the lowest average standard of living in Metropolitan France and the highest poverty rate of 28.4% (Insee 2021; Snaije 2022). Paris 2024 (2021) recognizes those rates and the urban, social and territorial fractures that the department faces (19) and believes that the benefits of hosting this mega-sporting event will contribute to the economic and urban development of the department (17). However, can a sports event ‘fix’ years of unjust urban planning and marginalization? Can the community benefit from the involvement of the organizers? This briefing will argue that the event itself will not ‘fix’ those injustices but if the community affected follows specific recommendations, it can attempt to benefit from the Games. The community I am focusing on, the one I am currently addressing, is the inhabitants of the banlieues of Seine-Saint-Denis who are directly impacted by the Paris 2024 games at the intersections between Saint-Ouen, Saint-Denis and l’Île-Saint Denis (Sarango 2023). It is made of the working and lowincome classes who have lived in SaintDenis for decades and have experienced the marginalization of French urban policies and faced abandonment from the rest of the country. It is also a community built on strength and solidarity which will be crucial for effective community-based actions.

THE CHALLENGES - THE LEGACY OF THE OLYMPIC VILLAGE

The focus of Paris 2024 on Seine-SaintDenis poses the questions of who will ultimately benefit from new infrastructures and the amount of money poured into the department. While the city’s bid announced that it will attempt to host cheap and sustainable games and will rely on existing infrastructures to do so, 95% of the new infrastructures that they do need to build are located in Seine-Saint-Denis (Leussier 2019; Snaije 2022). 80% of the public investment unlocked for the games to build those infrastructures is therefore being poured into the department (Mella 2023). Cécile Gintrac, a geographer living in Saint-Denis since 2011, notes that there has never been such a large amount of money poured into Seine-Saint-Denis (Enjeux 2024, 2019). One prominent new infrastructure that I will focus on is the Olympic Village. It is being constructed in Seine-Saint-Denis and is planned to be mainly transformed into housing units, with the promise of 40% of public housing in the city’s bid (SaintDenis 2023; Impact 2024 2021, 40; Gagnepain 2023). The transformed Olympic Village will welcome 6,000 residents and offer 6,000 employment opportunities (Saint-Denis 2023). The objective is to improve the area’s socio-economic development with this new neighborhood of opportunities (Impact 2024 2021, 29). Finally, the Games note that the improvement of the area is to be done in collaboration with the local stakeholders to ensure the development of an inclusive society that takes into account the needs of all its citizens (40). The Games’ promises seem to benefit the community of Saint-Denis, to include them in the decision-making and to ensure the area’s economic, social and urban development.

However, the community of Seine-SaintDenis does not have a say in where and how the money being poured into their

department will be best used and ensure that they benefit from it. Indeed, because large amounts of money are involved, decisions are made fast and the community is not taking part in the actual decisionmaking. While Paris 2024 is hosting public meetings in an attempt to include the locals in the decision-making process, Cécile notes that few residents show up and those that do are being ignored because it seems that the decisions have already been made under the pretense of short delays and efficiency (Enjeux 2024, 2019; Gagnepain, 2023). A similar turn of events happened during the 2012 London Olympics Games planning when tensions arose between local communities and organizers on questions of speed and efficiency as the community was ignored in favor of top-down decisionmaking (Davis and Thornley 2010, 97). While the games promise that the renovations are being decided upon by discussing with local actors and collectivities (Impact 2024 2021, 29), the reality shows the opposite. This reality suggests that the community cannot rely on the Games’ empty promises to benefit from the legacy of the Olympics but on its own actions.

Another main challenge that arises from the Olympic Village and the promises of new housing units is the lack of affordability for the main residents of Seine-SaintDenis. Firstly, the price per square meter is announced at 7 500 euros while the average price per square meter in the city is 4 175 euros (Sarango 2023; Gagnepain 2023). A clear rise already demonstrates that the local community might not be taken into account as much as what was promised originally. Secondly, the promise of 40% converted public housing units has already decreased to 25%, as confirmed by the city of Saint-Denis (Mella 2023; Saint-Denis 2023; Gagnepain 2023). Residents express their despair, recognizing that they cannot afford these new apartments and fearing the influx

of wealthier communities from the citycore (Sarango 2023; Leussier 2019; Kokabi 2020). The promise of inclusive public housing turns into a reality of expensive accommodations that will benefit estate agents and wealthy Parisians but not the local community of Saint-Denis. A link can be made between this reality and the history of the community of the banlieues. Indeed, they have constantly been displaced to the periphery, both geographically and socially, and a mega sports event will not suddenly fix years of exclusion and injustices. By making the Olympic Village housing so expensive, social exclusion is perpetuated within the banlieues. If the residents of the banlieues cannot afford to live there anymore, where will they go? The Games’ false promises of including the community in the decisionmaking process, affordable housing, and social and economic development demonstrate how the community cannot benefit from the legacy of Paris 2024.

Expectations of who will benefit and the reality are very different in the case of Olympic legacies. Indeed, it often leads to “exacerbated urban inequalities.” (Snaije, 2022) and the inexistent benefits towards existing communities (Davis and Thornley 2010, 89). The 2024 Paris Games followed the Olympic motto, “faster, higher, stronger” (Paris 2024 2020, 7), by promising faster action towards the urgent climate crisis, higher demands and strengths in numbers and community (Ibid.). However, the actual legacy of these games does not seem to follow this motto and those promises. Its legacy proves to be unaffordable housing for local communities, 6,000 new wealthy neighbors (Gagnepain 2023) and proof once again that the banlieues are placed at the periphery. Similar events happened in previous Olympics. Indeed, the London Olympics promised to be a “model for social inclusion” (Wainwright 2022) and were going to deliver 30,000-40,000 affordable

housing for the area in East London (Snaije 2022; Wainwright 2022). Ten years later, only 13,000 were constructed and 11% of them were affordable to some locals (Snaije 2022; Wainwright 2022). The Athens Olympics promised to leave Athens as a modern city with new transport and infrastructure but, in reality, most of the new facilities were never converted into usable venues, leaving them abandoned (Kissoudi 2010, 2793). It is repeatedly proven that Olympic Games urban plans do not meet the promises made to local communities and suggest that any gain will have to be made through other means, such as community-based actions.

THE RECOMMENDATIONS

The main focus of this community briefing is to best recommend your community on which actions to put in place to best face those challenges and ensure that the legacy of Paris 2024 benefits the community of Seine-Saint-Denis socially, economically and environmentally. It is crucial to ensure that the banlieues are not related to the periphery once again and, as proven over the years, this will not be done through governmental and corporate actions but through community-based ones. I will outline how you, the residents of Seine-Saint-Denis, can use community organizing to collaborate with and learn from other organizations and establish a Community Land Trust to best ensure that this legacy benefits you. Community organizing is about engaging with the residents of an area on a challenge that concerns them directly and building connections between them and others to face those issues (Hasan 2022). In your context, all members of the community are concerned and can bring their knowledge, experiences and skills to best organize and ensure justice. Residents interviewed in the documentary Enjeux 2024 (2019) suggested the need for the community to talk, connect and build relationships so that when a challenge

such as the housing situation linked to the Olympic Village arises, the community can get together and become actors of what is happening in the city. The diversity of backgrounds, ages and professions is community organizing treasure. Indeed, I recommend all to join: those who have lived in the city their whole life, those who moved recently, those with previous organizing skills and those with urban planning skills, all knowledge and experiences are needed to best face the challenge.

Members of the community have already started to organize over the issues by forming the Comité de Vigilance JO 2024 to ensure that all the money poured into SeineSaint-Denis serves to improve their living conditions (Leussier 2019). When it started in 2017, the collective wanted to understand the Games’ impact on Saint-Denis; now, they want to ensure that the positive legacy promised will happen (Gagnepain 2023). In addition to highlighting problematic plans and other campaigning projects, they have already offered solutions and alternatives to best benefit the people of Saint-Denis (Snaije 2022). Their demands regarding the legacy of the Olympic Village include follow-up public meetings to best ensure the future of the infrastructures and ensure that the community is a part of the decision-making and an independent monitoring center focused specifically on the evolution of the housing situation (Comité de vigilance JO 2024 2023). While the demands and recommendations are already proof of effective organizing, I recommend that the community of Saint-Denis goes a step further to enact change from the community that is not dependent on higher powers.

Firstly, I recommend learning from and collaborating with other coalitions and organizations. During the 2012 London Olympics, the Counter Olympics Network was formed and brought together the different groups affected by the Olympics

around questions of housing, public and green spaces (Boykoff 2014, 93). I suggest learning from this network and building one of your own by joining the European Action Coalition for the right to Housing and to the City. The EAC connects different movements across European cities to strengthen the fight and take action on European Housing issues (EAC 2023; Bonfert 2021, 524). One of the French organizations part of the EAC is the Droit Au Logement (DAL – Right to Housing) which fights for housing rights in the Paris region (EAC 2020). They believe in the collective participation of their members in the decision-making process and the elaboration of strategies to ensure affordable housing (Ibid.). I highly recommend the community of Saint-Denis and the Comité Vigilance JO 2024 to join in with DAL at the next meeting of the EAC from November 9th to 12th in Paris to discuss strategies with other groups, learn from their experience and find new skills to best fight your challenge (EAC 2023). It is crucial to learn from other communities doing similar work to figure out the best action plan. Like the Londoners in 2012, be part of a collective, share your experience and come back to your solid and connected community to disperse this knowledge and those skills and act in favor of the residents of Saint-Denis against the false promises of Paris 2024.

A practical recommendation I would like to introduce is a community land trust (CLT). A CLT is a perfect representation of a community-led response to housing problems as it leads to the ownership of the land a property is on (Engelsman, Rowe and Southern 2018, 103-105). To achieve a CLT, a non-profit collective buys the land and acts as its steward (Davis 2010, 25). The community’s poorest residents can then get priority access to affordable housing on the land (Ibid.). Moreover, the land is considered shared and preserved heritage between the community across generations to ensure

that the local community always has access to affordable housing in its area and is not displaced or gentrified (4). In the context of Saint-Denis, a CLT could be established over the Olympic Village to ensure a legacy that benefits the local community now and in years to come. CLTs often originate from community organizing and activism in response to local injustices and can be seen as the defense of space from local communities (Engelsman, Rowe and Southern 2018, 109119). One example of a successful CLT is the community of Cooper Square in New York City (Engelsman, Rowe and Southern 2018, 110). The neighborhood has many cultures and immigrant workers with a history of working-class activism (112). They organized as a community to buy and own the land to ensure affordable housing and combat displacement and gentrification (114). I would recommend the community of Saint-Denis gets inspired by Cooper Square, keeps organizing under Comité Vigilance JO 2024 and joins in with EAC and DAL to collect funding and investment to create a Community Land Trust on the land of the Olympic Village. It is a very ambitious project and it might take years to implement; the Cooper Square community took over 50 years to implement a CLT successfully (112). However, it could ensure that SaintDenis reclaims its right to space and takes control over the legacy of a sport event that promised to benefit them but is currently failing to keep those promises.

Now all of you must realize that your community, the banlieues, deserve to be included; it is your right. Henry Lefebvre, a French philosopher, talked of a “right to the city” (Lefebvre 1967, 29), which Angélil and Siress (2012) complemented by highlighting that this right does not just come from the center of a city but also from its margins, from its periphery (64). Moreover, they note the importance of including political, economic and social equality in the meaning

of this right (Ibid.). You, therefore, have a right to occupy the space you belong in and you have the right to demand fair and just treatment and affordable housing. After having been relegated to the periphery throughout France’s urban planning eras, you can use the opportunity offered by the Paris 2024 Olympics to change the narrative. Instead of being at the periphery, you are at its core. Nevertheless, do not trust the leaders to keep their promises. Instead, take the matter into your own hands and organize to ensure that the legacy of these urban plans and those Olympic games benefit you first and foremost. The right to your city and your space must be defined by your community, not others. I hope this briefing provides you with the right tools to start this work.

REFERENCES

Angélil, Marc, and Cary, Siress. “THE PARIS ‘BANLIEUE’: PERIPHERIES OF INEQUITY.” Journal of International Affairs 65, no. 2 (2012): 57–67. http://www.jstor. org/stable/24388218.

Beaman, Jean. “Marginalization and Middle-Class Blues: Race, Islam, the Workplace, and the Public Sphere.” In Citizen Outsider: Children of North African Immigrants in France, 1st ed., 43–65. University of California Press, 2017. http://www.jstor.org/stable/10.1525/j. ctt1w8h1qh.8.

Bonfert, Bernd “‘The real power must be in the base’ – Decentralised collective intellectual leadership in the European Action Coalition for the Right to Housing and to the City” Capital & Class 45, no. 4 (2021): 523–541. https://doi.org/10.1177/0309816821997117

Boykoff, Jules. Activism and the Olympics: Dissent at the Games in Vancouver and London. Ithaca, NY: Rutgers University Press, 2014. https://doi-org.ezproxy.st-andrews. ac.uk/10.36019/9780813562032

Cohen, Jean-Louis, and Julie Rose. “Burning Issues In the Banlieues.” Log, no. 7 (2006): 90–99. http://www. jstor.org/stable/41765090.

Comité de vigilance JO 2024 “Les JO approchent, mais les inquiétudes ne s’éloignent pas !” October 2, 2023. https://www.facebook.com/photo?fbid=7096840411993 05&set=a.558267523007625

Davis, John Emmeus “Origins and evolution of the community land trust in the United States” In The community land trust reader edited by John Emmeus Davis, 3-47. Cambridge, MA: Lincoln Institute of Land Policy, 2010.

Davis, Juliet and Thornley, Andy. “Urban regeneration for the London 2012 Olympics: Issues of land acquisition and legacy”. City, Culture and Society 1, no.2 (June 2010): 89-98. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ccs.2010.08.002

Dikeç, Mustafa. Badlands of the Republic: Space, Politics and Urban Policy. Blackwell Publishing, 2007.

EAC. “Droit Au Logement - DAL - European Action Coalition,” January 10, 2020. https://housingnotprofit.org/ all-members/droit-au-logement-dal/.

EAC. “Join Us - European Action Coalition,” July 16, 2023. https://housingnotprofit.org/join-us/.

Engelsman, Udi, Rowe, Mike & Southern, Alan “Community Land Trusts, affordable housing and community organising in low-income neighbourhoods” International Journal of Housing Policy 18, no.1 (2018): 103-123. DOI: 10.1080/14616718.2016.1198082

Gagnepain, Névil. “JO 2024 : « Le projet ne défend pas une qualité de vie pour les habitants de Seine-Saint-Denis »” BondyBlog, July 27, 2023. https://www.bondyblog. fr/societe/jo-2024-le-projet-ne-defend-pas-une-qualitede-vie-pour-les-habitants-de-seine-saint-denis/

Gagnepain, Névil. “JO 2024 : à Saint-Denis, les intérêts financiers avant la santé des enfants” BondyBlog, July 27, 2023. https://www.bondyblog.fr/societe/jo-2024-a-saintdenis-les-interets-financiers-avant-la-sante-des-enfants/

Gandy, Matthew. “The Paris Sewers and the Rationalization of Urban Space.” Transactions of the Institute of British Geographers 24, no. 1 (1999): 23–44. http://www. jstor.org/stable/623339.

Hasan, Mahbub “Community Organizing for People, Power and Change” in Community Development Practice: From Canadian and Global Perspectives by Mahbub Hasan. Toronto: Centennial College, 2022.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-66038227

Impact Paris 2024 “plan heritage et durabilite” Medias Paris 2024, September 2021. https://medias.paris2024. org/uploads/2021/09/Paris2024-210830-Legacy-Plan-FR. pdf

Insee “Revenus et patrimoine des ménages” Institut national de la statistique et des études économiques, May 27, 2021. https://www.insee.fr/fr/statistiques/5371235?sommaire=5371304

Kissoudi, Penelope. “Athens’ Post-Olympic Aspirations and the Extent of their Realization” The International Journal of the History of Sport 27, no.16-18 (December 2010): 2780-2797. DOI: 10.1080/09523367.2010.508269

Kokabi, Alexandre-Reza. “Les JO 2024 à Paris, une catastrophe écologique en Seine-Saint-Denis” Reporterre, December 12, 2020. https://reporterre.net/Les-JO-2024a-Paris-une-catastrophe-ecologique-en-Seine-Saint-Denis

Lefebvre, Henri “Le droit à la ville” L’Homme et la société, n.6 (1967): 29-35. DOI : https://doi.org/10.3406/ homso.1967.1063

Leussier, Héloïse. “JO 2024 : la colère des habitants de Saint-Denis, oubliés des projets de renouveau urbain” Reporterre, April 9, 2019. https://reporterre.net/JO-2024la-colere-des-habitants-de-Saint-Denis-oublies-desprojets-de-renouveau

Mella, Manon. “Paris 2024 : en Seine-Saint-Denis, ces habitants “se battent pour que les JO ne soient pas en défaveur des habitants“.” France Info, July 26, 2023. https://www.francetvinfo.fr/les-jeux-olympiques/reportage-paris-2024-en-seine-saint-denis-ces-habitantsse-battent-pour-que-les-jo-ne-soient-pas-en-defaveurdes-habitants_5970764.html

Molina, Valérie “Principaux résultats sur les revenus et la pauvreté des ménages en 2017” Institut national de la statistique et des études économiques, June 16, 2020. https://www.insee.fr/fr/statistiques/4508514?sommaire=4507229

Paris 2024 “ Rapport Durabilité et héritage” Medias Paris 2024, August 2021. https://medias.paris2024.org/ uploads/2021/08/PARIS-2024-210730-Rapport-Durabilite-et-Heritage-002.pdf

Paris 2024 “notre engagement pour paris 2024” Medias Paris 2024, November 2020. https://medias.paris2024. org/uploads/2020/10/Paris2024-201001-SUS-policy-002. pdf

Radford, Antoinette “Anger in Paris after police kill teen in traffic stop” BBC, June 28, 2023.

Saint-Denis “Le Village des athlètes, futur quartier durable accessible à toutes et tous” Saint-Denis, July 11, 2023. https://ville-saint-denis.fr/village-olympique-heritage

Sarango, Emma. ““Ça devient concret” : un an avant Paris 2024, le contre-la-montre est lancé sur le chantier du village olympique” France Info, July 26, 2023. https:// www.francetvinfo.fr/les-jeux-olympiques/paris-2024/ reportage-ca-devient-concret-un-an-avant-paris-2024le-contre-la-montre-est-lance-sur-le-chantier-du-village-olympique_5971301.html

Selby, Jennifer. “When Distance Is Not Geographical: Paris and a Northeastern ‘Banlieue.’” Anthropology Now 1, no. 2 (2009): 88–93. http://www.jstor.org/stable/41203545.

Snaije, Lucas. “The ‘Olympic Legacy’ In Cities And The Right Of Parisians To Irreverence” The Urban Activist, August 23, 2022. https://theurbanactivist.com/ idea/the-olympic-legacy-in-cities-and-the-right-of-parisians-to-irreverence/?fbclid=IwAR0TALokZeHJpH_yD4fxQPRcpddG51OEtvVt_sD-zkWD0Yx5SIUkbkjIK_g

Wainwright, Oliver. “‘A massive betrayal’: how London’s Olympic legacy was sold out” The Guardian UK, June 30, 2022. https://www.theguardian.com/uknews/2022/jun/30/a-massive-betrayal-how-londonsolympic-legacy-was-sold-out

Zimmer, Alex and Manon Vergerio, dirs. Enjeux 2024 Vimeo: Alex Zimmer, 2019.

New York City

New York

United States

Community engagement as changemaking for NYC public housing residents

Victoria Lee

INTRODUCTION

Scrolling through NYC-based Facebook groups will eventually lead users to 1NYCHA: a podcast highlighting everyday issues at New York City Housing Authority (NYCHA) public housing developments. On the page, host and activist Saundrea Coleman advertises local events and interviews tenants ‘on site’ in their homes to discuss public housing issues. Her latest is with Teandria Washington, a pregnant mother of two living in Manhattan’s Vladeck Houses. She tells Saundrea:

“I don’t want to bring my baby into this apartment. My kids wake me up in the middle of the night to tell me there’s roaches crawling on them, no matter how much I clean it. I want to start over in a shelter” (1NYCHA interview, 2023).

Teandria has put in numerous requests for repairs, none of which have ever been completed. Having never missed a rent payment, she feels that NYCHA is breaching its obligation to keep her home and family safe.

What is perhaps even more appalling than Teandria’s conditions is the fact that this is not a unique experience. Rather, New Yorkers are familiar with NYCHA’s almost daily presence in the local news for its infamously poor infrastructure and responsiveness to tenant requests. While residents have historically used self-advocacy to maintain quality housing, recent policy shifts have resulted in a divestment of funding – and voice – from public housing residents like Teandria.

In this briefing, I will first examine how federal disinvestment from public housing has led to a decline in housing quality, and how the introduction of private actors undermines resident influence. I will then introduce NYCHA resident communities by showcasing how they have responded to challenge, through and outside of formal resident participation. Finally, I will present recommendations that aid communities to re-establish their influence through resident engagement, and explore potential for a resident-led method of management.

Positionality

Although my knowledge of NYC public housing is purely secondhand, being born and raised in NYC with formative years spent in Lower Manhattan, South Brooklyn, and the northwest Bronx has taught me that different neighborhoods across New York have highly distinct needs. At the same time, understanding underlying reasons for why issues persist is fundamental to creating effective, sustainable solutions that address the root of the issue rather than symptoms (Chaskin, 2016, p.374). As a student of Social Anthropology and Sustainable Development, I approach problems via their underlying social dynamics – informing my recommendations that target the root causes of NYCHA conditions, and maintain flexibility to suit the unique needs and characters of NYCHA developments across NYC.

CHALLENGE

A history of divestment

In 1937, the US federal government established a programme of public housing across the nation, overseen by state public housing authorities (PHAs). These PHAs operate Section 9 public housing, which relies on federal funding to construct and maintain public housing units.

However, focus and funding toward Section 9 housing began to diminish in the late 20th century, as the US government approached economic growth through promotion of the private sector (Harvey, 2005; Abramovitz, 2014). In line with this, the “watershed” 1974 Housing and Community Development Act dramatically divested from PHA funding, and established Section 8 housing: privately owned and managed low-income housing, subsidised by the federal Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) (Vale and Freemark, 2012, p.387). Another

resurgence in private sector-oriented policy toward the end of the 20th century resulted in further sweeping cuts to public housing, as the private sector increased its involvement (HRW, 2022, p.17).

Since 2000, the impact of these depleted federal resources has become painstakingly clear in NYCHA housing. Reports of broken boilers, mold infestations, collapsing ceilings, and a lack of heat and hot water during the winters are constant (NYCHA, 2023; Duddridge, 2022; CBS, 2018). With no sign of the federal government reinvesting in Section 9 housing, PHAs and HUD have turned to alternate sources of revenue to fund repairs: the private sector.

New solutions: Section 8 and RAD/ PACT

With private management offering less regulation and the potential of more funding, NYCHA has favoured Section 8 conversion as its primary strategy. One method of conversion is the federal Rental Assistance Demonstration (RAD) programme, which comprises of two forms of rental assistance: tenant-based assistance, through vouchers for tenants to spend on private housing; and project-based assistance, in which HUD enters long-term contracts with private housing owners to subsidise the gap between tenant and ‘market rate’ rent (HUD, 2023). While Section 9 housing has faced a steady decline in federal funding, the US government has continuously increased support for Section 8 and RAD since their inception. RAD was initially capped at 60,000 eligible homes – that number has expanded to 455,000, comprising 40% of all public housing in the US (NLIHC, 2021, p.33). NYCHA has accordingly participated in RAD via its Permanent Affordability Commitment Together (PACT) programme: NYCHA developments are leased to private developers for 99 years, and management is outsourced to private companies (NYCHA, 2023).

Protections at stake?

While NYCHA and HUD have stated that these programmes serve the interests of residents by improving housing quality, NYCHA residents have experienced challenges with their multi-managed structure. The involvement of numerous actors – NYCHA, HUD, private landlords, and management companies – has meant that responsibility for repairs and other concerns has become unclear. NYCHA residents in PACT-converted housing have shared stories of bringing complaints to certain authorities, only to be told their concerns are under the jurisdiction of others – and eventually never receiving help (HRW, 2022, p.43). This shift in oversight away from government has also meant that many NYCHA features are no longer applicable to tenants living in PACTconverted housing. For instance, PACT units are not held accountable by NYCHA’s federal monitor, who enforces fines for health and safety violations. Additionally, only HUD and NYCHA, not residents, have the right to enforce their contractual resident protections (HRW, 2022, pp.42-43).

Furthermore, the long-term implications of this shift have been a source of concern for many NYCHA residents. While tenants in Section 8 housing are technically still protected by federal tenant rights, much discretion is given to private landlords for rent pricing and evictions. With a study by the Human Rights Watch revealing that two out of the six developments converted to PACT in 2022 had higher than average eviction rates, residents fear that conversion may lead to displacement and homelessness in the future (HRW, 2022, p.).

Whether or not residents are open to RAD/ PACT conversion, it is critical that these decisions are made by residents. This briefing will now introduce the residents themselves, examining how they have used their available mechanisms to influence decision-making.

COMMUNITY

In public housing literature, NYCHA residents are generally characterised by their strong influence in policy (Hyra, 2009; Bloom, 2008). David Hyra, director of the Metropolitan Policy Center at American University, shared an anecdote from his research in Harlem in 2009: when Harlem was rapidly undergoing gentrification, many suggested that demolishing public housing would allow property values to further increase. However, elected officials stated that demolition was politically unfeasible: “the tenants would not tolerate it” (2009, p.101). Indeed, despite the rising influence of the private sector in recent years, communities across NYCHA developments have continued to advocate for themselves through various forms of resident participation.

Formal resident participation in NYCHA consists of three tiers: development Resident Councils (RCs); the Citywide Council of Presidents (CCOP), comprised of all the RC’s elected presidents; and the Resident Advisory Board (RAB), which includes the CCOP’s elected executive board. RCs share resident concerns with the CCOP and RAB, who are in direct contact with senior NYCHA and HUD management (NYCHA 2023).

RCs are open to all residents, but while some developments have engaged and robust Resident Councils, others do not. A lack of engagement in RCs limits the ability of the further tiers to adequately represent resident needs to NYCHA and HUD as per their charge. The following case studies of two NYCHA developments – Cooper Park Houses and Fulton and Elliott-Chelsea Houses – demonstrate different ways that residents have faced challenges with the participation mechanisms available to them.

Cooper Park Houses

On a sunny day in August of 2023, laughter and music filled the air in North Brooklyn as residents of Cooper Park Houses celebrated their annual ‘Cooper Day.’ Events like these, with trays of home-cooked food and a memorial collage of departed loved ones, reflect the strength of the community that this development has fostered over 70 years.

Cooper Park Houses is regarded as a “model for tenant rights activism” by NYC newsroom The City. According to lifelong resident Elisha Fye, a tradition of regular community events and meetings organised by the Resident Council since the 1980s has sustained a sense of togetherness in addressing development-specific issues (Mahoney, 2023).

The strength of this community has yielded significant political power. In 2019, the RC shut down plans for a luxury development on the Cooper Park site, by proving that NYCHA failed to follow environmental review procedures and adequately engage residents during planning (Goldenberg, 2019). Most recently, in March 2023, the community won a three-year battle against National Grid, when the plant withdrew its plans to install toxic natural gas vaporizers on a site adjacent to Cooper Park (NoNBKPipeline, 2023).

According to residents, strong relationships within the resident and wider neighborhood community allow them to effectively mobilise when challenges arise. Importantly, underlying these relationships is the joy and compassion fostered by mutual care and trust – according to resident Karen Leader, a sense of looking after one another is what inspires residents to fight for their community in the first place (Mahoney, 2023).

Fulton and Elliott-Chelsea Houses

Two months after Cooper Park’s victory against National Grid, NYCHA announced plans to demolish the Fulton and ElliottChelsea Houses development in Chelsea, Manhattan. In its place would be a new RAD/ PACT development, containing upgraded Section 8 units as well as over 2000 marketrate apartments. NYCHA has claimed that the decision was resident-led, based on an election in which over 50% of residents voted for demolition (NYCHA, 2023).

However, residents have contested this claim. They argue that rather than an official vote, they were given a survey that did not at all mention demolition or the construction of market-rate units (Turner, 2023).

Despite this, the developments’ Resident Council presidents have pledged their support for the demolition. As such, residents against demolition like Jackie Lara must find alternative ways to make their concerns known. Lara has been advocating to maintain Section 9 at Fulton Houses since 2019, and says of the RC presidents’ claims that residents support demolition:

“I don’t know what residents are those. They do talk to the residents, but they don’t listen to us. We’re telling them we don’t want demolition, and we don’t want RAD either” (PIX11 News, 2023).

The differences in these case studies highlight that while formal resident participation methods can serve community interests, they do not in themselves grant residents the decision-making power that has diminished in recent decades. Rather, resident engagement itself is vital – and thus, is the focus of the following recommendations.

RECOMMENDATIONS

Rubin (2009)’s empirical analysis of NYCHA resident participation illustrates

that influence in decision-making is linked to community engagement, revealing that the major barriers to resident participation are a lack of information and trust between residents (p.74). Wider community development literature corroborates that social cohesion is fundamental to community empowerment (Forrest and Kearns, 1999; Somerville, 2011; Clampet-Lundquist, 2010).

As such, these recommendations aim to increase transparency and trust in communities, in order to strengthen NYCHA residents’ participation and influence in decision-making. With 528,105 residents currently living in NYCHA, the size and diversity of this population renders recommendations to the entire community inefficient (NYCHA, 2023). As such, these recommendations are targeted to developments, and can be adapted to communities’ specific capacities and needs.

1. Accessible communication: platforms for residents to stay informed and speak up about development and NYCHA updates

The first step to support resident involvement in decision-making is adequate information (Rubin, 2009, p.83; Dokeniya, 2014). NYCHA communications are usually delivered through official briefings, which can be inaccessible to residents for their length, complex wording, and language barriers (Rubin, 2009, p.88). This leaves many residents uninformed until major decisions are already made – as evident in the case of Fulton and Elliott-Chelsea.

In a survey by NYC nonprofit Communty Voices Heard, an overwhelming number of residents shared that they do not participate in resident action because of a lack of information (Rubin, 2009, p.83). As such, a widely accessible communication platform at each development, made by and for residents, could encourage

resident participation. Whether it be clear explanations of proposed policy updates via email, or video conversations with residents on Facebook, information would become available to residents in more transparent and accessible ways. From there, a NYCHAwide platform (such as 1NYCHA) could be used to gather and further publicise information from each development to other NYCHA residents, or broadcast resident concerns directly to NYCHA – supporting the power of residents to make their voices heard.

The success of 1NYCHA – a resident-hosted platform, providing updated information with a down-to-earth attitude – is evidence of the positive effects of accessible communication. With thousands of views and dozens of comments from energized residents, the engagement with this platform indicates that residents are emboldened to exert influence when given clear, accessible information.

2. External partnerships: forming lasting connections with external community groups

New York City is home to thousands of community groups, from local community centers to wider activist organisations. Partnerships with these groups would benefit community building and organising power within developments, empowering residents in self-advocacy.

First, with access to health, food, and employment resources, as well as relationships with local elected officials, community groups have much to offer to the wellbeing of a development’s residents. With this added support, residents can feel more embedded in their neighborhood’s social network, with a sense that their community provides for their wellbeing. As such, they are more likely to want to engage with and advocate for their community (Rubin, 2009,

p.20). This is evident at Cooper Park Houses, whose robust schedule of community events are all made possible by the external groups and elected officials with whom Cooper Park has established long-standing relationships.

Second, these community groups could become allies to residents in activism. External partnerships have been fundamental to some recent major success stories for NYCHA residents. In 2019, residents of Holmes and Isaacs Houses sued NYCHA to prevent the construction of a luxury high-rise on their site, made possible with aid from the legal support organisation TakeRoot Justice (TakeRoot Justice, 2019). Similarly, Cooper Park’s victory against the National Grid expansion was aided by a coalition of 24 community organisations, whose combined resources and influence brought them to success (Mahoney, 2023). These examples highlight that NYCHA residents have more leverage in decisionmaking with external support. In the words of TakeRoot Justice attorney Michaela Warnsley, “the entire community is standing together with NYCHA residents.”

3. Joint

events: strategy workshops and community events bridging communities across NYCHA developments

While these recommendations are designed for individual developments, collaboration between developments could build an expanded resident community, while still allowing individual developments to benefit by sharing strategies and resources with other communities.

The first component of these joint events is strategy workshops, in which residents from different developments share ideas for addressing common concerns. At these meetings, residents can exchange advice for repairs, share professional development opportunities from local community groups,

and other opportunities for support that may be unknown to residents in other developments. Group meetings such as these have historically generated productive results. In 2019, the organisation Fight for NYCHA hosted a joint meeting that created the People’s Budget: a legislative plan for financing Section 9 public housing. Its participating members have stayed involved in the organisation ever since (Fight For NYCHA, 2023).

In order to earn communities’ trust in these workshops, it is important that their intention was made very clear. Residents in Rubin (2009)’s study shared that a lack of clarity in the purpose of Resident Council meetings generated mistrust, and thus reluctance to participate (p.92). Advertisements and workshop organisers should make clear that while outcomes may be escalated to NYCHA, the workshops are intended to stay for and within communities. This eliminates overlap with RCs, and can even bolster RC participation: by involving residents in planning that is entirely by and for themselves, they can build trust with one another and feel more motivated to make change through their RC.

Another way that these joint events can build communities’ trust is through its second component: casual, fun community events. From movie nights to health fairs, these events could build solidarity and offer some levity to residents’ busy lives, as well as a chance to socialise with new people with whom they may share similar interests and backgrounds. As with external partnerships, these joint events would more deeply integrate residents into a wider network, encouraging a sense of deeper care for – and thus engagement in – their community.

Synergies

These recommendations can be selected and implemented independently of one another based on the capacities and needs of each

development. However, it is important to note that they are synergistic – meaning that fulfilling one will support the success of the others. Improved, active platforms of communication within and across NYCHA developments would aid in organizing events and meetings between developments and with external partners. External partnerships could support the development of effective communication methods, and act as a common bridge between communities in different developments. Joint events could inspire new ideas for improving communication, and grant a group ‘strength in numbers’ as it seeks partnership from an external community group.

A new direction: resident management corporations

If these recommendations are implemented successfully, residents will be part of communities that are well-informed, wellconnected, and characterised by trust and engagement. Regardless of their choices for the future of their developments, these recommendations ensure that choices are informed and influential in decisionmaking. However, if residents are seeking alternate forms of housing policy, these recommendations also create conditions for the successful implementation of a new kind of public housing management: resident management corporations.

Resident management corporations (RMCs) are a legal pathway for public housing residents to adopt full or partial responsibilities for their building management. To operate an RMC, residents form a nonprofit organisation that enters into a contract with their PHA to take charge of one or more management responsibilities. These can include collecting rent, performing maintenance, and hiring management and maintenance staff. RMCs are also a source of employment, as residents can fill paid roles as staff in their development (HUD, 2023).

Analyses by HUD and external scholars have shown that overall, residents managed by RMCs have a higher level of satisfaction with their housing. According to a 1992 HUD evaluation, RMCs outperformed PHAs in work order processing, effectiveness in maintenance staffing, move-out rates, and resident satisfaction and quality of life (p.5). Chandler (1991)’s review of RMC literature concluded that other academic analyses have supported these claims:

“RMCs manage as well as conventional managers, they produce greater degrees of resident satisfaction and more employment opportunities, they reduce the incidence of social problems, they allow for a higher degree of resident involvement.” (p.141)

Still, RMCs require a five-year process of application, training, and approval, and exceptionally high levels of resident and community engagement: effective RMCs have had established relationships to external institutions and good community organisation (Monti, 1989; HUD, 2023).

However, if residents feel that they are equipped and determined to make change for themselves, RMCs exist as a legitimate pathway to do so. No RMCs currently exist within NYCHA, but for interested residents, the Committee for Independent Community Action and Justice For All Coalition are NYC-based organisations advocating for RMCs as a potential path forward.

CONCLUSION

The recent introduction of private actors into the storm of NYCHA operations means that it is more important than ever for residents to regain influence in management. Regardless of whether residents choose to access Section 8 funding, retain Section 9 status, or form an RMC, it is critical that power stays in the hands of NYCHA residents to determine their own futures.

The continuing history of successful NYCHA resident advocacy provides a beacon of hope. It indicates that residents, NYCHA, and the City of New York are receptive to change when communication is clear and convincing. While NYC and NYCHA must be held responsible for providing for its tenants, residents are not and have not been powerless to make decisions for themselves. Chatterton (2019), speaking of “unlocking sustainable cities,” argues:

“Localised projects will need a[n]… enabling state in order to flourish, as well as active social movements, pushing the boundaries of what is possible.” (p. 117)

New York City has always been a city of change, and it remains to be seen if the current administration will uphold this tradition. However, through establishing foundations of social engagement, residents can become a powerful, influential, and sustained force for present and future generations.

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Carson-Holt, E. (2023) ‘NYCHA residents in Chelsea resist demolition plan that could displace them’, The Indypendent, August 7. Available at: https://indypendent. org/2023/08/nycha-residents-in-chelsea-resist-demolition-plan-that-could-displace-them/ (Accessed: October 15, 2023).

Chandler, M.O. (1991) ‘What Have We Learned from Public Housing Resident Management?’ Journal of Planning Literature, 6 (2), pp. 136-143.

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Miami

Florida

United States

Shifting Tides: Climate Gentrification in Miami, Florida

Libby Hernandez

INTRODUCTION & POSITIONALITY

Miami, Florida: an urban metropolis notorious for its coastal location and melting pot of diverse cultures. One thing that makes Miami particularly special, coming from somebody who grew up in the city, is the sense that nobody is ever really from Miami. Like myself, people from all backgrounds & places find themselves emigrating to the ‘Magic City’ and calling it home. Since its official incorporation in 1896, the city has undergone drastic urban development and prides itself on being the headquarters for many multinational companies and having the largest concentration of international banks in the United States (City of Miami). Yet, many residents would argue that the ‘Magic City’ is not as magical as it seems. I have witnessed first-hand the overdevelopment of the city and encroachment into culturally valued spaces that form the historical foundation of the city by private investors. Moreover, I have felt the anxieties of climate change manifest through events such as rising sea-levels that pose an increasing risk to my community. This summer I was motivated to be part of a change in my community and interned for

The Women’s Fund Miami-Dade where I was introduced to the vast network of grass-root movements in the city dedicated to change. Through my work with the organisation, I learned about risks such as extreme heat and unaffordable housing posing a threat to my community but also became enlightened about the power of local collective action.

HISTORICAL BACKGROUND OF INLAND IMMIGRANT COMMUNITIES

Over the course of 1960 to the 70’s, Miami experienced significant population growth due to the influx of immigrants from both Cuba and Haiti (The City of Miami). According to the most recent census, 72.25% of Miami-Dade County (MDC) residents are Hispanic/Latino and 58.1% of residents are foreign born (Miami-Dade Matters). These statistics are a testament to the city’s history as a refuge for Central, South American, and Caribbean communities (Seeteram et al.). Neighbourhoods such as Little Havana and Little Haiti, which my briefing will focus on, have been described as a ‘home away from home’ by residents (Chéry and Morales). The story of Little Haiti begins with Haitian activist Viter Juste who moved to what was

one of the earliest settlements in Miami at the time and proceeded to convince many other Haitians to move to the area eventually creating a vibrant and cultural community (Chéry and Morales). Standing at 13 feet above sea level, Little Haiti is one the most weather resilient points in the city due to its inland location (Grist Creative). Yet, the community’s location reveals a dark history of discrimination and displacement. Higherelevated areas in Miami tend to be historically marginalised communities (Kim). This is due to the legacy of Jim Crow laws, redlining policies, and forced relocation of African American communities to inland areas (Seeteram et al.). A StoryMap published by the University of Miami documents the history of housing segregation and displacement Black communities in Miami have experienced. Moreover, it demonstrates how past patterns of discrimination connect to modern disparities. Little Haiti’s poverty rate is higher than average for the city of Miami and the majority of residents live below the city’s median household income (Chéry and Morales).

Additionally, results from a housing market analysis show that only 26 percent of residents own their home (Chéry and Morales). This uncovers how housing insecurity in the community can be attributed to institutionalised racism. Beginning in the late 1980s, residents began to see the rise of gentrification when investors would buy and cease maintenance of properties with the intention of selling when the area became valuable to developers (Chéry and Morales). Little Haiti is not the first neighbourhood in the city to experience this; only 20 minutes away, Little San Juan, a neighbourhood once predominantly inhabited by working-class Puerto Ricans, was entirely gentrified, and renamed the ‘Wynwood Arts District’ (Grist Creative). This is the outcome that residents in Little Haiti are fearful and resistant to today.

LAYING THE FOUNDATION: CLIMATE GENTRIFICATION, SEA-LEVEL RISE & SOCIAL VULNERABILITIES

The threat Little Haiti faces is the newer phenomenon, and double burden, of climate gentrification. Indicative of how this form of gentrification is especially tied to Miami, the term was first explored in a 2018 study about housing prices in Miami-Dade (Nathan). In simple terms, climate gentrification is defined as the process where wealthier populations move into areas less vulnerable to climate change impacts that were previously inhabited by low-income and often marginalised communities (Nguyen). While the term is relatively new, the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina serves as a stark example of climate gentrification. Following the destruction caused by the hurricane, homeowners in the Lower Ninth Ward, a predominantly working-class Black community, struggled to secure the financial support to rebuild their homes and the area was slowly gentrified into a noticeably wealthier and whiter community (Santiago). Aside from the environmental impacts of climate change, scholars have recently emphasised that more attention needs to be paid to its social effects, and indirect impacts, asserting that it exacerbates existing challenges in sectors such as housing and health (Santiago). Moreover, research has found that wealthier neighbourhoods have a greater ability to handle the shocks of climate change in comparison to socioeconomically vulnerable communities (Santiago) In the specific case of Miami, and this briefing, sea-level rise (SLR), a product of climate change, has ensued both direct impacts such as coastal flooding and indirect impacts like the increasing demand for housing in less vulnerable areas (Seeteram et al.). According to scientific projections, 13 million people in the United States are estimated to experience six feet of sea level rise by 2100 with nearly 25% of the 13 million residing in Miami-Dade

& Broward County (Santiago). Arguably, this exhibits the particular jeopardy Miami faces as a coastal city. As a result, climate resilience has been described as the ‘hot new amenity’ adding a climate-change imperative to the existing urban gentrification pressures that are already distressing low-income communities (Tulane). Within the city, the social vulnerabilities vary across communities but have been bounded into four categories: displaced, trapped, stable and migrating (Seeteram et al.). For the purpose of this briefing, it is important to clarify how each category is conceptualised. The model below displays the vulnerability level related to climate mobility, indicating that, as a result of either direct or secondary sea-level rise impacts, communities will be displaced, trapped, stable or migrating (Seeteram et al.). Little Haiti falls into the ‘displaced’ category due to its low exposure to sea-level rise but high risk of being displaced due to the populations in the migrating category seeking housing in the area.

Now that the key concepts forming this discussion have been outlined, I will provide a brief context of the current migration patterns, urban development forecasts, sealevel rise and real-estate markets in Miami. Development and property plans are highly intertwined with concerns over sea-level rise. Further, expedited by the Covid-19 pandemic, there has been a population influx due to the large number of people moving to the city motivated by factors such as its favourable climate and tax incentives (Seeteram et al.) . The increase of highincome moving into these communities has raised rent and property values within neighbourhoods like Little Haiti (Santiago). Yet, property values in Little Haiti have been increasing substantially years before the pandemic. According to real estate marketplace data, in 2012 the average home in Little Haiti was valued at $58,403 whereas this year houses value at an astonishing $482,557. The growing threat of sea-level rise has not gone unnoticed by scientists, the local community or real-estate

Source: Seeteram et al.

developers. Studies show that just 12 inches of sea level rise would make 15% of Miami uninhabitable (Weir), specifically beachside property which tends to be of high value, and that a 2m rise would affect almost one million residents placing over $129 billion in property at risk (Seeteram et al.). For example, after Hurricane Irma struck Miami in 2017 beachfront properties suffered billions of dollars in damage and affluent buyers turned their focus to climate protected neighbourhoods that were distanced from the coast (Tulane). Additionally, a study looking at nationwide real-estate data and sea level rise predictions calculated that homes that are at risk of flooding due to rising sea levels sell for 7% less than in-land homes that are not at risk of flooding (Nathan). Inevitably, it is harrowing statistics like this that have pushed developers to focus on inland property and communities to relocate to less vulnerable areas. It is also necessary to touch on the political climate in Florida and perspectives on the climate crisis. Florida’s governor, Rick Scott, has expressed his reluctance to address climate change and even gone so far as to state ‘I’m not a scientist’ when asked if it was real (Moulite). Essentially, failing to legitimise or pursue federal action that mitigates climate change and its effects. The lack of federal action coupled with the rising cost of altitude has sparked a noticeable shift in community activism and municipal budgets (Weir).

THE CHALLENGE: THE DOUBLE BURDEN OF FIGHTING CLIMATE GENTRIFICATION WHILE ACHIEVING ENVIRONMENTAL AND SOCIAL JUSTICE.

Thus, Little Haiti, and other vulnerable communities in the city, have found themselves in a tug of war with private investors and developers, migrating populations and the government. This brings

me to the next section that will expand on the challenge Little Haiti is facing: the double burden of fighting climate gentrification while achieving environmental and social justice. This double burden originates from the process of developing climate-resilient homes that exacerbates existing inequalities due to wealthy homebuyers and real estate investors displacing vulnerable populations already suffering from systemic inequities (Tulane). On top of being displaced by climate gentrification, vulnerable populations suffer additional climate change impacts due to the general rise of property prices that is eliminating low-end housing altogether (Tulane). Little Haiti has been described as ‘the perfect storm’ for developers due to having a high real estate supply and lower cost in comparison to other areas, as well as its convenient location near downtown and the airport (Rivero). Zillow, a leading real estate marketplace, ranked Little Haiti as one of South Florida’s ‘hottest neighbourhoods’ (Santiago). Yet, in reality, it is also one of the fastest gentrifying neighbourhoods in South Florida with a 19% increase in home values since 2016 (Santiago). Aside from sea-level rise, the accelerated gentrification of the community is also fueled by a federal tax break that incentivizes development in ‘Opportunity Zones’ (Grist Creative). The map below from a study of climate mobilities in Miami-Dade County shows Little Haiti, the area I circled in red, as being in the high social vulnerability category with a score of seven (Seeteram et al.).

Furthermore, stories from the locals that live in the community truly highlight the extent of the challenge they are facing. It is a unique situation where climate change, immigration and gentrification collide (Weir). Joe Raedle, a climate activist, stated in his article Fighting for the soul of Little Haiti that ‘...the neighbourhood is being sold off, carved apart, and built up, taking the

Haitian community and regional cultural identity with it’ (Grist Creative). The part about the community being robbed of their cultural identity particularly struck me- as I previously mentioned how this community is a ‘home away from home for many’. Interviews with locals from the community have documented the harsh and rapid process of gentrification. Schiller Sanon-Jules, the long-time owner of the Little Haiti Thrift & Gift Store, speaks about his experience of being pushed out of his cherished store space due to his rent being doubled over the course of just one year (WLRN). The store that was once a cultural staple in the community stocking ‘Haitian art, African drums and a collection of vintage clothing’ and hangout spot where Sanon-Jules and his wife would serve Haitian food while local bands played music was erased in just a few months (WLRN). This story is just one of many. In 2019, Little Haiti residents took to the streets to protest the development of the

Source: Seeteram et al.

Magic City Innovation District that would redevelop 18 acres of land in the community into a ‘glitzy mixed-use development’ that would be built as tall as 25 stories (Grist Creative). Community leaders stated that the plan would cost displaced people of Little Haiti $68 million and ‘undermines the future of the community for its lack of guarantees, clarity, and that it does not protect the residents of Little Haiti’ (CBS). Nevertheless, while leaders and activists in the community were extremely vocal about their disapproval of these plans, organising protests and attending commission meetings, the plans to build were approved and their voices were ignored.

Yet, residents of the community are not backing down and are continuing to fight against climate gentrification and overdevelopment. While some believe there may be nothing activists can do to stop the next Magic City (Grist Creative) or that climate

gentrification is happening so rapidly you can’t stop it (Mooney), my briefing takes the stance that there are actions that can be undertaken by locals to defend the challenges their community is facing. The first section of this briefing has built the foundations for my recommendations by providing a historical background of the community, conceptualising climate gentrification and touching on current socioeconomic dynamics in Miami. I will now move to presenting my four community-led solutions for Little Haiti, as well as other vulnerable neighbourhoods in Miami. At the heart of all my recommendations, is the sentiment that activists should aim to promote empowerment rather than the displacement of vulnerable populations (Santiago). On this basis, my solutions will take a bottom-up approach that empowers local perspectives, promotes community participation, and amplifies resident’s voices. This approach emphasises the need for collaboration from all corners of the community, local business-owners, activists, nonprofits, and residents, in order to create equitable solutions.

RECOMMENDATION ONE: BUILDING A CLIMATE-RESILIENT NEIGHBOURHOOD: CREATE LOCAL INCENTIVES AND PROJECTS TO

MITIGATE THE IMPACTS OF CLIMATE CHANGE AND SEA-LEVEL RISE.

In order to effectively mitigate the impacts of climate change, intentional community engagement across all parties is required (Santiago). I would recommend that the community works to build a climate-resilient neighbourhood. These neighbourhood’s are defined as ‘those in which communities design, plan, and implement ways to adapt social, economic, and infrastructural systems to minimise risk and harm from climate

change’ (Bastien). A leading organisation in climate resilience efforts is the Family Action Network Movement (FANM) that has been recognised for fighting for climate equity at the local, state and national level (Bastien). One of FANM’s goals is to build a green local economy in Little Haiti and become one of the nation’s first 100 percent resilient neighbourhoods (Bastien). These goals cannot be achieved alone and call for action from the entire community to create a greener space. The leaders of FANM have also stressed the injustice of the lack of federal funding and resources to address climate change leaving the local community to solve a crisis they did not create themselves (Bastien). Nevertheless, they recognise that it is an issue that needs to be acted on immediately and there is no time to wait on federal support. Instead, charitable trusts like the Captain Haiti Foundation have stepped in and began raising funds to allocate to ‘allocated to community cleanups, public art and planting greens’ (Sun). I would recommend that the community comes together once a week and, with the help of organisations like FANM, facilitates a collective conversation about how to make their urban space greener. Instead of promoting more development, the community should focus on ‘greenifying’ spaces by building outdoor parks and pathways. Moreover, I propose that the community uplifts the programs that are already in place that aim to build a climate-resilient neighbourhood. For example, with the goal of creating a circular economy, FANM has established plans for a thrift, folk art and food bazaar mecca as well as a green jobs program (Bastien) . While these initiatives exist, they require consistent support and dedication from the community to ensure longevity and success. I recommend that organisations and businesses in Little Haiti create incentives for residents to contribute to a green economy and lifestyle and promote volunteer projects.

RECOMMENDATION TWO: CLIMATE & HOUSING EDUCATION AND LEADERSHIP PROGRAMS

In low-resource communities, there should be a strong urgency for education and awareness surrounding the impacts of climate change (Moulite). Furthermore, both housing and climate literacy education can give residents the tools they need to combat climate gentrification. Through community leadership schemes and educational programs, residents can be empowered to resist over-development and displacement. For example, these programs already exist within the community but tend to be underfunded. Existing public funds need to be reallocated to these programs and better distributed by community leaders in order to more effectively tackle the problem. An example of an existing program is CLEAR Miami—Community Leadership on the Environment, Advocacy and Resilience which hosts a 11-week leadership-training program focused on climate resilience in Miami (Moulite). Additionally, the CLEO institute is a nonprofit organisation dedicated to growing climate literacy within communities like Little Haiti (Moulite). As well as organisations focusing on climate literacy, activists have highlighted the need for housing literacy in communities as well. For example, The Miami Millennial Investment Group (MMI) confronts gentrification by hosting community workshops where they educate people about home ownership and how to secure funding to purchase a property (Joseph). As demonstrated, programs such as these do exist, however the large presence of individuals in vulnerable communities who don’t even know about the existence of these programs shows us that better work must be done in order to raise awareness and remedy the issue. With the improvement of housing and climate literacy in Little Haiti, people will be better informed on how to resist the growing pressures of climate gentrification.

RECOMMENDATION THREE: PROTEST & RESIST GENTRIFICATION

An additional recommendation I propose is the power of resisting and protesting. I believe that, as exhibited by the BLM protests in 2020, social media is an extremely valuable tool in organising protests and garnering support for change. While the protests the development of the Magic City Innovation District did not result in the outcome hoped for, it did show that the community of Little Haiti is motivated to protest for their housing and climate rights and will not back down from climate gentrification. Coupled with my other recommendations, such as increased climate and house literacy, I believe that the community can utilise tools such as social media to organise and highlight a movement that promotes the resistance of climate gentrification and advocates for environmental justice. In a youtube video titled REBUILD The Fight for Little Haiti: Miami’s Silent Real Estate War, the activists stressed the mantra of ‘L’union fait la forceunity is power’ within the community (Earn Your Leisure).

RECOMMENDATION FOUR:TAKE BACK CONTROL OF THE COMMUNITY: GENTRIFICATION VERSUS EQUITABLE DEVELOPMENT

Lastly, I believe the most effective solution is for the local community to take the land back. For example, an organisation based out of a community just minutes away from Little Haiti, named Struggle for Miami’s Affordable and Sustainable Housing, has embarked on a mission to buy land in their community and build affordable housing deeming it a ‘community land trust’ (Joseph). This community run project has resulted in buying property that is owned and controlled by the community itself opposed to a corporation or individual (Joseph). In the

words of the executive director of SMASH, pursuing community-led development is ‘...the difference between gentrifying a neighbourhood and equitably developing a neighbourhood’ (Joseph). I recommend that the community of Little Haiti pursues a similar project in their community and employs locally born investors to purchase land opposed to outside private developers. In fact, MMI, the organisation mentioned in my second recommendation, has taken a similar approach and purchased several homes in vulnerable neighbourhoods with the intention of charging a fair rent (Joseph). To my knowledge and according to my research, Little Haiti has yet to undertake projects like SMASH and MMI. I propose that the community develops a similar model to that of the organisations mentioned and works with allies to invest in buying back land in the community with the aim of developing it into affordable housing.

CONCLUDING REMARKS

The year of 2023 has been defined by climate anxieties, pandemic migration, and everchanging markets. In the beginning of this paper, I mentioned the misconception of Miami as a ‘magic city’. Throughout my briefing, I have demonstrated the history of systemic racism that is being continued today through the process of climate gentrification. While sea-level rise should be a concern to the city of Miami, the burden of climate change should not be put on the community of Little Haiti causing the displacement of thousands of individuals. Moreover, Little Haiti is an extremely unique and special community- serving as a cultural epicentre for Haitian arts, food, and language. I believe hope is not lost in the community, and that if my recommendations were undertaken, Little Haiti can fight in the injustices of climate gentrification.

REFERENCES

Bastien, Marleine. “Little Haiti Is Fighting Climate Change.” Othering & Belonging Institute, 28 Feb. 2019, belonging.berkeley.edu/little-haiti-fighting-climate-change.

CBS Miami. “Protest Held in Little Haiti over Magic City Innovation District.” Www.cbsnews.com, 2019, www.cbsnews.com/miami/news/protest-held-in-littlehaiti-over-magic-city-innovation-district/.

Chéry, Dieu-Nalio, and Christina Morales. “Little Haiti Residents Fear Losing Their “Home Away from Home.”” The New York Times, 12 June 2023, www.nytimes.com/2023/06/12/realestate/little-haiti-miami.html.

City of Miami. “City of Miami Proposed Operating Budget Fiscal Year .” Archive.miamigov.com, 2015, archive. miamigov.com/home/history.html#:~:text=The%20 City%20was%20incorporated%20in.

Earn Your Leisure. “REBUILD the Fight for Little Haiti: Miami’s Silent Real Estate War.” Www.youtube.com, 2023, www.youtube.com/watch?v=4YNUmsyMYtY. Accessed 27 Oct. 2023.

Grist Creative. “Fighting for the Soul of Little Haiti.” Grist, 2 Mar. 2020, grist.org/Array/fighting-for-the-soulof-little-haiti/.

Joseph • •, Teresa. “Young Black Investors Confront Gentrification in Parts of Miami.” NBC 6 South Florida, 24 Sept. 2018, www.nbcmiami.com/news/ local/young-black-investors-confront-gentrification-in-parts-of-miami/170597/. Accessed 27 Oct. 2023.

Kim, Minho. ““Climate Gentrification” Will Displace One Million People in Miami Alone.” Scientific American, 2023, www.scientificamerican.com/article/ climate-gentrification-will-displace-one-million-people-in-miami-alone/#:~:text=%27Climate%20Gentrification%27%20Will%20Displace%20One%20Million%20People%20in%20Miami%20Alone. Accessed 27 Oct. 2023.

Matters, Miami-Dade. “Miami-Dade Matters :: Demographics :: County :: Miami-Dade.” Www.miamidadematters.org, 2022, www.miamidadematters.org/demographicdata.

Mooney, Taylor. “Little Haiti Residents Forced from Home Again as Climate Change Upends Miami Real Estate.” Www.cbsnews.com, 2020, www.cbsnews.com/ news/climate-change-miami-little-haiti-gentrification-cbsn-originals-documentary/.

Moulite, Jessica. “Color of Climate - Black News, Opinions, Politics and Culture.” The Root, 18 Aug. 2017, www.theroot.com/tag/color-of-climate. Accessed 27 Oct. 2023.

Nathan, Aparna. “Climate Is the Newest Gentrifying Force, and Its Effects Are Already Re-Shaping Cities.” Science in the News, 15 July 2019, sitn.hms.harvard.edu/ flash/2019/climate-newest-gentrifying-force-effects-already-re-shaping-cities/.

Nguyen, Amy. “What Is Climate Gentrification? - Sustainable & Social.” Sustainable & Social | Sustainable Business & Lifestyle, 6 Feb. 2021, sustainableandsocial. com/climate-gentrification/. Accessed 27 Oct. 2023.

Rivero, Nicolas. Miami’s Hidden High Ground: What Sea Rise Risk Means for Some Prime Real Estate . 2023.

Santiago, Elizabeth. “Weathering the Storm: Climate Gentrification in Miami’s Little Haiti | the Pursuit | University of Michigan School of Public Health | Climate Change | Climate Gentrification | Miami |.” Sph. umich.edu, 2020, sph.umich.edu/pursuit/2020posts/ weathering-the-storm-climate-gentrification-in-miami. html.

Seeteram, Nadia, et al. “Modes of Climate Mobility under Sea-Level Rise.” Environmental Research Letters, vol. 18, no. 11, 16 Oct. 2023, pp. 114015–114015, https://doi. org/10.1088/1748-9326/acfe22.

Sun, Zhiyuan. “Miami Blockchain Folk Hero Secures $5M for Community Tokenization.” Cointelegraph, 17 May 2023, cointelegraph.com/news/miami-blockchain-folk-hero-secures-5m-for-community-tokenization. Accessed 27 Oct. 2023.

Tulane Blog. “The Rising Dilemma of Climate Gentrification vs Displacement.” Tulane, 23 Mar. 2021, online.law.tulane.edu/blog/the-rising-dilemma-of-climate-gentrification-vs-displacement. Accessed 27 Oct. 2023.

Weir, Bill. “Miami’s Little Haiti Wasn’t a Target for Developers. Until the Seas Started to Rise.” CNN, 11 July 2019, edition.cnn.com/2019/07/11/us/miami-little-haiti-climate-gentrification-weir-wxc/index.html.

WLRN. “Where Magic City Will Rise, Haitian-Owned Businesses Priced Out.” WLRN, 2 July 2019, www.wlrn. org/news/2019-07-02/where-magic-city-will-rise-haitian-owned-businesses-priced-out. Accessed 27 Oct. 2023.

Homelessness and the Housing Crisis in Toronto

Audrey Bowen

INTRODUCTION

A global housing crisis is occurring in full force. Many kinds of urban environments are experiencing disproportionate homelessness due to the lack of affordable housing, which has been exacerbated by COVID-19. Major metropolitan cities are experiencing the highest housing costs in history, making this issue especially relevant within these areas. This briefing will focus on the city of Toronto, Canada, in exploring issues of housing and homelessness. A call to action is targeted at municipal, provincial, and federal governments together to reverse the effects of structural inequities in housing markets and take short-term and long-term projects seriously in addressing the crisis.

This report seeks to inform these groups on the crisis from the ground level, using stakeholder perspectives and case study analyses to create a comprehensive picture of homelessness in Toronto. The ending of the pandemic presents a unique opportunity for governments and private funders to reevaluate their profiles and redirect funds to new beneficiaries, and it therefore must be capitalized on. The scope of this briefing includes the Greater Toronto Area, focusing

on the downtown core and programs within it. The history of homelessness and the housing crisis is observed to contextualize contemporary approaches, and recommendations presented consider possibilities for both the present and coming decades. Personal bias is considered in a statement on positionality to offer a reflexive body of work. This briefing seeks to contribute to the global crisis and the existing body of literature through an analysis of this major city, providing reflections and recommendations that may apply to a wider context.

BACKGROUND AND HISTORY

The current population of Toronto is 3,025,647, with its metro region accommodating 6,471,850 people (City of Toronto, 2023). These statistics have placed Toronto as one of the top five largest cities in North America. Alongside the population growth rests a complex history of (in) access to affordable housing, and associated homelessness. The current average price of all home types in Toronto is 1,140,647 Canadian Dollars. Accordingly, there were 84,583 individuals on the centralized waiting

list for social housing in the spring of 2023, with an average time of 13 years spent on waiting lists (City of Toronto, 2023).

The recent history of the housing crisis can be traced to the 1980s when the term ‘homelessness’ underwent a conceptual change, previously thought of as males residing in certain areas, and displaying certain characteristics (Barker, 1977). It wasn’t until an extreme lack of housing in the 1980s that the term was redefined as those un-housed (Baumohl, 1996). It was a global social problem; no longer was the UN’s “Year of Shelter for the Homeless” reserved for the global south (Greene, 2014). The crisis was predominantly blamed on urban restructuring, encompassing gentrification, neo-liberal welfare state reform, economic and occupational change, and urban entrepreneurialism (Greene, 2014).

The crisis was not addressed until increased visibility of the homeless population; a movement was catalyzed by the passing of a homeless woman found frozen to death in December 1985 (Snarr and Jasper, 2000). Nonetheless, cuts to social assistance continued, prompting participation and creation of several community groups. The collapse of the Toronto real estate market in 1989 accelerated negative effects of postFordist urban development, enabling more neo-liberalization in governance (Greene, 2014). The number of deaths in the streets of Toronto increased dramatically, along with the number of individuals staying in homeless shelters each night. The City Council finally labeled homelessness a “national disaster” in 1998. However, the label was more powerful in theory than practice; its effectiveness was drowned out by municipal mismanagement (Greene, 2014), leaving the issue to community programs and initiatives.

Toronto is recognized as one of the most multicultural cities in the world. Immigration makes up a large sum of this;

51.2% of the population was born outside of Canada. This demographic may experience increased disadvantage when seeking housing. Difficulties can be exacerbated by language barriers, insufficient and inaccurate information, discriminatory practices by landlords, neighbors, and others, and an unawareness of rights and responsibilities as tenants or renters (Halliday and Teixeira, 2010). Indigenous groups similarly face discrimination in housing markets. This can be traced back to historical strategies to eliminate Indigenous Peoples; Canada’s history of colonization and exploitation of Indigenous land and populations has had lasting effects, continuing into present-day governing policies.

Central to understanding Toronto’s homelessness emergency is the impact of COVID-19. Toronto is considered to have experienced the longest lockdown of any city in the world (Cathcart-Keays, 2022). With the ongoing emergent state of unaffordable housing and homelessness, the pandemic exacerbated distress. In complying with public health directives, many shelters and services had limited capacities or closed altogether. People experiencing homelessness were hence more vulnerable to infection due to the lack of safe housing. On top of that, in the absence of regular services, they faced increased risks related to intimate partner violence and unsafe substance use, highlighting the importance of housing as a social detriment of health (Perri, Dosani, and Hwand, 2020). Like other major metropolitan cities, in April 2020, Toronto leased 1,200 hotel rooms to assist the shelter system. A factor that triggered this response was the increased visibility of street homelessness, like that of the 1980s when the crisis became inescapable. Nevertheless, the city is more aware of homelessness than ever (CathcartKeays, 2022), making it an important time to review and re-evaluate current approaches to affordable housing in Toronto.

POSITIONALITY

In approaching this subject, it must be recognized that I have not had any firsthand experience with housing insecurity. Furthermore, as a member of a Caucasian Canadian family having lived in Toronto for generations, I have not been subject to the inequities and discrimination that some individuals have faced in the housing market. My experience with the homeless community in Toronto is from a removed standpoint, however, from a young age, I have been aware of the crisis, thinking back fondly to the man who sat outside of a grocery store by my elementary school and became a friend of many students. For this briefing, I have grounded my knowledge in academic journals, news articles, and interviews with key stakeholders such as people experiencing homelessness themselves. This was done to minimize bias and reflect a comprehensive understanding of the crisis. However, bias is inevitable, and I will therefore remain dedicated to transparency in my work to ensure a high level of integrity. This is especially critical in my recommendations section, as it is dangerous to speak for a community that one is far removed from, which is why a key component of my approach is community participation and government transparency.

POLICY AND LEGAL FRAMEWORK

The housing crisis stems from a range of interconnected policy decisions at municipal, provincial, and federal levels framed around neoliberal ideologies. This shaped socioeconomic transformations across Canada in the 1990s, following cuts to federal social assistance in the 1980s, feeding the crisis. The Canadian government canceled its National Housing Strategy in 1993, with a turn to market forces to solve the problem (Gaetz, 2013). The conservative government continued to cut other benefits for those

living in poverty, disproportionately affecting people experiencing homelessness.

The current legal framework focuses on emergency mechanisms, such as emergency shelters, which disregard the permanence of homelessness for many Torontonians trapped in a vicious cycle. Homelessness has consequently become more visible, acting as a source of mobilization for community initiatives. However, the policy response focuses on punitive justice, criminalizing homelessness, outlawing begging, and restricting the use of public spaces (Gaetz, 2013). Within the shelter system, though, the City of Toronto has in place the Toronto Shelter Standards, ensuring just living conditions including social environments, most recently updated in 2022. The city council has also extended the openings of emergency shelters, such as the example of lowering the threshold for opening warming centers in the cold winter months (Draaisma, 2023). Although emergency shelter mechanisms may be effective in the Toronto case, this must couple with affordable housing policies and recognition of transitional phases of homeless individuals to make a meaningful impact.

A dominant policy plan in place is the Housing TO 2020-2030 Action Plan, created by the City of Toronto, published in 2018. This blueprint outlines actions across the housing spectrum from homelessness to housing rentals and ownership. This master plan guides many others within it and calls groups to action in reaching various indicators. Reports in 2021 recognized great progress towards the Housing TO plan but pointed out that enhanced federal and provincial investments are key to ensuring continued success. Fluid communication between these three levels of government must be incorporated into present and future action plans to support their shared objectives in conquering the homelessness and affordable housing crisis, and therefore this briefing is targeted towards this collective.

COMMUNITY INITIATIVES AND PROGRAMMES

Community involvement is central to Toronto’s history of battling homelessness. A large part of this involvement has taken the form of activism and protests. A notable example is from the 1999 Toronto International Film Festival, where the Ontario Coalition Against Poverty (OCAP) panhandled guests and chanted about the homelessness crisis, forcing Hollywood stars to use a back door. This was only one part of their fall Campaign for Economic Disruption, calling attention to the invisibility of homelessness (Greene, 2014). Theirs was a more visible, radical approach, but other community programs that work to support people experiencing homelessness every day may go unnoticed in the city.

Toronto’s Shelter Support and Housing Administration (SSHA) is the city’s division that manages homeless services in Toronto, following a Housing First and human rights approach, working closely with over 200 community service providers (City of Toronto, 2021). Community service providers in Toronto support general homelessness, but some are also geared toward more specific groups. Street to Homes (S2H), for example, supports people experiencing homelessness through street outreach 24 hours, seven days a week. They also connect individuals with housingrelated follow-up support and work with other city-funded partners to broaden their reach (City of Toronto, 2021). The United Way Greater Toronto similarly supports best practices in addressing homelessness. They focus on preventing and reducing the occurrence and duration of homelessness through early intervention. This group calls for a regional approach, emphasizing the importance of this greater network (United Way Greater Toronto, n.d.). These widereaching programs are supported by others with more niche targets.

COSTI Immigrant Services works with the United Way in supporting settlement and citizenship services for those new to Canada. This is especially important for newcomer women at risk of or facing intimate partner violence. Another community group is the 519, working with LGBTQ2S individuals among others, to create a safe and accessible environment. This group rose out of a Toronto study which found that 20% of youth in the shelter system identify as LGBTQ2S (Homeless Hub, n.d.).

CASE STUDY: FRED VICTOR ORGANIZATION

Fred Victor is a charity organization providing social services across Toronto. They run two emergency shelters open 24 hours a day, seven days a week, which provide laundry and hygiene supplies, in addition to information, referral, and supported housing access and advocacy. They also offer affordable and transitional housing for individuals and families, including services for women transitioning to the housing market. Their focus on community impacts helps people find sustainable employment (Fred Victor, n.d.). This dual focus, which incorporates the Housing First approach, supports both immediate needs of people with emergency shelters, while also providing affordable housing, and facilitating the transition between the two. Fred Victor received 5.4 million CAD in donations and 38.1 million in government funding in 2023. Fred Victor published a 2019-2024 Strategic plan in which they outlined goals and their associated indicators. A review in 2022 checked in with the indicators that were to be met by the fall of that year where it was established that they were on target for 21 out of 26 indicators (Fred Victor, 2022).

A shock to the existing system was COVID-19, dramatically exacerbating

the needs of communities. Nonetheless, Fred Victor persevered. Throughout the pandemic, emergency shelters remained safely open. In March 2021, the women’s shelter moved into a newly renovated building. Fred Victor also worked with the City of Toronto in repurposing the Edward Village Hotel in North York into a safe shelter. They continued meal services, adapting and growing to meet increased demands, and developed an enhanced PPE policy and screening protocol. They were also among the first to host COVID-19 testing sites, and later, vaccine pop- up clinics (Fred Victor, 2021).

Fred Victor, as a four-star-rated charity, has an above-average result reporting grade, low overhead costs, and is financially transparent. In 2023, they have helped 263 people secure housing, helping 174 individuals move from transitional to permanent housing, and 176 more from shelters into permanent housing. Their safe injection sites have helped to reverse 460 overdoses, and they have diverted 652 people from the criminal justice system to mental health services (Charity Intelligence Canada, n.d.), actively putting a wrench in the vicious cycle of homelessness.

STAKEHOLDER PERSPECTIVES

In a 2019 interview with CBC News, individuals weighed in on their experiences with homelessness. Paul, 43, who was homeless for 6 years at the time from hurting his back and losing his job, explained that “You have nothing, [be]cause people think you’re nothing, you end up thinking you’re nothing.” The psychological side, and the social stigma around homelessness, are outlined here as a barrier to success. Paul also explained that there are “... so many types of homelessness in this city...it’s not just the bums you see on the street, we’re everywhere now,” highlighting the sense of invisibility. At the time, Paul was on an 11-year waiting

list for housing, “for a white male 43 years old,” suggesting that it can only be harder for others due to racial injustices. Another individual named Kevin explained that he wants the city to create more shelter beds. Kevin says “It boils down to real humanity. We know what to do, we’re just not doing it. We’ve got to start caring about people” (CBC News, 2019). Shelters were supposed to be temporary, emergency solutions, but as demonstrated here, individuals have been living in them for years, highlighting a systemic issue.

Many people who have been supporting community initiatives are fed up with inaction from the city. Cathy Crowe, a street nurse in Toronto, has worked with people living in poverty for over three decades. Cathy reiterated Kevin’s statement, exclaiming that “we have all been saying, for years through the pandemic, what needs to be done...but in the last six months, politicians and medical officers of health will not touch the recommendations that need to happen,” in referencing continued health measures around the end of the pandemic, and in stopping bill 124 which caps public workers’ salaries. Cathy claimed that “There needs to be a wartime effort to house people,” because “The conditions are literally catastrophic.”

At a political level, federal NDP leader Jagmeet Singh pushed Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to assist mayor-elect Olivia Chow in July 2023 in solving the city’s affordable housing issue, asking him to re-evaluate federal taxes and use any vacant federal land for affordable housing (City News, 2023). The city itself has declared homelessness an emergency at the Federal level, signaling this need for a strong partnership. The City Council decided to ask provincial and federal governments to add 20 million CAD to the Canada-Ontario Housing Benefit (COHB) in 2023-2024 to support permanent housing.

CHALLENGES AND BARRIERS

There are a range of barriers to ending homelessness and creating affordable housing, which is why so many major cities struggle. Toronto faces complex social, economic, demographic, and governmental barriers. Social stigma against affordable housing and renters is a big player here. Many people present a not in my backyard syndrome, fearing that affordable rental housing will increase crime and decrease property value (Fung, Parikh, and Zulauf, 2020). People experiencing homelessness feel the effects of this stigma, as was explained by Paul in the previous section, taking a psychological toll.

Some perceived economic barriers are socially constructed as well. Many people believe that providing shelters and services is too expensive when the truth is that subsidizing social housing is a more economical approach. The monthly cost of a shelter bed and services in Toronto in recent years was 2,250 CAD, whereas the monthly cost of subsidizing a unit of Toronto’s social housing was 306 CAD. Nevertheless, true economic barriers remain. Affordable housing is rented or sold at below-market value, making it difficult without government investors (Habitat for Humanity, 2018). Additionally, government tax policies add massively to the costs of development, and uncertainties of long-term government commitments create risk (Habitat for Humanity, 2018).

Additional barriers in government practices, as previously established, lie in municipal, provincial, and federal disconnects. In terms of demographics, the province has reportedly been behind on the housing supply because of labor shortages, making development especially difficult. This poses difficulties with the influx of newcomers expected to arrive in the present and future (Balintec, 2023).

RECOMENDATIONS

An action plan must consider both immediate and long-term strategies for reducing homelessness and creating affordable housing. There are serval keys to success that must remain present in all developments. First is transparency with data and the measuring process to enable community involvement. The second is to address the stigma around homelessness and affordable housing units. Third, and has underlined much of this briefing, is fluid communication and partnership between all levels of government. These elements are simplified for this report but are key to the following actionable recommendations.

In the short term, the city and community partners must continue with the Housing First initiative, prioritizing housing as a human right. This initiative is already at play in both community and government programs and must continue to be enforced, such as employed by Fred Victor. This can be facilitated through government-funded community outreach programs and the creation of more emergency shelters. However, emergency shelters must be supplemented with permanent housing to fulfill their short-term purpose. A shortterm permanent affordable housing project to be implemented is the mass production of modular homes. These homes bring project costs down while speeding up development and completion (Balintec, 2023). Construction company BECC Modular is a great partner for this project.

Another approach, discussed by the Wellesley Institutes Blueprint to End Homelessness in Toronto, is to immediately move up to half of the sheltered individuals into permanent homes through enhanced rent supplements, as funding for shelter beds is much more expensive than rent supplements in Toronto (Wellesley Institute, 2011). With less strain on shelters, they can better perform their emergency function.

Longer-term approaches are essential to the sustained housing of individuals across the city. The funding of new and renovated homes in mixed-income neighborhoods can be enabled by increased provincial and federal funding. Inclusionary zoning policies requiring new developments to include affordable housing units is another promising approach, as was successful in the Vienna housing model, destigmatizing and decommodifying affordable housing (Fung, Parikh, and Zulauf, 2020). The government must also activate surplus public land, as suggested by Jagmeet Singh in July 2023, using this vacant land in Toronto to build affordable homes (City News, 2023). An innovative approach for Toronto, which has been gaining traction in recent years, is laneway housing. Toronto uniquely has a network of almost 2,400 laneways stretching 300km through some of Toronto’s most sought-after neighborhoods (Lanescape, 2017). This untapped resource may prove extremely promising but must follow a participatory approach, working together with current neighborhood residents. Creating more productive housing means prioritizing a humanitarian, intersectional, and inclusive approach. A large part of this is advancing reconciliation with indigenous peoples by creating culturally appropriate shelters and housing units, on top of addressing anti-black racism.

CONCLUSION

This briefing has explored homelessness and issues with affordable housing in Toronto, calling various levels of government to take action in improving the existing emergency shelter system and long-term affordable housing solutions. Urban restructuring in Toronto’s history along with racial discrimination has left structural inequities that must be addressed. Legal frameworks have been assessed, exposing the history of cuts to social funding and the criminalization

of homelessness, but recognized the just Toronto Shelter Standards in place. Activism and community initiatives have played a critical role in supporting people experiencing homelessness, assessed through a case study of the Fred Victor organization which sets an example for others and employs elements further emphasized in the recommendations section. A stakeholder analysis of people experiencing homelessness, community program members, politicians, and the City of Toronto is compiled to consider a range of opinions and ideas on the matter. Social, economic, governmental, and demographic barriers are evaluated followed by a list of both short-term and long-term recommendations. These are namely the importance of Housing First initiatives and modular housing, alongside newly renovated affordable housing through activation of surplus public land and inclusionary zoning, and the possibility of laneway housing. This is underscored by the need for transparency in data and measurement, education around the stigmas of homelessness and affordable housing, and a nexus of government involvement and interaction at all stages of the process.

REFERENCES

Balintec, V. (2023). How to fix the housing crisis? Experts, mayors bring ideas to annual Ontario summit. [online] CBC. Available at: https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/ontario-housing-annual-summit-2023- 1.6993867.

Baumohl, J. and National Coalition For The Homeless (U.S (1996). Homelessness in America. Phoenix, Ariz.: Oryx Press.

Canadian Observatory on Homelessness (2021). Community Services | The Homeless Hub. [online] www. homelesshub.ca. Available at: https://www.homelesshub.ca/about- homelessness/service-provision/community-services.

Cathcart-Keays, A. (2022). Homelessness and the pandemic: Toronto. www.homelessnessimpact.org. Available at: https://www.homelessnessimpact.org/news/homelessness-and-the-pandemic-toronto [Accessed 26 Oct. 2023].

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Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ws1p5z_W5E&ab_channel=CBCNews%3ATheNational.

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Draaisma, M. and Glover, C. (2022). Toronto street nurse calls for ‘wartime effort on homelessness’ as she closes book on long career. [online] CBC. Available at: https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/cathy-crowestreet-nurse-homelessness-nursing- 1.6686637.

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Available at: https://www.homelesshub.ca/about-homelessness/population- specific/indigenous-peoples.

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The Gentrification of Fikirtepe in Istanbul, Turkey

Ece Canlıel

AUTHOR POSITIONALITY

Fikirtepe is a neighbouring district to my grandmother’s house, in which I have spent most of my holidays. Consequently, the gentrification-led displacement and the economic hardships I witness in Fikirtepe, albeit with some distance, are topics that are close to my heart. Over the course of twentyone years, I have frequently visited my family in Istanbul and the transformations between my visits have been apparent. Driving from the European side – where the airport is located – to my family home across the Bosphorus, the results of profitdriven modernisation have always been evident to me. This transformation not only changed the physical landscape of Istanbul, but it has also had a profound impact on the livelihoods of the citizens and the social fabric that characterised the neighbourhood.

The higher prevalence of ‘gecekondus’ - or unauthorised developments - in this part of the Anatolian side of Istanbul made it more susceptible to urban redevelopment and gentrification. Fikirtepe, once a shanty town composed of little shacks and poorly built

structures that I distinctly remember passing daily in the car, can now be seen from miles away as contemporary high-rises steadily replace the old shanties.

It is important to acknowledge that my upbringing primarily stems from an upperclass background. Thus, my exposure to the challenges faced by lower-income and migrant communities is limited beyond the research I have done for the purpose of this Community Briefing. Furthermore, the findings of this briefing are meant to offer an additional perspective to the ongoing discourse on gentrification and should be regarded as complementary to the existing viewpoints of the Fikirtepe community.

INTRODUCTION

A severe housing crisis has persisted in Turkey as a result of profound economic instabilities driven by a staggering inflation rate of 61.53% (TUIK, 2023). Today, rent prices have spiked, with an annual increase of 145.6% in Istanbul (Mays, 2022). The housing crisis is further exacerbated by the influx of migrants following the devastating

earthquakes that struck southern and central Turkey in February (Karabat, 2020). Despite these existing challenges, ongoing urban transformation initiatives supported by the Turkish President, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, continue to be implemented in municipalities throughout Turkey, notably in Istanbul, aggravating these issues (Lepeska, 2014). These initiatives focus on shanty towns as well as seismic-vulnerable buildings; the need to retrofit or demolish these structures is undeniable. However, vulnerabilities created by seismic risk have become a convenient pretext for exploitative developers seeking to profit from the area’s prime location and the allure of high-rise living. These urban development initiatives have also intensified a multitude of social justice issues. Foremost among these issues is the exacerbation of economic inequality. The displacement of low-income residents due to rising rent and property values has become a disconcerting reality, often leading to homelessness and housing instability. The upper middle class increasingly supplanting the lower-income demographic in gentrifying neighbourhoods, has driven up the overall cost of living. This surge in living costs poses substantial challenges for lower-income residents in procuring basic necessities. The resultant economic inequality intensifies existing disparities within Istanbul and emphasises the need for social justice reform. Furthermore, gentrification in areas such as Fikirtepe tends to disproportionately affect lower-income Eastern Anatolian migrant communities, thereby aggravating ethnic disparities. The third dimension of concern relates to the displacement of residents and its impact on the erosion of cultural and social ties as residents are forced to vacate their homes for the means of ‘urban transformation’. The influx of newcomers due to this displacement reshapes the neighbourhood’s character by eroding its cultural identity and the traditions of the community, further marginalising its

residents. This is particularly significant in the Turkish context, where community and neighbourly relations hold intrinsic value in the cultural fabric.

I recommend a comprehensive strategy that includes zoning policies and public funding, community land trusts and tenant protection initiatives, as well as local and communitybased efforts. Additionally, I propose the expansion of existing community initiatives to effectively address and combat gentrification challenges in Fikirtepe.

HISTORY OF THE COMMUNITY

Fikirtepe, situated in the Anatolian part of Istanbul within the Kadikoy district, has a rich history that has revolved around its close-knit and diverse community. Fikirtepe’s transformation began in the 1950s with an influx of immigrants from the Black Sea coast, seeking better economic opportunities in the rapidly industrialising Istanbul. In the absence of social housing policy, as well as uncontrolled and unplanned urbanisation, the migratory flows resulted in informal settlements called ‘gecekondus’ (translates directly to ‘laid at night’) on the peripheries of the city at the time. Consequently, Fikirtepe transformed into a shanty town, expanding as more immigrants arrived. These immigrants were predominantly friends and family from regions such as Sinop, Kastamonu, and Rize, which fostered a strong sense of community in Fikirtepe. This sense of community remained decades after their first settlement due to their prior connections from their hometowns. As the city sprawled outwards, Fikirtepe transitioned from its former status as a suburban outlier of Istanbul, to becoming part of the urban landscape and a centrally located district. Today, Fikirtepe’s location has made it an appealing candidate for gentrification, given its proximity to the Central Business District of the Anatolian

side. Approximately half of its built infrastructure – accommodating up to 70% of its population – developed beyond the scope of institutionalised planning.

Existing policy and governmental actions

Despite ongoing efforts since the 1990s, a lack of legislative action and governmental intervention persists in Istanbul. Habitat II – officially known as the “United Nations Conference on Human Settlements” was held in Istanbul in 1996 (UN, 1996). This conference aimed to address urban sustainability issues, including housing, quality of life in cities, and human settlements; all of which are affected by gentrification (UN, 1996). A significant document emanating from this conference called the “Istanbul Declaration on Human Settlements” outlined global objectives and principles for sustainable urban development (OICRF, 2006). A key concept in this document emphasised the

significance of addressing urban challenges such as informal settlements, inadequate housing, and homelessness (OICRF, 2006). This could have played a crucial role in mitigating the effects of gentrification in Fikirtepe. Nevertheless, despite shaping the global discourse on urbanisation, there have been no substantial government endeavours to achieve these goals. Additionally, the conference stressed the necessity of participatory planning and community engagement, both of which have not been adhered to by the Justice and Development Party, led by the Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. Provided that these principles are effectively incorporated into policies and practices by governments and urban planners, this declaration has the potential to mitigate the impacts of gentrification in Fikirtepe.

One initiative aimed at integrating the principles from the Istanbul Declaration on Human Settlements is the Urban

Current satellite image of the gentrifying neighbourhood of Fikirtepe in Istanbul outlined in red (Google Maps, 2023)

Renewal Rent Subsidy (Yeni Safak, 2023). This program offers rental and relocation assistance for a period of eighteen months to tenants residing in buildings deemed as ‘risky’ through contractor evaluations. Those who reside in properties within the urban transformation zone receive a twomonth rental subsidy. In Istanbul, this subsidy amounts to 3,500 Turkish liras per month, which is equivalent to 102 British pounds. In addition to enhancing structural safety and safeguarding against seismicrisk prevalent in shanty towns such as Fikirtepe, the Urban Renewal Rent Subsidy also plays a pivotal role in addressing the impacts of gentrification in Istanbul. The eighteen-month and two-month subsidies for beneficiaries and tenants, respectively, function as a buffer against the displacement of Fikirtepe’s residents in the face of Urban Transformation. This allows long-term residents to remain in their neighbourhoods, thereby fostering socio-economic diversity by preserving the character and cultural dynamic of Fikirtepe.

EXISTING COMMUNITY RESPONSES

TMMOB Chamber of Architects

A community response to gentrification in Fikirtepe is facilitated through the Union of Chambers of Turkish Engineers and Architects, specifically the TMMOB Chamber of Architects division (MO, 2021). Established in 1954, the TMMOB Chamber of Architects is a constitutional professional organisation founded to serve the public and society’s interests (MO, 2022). Its focus is on architecture and urban planning through advocacy and various other initiatives. Firstly, the Chamber advocates for the transparency and accountability of developers and government agencies involved in the urban transformation processes. For instance, in 2019 the Chamber led to the successful cancellation

of the stage plans of the Fikirtepe Urban Transformation Project through legal action (MO, 2022). The report for the plans revealed inconsistencies in the text and tabular data, as well as calculation errors which would have resulted in a “hidden density increase” (MO, 2022). Consequently, the efforts of the chamber aided in the prevention of issues such as overcrowding or lack of living space for residents, safeguarding their overall quality of life. Moreover, the Chamber plays a substantial role in advancing social justice and mitigating the impacts of gentrification in Fikirtepe through community engagement. Aside from the affordability issue, the most significant form of displacement is the changing social fabric as the middle-class relocate into the modern high-rise buildings that have replaced the shacks that the residents once called home. Many residents have protested that “the rebuilt houses are not designed according to the lifestyle and needs of the gecekondus families living in Fikirtepe”, and thus the social dynamic and character of this district is taking a turn for the worse (Markoc, 2019). The chamber assists in amplifying the voices of the community to advocate for policies and plans that prioritise the interests of all community members, particularly the ones of marginalised and vulnerable populations.

Tasarim Arastirma Katilim (TAK) Fikirtepe

TAK is a design and research organisation based in Turkey, that believes that socially oriented design has the power and potential to shape existing systems and society for the better by considering the role of the designer and user through a shift towards participatory and collaborative design in an approach inclusive to contemporary social and political aspects (TAK, 2023). To minimise the social repercussions created by spatial intervention such as urban transformation, TAK developed the ‘Social Impact Sensitive

Design’ method – a community-oriented and participatory design process, which focuses on the life dynamics and expectations of the residents for the future of Fikirtepe. This allows the designers at TAK to develop principles, strategies, and tools to establish a horizontal hierarchical, democratic structure instead of Erdogan’s top-down, authoritarian approach to the Fikirtepe Urban Transformation project (TAK, 2023). In addition to creative disciplines, various stakeholders and actors from different fields are also involved in this process, for more holistic solutions. An example of their work in Fikirtepe is the Urban Transformation Workshop, which allowed participants from different disciplines to discuss the planning, architecture, transportation, and social problems in Fikirtepe interactively to develop a critical and comprehensive understanding of the multifaceted nature of Urban Transformation and gentrification, from participants who are directly impacted by it (TAK, 2018).

Another way in which TAK provided a community-based response to the gentrifying neighbourhood of Fikirtepe, is through the “We are from Fikirtepe!” short film workshop (Tak, 2013). To encourage a sense of community and belonging as the urban structure of Fikirtepe rapidly changes, the Film TAK program, conducted by volunteer project coordinators from various fields, documented the life, stories and voices, of eleven participants between the ages of six and eleven (Tak, 2013). This was significant in maintaining the urban memory of the community and sustaining neighbourly relations. The screenings, first held on the 16th of November 2013, not only raised awareness of the neighbourhood’s history and dynamics, but also fostered a sense of community in Fikirtepe (Tak, 2013). Through these films, the residents find a platform to connect, share their own narratives, and preserve the essence of their

neighbourhood to reinforce the bonds and ‘brotherly’ relations that have long defined the cultural and social fabric of Turkey.

RECOMMENDATIONS FOR THE COMMUNITY

Zoning Policies and Public Funding

There are numerous policies, which if effectively implemented, could significantly reduce the displacement of low-income populations from their homes (Bolton, 2020). For instance, implementing overlay zoning for affordable housing may require demolished housing units to be replaced with affordable housing, which in turn, could reduce the demolishment of existing lowincome housing by acting as a disincentive (Bolton, 2020). Additionally, overlay zones can be used to control the density and land use within neighbourhoods, for instance by limiting the number of units that can be built, which stops houses from being redeveloped into high-density apartments. This makes the area less profitable, and thus also less appealing to Erdogan’s goals of profit-led modernisation. Additionally, inclusionary zoning would create more affordable units within the gentrifying area for lower-income individuals and families, consequently preventing their dispossession (Bolton, 2020). Building on this, securing more public funding through government agencies, partnerships, and funding agencies would provide the necessary financial resources to construct and maintain affordable units (Bolton, 2020). These funds can be allocated to land acquisition, construction expenses, and operational costs to ensure that the new housing remains affordable for low-income residents. By enhancing public funding, developers can not only create more units, but also maintain lower rates, directly countering the pressures of gentrification and addressing the needs of vulnerable communities in Fikirtepe.

Community Land Trusts and Tenant Protection Initiatives

A more extensive approach to preserving housing which offers collective ownership to ensure community stewardship of land is through Community Land trusts (CLTs). CLTs are community-based organisations often initiated and managed by local communities to ensure affordable housing whilst protecting residents against the impacts of gentrification such as displacement. CLTs work towards preventing developers from displacing low-income residents by inhibiting the development of expensive infrastructure targeted to upperclass citizens, in addition to ensuring that the current residents can benefit from the investments in their neighbourhood, as a strong CLTR captures the economic value generated from these developments for residents (Cole et al., 2023). CLTs can also be utilised in moving housing from market to community ownership which combats gentrification by reducing the influence of profit-driven real estate prices (Burrowes et al., 2022). Consequently, ameliorating the affordability and stability of housing over the long-term. Furthermore, CLTS help provide low- and middle-income property-owners with the opportunity to build equity and provide more protection against foreclosures by significantly reducing the initial purchase price, making homeownership more accessible. CLTs protect homeowners from the risk of losing their homes in foreclosure due to unaffordable market prices by imposing resale restrictions, ensuring that the property remains affordable for future buyers.

Despite the presence of rental assistance programs implemented by the Turkish government in Fikirtepe, these programs often inadequately meet the residents’ requirements to sustain their quality of life or force them to relocate to cheaper housing in more affordable neighbourhoods in the

peripheries of Istanbul. Thus, I recommend Tenancy right-to-counsel programs, which not only provide low-income renters facing economic difficulties with emergency funds to pay rent, but also provide access to legal representation for renters who may be facing eviction (Cole et al., 2023).

Local and Community-based Initiatives

Local Non-profits and legal groups

Fikirtepe would also benefit from an eviction aversion initiative, which has proven to work well in numerous cities such as Cleveland in the US (Cole et al., 2023). This proactive approach is designed to prevent evictions by addressing underlying issues that may trigger them, through facilitating open communication between tenants and property owners to resolve disputes and miscommunications, thereby preventing eviction as an outcome (Cole et al., 2023). Also known as the Eviction Diversion Program, both rental assistance and legal counsel are offered to avoid eviction, increase housing stability, and reduce homelessness. These factors would alleviate the issues of gentrification evident in the case of Fikirtepe.

Urban grassroots and justice organisations

Urban grassroots movements are incredibly important in the combatting of gentrification in Fikirtepe, as these initiatives are organised by residents and local activists, characterised by their bottom-up approach, which allows ordinary citizens to take the lead in identifying problems, mobilising resources, and driving solutions tailored to the needs of their community to improve the quality of life in their neighbourhood (Can, 2022). This collective action and community engagement brings people together as a united front and leverages this power of collaborative work to foster

change. Activism through these movements, particularly to fight increasing rent prices and decreasing affordability in the Fikirtepe rental housing market, would be influential in resisting state-led urban transformation and the processes of gentrification (Can, 2022). Foremost, negotiations with the municipality aimed to collectively represent property-owners’ rights would ensure that individual properties were not sold without the organisation’s knowledge (Islam et al., 2015). This strategy counters the municipality’s pressures on propertyowners individually, to sell their estates. Resorting to legal action in the case that these negotiations fail hasn’t worked in the past when looking at case studies such as the Taralbasi project in Istanbul, which participated in juridical battles, challenged the project in local court and the European Court of Human Rights, and applied to UNSECO for aid, and was not successful (Islam et al., 2015). However, through its media coverage, it brought international awareness to the project, increasing the support of other organisations such as Amnesty International, which helped amplify the message of the Taralbasi residents, and put pressure on local authorities to implement more inclusive and socially responsible policies that prioritised the well-being of the community over profitdriven gentrification (Islam et al., 2015). Fikirtepe can consider implementing a similar approach to address its policies and enhance its inclusivity.

Sustaining and Broadening Existing Community Initiatives

The efforts of the TMMOB Chamber of Architects and TAK Fikirtepe to counter gentrification in Fikirtepe have been pivotal in advancing social justice and mitigating the impacts of the gentrifying neighbourhood. Not only have these two organisations worked towards preventing

the displacement of Fikirtepe’s residents but they have also made substantial efforts in maintaining the cultural and social fabric of the area, as well as its urban memory. Therefore, I recommend that these initiatives continue to support the community and its own diverse needs, whilst expanding their work into various other branches. For instance, the Chamber of Architects could organise a plethora of educational programs to inform residents about the implications of urban transformation projects, empowering them to actively participate in decisionmaking processes with a more educated approach. Furthermore, both the Chamber and TAK can involve more stakeholders, including governmental bodies to achieve a more holistic understanding of gentrification issues specific to Fikirtepe, and encourage collaborative solutions, benefitting both its residents and the state.

CONCLUSION

In conclusion, the ongoing challenges faced by the Fikirtepe community in light of gentrification are not just a matter of academic concern but hold personal significance to many Turkish communities witnessing the transformation of the district over the years. The consequences of profitdriven modernisation are not merely physical changes but profound impacts on the livelihoods of the citizens and the social fabric that once characterised the neighbourhood of Fikirtepe. The housing crisis in Turkey, exacerbated by economic instability, soaring rent prices, and an influx of migrants putting pressures on urban density, is further intensified by urban transformation initiatives driven by financial motives. These initiatives, while claiming to address seismic risks and encourage sustainable urban development, have often led to the displacement of lowincome residents, economic inequality, and the erosion of social and cultural ties, which

presents multifaceted challenges that require comprehensive and community-based responses to combat state-led gentrification.

Existing policies and government actions have failed to effectively mitigate the impacts of gentrification in Fikirtepe. Although initiatives such as the Urban Renewal Rent Subsidy Program has potential to combat issues created by gentrification, by providing some relief, it has not been sufficient in countering gentrification in Fikirtepe. Therefore, it is imperative to explore a range of initiatives to protect the lower-income community of Fikirtepe, as well as its cultural foundation.

Thus, I turn back to the recommendations that have been made in this Community Briefing. Foremost, I propose the implementation of zoning policies and public funding that promote and maintain affordable housing. In addition to these, Community Land Trusts, tenant protection initiatives and eviction aversion programmes can further prevent the displacement of residents and maintain housing stability. Furthermore, local nonprofits, legal groups, urban grassroot movements, and justice organisations can play substantial roles in advocating for the rights of property-owners and tenants, whilst also bringing international attention to the challenges faced by the Fikirtepe community to apply pressure on local authorities in the implementation of socially responsible policies. Moreover, community responses that TMMOB Chamber of Architects and TAK Fikirtepe have already implemented, have played a sizable role in combatting gentrification, thus, the expansion and continuation of these initiatives would continue to encourage collaborative solutions tailored to the needs of the community.

Combatting gentrification in Fikirtepe is a complex challenge, however, I believe that with the implementation of the

recommendations mentioned in this briefing, it is possible to protect the interests of the community, preserve the cultural fabric of the district, and promote social justice in the face of urban transformation. The path forward requires collaborative action and commitment to the welfare of the Fikirtepe community.

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Addressing the Housing Crisis at St Andrews: A Student Perspective on Solutions and Strategies

Joseh Dowey

INTRO

Small, rural, and quaint. These are some of the common words used to describe the picturesque town of St Andrews. Much like some of the town’s £800/month rooms being described as ‘cosy’, these adjectives are not working in favour of some students. The town’s relative isolation really means that if you are not able to secure housing, then commuting and finding a place to work becomes much harder than in a big city. Your best bets are Guardbridge, Cupar, or more commonly Dundee. St Andrews has for the second time in a row ranked the number one university in the UK. This is partly due to having one of the best student satisfactions out of any university (Complete University Guide, 2023). However, for the 350 students who reportedly went into last academic year without housing (Gatrell, 2022), I’m sure satisfaction was low. At university, housing is not just a place to sleep and commute from as it is after university. It is pivotal to making friends and affects the person in every aspect of university life. It also becomes an issue of safety when you have students waiting at bus-stops in the cold at night. It can eliminate lower income students due

to the necessity of buying bus, train or taxi fares or purchase of a car every time they want to return home. This adds monumental amounts onto the cost of an academic year. Academic pressures will be felt due to the time spent commuting; this adds up to many hours every semester for students forced to live in Dundee.

In this report I aim to expose the extent of the issues surrounding housing in St Andrews. As I aim to speak to the community, I will first explain my positionality, why the community should listen to me and my personal experiences in the matter. I will then go on to explain what the effects on students are and reasons for these effects, and finally I will propose solutions to the community.

POSITIONALITY

I am a third-year student studying economics and sustainable development at the university. This gives me a unique perspective of the situation compared to larger companies. My time at the university has not been without its struggles and along with my fellow students, securing suitable

and affordable housing is one of the most pressing issues. I understand the anxieties involved in searching and getting repeatedly rejected from housing. I understand the financial burden of being forced between a house out of your budget, or a house out of your town. I understand the social strains that the limited variability of housing has on friendship groups that are often separated by circumstance. My own background is not a high-income one and so I, alongside many others have had to overcome financial challenges students at other universities have not and am aware of the effects this has on academic performance, socialising, and the university experience as a whole. Given my studies of economics and sustainable development, I bring a unique blend of insight to the table. I strongly believe that a sustainable and economically viable solution to the problem is necessary to overcome it. Therefore, I am writing this report not only as a concerned student, but as someone who is well equipped to propose meaningful and effective suggestions to reduce the effects of this crisis.

BACKGROUND AND CONTEXT OF CHALLENGES

One of the most central problems with housing in St Andrews is housing prices and lack of affordable housing. There are many reasons for this so to keep it simple the first is high demand and low supply of housing. A large part of the increased demand is the student population, the fact that the university is so highly rated means that there is always a huge surplus of applications. This means the town is always at capacity for students and in the case of 2022, too many students were accepted due to artificially inflated grades following the COVID-19 pandemic. This can be seen country wide with a 28% leap in students securing places at higher tariff universities (UCAS, 2021). This means that for at least 4

years there is a much larger cohort. Tourism is also a heavy driver of demand. The town is globally known as the home of golf, with the sport having originated here in 1764. This can lead to focus on short term rentals like Airbnb rather than long term ones, with over 350 flats currently licensed for short term lets in St Andrews. (Gatrell, 2022). The town frequently hosts large scale golfing events and tournaments such as the Alfred Dunhill links championship which runs every year, as well as the Open Championship which runs every five years. Last year, the Open led to the town’s usual population of 17,000 swelling to a staggering 290,000 (The Open, 2022). If supply and demand was unbalanced before it hit new extremes during this season. This especially became problematic for students and locals who needed stable long term housing contracts. By renting seasonally landlords can in some cases earn more renting for a few weeks than a whole academic year with students, with some homeowners charging £31,678 for the week. This is 12 times higher than it is listed at a fortnight later (Warrender, 2021). Apart from golf, the town is renowned as being a beautiful and deeply historical town, which leads to the purchase of second homes. There are few places that offer the same combination of these factors.

Given all this one might think the easy solution would be increasing the supply of houses. Unfortunately, it is not as easy as this. Many areas of the town are protected from further development as they hold significant cultural and historical importance.

On top of this local planning and zoning regulations to protect heritage and character limit, height, density, and overall character of buildings. The town is also forced to only expand further from the fringes of the town as the town centre is on the seafront. This disincentivises new developments as high demand areas are rare. A largescale project is currently also limited by infrastructure.

New water, sewage and road development would need to take place to accommodate large influxes of people.

Another reason for high prices is investment and speculation. Speculators and investors will often pay premium prices for houses they believe they will be able to sell for much higher in the future or earn substantial rental income. This leads to artificial price inflation. The problems associated with this are twofold when you consider many properties bought for investment remain empty or underutilised for extended periods of time, effectively taking houses out of the market. Ultimately this led to “636 homes in St Andrews being classed as “empty”, or 10.5% of the housing stock in the town,” (Smith 2018).

One of the key reasons for a shortage of affordable housing for students is Fife council’s 2018 decision to put a cap on the amount of HMO licenses in St Andrew (Fife Housing Partnership, 2022). HMO stands for housing in multiple occupancy and is a type

of license that allows for a house to be shared between three or more unrelated occupants. Without this license, landlords are limited to a maximum of two students, assuming they are unrelated. The over-provision policy aimed to prevent any further growth had the intended effect of preventing a swelling student population from pushing middle to low income earning locals out of town, effectively gentrifying it. This however has had the unintended consequence of creating a locked room scenario where students still rented non-HMO properties but paid for the vacant rooms as well. This has led to many houses in St Andrews having rooms that are vacant all year round which is frustrating for students who have been forced to commute from Dundee and even Edinburgh due to a lack of rooms. It also means that the prices being paid in households with empty rooms are extortionate. In some cases, this is the only way that students can guarantee a place to live. The HMO cap has also not led to an increase in middle to low-income residents in the town centre.

Map showing areas of conservation in St Andrews (Fife Council, 2023)

However, the HMO caps are not new, they have been in place since 2019. As the rates of students without homes has increased so dramatically in the last couple years, there must be other drivers. One reason is the universities fault directly by letting in more students than the town was able to house. The student body was not supposed to reach 10,000 until 2025 (St Andrews, 2020), however by 2020 this number was reached and by 2021 the student body had grown to 10,425 (University of St Andrews:2). This can be partly attributed to the inflation of A level grades, however the university also admitted 20 times more postgraduates than the year prior - students who weren’t affected by inflated A level grades.

On top of accepting an increased number of students, the university recently demolished Albany Park, one of the few affordable accommodations for students in St Andrews. The accommodation was an ageing complex which previously housed 350 students. However, due to concerns about health and safety the accommodation was demolished to construct a new larger one with original plans to house 960 students. This sounds positive and will no doubt be a welcome blessing to students in need of housing when it is finished, however it isn’t finished and won’t be for some time. In fact, the university has had to pause construction completely in order to negotiate price issues stemming from high inflation. Given that the University had nearly 50 years to devise replacement plans for Albany Park, it is unacceptable that they allowed such a significant gap between the demolition of one accommodation and the construction of another. Additionally, due to rising costs the accommodation will now only house 710 students. With only 30% of them being lower-cost housing, the university would be providing 213 cheaper rooms instead of the initially planned 960. (VanReenen, 2023). This is better than nothing and hopefully the increase in supply of high-cost rooms will take some pressure off the private market, lowering costs.

POTENTIAL SOLUTIONS

One solution would be the implementation of rent caps within the town to ensure that prices do not inflate excessively. Rent caps would also prevent the extortionate shortterm inflation of rent during events such as the open championship golf tournament, where some letting agents such as Lawson & Thompson, clauses were added that allowed rent to be increased to £7000 for the month of July (Jones, 2022). This illegal move effectively forced students to leave during peak times of the year. In coordination with rent caps, the council could seek to regulate the laws surrounding short term lets. This was explored in a report by Dutch bank ING, stating that “Airbnb drives up real estate prices, because people are prepared to pay more for a flat when they can make extra money by renting it out,” and that “Families with children are leaving this city because they can’t afford to live in the good areas” (van der Zee, 2016). In Amsterdam, by limiting the number of days you can rent out a full house to 30 days they managed to cut short term rentals from “39 per cent in 2015 to only 5 per cent in 2020” (Hübscher et al., 2022). A similar approach could work in St Andrews. By adopting a similar moratorium on short-term lettings for student accommodations in St Andrews, the town can ensure that the influx of tourists does not compromise the housing needs of its student population, a demographic that often grapples with limited budget constraints and specific location needs. Such a move can ensure that students have a stable living environment throughout the duration of their course. However, it is not solely up to the council to fix this problem. The university has a lot of power to alleviate the problem itself. Given the surge in shortterm lets, especially around peak tourist seasons, a temporary restriction could be placed on turning student accommodations into holiday rentals. This would prevent the displacement of students during their academic terms and ensure housing security.

A long-term viable solution would be the university expanding upon universitymanaged accommodation. A quick solution was found with the securing of 140 extra rooms in the Old Mill Student Residences in Dundee (Fitzpatrick, 2022), but a survey carried out by CASH found that 100% of students surveyed from the accommodation would rather live in St Andrews and 100% also claimed there were academic consequences as a direct result of the distance to the university (CASH, 2022). Whilst the Old Mill accommodation is certainly better than nothing, evidently more can be done. Repurposing existing structures is often more cost-effective and faster than constructing new buildings from scratch. It can also be more sustainable, as it uses fewer raw materials and generates less construction waste (Merlino, 2018).

This has worked in the case of UCLA’s Community Housing project which according to the university means “UCLA will become the first and only University of California campus to guarantee housing for four years to first-year students and two years for transfer students” (LA Times, 2022) Converting different types of vacant properties (e.g., houses, flats, old commercial properties) can lead to a diverse range of accommodation options. This diversity can cater to various student preferences and budgets. Retrofitting and repurposing old buildings can be more environmentally friendly than demolition and new construction. This approach can align with sustainability goals and reduce the carbon footprint associated with new building projects. If these properties are located centrally or near key facilities, it might be the only option for building new accommodation whilst reducing the need for car travel, promoting walking, cycling, or public transport among students, as opposed to building more accommodations further out of town such as Fife Park. It could also mean building is approved for those wanting

luxury flats further out in the greenbelt, where development is usually refused. This can be seen with the development of 27 new flats where Craigtown hospital used to be (Warrender, 2023).

Student also must be made able to help themselves through promoting awareness and advocacy amongst the population. This is especially the case at St Andrews due to an unusually high 45% of students being international, (University of St Andrews, 2019) who are more likely to be unaware of the rules and laws. By educating students on their rights, housing options, and available resources awareness can be raised with both students and stakeholders about the scale of the crisis and the necessity for community involvement. Usually, students would be able to refer to the student legal clinic however this was closed in 2020 citing COVID as the reason. Fortunately, there were other organisations that stepped in such as CASH, the Student Union’s Advocacy and LivingRent. (Jones, 2022) A step towards this would be to reopen the student legal clinic which allowed students to become aware of their legal rights in relation to housing and other issues. The impact of COVID should n longer serve as an excuse, as this vital service can be continued remotely or by phone. The demand for the service did not disappear with the pandemic.

An easy step the university can take is to increase their communication and accountability surrounding housing. There have been frequent reports of long periods of time without any updates from the university and checking Facebook pages for updates becomes part of daily routine. The university and the town have a symbiotic relationship. The prosperity and wellbeing of one affects the other. By adopting a proactive stance against the housing crisis, the university is not only helping it’s students, but is also benefitting local residents and businesses and the quality of life in the town. If the University of St

Andrews fails to amplify its communication and accountability regarding this crisis, it risks not only its reputation and student welfare but also the harmony and prosperity of the town itself. It’s time for a united front, where the esteemed institution and the town come together to forge a sustainable future. Unlike conventional methods, where students had to physically scout for available housing options or rely on wordof-mouth, digital platforms like ‘Get a Room St Andrews’ provide instant access to a plethora of listings. Whether it’s a shared apartment or an individual room, students can increase their chances of finding accommodation and connect with the entire student body from their mobile phone. The dynamic nature of these platforms allows for immediate updates on availability. If a room gets occupied, the listing can be promptly marked as ‘taken’, reducing the chances of redundancy. Additionally, the integrated messaging feature enables direct communication between landlords and prospective tenants, streamlining the entire process. One of the significant advantages of such platforms is the community-driven aspect. Fellow students often leave reviews or comments on listings, helping peers make informed decisions. This transparency fosters trust and reduces the likelihood of potential housing scams. While informal Facebook groups have their advantages, there’s potential in developing a more structured online platform dedicated to St Andrews’ housing needs. Such formal networks could offer features like verified landlord profiles, a standardized lease agreement template, and even integration with payment gateways for deposit and rent transactions. This not only ensures security but also speeds up the matching process. The main aim of these platforms is to efficiently connect tenants, and those who are in search of tenants. Given the importance of housing for its student community, the University of St Andrews could consider endorsing

or collaborating with such platforms. This would further legitimize the network and potentially integrate it with the university’s existing student services.

CONCLUSION

The housing crisis in St. Andrews deeply affects the student experience, with many facing uncertainties regarding their accommodation each year. This not only has an impact on their academics, but also leads to significant social and safety concerns. For a university that seems to hold itself in such high esteem, these issues cannot be overlooked. In order to address the housing issues, a collective effort is required from the St. Andrews community, encompassing both the university administration and the students. Enhanced communication is crucial. The university should adopt a transparent and consistent dialogue with students about housing opportunities, deadlines, and advice. Regular updates through email or via the website that include both students and landlords can build trust and collaboration. Beyond communication, there’s a need to explore alternative housing solutions. In tandem with local developers and the council, the university could consider innovative housing approaches, such as modular housing, particularly during highdemand periods. Furthermore, the role of local residents cannot be emphasized enough. They have the potential to alleviate some of the strain by offering spare rooms, annexes, or properties specifically for student rentals. The university must see that the digital age also offers unique solutions to the housing crisis. Platforms like ‘Get a Room St Andrews’ must be developed and formalised by the university. Yet even as we look towards the university for answers, we must not underestimate the effectiveness of grassroots projects such as CHAS or peaceful protests. The community must come together and implement the solutions that can be achieved.

REFERENCES

Complete university Guide (2023) ‘University League Tables student satisfaction 2024’, Complete university guide, 28 June. Available at: https://www.thecompleteuniversityguide.co.uk/league-tables/rankings?sortby=student-satisfaction

Gatrell, E. (2022) ‘Housing Crisis in St Andrews’, The Saint, 6 August. Available at: https://www.thesaint.scot/ post/housing-crisis-in-st-andrews

UCAS (2021) UCAS UNDERGRADUATE SECTOR-LEVEL END OF CYCLE DATA RESOURCES 2021, UCAS Available at: https://www.ucas.com/data-and-analysis/ undergraduate-statistics-and-reports/ucas-undergraduate-sector-level-end-cycle-data-resources-2021.

The Open (2022) A record crowd / 290,000 spectators to attend The 150th Open, The Open. Available at: https://www.theopen.com/latest/record-attendance-150th-open-st-andrews#:~:text=290%2C000%20 spectators%20to%20attend%20The%20150th%20 Open&text=Unprecedented%20demand%20to%20attend%20this,tickets%20being%20issued%20to%20fans.

VanReenen, D. (2023) Plans unveiled for 700-bed halls ‘to take pressure off rental market’, STV News. Available at: https://news.stv.tv/north/university-of-st-andrews-unveils-plans-for-700-bed-student-halls-in-bid-to-takepressure-off-rental-market

van der Zee, R. (2016) ‘The “Airbnb effect”: is it real, and what is it doing to a city like Amsterdam?’, The Guardian, 6 October. Available at: https://www.theguardian.com/ cities/2016/oct/06/the-airbnb-effect-amsterdam-fairbnb-property-prices-communities.

Hübscher, M. and Kallert, T. (2022). Taming Airbnb Locally: Analysing Regulations in Amsterdam, Berlin and London. Tijdschrift voor Economische en Sociale Geografie doi:https://doi.org/10.1111/tesg.12537.

Fitzpatrick, T. (2022). St Andrews Students Forced to Live in Dundee Due to Housing Shortage. [online] STV News. Available at: https://news.stv.tv/scotland/students-at-university-of-st-andrews-face-acute-housingshortage-with-some-forced-to-live-in-dundee

Warrender, C. (2023). Luxury flats plan approved for Craigtoun Hospital in St Andrews as new pictures reveal building’s condition. [online] The Courier. Available at: https://www.thecourier.co.uk/fp/news/ fife/4666615/craigtoun-hospital-st-andrews/

Jones, W. (2022). Illegal Evictions during The Open, As Part of the Wider St Andrews Housing Crisis. [online] StAndrews Law Review. Available at: https://www.standrewslawreview.com/post/illegal-evictions-duringthe-open-part-of-the-wider-st-andrews-housing-crisis.

Warrender, C. (2021). Renting a House in St Andrews for the Open? That’ll Be £31,000 Please. [online] The Couri-

er. Available at: https://www.thecourier.co.uk/fp/news/ fife/2624234/renting-a-house-in-st-andrews-for-theopen-thatll-be-31000-please/

Fife Council (2023). Conservation areas in St Andrews. Available at: https://fifeonline-maps.maps. arcgis.com/apps/webappviewer/index.html?id=3bb18c4ee28c444a8d630823446999d5

Fife Housing Partnership (2020). Local Housing Strategy Interim 2020-2022. [online] Fife Council, p.76. Available at: https://www.fife.gov.uk/__data/assets/pdf_ file/0013/121117/2020-22-Fife-LHS-and-Outcome-Plan. pdf

University of St Andrews (2019). Accommodation Enabling Strategy 2019-2023. [online] University of St Andrews. Available at: https://www.st-andrews.ac.uk/ assets/university/about/documents/governance/restricted/university-strategy/accommodation-strategy. pdf.

University of St Andrews (2022:2). Facts and figuresAbout - University of St Andrews. [online] www.st-andrews.ac.uk. Available at: https://www.st-andrews. ac.uk/about/facts/

Merlino, K.R. (2018). Building Reuse: Sustainability, Preservation, and the Value of Design. [online] Google Books, University of Washington Press, p.204. Available at: https:// books.google.co.uk/books?hl=en&lr=&id=k31eDwAAQBAJ&oi=fnd&pg=PP1&dq=repurposing+existing+structures+produces+less+waste&ots=-K4YnhQ-

University of St Andrews (2019:2). Population by ethnicity - About - University of St Andrews. [online] www.st-andrews.ac.uk. Available at: https://www.st-andrews. ac.uk/about/edi-progress-reports/student-equality-diversity-and-inclusion-report-2019/population-by-ethnicity/

Smith, C. (2018). ‘Empty’ homes exacerbating St Andrews housing crisis. [online] The Courier. Available at: https:// www.thecourier.co.uk/fp/news/fife/715332/empty-homes-exacerbating-st-andrews-housing-crisis/

LA Times (2022). Amid student housing crisis, UCLA becomes first UC campus with four-year room guarantee. Los Angeles Times. [online] 17 Mar. Available at: https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2022-03-17/ amid-student-housing-crisis-ucla-becomes-first-uccampus-to-guarantee-beds.

Housing Queens

New York

United States

The Housing Crisis of Queens New York: Perpetuating Social and Economic Inequities

Emily McMenamin

DEFINING THE COMMUNITY OF QUEENS, NEW YORK

Queens is a borough of New York City located only seven miles outside of one of the economic and cultural capitals of the world, Manhattan. Within the boundaries of New York City, along with Brooklyn, Bronx, and Staten Island, Queens is home to over 8.8 million people overall with approximately 2.4 million residents making it one of the most ethnically diverse urban areas in the world (New York City Census, 2020,3). Queens has become a hub for multiple ethnic communities and immigration with 47% of its population being born outside of the U.S. (United States Census Bureau, 2021).

A uniquely situated borough in New York City, the majority of its diverse immigrant population are middle-class families with the highest labour-force participation rate and lowest unemployment rates across New York (Malanga, 2004). The family-oriented nature of the community and the proximity to job opportunities are driving factors that caused Queens to continuously grow into a flourishing middle-class neighbourhood.

The 345,000 people who live in this borough and also work in Manhattan provide an enormous contribution to New York’s largest vital businesses and economy (Malanga, 2004). Queen’s diverse reliable workforce provides vital skilled work and an economic boost in other areas of New York making Queens’ economy more stable than other boroughs and less likely to experience volatile swings (Malanga, 2004). The diverse middle-class population of Queens is crucial to the social and economic success of New York and is a backbone of the socioeconomic stability of the city, yet due to the lack of affordable housing, this community is suffering and being subjected to a lower standard of living.

AUTHOR POSITIONALITY

As a Queens resident, I have compassion for those who struggle with high rents and am grateful for being a homeowner in the area. My positionality takes self-awareness into account and my interest is in what would benefit the entire community to enjoy a

balanced and healthy lifestyle. Throughout this research, I have discovered a panorama of what seems like an insurmountable problem that is linked to a systemic escalation of housing costs, that most of the population can only work to keep up with. There is a fundamental value system at play beneath our housing system where each entity offering housing is prioritizing profits over the quality of life. From this, it would be important to communicate a more cooperative approach to the landlord/ tenant relationship to maintain the property and cover the landlord’s costs while not exploiting the tenant. Overall, from my work volunteering in Queens, I’ve found the community is motivated by pursuing a personal livelihood to support their families and live the American dream of upward mobility and success. I hope the driving personal factor of improvement can be utilized to increase community support on a larger scale, especially by understanding the perspective of this overlooked borough. Recognising the community specifics that this population has limited time to engage in community initiatives will be vital to the success of any program.

COMMUNITY CHALLENGE

The high cost of living in New York City stems from the housing crisis and the need for additional homes and more specifically affordable homes. The lower-income communities disproportionately affected are spending over half their income on housing (Fitzsimmons et al., 2022). The increasing gap in New Yorkers’ ability to provide basic necessities is amplified in the borough of Queens which is a predominantly workingclass family area. Current New York City Mayor Eric Adams and Governor Kathy Hochul’s push for building more affordable housing has failed in previous negotiations of the state budget still leaving over 80% of households in New York unable to afford the

minimum cost of living (Shapiro, 2023). Data prepared by the Fund for the City of New York to advise governmental organisations regarding initiatives to improve livelihoods demonstrates that the median income in New York had risen 71% by 2023 while the true cost of living, meaning how much income is needed to afford necessities in Queens had risen 125% (Kucklick et al., 2023, 9). The city-wide median salary is stated to be $49,754 yearly while the true cost of living in Queens is shown to be $115,496 demonstrating the staggering income inadequacy and structural inequities that are causing increased poverty levels in this borough (Kucklick et al., 2023, 8). Based on the U.S. Census Bureau 2021 ACS report, households in Queens living below the true cost of living had risen to 49% which would support more people becoming unable to afford their needs as rent and prices increase and why factors such as food hardship have increased (Kucklick et al., 2023, 10). These downward adjustments in the median standard of living come from many people needing to move due to properties increasing rent and increasing cost for purchase along with rising interest rates for mortgages and the inability of people to qualify for bank loans.

Thus, affordable housing is consistently becoming too expensive and forcing families and individuals to cut back on other basic expenses to afford rent or mortgage payments. Renters are further disproportionately affected as rents continue to rise as they are not governed by legislation in small private homes with apartments. While Queen’s economy is stated to be the most stable due to the consistent workforce the highest rates of personal economic instability were found in predominantly immigrant or nonwhite neighbourhoods as demonstrated (Shapiro, 2023). Through statistics that will be discussed below, there are already examples of families in renting

communities in Queens, such as Elmhurst and South Corona that have needed to compromise their standard of living to afford to live in their homes with one of the largest factors being increased risk of food insecurity. These factors create extreme risks to the well-being of families and children. If this community were economically forced to move due to the increase in housing prices, there would be a larger negative ripple effect over the entirety of New York City and the State due to the loss of essential workers in the infrastructure of the city. One of the greatest challenges to many communities, such as New York City which possesses some of the most expensive real estate in the world, is that the middle class is disproportionately affected by the rising cost of living (Malanga, 2004). The question becomes how the community itself can cope with these changes and respond to achieve a more equitable standard of living.

Many social factors can contribute to and provide an understanding of why Queens is demonstrating worse effects to housing price increase than other areas such as inequities regarding child care and amount of social programs. While the majority of households in Queens have dual incomes it was still found that having a child of any age in Queens pushes the monthly true cost of living over the official measure of poverty (Kucklick et al., 2023, 20). This income inadequacy is highest for households with younger children due to the high cost of childcare and the highest disparities are observed in homes with 86% of single mothers struggling to meet basic needs (Kucklick et al., 2023, 20). These calculations are estimated to be statistically higher than what is shown as the New York City true cost of living standard doesn’t consider factors such as education expenses, debt and monthly interest rates that are more prevalent in lower- income communities (Kucklick et al., 2023, 8).

Food hardship levels provide insight into the overall well-being of various neighbourhoods as we can understand communities that are economically struggling and what factors are causing this inequality. Through monitoring poverty rates in New York City it is found that neighbourhoods in Manhattan have the lowest rates of food hardship consisting of less than 10% of people identifying they have run out of food and have not been able to afford more throughout a year (Gordis et al., 2019, 3). While areas of Elmhurst and South Corona in Queens have the second highest rates across all the boroughs stating that 57% of their population have experienced some form of food insecurity (Gordis et al., 2019, 11). These are not the only areas in Queens facing hardship as children are hardest hit and organizations such as the Zara Charitable Foundation and La Jornada Food Pantry coordinate and distribute food daily at different locations in Queens, particularly because federal pandemic-era food relief programs have ended (Davick, 2023). The statistics and stories show that food hardship is a condition in specific areas that is directly tied to the factors of rent, income as well as accessibility. As prices increase due to inflationary factors the situation becomes only more dire. The economic gap in New York neighbourhoods with a high workingclass immigrant population struggling to make ends meet has only been exacerbated as post-pandemic programs such as stimulus checks have been terminated (Shapiro, 2023).

RECOMMENDATIONS

The community organizations that exist operate based upon donations and provide educational tools and assistance in applying for government assistance but have not mobilized to make a direct impact on the increasing rental costs across the region. Part of the difficulty in restraining runaway rental costs is the perception that landlords may raise rates to stay in pace with extreme

rising rents in New York City. The everincreasing economic spiral is not sustainable for a working community. Unfortunately, the trend in the past has been for families to leave the State altogether. Another impact of rising costs is that more people live together in smaller spaces and in spaces that are not legislatively permitted such as basements of homes. The legal disputes arising from these arrangements further tax the antiquated system dealing with new socioeconomic pressures. Therefore, community activism should include community meetings where awareness and support can be made available to people. It requires that a ‘quality of life’ becomes a priority for communities.

The work remains to solve the issue of increased housing prices through community activism and establishing a political presence and influence by voting for candidates who can navigate the legislative processes necessary to protect middle-class families. In the past Queens voters have played a decisive role in the New York elections and through proper education this population can be used to make a substantial change (Malanga, 2004). The community’s role in drafting recommendations to fix the urban problem of overpriced housing can be explored in town hall-style meetings for community members to attend. As a member of the community, you are most aware of what programs will help improve your standard of living and by developing a deeper level of personal engagement you can ensure money from nonprofits in your area or government programs are supporting the correct resources. This engagement was demonstrated in the late ’90s as many families in uptown Chicago were facing housing increases due to gentrification and the local Organization of the NorthEast (ONE) implemented retention strategies on behalf of 78 neighbourhood members to purchase private housing and turn this into affordable housing (Levy et al., 2007, 289).

Through social activism ONE was able to target the main problems to create affordable housing rather than wait for governmental support and campaign to retain affordable housing for senior care based on community recommendations (Ibid). By understanding the influence of civic participation on social urban issues you can mobilise your community towards the most important issues. And as in the cited case even take action as a group.

Currently, in Queens, besides a lack of affordable housing, there is also a lack of safe public affordable housing (Selby et al., 2022, 5). The New York City Housing Authority has been accused of breaking federal law by misusing government funds and neglecting to check housing for lead paint leading to other unsafe living conditions (Selby et al., 2022, 4). This has a direct effect on the community as North America’s largest housing project is Queensbridge Housing located in Long Island City, Queens (Jcrites, 2018). This issue has been spoken about in papers, but there hasn’t been engagement with the communities affected themselves, and we see the deeper aspect of immigrant and nonwhite families disproportionately affected. I recommend that by engaging and utilising social activism groups the community will be able to have their perspective expressed as an essential step towards representation. The expression and organisation would assist in explaining many issues including factors of racial justice and how this too has affected the housing crisis. Queens currently has nonprofit organisations such as Queens Community House of Forest Hills, Minkwon Center for Community Actions, Samuel Field YM and YMHA, Inc. among others devoted to community social support and community building. This sampling of community organisations was originally organized by the immigrant communities that founded neighbourhoods and have reached out to

the larger communities, prioritizing health, social interaction and overall well-being. They have been successful in gathering the larger community of families from different backgrounds together. However, regarding systemic problems facing communities such as housing costs, more community engagement and organisation are necessary to find better ways of supporting the area.

Further improvement in quality of life can be accomplished by encouraging groups to implement social plans to lessen some financial burdens, as in community projects and food preparation. It is also crucial to lessen the burden specifically on women in the community and to make sure that children are being fed, particularly with recent cutbacks on federal aid to schools for food programs. As the borough of Queens has the highest rates of racial and ethnic variety compared to all other counties in the nation it would be imperative to look at other community programs in areas of diversity that have been successful (Algar, 2019).

One method of this in another community was an intergenerational summer meal program that connected a privately funded summer meal program for children with a government-funded senior nutrition program and through this collaboration, there was increased accessibility and the implementation of no eligibility screening (Bruce et al., 2022, 904). By leveraging resources there was an increase in operational factors as this meal truck could now travel to hotspots in the community and besides feeding a population of children and the elderly were also able to reach other adult groups (Bruce et al., 2022, 905). By utilizing community-based food resources and making adjustments these programs can become accessible leading to an increase in participation.

I would recommend the collaboration of food resources from neighbouring areas, for example to the areas of Elmhurst and South

Corona, as their community programs lack support. Neighbourhoods can also organize to create community services to support other working-class families who may be struggling, especially in some areas of Queens that are more affluent and stable but are close geographically to areas with a poorer standard of living. As factors of increased rent prices and poorer quality of life have been linked this can be demonstrated in areas with higher livelihood rates and increased rates of home ownership. This is shown as the neighbourhoods of Forest Hills and Elmhurst are only 2 miles apart and less than 10 minutes away from each other yet Forest Hills has one of the lowest rates of food hardship rates in Queens at 17% while Elmhurst and South Corona as stated earlier have one of the highest rates in Queens and the entirety of the city at 57% (Gordis et al., 2019, 11). These statistics would lead me to suggest that the communities of Elmhurst and South Corona should create a partnership with food pantries such as Commonpoint Queens, Jewish Community Council and Masbia of Rego Park - Soup Kitchen in Forest Hills. As Forest Hills has lower levels of food insecurity and these main food pantries and soup kitchens only are open for a few hours daily, if after closing

this food were to be brought to Elmhurst and South Corona it would provide immense support due to a more accessible location and timing, and would be a benefit in terms of the conservation of previously wasted food. Focusing on the aspect of accessibility is imperative in the workingclass communities of Queens, in areas such as Elmhurst and South Corona as personal working hours are often the same as business hours for community resource centres and the majority of these neighbourhoods rely on public transportation. This will also support the interaction of members of the

community who value living in a diverse and stimulating community and family area as much as an economic consideration.

One of my final recommendations is in regard to New York’s economic interest in wanting these members of the borough to stay and thrive as initiatives to find affordable housing are positive for the entire community and can be achieved in terms of new construction. The problem has historically been that developers build and market to luxury buyers in areas with proximity to Manhattan, which is evident by the gentrification of neighbourhoods on the outskirts of Queens and Brooklyn. In Long Island City, a formerly industrial and working-class middle-class neighbourhood, luxury highrises are sprouting up and catering to a young workforce to support the businesses in Manhattan. The onemillion-dollar base price of a one- bedroom apartment is pricing out middle-class families. Historically, citizen groups have had some success in stopping the building of huge complexes of offices and demonstrated that development had to be “compatible with existing communities” (Lueck, 1989). I would recommend as the borough of Queens makes up 45% of our city’s overall workforce that this community pressures large corporations to provide financial support and reinvest in housing as these workers are vital to their businesses (NYC Mayor’s Office of Immigrant Affairs, 2018, 9). As a community, forms of pressure can be placed on large corporations through political pressure, and at the voting booth by voting for candidates that support middle-class interests and programs, legally by engaging attorneys to lobby and to bring legal action in the form of lawsuits and with public community forums to give a voice to the community and the media to broadcast their protest and with fundraising campaigns (Lueck, 1989). This is essentially an investment in the community

and would yield greater benefits than its cost. Acts of goodwill have shown that they benefit businesses in many ways by raising morale in the community and easing some of the daily pressures of life as a working person.

Community organizations can assist in affordable childcare and after-school programs with contributions from each member for the meal preparation and engagement of the children in activities. The most important programs to establish would be the community programs such as communal food programs necessary to bridge the gap for members of this community to be able to afford rent which often disproportionately affects single mothers and families with children. As mentioned in the beginning, community organizations must begin with an education that these members of the community are not alone, and that services and support may be available to them. Ultimately, community organizations must take a political or legal pathway to demand change and improvements in the overall quality of life and better use of resources such as tax dollars for community members. The community recommendations must prioritize gathering to limit the shame of economic insufficiency.

CONCLUSION

While the factors of food insecurity, childcare and workforce population aren’t immediately tied to the housing crisis these issues are deeply connected and have various effects on each other. The housing crisis has disproportionately affected the borough of Queens due to the socio-economic factors, ethnic composition and single-parent family rates already creating an increased economic toll. Within this group, increased economic and psychological components such as family stress, lack of childcare and food insecurity

affect middle-class working populations not eligible for government benefits. Also, immigrants and people of colour, are also more affected by the housing crisis. By recommending community support, and ideas tied to social and government factors, I hope to lessen some of the other life factors that have been threatened due to this overall increase in housing prices and risks to the overall well-being of Queens communities. Ultimately, community activism must interface with government agencies as costs are continually rising in multiple boroughs to sustain the infrastructure of the City of New York. These issues require a deeper review of budget allocation and expenses but one that would benefit from greater community participation and transparency to the citizenry. Housing needs to be considered on a more urgent yet vast scale in a multidimensional approach that can assess how other costs are continuously rising. This multi-dimensional approach would allow the government to understand that as costs rise this affects every community differently, as communities vary in wages, transportation costs, food and childcare costs, and these differences are apparent and very significant in the middle-class working community of Queens.

REFERENCES

Algar, Selim. (2019) Queens is crowned nation’s most diverse large county. New York, US: The New York Post.

Bruce, Janine S. Lien, Tiffany N. George, Elizabeth. Puri, Vandana. Ramirez, Melanie. Merrell, Sylvia Bereknyei. (2022) Examination of an Intergenerational Summer Meal Program for Children and Older Adults. Journal of Community Health. New York, US: Springer Publishing.

Davick, Arnold. (2023) New report highlights food insecurity in Queens. New York, US: Spectrum News NY 1

Fitzsimmons, Emma G. Zaveri, Mihir. (2022) $2 Billion Development in Queens Approved Amid Housing Crisis. The Innovation Queens project will, after weeks of contentious negotiations, include 1,400 affordable units out of more than 3,000 new homes. New York, US: The New York Times.

Gordis, Sarah. Collyer, Sophie. Wimer, Christopher. (2019) Mapping Hunger in New York City: A Look at the Rate of Food Hardship in New York City Neighborhoods. New York, US: Columbia Population Research Center.

Jcrites (2018). 5 of the Largest Public Housing Properties in the USA. [online] Housing Futures.

Housing Strategies for cities around the globe. Available at: https://housing- futures.org/2018/07/23/5-ofthe-largest-public-housing-properties-in-the- usa/#:~:text=Queensbridge%20Housing%2D%20New%20 York%20Housing [Accessed 26 Oct. 2023].

Kucklick, Annie. Manzer, Lisa. (2023) Overlooked and Undercounted struggling to Make Ends Meet in New York City 2023. NYC True Cost of Living. Center for Women’s Welfare.

University of Washington School of Social Work. Prepared for The Fund for the City of New York. New York, US: United Way of New York City.

Levy, Diane K. Comey, Jennifer. Padilla, Sandra. (2007) In the Face of Gentrification: Case Studies of Local Efforts to Mitigate Displacement.Journal of Affordable Housing & Community Development Law, Vol. 16, No. 3 pp. 238-315. Chicago, IL: American Bar Association.

Lueck, Thomas J. (1989) Citizens Gain in Anti-Developer Wars. New York, US: The New York Times.

Malanga, Steven. (2004) Why Queens Matters.The Social Order, States and Cities, Economy, fiance and budgets. Manhattan, US: City Journal. Manhattan Institute for Policy Research.

NYC Mayor’s Office of Immigrant Affairs (2018) State of Our Immigrant City. MOIA Annual Report March 2018. New York, US: NYC Mayor’s Office of Immigrant Affairs

NYC planning. (2020) 2020 Census Results for New York City. Key Populations and Housing Characteristics. NYC Gov Planning. New York, US: New York City Department of City Planning.

Selby, Julia. Schneider, Courtney. (2022) Home is Where the Harm Is: Corruption, Fraud, and Abuse in NYC’s Public Housing. New York, US: Cornell Policy Review.

Shapiro, Eliza. (2023) Half of N.Y.C. Households Can’t Afford to Live Here, Report Finds. The study is the latest piece of evidence to demonstrate the depth of New York City’s affordability crisis, which is reshaping local demographics and culture. New York, US: The New York Times.

United States Census Bureau (2021). U.S. Census Bureau QuickFacts: Queens County, New York. [online] www.census.gov. Available at: https://www.census.gov/quickfacts/fact/table/queenscountynewyork

INFRASTRUCTURE

INFRASTRUCTURE

Lily-mae

Manila, Philippines

Elizabeth Ngiam

New Orleans, Louisiana, USA

Gardner Robinson

Calgary, Canada

Lily mae-Rolls

Faridabad, India

Palakshi Aggarwal

208 Stuttgart, Germany

Piotr Tokarski 217 Bucha, Ukraine

Thomas Player

225 Loiza, Puerto Rico, USA

Erica Ostlander 233 Charlotte, North Carolina, USA

Henry Smith

241 Beirut, Lebanon

Seema Machaca

249 Oxford, England

Alice Vine

259 Fort Myers, Florida, USA

Avery MacLear

269 Charlotte, North Carolina, USA

Greer Campbell

278 New Dehli, India

Aditya Goel

Introduction

By Lily-mae Rolls, Piotr Tokarski and Alice Vine

Infrastructure contributes to the morphological form of a city, representing its physical structure whilst symbolising its intangible qualities such as sustainability, inclusion, and justice. The way a city is constructed allows its inhabitants to access resources needed for long-term economic and social benefits. Yet this ideal is frequently disconnected from actual practice. This begs the question: who or what is a city built for? Unfortunately, issues and solutions surrounding infrastructure are often either insufficient or ineffective. In many cases, policy frequently fails to challenge and address the historical and socio-spatial structures ingrained within the city. Fearing deviation from the status quo. Subsequently, transformative solutions remain elusive, failing to establish the sustainable safety net that cities aim to achieve. Furthermore, this absence or incomplete provision of infrastructures both deprives and privileges. Creating injustices which ultimately exclude segments of the city’s population from experiencing a satisfactory quality of life. Capitalism frequently wields significant influence over populations, exerting unprecedented power. Resulting in a lack of authority and decision-making abilities for all communities. This can lead to unequal investment in certain areas and inequitable aid as the desuetude of certain areas of infrastructure due to a broader pattern of neglect across various areas.

The marginalisation of infrastructure can lead to the polarisation of cities, questioning who has the true right of access to the city. This book follows this idea through, suggesting how a new approach to infrastructure can bring the alternative radical change avoided by policymakers, addressing long-term solutions not just the short. All to be achieved with the development of community-based solutions to infrastructure-based challenges. The problems of sustainability, inclusion, and justice proliferating in the physicality of urban spaces. Through a convergence of exclusions, the recognition of tangible crises offers a significant call to engage with the community and grassroots organisations to address the wicked issues in a city equitably. Equitable infrastructure has, thus, become a key first step to ensuring that people have access to the resources that will help sustain their future in today’s rapidly evolving environments.

The importance of inclusivity in the ‘environmental decision-making process’ is highlighted by environmental justice, emphasising the need to address inherent inequities (Pearsall & Pierce, 2010, pp. 570). This theoretical tenet seamlessly translates into tangible infrastructure, exemplified by the challenges faced by low-income communities in Lebanon. Notably, these communities grapple with energy poverty at significantly higher rates compared to their highincome counterparts. Transitioning smoothly, the exploration of distributive justice takes centre stage in Chicago’s urban landscape. The stark absence of environmental justice becomes evident through the contamination of lead pipes, disproportionately affecting Black and Latino communities. This governmental oversight not only perpetuates environmental injustice but also serves as a stark illustration of distributive inequity. Expanding on this, further discussions shed light on the manifestations of capitalist tendencies, revealing how unequal investment, aid, and infrastructure neglect exacerbate disenfranchisement within communities (Bledsoe & Wright, 2018). Shifting the focus to urban mobility, the evolution of transportation emerges as a critical question of inclusivity. Often skewed toward profit-making objectives, policies disproportionately favour cars and unsustainable forms of transport. This disregard for micro-

mobilities and the communities they sustain, spanning cities from Manila to Oxford to Calgary, underscores the pressing need for urban policies to align with residents’ needs, addressing both immediate service access and long-term socio-environmental impacts.

Furthermore, infrastructural mega-projects possess the potential to disrupt the identities of local communities, stripping away shared history and artefacts. Regardless of the locale, whether Edinburgh, Stuttgart, Paris, or Dubai, community-building emerges as a pivotal element, ensuring that local populations reap the benefits of new infrastructures and investments. This imperative is underscored by the essential components of participatory democracy and transparency, particularly crucial when diverse community actors, such as grassroots movements, seek to convey their perspectives to governmental agencies. Engaging with these intertwined themes prompts readers to embark on a critical examination of infrastructure’s role in shaping urban environments. Through this exploration, a deeper understanding emerges, compelling contemplation of the imperative for just and inclusive urban development. Navigating these intricacies, the narrative unfolds as a call to action for stakeholders to reassess and reshape the infrastructural landscape in pursuit of a more equitable and sustainable urban future.

This chapter seeks to address questions raised around the neutrality and consequences of infrastructure on the quality of urban life. It includes work in a wide variety of cities and urban areas across the globe, each focusing on how a different infrastructural scenario affects those who live and work among them. There are particular ideas that run through this collection of work, highlighting perhaps that these are the most problematic infrastructural scenarios that urban communities face. These can be grouped into three broad categories, environmental justice, urban mobility, and identity. Environmental justice raises questions of equality in the distribution of environmental benefits and burdens (Bennett, et al., 2022). Urban mobility, in this chapter, is used to refer to matters of transport, movement and access in urban communities, whilst exploration into matters of identity seeks to understand who infrastructure is made for, particularly looking to highlight when certain communities or minority groups are disproportionately affected by problematic infrastructure in their environment.

Battling Traffic Congestion in Tondo, Manila: The Power of Vital Communities

Elizabeth Ngiam

AN OPEN LETTER TO TONDO

Dear residents of Tondo,

This community briefing aims to empower you as meaningful participants towards your vision of the future of transport in Tondo. Encompassing actionable recommendations developed through examples from around the Philippines and the world, this report intends to equip you with the necessary tools to design innovative and localised solutions to the ongoing traffic crisis. This briefing invites you to translate your experiences into community-championed results that will help to create sustainable and inclusive transit in Tondo.

INTRODUCTION

As cities are progressively restructured and shaped by new disruptors to their vitality, envisioning just and humanising strategies has become one of the key challenges to creating sustainable urban futures. Increasingly uneven trends of resilience between communities, however, suggests a discrepancy in working with the unfamiliar. The metropolitan city of Manila in the Philippines is one of the fastest-growing urban centres in Asia, and they are witnessing the region’s worst traffic crisis. The COVID-19 pandemic ushered in a new era of urban

mobility: devoid of the usual commotion of motorised vehicles, thousands of cyclists flocked to the empty streets and embraced active transport at an unprecedented level. Unfortunately, this ‘new normal’ would not last. Roads and highways quickly fell back into disrepute once quarantine restrictions were lifted, and Manila is once again in a state of perennial gridlock. Existing infrastructure is lamentably inadequate and impotent against the rapid pace of motorisation brought about by uncoordinated policy, leading to a premature decline in mobility (Hasselwander et al., 2022). Cyclists have, once again, become an invisible population.

These systemic aberrations are most detrimental to the urban poor, who, barred by emotional impoverishment and material deprivation, are less able to effectively respond to the crisis. Tondo, one of the 16 districts comprising Manila, is a historically significant microcosm of the city. Characterised by a high incidence of poverty and overcrowding, it is further prone to the severity of the traffic crisis due to its proximity to two major commercial hubs, Divisoria and the Port of Manila. Contrarily, this places Tondo in an intriguing position for actionable and innovative community-based approaches, in lieu of failing traditional interventionist policy. This briefing begins by contextualising my positionality to the prevailing issue and examining the challenges against the background of the community. Following a brief overview of current policy, the report will conclude with a series of community-based initiatives catered to the socioeconomic profile of Tondo.

POSITIONALITY

My choice to explore urban mobility in this briefing is motivated by my summer internship with the Land Transport Authority (LTA) of Singapore. Growing up there, I must admit that my ‘lived experiences’ of transport is vastly different from that in Tondo. Transiting through Singapore is a pleasant process expedited by multimodal connectivity: public transport is frequent and extensive, and transport routes have grown to accommodate active mobility into the first and last mile.

With land scarcity and urban density being two of the biggest limiting factors to sustaining urbanism in Singapore, policy necessitates aggressive ambition and innovation. Through progressive engagement with civil society and social enterprises, various scales of transport planning are increasingly being supplemented by the meaningful

participation of residents. I was most inspired by the work of Participate in Design (P!D), a non-profit organisation founded in 2013 that champions community-borne design in policy and planning. In an agency-wide seminar, Executive Director Larry Yeung spoke of P!D’s commitment to community empowerment through consistent grassroot engagement and proactive transparency. Their people-centric approach to solutionism is not disingenuous: guided excursions and focus sessions with neighbourhood residents have helped LTA to improve the wayfinding experience of active mobility users, fostering a success story of partnership and community integration.

While the government has played an integral role in developing an accessible transport system, the efforts of P!D proved to me the efficacy of bottom-up endeavours and the significance of gathering input from the community. This briefing presented an opportunity for myself to explore the feasibility of grassroot involvement in a community that has yet to experience inclusive and equitable mobility options. I chose to focus on Manila – and more specifically, Tondo – for two reasons: (1) I have family that grew up there, and in my childhood, came to learn of the vast differences in lifestyle, and (2) the circumstances surrounding Tondo present a landscape for practicable action. I do, however, recognise my removal from Tondo and its residents and must clarify that this report does not intend to dictate the doings of the community in question but rather, to propose feasible initiatives that offer collective power to them from the perspective of mutual aid.

THE PROBLEM

Out of the 278 entities named in the Asian Development Outlook 2019 Update, Manila topped the list as the most congested developing Asian city (Asian Development

Bank, 2019). Further statistics rank Manila at 58th out of 60 global cities in Urban Mobility Readiness (UMR), an index which explores the efficiency and equitability of international transit systems across several fields (Oliver Wyman Forum, 2023). At a regional low of 31.2% in UMR, the metropolis is blighted by challenges in societal benefits, infrastructure, and system efficiency. Despite the worsening situation, there is a conspicuous absence of adequate infrastructure, and policy is saturated with homogenous topdown intervention that favours capital accumulation over the immediate needs of Filipinos. Other factors such as urban sprawl, a steadily increasing population, poor traffic etiquette and venal traffic enforcement exacerbate Manila’s traffic crisis.

Alternative means of travel are similarly ineffectual in servicing the community. Although 94% of Filipinos do not own private vehicles (Bauck, 2023), public transport is unreliable and inconvenient, and micromobilities – namely walking and cycling –face compounding arbitrariness. Expenditure in active transport infrastructure peaked during the pandemic following a nationwide cycling boom initiated by the termination of mass mobilities, including the bus and rail networks. By 2021, the Department of Transportation had invested ₱801.83 million in building 500 kilometres of new bike lanes complete with quality wayfinding and safety details (Mercurio, 2021). The Philippine government, however, has failed to maintain this momentum, and was most recently criticised for slashing the budget for active transportation by ₱1.5 billion in their National Expenditure Programme between 2022 and 2024 (Relativo, 2023). This deprioritisation of improving active mobility is worrisome. Data shows that bicycle ownership outnumbers car ownership 5:1 in Metro Manila, and an additional 2.7 million households adopted cycling as a primary mobility between 2022 and 2023 (Social Weather Stations, 2022; 2023). Despite this,

72% of road traffic comprises car travel (Japan International Cooperation Agency, 2014) and little has been done to enforce the value of cycling post-pandemic. Dedicated cycling lanes have reportedly been relegated to sharrows and misused as parking spaces (de Santos, 2023), undoing significant progress in the transition towards cycling as a primary mobility.

The Light Rail Transit (LRT) train, Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) and jeepney systems form the bulk of Manila’s mass transport network. All three industries are ineffectively utilised by the state and beset with sociopolitical complications. Despite a total ridership of 109.6 million in 2022 (Abadilla, 2023), the LRT does not offer a convenient commuter experience: they are highly inaccessible due to overcrowding, irregular scheduling, and inadequate comfort features (Moreno, 2023). Peripheral districts like Tondo are further afflicted with low station densities in spite of high demand (Damian and Mabazza, 2018). Coupled with the ongoing shortages in bus drivers and jeepneys – a consequence of job redundancy during COVID-19 (Siy, 2023) and a shutdown of operators in response to unmanageable costs imposed by the PUV Modernisation Programme (Ramos, 2023) respectively – mass transit journeys are made more unpredictable, forcing commuters to turn to private transport and thus contributing to traffic congestion.

TONDO BACKGROUND

History: A migrant economy

“Isang kahig, isang tuka” – this Tagalog idiom represents the most impoverished in society and their living “from hand to mouth”. Exemplified in the social fabric and economic composition of Tondo, this Manilan district houses a population of 654,220 urban poor within the city’s largest slum (Philippine Statistics Authority, 2021). Here, poverty is both a historical

and geographical characteristic. Since its claimancy by the Spanish Empire, Tondo has been considered an informal settlement: with land ownership formalised only in the eyes of the Church, its location outwith the historic centre of Intramuros meant that the district was naught but a jumbled populace in colonial times (Celdran, 2014). Its geographic position was later instrumental to the armed conflict in the Second World War: located on the northern bank of the Pasig River, the Americans secured Tondo as a strategic foothold against the Japanese, who had retreated into Intramuros on the southern bank (Connaughton et al., 1995). And when Intramuros was later razed to the ground by American artillery, survivors fled the desolate lands and settled up north of the Pasig River as squatters (Celdran, 2014).

Post-war changes to the economy engendered a potential for prosperity. From the provinces came migrants, attracted to Tondo by its proximity to markets, transport networks and the docks of Manila Bay, alongside a recognition that these were sources of opportunity in employment, education and entertainment (Poethig, 1970; Beltran Jr., 1982; Poppelwell, 1997). While Tondo was hardly mature, the people were uncomplaining – “The discomforts of the slum can be tolerated for the advantages that city life can bring” – and applied themselves as an unskilled workforce (Beltran Jr.,1982). In the rapid industrialisation that followed, “the adoption of mechanised production left migrants who lacked specialised skills ill equipped to compete for jobs” (Poppelwell, 1997). Forsaken by urban development, poverty in Tondo now runs at least three to four generations deep (Celdran, 2014).

Today: Challenges in Context

Divisoria, the central hub for competitively priced goods and bulk manufacturing, is alive with informal economies. From street vendors to night markets and bazaars, this

famous commercial centre straddles the south end of Tondo, providing generations of residents with “sources of casual employment” (Beltran Jr., 1982). The bisecting thoroughfare, Recto Avenue, is exceptional in historical purpose: once a railway that serviced Manila Bay, it linked squatter settlements to further employment in the Port of Manila (Balbutin Jr., 2023). Now, Divisoria is afflicted by a violence of motor vehicles and small-business vendors, congesting this familial hub of work and known life. The Port of Manila is similarly blighted by gridlock, as it struggles to accommodate the influx of labourers from Tondo. Choked by poor traffic discipline and narrowed roads, areas like these have been met with persistent efforts to decongest the streets – though rather than focusing their intent on the vehicular side of the traffic crisis, attempts to do so concentrate on the warding off of sidewalk and street vendors.

Under the direction of Isko Moreno, the former Mayor of Manila, these everyday economies were assiduously swept aside by clearing operations (Beltran, 2019). The Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) followed suit with formal administrations that sought to direct the clearances of roadobstructing structures, while offering empty promises of “displacement strateg[ies] for those affected … which may include designation of unused spaces for their relocation, provision of alternative livelihood for vendors, and other similar efforts” (DILG, 2019; 2020) While it is recognised that street vendors may occupy or encroach upon cycling lanes, the choice to target small-business vendors is contentious: the Task Force on Urban Conscientisation (1992) had previously determined, through interviewing, that many of these vendors did not have the educational or financial capacity to abandon their professions in favour of another and as a result, obstinately continue to work in Divisoria in spite of adverse politico-economic conditions.

CURRENT POLICY

As a constituent district, Tondo falls under the jurisdiction of Manilan and Philippine legislation. This absence of municipal council and local ordinance subjects the district to policy practices that are unsuited to the socio-spatialities of Tondo. Stewarded by car-centric and technocratic administrations, infrastructural programmes in the Philippines have routinely neglected the potential for multi-modality in the transport sector. Two prominent programmes in the past decade, Build! Build! Build! (under the administration of Rodrigo Duterte) and Build Better More (led by Bongbong Marcos), were purposefully aimed at increasing global economic competitiveness and reducing car travel time (Rosario et al., 2023). These projects have ambitious goals of creating seamless trade corridors through increasing roadway capacities, rural-urban connectivity and other large-scale networks (Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas, 2023). Such reactionary measures have a marginal impact in reducing gridlock in the long term and often end up inducing greater congestion instead (Litman, 2013).

At the same time, transport authorities have made almost antithetical commitments towards the prioritisation of vulnerable road users. They have, in several official publications, outlined codes of conduct to inform motorists on appropriate behaviour towards cyclists and their spaces (see DILG et al., 2020; Land Transport Office, 2021). While these may seem constructive, the guidelines are mostly transgressed due to a lack of respect for the exclusivity of bicycle lanes and poor enforcement of these rules (Manila Bulletin, 2023).

COMMUNITY RECOMMENDATIONS

The traffic crisis is a wicked problem that, indisputably, should involve state-society collaboration. It is clear, however, that the

situation is not benefiting from the longstanding inscriptions of statecraft and ad hoc, reactionary policies. Alleviating traffic congestion in Tondo is therefore contingent upon a transition from ‘vehicular mobility’ to ‘people mobility’. This would involve stimulating change in the vehicular makeup of the district through the democratisation of the roads in a way that is both affordable and inclusive. Given current road capacities and proximity between nodes, cycling makes for an exceptional alternative, especially with its growing prevalence (Litman, 2013; PortugalPereira et al., 2013). As current policy fails to provide the urban poor with the instruments to work around congestion, the following recommendations have been devised with community-based action and empowerment in mind.

Organised Collaborations

As a veritable first step, partnering with constituents of existing coalitions and organisations could offer Tondo residents “a network of people across the city who are primed to mobilise to protect bikers’ interests” (Bauck, 2023). This would provide the community with the guidance of well-informed cycling advocates from groups such as MoveAsOne Coalition and Bicycle Friendly Philippines, which have inspired social movements for cycling in Manila and Pasig City respectively. Through the provision of free cycling lessons, mass bike rides and support groups (MoveAsOne Coalition, 2023; Bicycle Friendly Philippines, 2023), organisations like these promote cycling as an essential and sustainable mode of transportation, thus enforcing collective behaviour in the community and subsequently reducing traffic congestion.

Since this community strategy involves diligent intra-communication and cooperation, there is considerable potential to then transition from vertical collaboration to building horizontal relationships. Local

participation in the formation of working groups and coordinated bike pools has demonstrated its effectiveness in collective mobilisation (Social Weather Stations, 2022). I propose that such initiatives would be especially beneficial to those employed in Divisoria and the Port of Manila, as workers could amalgamate under the old adage of “safety in numbers”. The community could further invigorate their efforts by employing the help of Samahan ng Mamamayan – Zone One Tondo Organisation (SM-ZOTO), a registered federation of urban poor local groups with a history of community organisation. Their ‘Training-Organising Programmes’ (TOP) are designed to empower residents by providing them with opportunities to upskill their management and advocacy capabilities (SM-ZOTO, 2023a). Local attendance and partnership with these TOPs would strengthen the foundations of communitybased action in Tondo by equipping proactive residents with the skills to mobilise the wider community. In the long term, the meaningful participation of residents on multiple levels would deliver an assured future of inclusive mobility, thus incentivising others to adopt cycling as their primary mode of transport.

Looking to the future, ensuing creative action could model itself after large, concerted efforts, such as Critical Mass (CM), in order to garner the attention of governing bodies. Conceived as a social movement in celebration of cycling, this global phenomenon institutes a culture of defiance against the dominance of the automobile through monthly unsanctioned bike rides organised by the community. CM has a distinctive structure of “self-determination [and] self-rule” (Furness, 2010), lending its participants with both an amorphous, adaptable power and customisable initiative. While it can represent a culmination of cyclists’ efforts, its very essence is interpretable: an open invitation to non-cyclists to join their cause; a signifier of people-power, or even a political revolution

(Dyer, 1993; Edinburgh Critical Mass, 2023). Whichever direction the community chooses to follow, CM can help to raise the profile of community-based action in Tondo. Tangible efficacy, however, is conditional upon “real advocacy – such as lobbying … for bike lanes and progressive legislation” (Smith, 2010). The most amenable results therefore require a combination of organised collaboration and conceptualisation through participatory design.

Participatory Design

Research indicates that to achieve high cyclability and successfully cultivate active mobility as a social habit, the community must have the assurance that “[their] voices [can be] translated into tangible outcomes” (P!D, 2023; Rivera and Castro, 2023). By developing a collective vision, residents can actuate their transport aspirations of creating safer and more respectful streets. This reconstituting of transport planning as a shared responsibility conceptualises itself in the appointment of residents as creatives and actors in infrastructural design. It “do[es] not take civil society as mere participants in government consultations … invited just to comply with bureaucratic requirements” (Gatarin, 2023) but rather, enables them to participate meaningfully in place-based initiatives.

Illustrating this is Walkable Pearl Drive, a civic movement in the Philippine City of Pasig that advocated for improved safety and accessibility in the Central Business District. Highlighting the obstruction of sidewalks by parked cars, residents and office workers banded together to launch an online petition appealing to the wider community and local authorities to prioritise the rights and needs of pedestrians (Friends of Pearl Drive, 2018). Since its inception, Walkable Pearl Drive has been successful in reorienting community outlook on shared road spaces through the reclamation of sidewalks (Gatarin, 2023).

Recalling Tondo’s comparable challenges of lane obstruction by small-business vendors and automobiles, residents could espouse these promising strategies to reclaim their bicycle lanes and in turn, their mobility. While the success of such projects does rely on a combination of personal motivation and mutual partnerships, the current volatile outlook on motorised-versus-active transport could practicably inspire social reform and mass action.

Public Education

Research indicates that education has a positive causal effect on social engagement, in that it influences democracy and participation through “the provision of information relevant to politics” (Mayer, 2011). At present, there is a conspicuous lack of transport data in educational curricula and academic research (Social Weather Stations, 2022), leaving a significant vacuity in situational awareness. Bringing data to schools would inform the younger generation of cycling behaviours and provide dedicated spaces for dialogue, thereby inculcating sustainable habits from an early age. Beyond the perimeters of school, urban forums and conferences provide the opportunity for the wider community to build their capacities and gain place-based insight. For example, SM-ZOTO frequently engages with the urban poor and other marginalised groups in public conferences to address their concerns and close the feedback loop with partnering authorities (SM-ZOTO, 2023b). Similar effects can also be achieved virtually: in 2021, the World Bank Group organised online bicycle infrastructure trainings for “stakeholders involved in active transport in the Philippines” to advise them on the principles of planning and design (Global Road Safety Facility, 2021). With groundings in action learning (a reflexive approach to problem solving), participantsturned-practitioners are encouraged to adapt their learnings to the local context

and nurture a sense of belonging in their communities. In Tondo, the community can apply these fundamentals to enhance their reference base for organised collaborations and participatory design initiatives, and thus galvanise the masses towards a common purpose.

CONCLUSION

“While the community does exhibit a sense of cohesiveness, [there has been] a decline in the propensity for residents to be involved in organising” (Poppelwell, 1997). A review of the circumstances surrounding traffic congestion has revealed the exigencies of the Tondo community and their dismissal by dominant narratives of fiscal policy. As explored in this community briefing, this portrayal of mobility as a syndrome of socio-political drivers demands immediate reform through community engagement and bottom-up mobilisation. To confront the transport crisis, therefore, is to restructure Tondo as a vital community with the adaptive capacity to respond to geographies of urgency.

In pursuance of solidarity, the recommendations proposed in this briefing embrace a relational and collective approach to community-based action. These comprised organised collaborations (both within and outwith the community), engaging in participatory design, and sustained public education. While each initiative can be implemented independently of each other, the most compelling outcome involves a combination of these three elements. Through the power of the vital community, and as witnessed in other international contexts, such clamorous and consistent efforts have the incredible potential to engender significant changes in public outlook and statutory organisation.

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SM-ZOTO (2023b) Samahan ng Mamamayan Zone One Tondo Inc. - Sm Zoto Inc. Facebook Page. Available at: https://www.facebook.com/SMZOTOINC/ (Accessed: 12 October 2023)

Social Weather Stations (2022) Kapihan sa SWS: Bicycle Usage and Attitudes of Filipino Household Heads on Cycling as Transportation [Online Video]. Available at: https:// www.youtube.com/watch?v=M7GOmte9XyA (Accessed: 10 October 2023)

Social Weather Stations (2023) SOCIAL WEATHER REPORT | Cycling households rise from 29% in 2022 to 36% in 2023. Available at: https://www.sws.org.ph/swsmain/ artcldisppage/?artcsyscode=ART-20230831040420 (Accessed: 10 October 2023)

Task Force on Urban Conscientization (1992) Divisoria: mga eksena ng buhay at pakikibaka sa bangketa. Quezon City: Task Force on Urban Conscientization.

New Orleans and The Lack of Adequate Infrastructure to be able to Withstand the Natural Environment: A Community-Led Grassroots Approach to Solutions

Gardner Robinson

INTRODUCTION

New Orleans is a place like no other, it is unique in every sense of the word, beautiful, soulful, hot and humid, overflowing with food, culture, pride, and one of the only places I believe can make anyone feel at home. But I am biased. Being born and raised in a place like New Orleans, Louisiana has given me a world view unlike most people I have ever met. On May 12th, 2021, at approximately 2am, a tornado tore the roof off my house, letting the storm outside in, while my entire family was home. But, despite this, despite being two years old when Hurricanes Katrina and Rita ravaged the city, despite the countless other hurricanes, tropical storms and disasters that defined my upbringing, I still love this city like no other. I was raised with the awareness of instability of place and the sense of looming threat that follows any strong breeze, hard rain or darkened sky, I was taught from a young age how Louisiana’s coast was slowly being washed away. I have lived and witnessed houses broken by wind and water, and people rebuilding them with passion and determination for

this place called home. I know the people of New Orleans because I am one. Yet, I come from a part of the city that gets disaster relief first, I come from a household that can rebuild when disaster strikes and can afford to send me to university across an ocean. I am immensely grateful for my privileged experience of New Orleans and seek to give back to the city that made me who I am. I can never know the experience of another, but I live the experiences we share as a community and seek to understand the disproportionate ways others are affected, the ways in which we as a community have the power to change that. “The right to the city is not merely a right of access to what already exists, but a right to change it after our heart’s desire” (Harvey, 2003, p. 939). I believe as Harvey argues, we make the city and the city makes us, therefore the right to the city not only involves the right to change the physical makeup to more equitably suit its citizens, but it is the intrinsic right to “make the city different, to shape it more in accord with our heart’s desire, and to re-make ourselves thereby in a different image” (2003, p. 941).

Hurricanes, Tropical Cyclones and the Historical Background of Southeast Louisiana

According to data from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) from the past 25 years, “the annual probability that New Orleans will experience a tropical cyclone is 92%. Due to its proximity to the Gulf Coast, in conjunction with ongoing coastal land loss and the likely impacts of climate change, New Orleans is especially vulnerable to tropical cyclones” (Ready NOLA, 2023). Broadly the Gulf Coast, and in this context, Southeast Louisiana are some of the most vulnerable regions affected by hurricanes, tropical storms and tropical cyclones (storm strength being the differentiating factor in classification). “Tropical cyclone winds can cause major structural damage to private homes, businesses, and the critical facilities of the signatories through water intrusion or structural failure” (Ready NOLA, 2023). The damage caused by storms of that magnitude is devastating and increasingly common in the region. In Leavitt and Kiefer’s postKatrina analysis, they discuss how residents and political leaders alike would often describe their fear of “‘the big one,’ a storm that would come in from just the right direction and at the right strength to produce the wind and subsequent storm surge that would wipe out major portions of the region” (2006, p. 307). And they were right, on August 28, 2005, “Hurricane Katrina landed a devastating blow to the infrastructure of New Orleans and surrounding areas of the Gulf Coast. Katrina set in motion a series of failures in the region’s critical infrastructure that rendered significant areas uninhabitable for many months” (Leavitt and Kiefer, 2006, p. 307). There were many causes and reasons the devastation was so bad, many known to the local government predating the hurricane (Leavitt and Kiefer, 2006, p. 309), yet one of the most devastating results of the storm was the tearing of the social fabric of the

city. “One of the first comprehensive surveys of the New Orleans evacuee population… determined that 39% of evacuees (some 50,000 households), mostly poor and Black, did not intend to return. If accurate, this will be the largest internal migration of Americans in a generation” (2006, p. 144), Campanella goes on to discuss the devastating ramifications this has, as so much of what makes a city is its communities.

Orleans Parish

The community which this briefing would like to address is that of Orleans Parish. Orleans Parish is New Orleans, but New Orleans is not only Orleans Parish. In other words, I have chosen this specific community because the scope of the Greater New Orleans Area (GNOA) is slightly too broad to address as one, in recent years neighboring parishes that are part of the GNOA such as Jefferson have become more self-determinant in rebuilding and improving infrastructure. Therefore, for this brief I will focus on Orleans Parish, and the neighborhoods within as a larger community that recognizes and celebrates the diversity it holds. Because, as Campanella states, “cities are more than the sum of their buildings. They are also thick concatenations of social and cultural matter, and it is often this that endows a place with its defining essence and identity” (2006, p. 142), and that the people of Orleans Parish do.

CHALLENGES OF INADEQUATE INFRASTRUCTURE TO BE ABLE TO WITHSTAND THE NATURAL ENVIRONMENT

As discussed in previous sections, New Orleans and the surrounding region are especially vulnerable to, and have been faced with, devastating tropical cyclones and hurricanes throughout their history. One of the primary challenges Orleans Parish faces is the insufficient infrastructure to be

able to withstand and bounce back from the onslaught of natural disasters. Along with a lack of environmental justice that Pearsall and Pierce explain as, “characterised as a struggle against distributional inequity regarding environmental amenities…and efforts to increase the access of all populations to environmental decision-making” (Pearsall and Pierce, 2010, p. 570), with an emphasis on the last point of increased access to environmental decision-making. As a result of the lack of adequate infrastructure, New Orleans positions itself increasingly for normal disasters. Leavitt and Kiefer describe the concept of a normal disaster by explaining how it is almost inevitable or “normal” for a disaster to occur because of the reliance on high-risk technologies (2006, p. 307) and the multiple interactions of various complex and linear systems that are both tightly and loosely coupled (2006, p. 307). They argue, “that a normal disaster occurs when there is an event, disturbance, or problem that involves the complex interaction of interdependent infrastructures resulting in the unanticipated failure of multiple infrastructure systems” (Leavitt and Kiefer, 2006, p. 308). Which is exactly what happened in New Orleans in 2005 when the levees broke and the city became uninhabitable for months because of the failures of multiple critical infrastructures (Leavitt and Kiefer, 2006, p. 307). “The combination of normal disasters, such as Hurricane Katrina, and complex, interdependent, aging infrastructures does not bode well for the future” Leavitt and Kiefer urge, “substantial investment in infrastructure systems must once again become a national priority” (2006, p. 313) and that it must, if Orleans Parish is to survive. I contend normal disasters are still a major risk the city faces, as seen most recently in the past two months with the heightened attention (Edmonds, 2023) on the saltwater intrusion in the Mississippi River.

The Saltwater Wedge

Dubbed the Saltwater Wedge, in the past two months it dramatically garnered local, and even some national (Chavez, Edmonds, Rojanasakul, 2023) media attention sounding the alarms for yet another type of natural adversity the city faces. As a result of various factors including, “congressionally authorized enlargement of the Mississippi River’s deep-draft channel” (New Orleans District, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, 2023) and “back-to-back years of drought throughout the Mississippi River valley” (Parker, Hazelwood and Juhasz, 2023). Saltwater has begun to move up the Mississippi River from the Gulf of Mexico. As the New Orleans District, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’ website explains, “because salt water has a greater density than fresh water, it moves upstream in the form of a wedge” threatening not only the city’s water supply but over a million residents who get their water from the river (Chavez, 2023). Although this year it seems to have gained wider media coverage, “similar saltwater intrusions have happened about once every decade, including in 1988, 1999, 2012, and 2022” (Chavez, 2023). While initial predictions placed the wedge reaching the main intake pipe for Orleans Parish on October 28, updated predictions show that the wedge will not reach the city (New Orleans District, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, 2023). Which is good news for Orleans Parish but the cataclysmic damage it would cause if it were to happen extends beyond the drinking water. “Saltwater can accelerate the corrosion of pipes in water distribution systems[and] could corrode lead and galvanized steel pipes, possibly leaching heavy metals into drinking water, depending on how long the emergency lasts” (Chavez, 2023) which potential damages have been compared to the Flint, Michigan crisis. Another vulnerable system that would be heavily damaged, and likely shut down, if saltwater intruded upon it, is

Entergy’s (the local power utility company) powerplants along the Mississippi leading to a string of affects within the cities critical infrastructures, a normal disaster. “It’s been a wake-up call for the region to upgrade water plants, expand pipeline networks, and make other improvements” (2023) Chavez says, echoed by Smith saying, “the threat this year has led New Orleans officials to call for a permanent solution to the problem, warning that it may occur more frequently given climate change’s impact on sea level rise and drought. That could involve a pipeline or desalination plant for the region, which would come at a high cost” (2023). A cost the people of Orleans Parish would pay.

Brief note of the social injustices present in the city and the vulnerabilities it creates

“Cities are extraordinarily durable” (Campanella, 2006, p. 141). This sentiment is like that of Harvey’s (2003, p. 939) explaining that cities are what remain, cities are what outlive us. Yet, what gives a city its character, soul and capacity to rebound (Campanella, 2006, p. 144) are its people. When discussing urban resilience in the context of post-Katrina New Orleans Campanella posits, “only with strong citizen involvement at the grassroots level will the rebuilding of New Orleans yield a robust and inclusive metropolis” (Campanella, 2006, p. 141). Which is true, but as previously mentioned, much of the city’s population was not able to immediately return after the devastation, and some not at all. Leading to the irony that, “the recovery of New Orleans as a real and robust city… rests heavily on the shoulders of those most burdened by the catastrophe” (Campanella, 2006, p. 144). Of which those most burdened are the black poor and other minorities within the city, which continue to suffer even after disasters as attempts to revive local economy begin. As Bledsoe and Wright argue, “civil

society, therefore, is inherently antithetical to all manifestations of Black social life, yet requires Blackness for its political, economic, ontological, epistemological, and—as we aim to show—spatial coherence” (2018, p. 9). They highlight, “geographic interrogations of racial capitalism have analyzed the role of racist assumptions in implementing neoliberal reforms in the wake of a natural disaster” (Bledsoe and Wright, 2018, p. 11) which is especially poignant in a city as diverse as New Orleans. The capitalist agenda requires constant growth and expansion, so when I place is affect by natural disaster, which disproportionately affect minorities, and the whole mechanism halts and stutters, it becomes that much more imperative to restore it to a state of function as it was predisaster. That same pre-disaster state that perpetuates the social injustices that lead to the disproportionate effects on minorities in the first place. There is much more to this crucial topic, as Bledsoe and Wright discuss, so much so that an entire briefing should be written on this subject, but this briefing will refocus on the infrastructural dimension of the city that disproportionately effect the citizen of Orleans Parish.

RECOMMENDATIONS

The primary way forward I recommend is the strong urge for an increased participatory approach to local decisionmaking, formalized lobbying for the local community to have say in planning infrastructure, other prevention methods and disaster relief. There are many ways to do this at various levels of influence from the bottom up. But for this to be a long-lasting, effective solution, that can be used as a model for other communities similarly affected by disasters, the first step is community education, which I argue needs to start from grassroots. A way this can be done is through grassroots organizations efforts as Irazábal and Neville describe, by empowering and

emphasizing local community organizations people can take the power back into their hands. When this has been proven effective, it can then move into lobbying for a formal way of community input and regulatory power in municipal governments for an increased ability to have a say in what is prioritized and actioned by those who feel the direct affects. I would like to note, this is not intended to discount the efforts that have been made since Katrina to bolster the city’s infrastructure, which have been significant, it merely urges that the necessity for longterm change needs to come from the bottom by those most affected.

Increasing and improving community education

Though Sonne’s article pertains specifically to stormwater management, the ideas it argues can be applied more broadly, they state, “creating a supportive community educated about the benefits of such measures will alleviate some of the resistance that new utility fees often garner from the public. A public education program for New Orleans must begin now and must become increasingly aggressive to reach as much of the affected public as possible before any stormwater remediation fee can be successfully implemented” (2014, p. 347). This is a useful idea in the broader context of the city’s afflictions and the need to raise awareness of what they are and what can be done to prevent them. “When citizens have a clear understanding of what it takes for sustainable success in stormwater management, it is easier to embrace the unfamiliar, providing a lasting solution to their common problem” (Sonne, 2014, p. 348), and the same can be said about what it takes for improved infrastructure. The people of Orleans Parish have the capacity to understand the ways in which the infrastructure of the city needs to be revitalized yet require a means to gain that

knowledge. Looking now at a historical example of an attempt at this, Leavitt and Kiefer offer us a glimpse of pre-Katrina New Orleans and “a series of regional ‘tabletop’ exercises [that] were conducted in the Greater New Orleans region for the past few years, each exercise examining the physical, geographic, and cyberinterdependencies of much of the region’s infrastructure” (2006, p. 309). Dubbed the ‘Purple Crescent exercises (Leavitt and Kiefer, 2006, p. 309), the ones that did take place were apparently quite useful for highlighting the interdependencies and vulnerabilities of the region’s infrastructure (2006, 309). Which I propose needs to happen once again, in a more sustained way that, hopefully, would not get cut short due to a cataclysmic failure in the exact infrastructural vulnerabilities being discussed (Leavitt and Kiefer, 2006, p. 310).

A key opportunity for community oversight is highlighted by the response in the aftermath of Katrina, “although dependent on a system of regional infrastructure for protection, oversight of this infrastructure was fragmented among various municipal governments and agencies, many with long histories of mutual distrust and even animosity” (Leavitt and Kiefer, 2006, p. 311). If educational initiatives are as effective as they could be, local insight could aid municipal government invaluably, combining their lived knowledge and that of new programs about infrastructure. Leavitt and Kiefer urge, “the importance of identifying, understanding, and analyzing… infrastructure interdependencies…if we are to respond effectively to normal disasters. Whenever possible the goal must be to find ways to allow for decentralization of infrastructure systems to promote rapid recovery from disasters” (2006, p.312-3), this decentralization is the perfect opportunity for simultaneous community education, engagement and empowerment.

Emphasis on grassroots organizations empowerment and efficacy

Based on past examples of participatory democracy New Orleans has the base for it to work, there have been and still are many grassroot neighborhood-based organizations that work to better their community (Irazábal & Neville, 2007). Irazábal and Neville discuss the pre- and post-Katrina examples of grassroots planning for community development and reconstruction (2007). They highlight ideas of active citizenship, embracing the culture of New Orleans using that as a tool to transform it in the ways the city knows how (Irazábal and Neville, 2007 p. 135-136). As previously mentioned, there are two major aspects of planning, preventative and post disaster. There needs to be urgent focus on both prevention measures in the infrastructure of the city as well as detailed plans for when disaster strikes. There are limitations for rebuilding after the fact at the grassroots level, as seen during Katrina with the amount of people who returned (Campanella, 2006) not being enough to bolster the efforts of those who remained (Irazábal and Neville, 2007, p. 146). Hence why now it is imperative that people make plans for when disaster inevitably strikes and, seize the opportunity to work on renewing existing infrastructure that is known to be insufficient, whilst people are in the city. We must utilize existing neighbourhood groups, social clubs and other forms of local organisation in Orleans parish to come together and begin to learn and action what needs to be implemented infrastructurally and what is feasible on the grassroots level. Although the Unified New Orleans Plan is a date plan on postKatrina reconstruction this imperative still stands, “institutionalize the organizational framework of the Unified New Orleans Plan by permanently incorporating communitybased planning with coordinated citywide infrastructure planning. In doing so, planners can help formalize neighborhood-level

decision making without bureaucratically bludgeoning the democratic instincts and empowered participation of residents” (Irazábal and Neville, 2007, p. 150). The second half of that statement is what the community education seeks to aid in avoiding, although there will always be to some degree the “bureaucratic bludgeoning” of empowered participation a more attuned citizen aware of the issues will be more likely to remain persistent.

Acknowledgment of the limitations and the imperative to continue

To acknowledge the limitations of grassroots efforts as Irazábal and Neville lay out by stating, “the trajectory of recovery of New Orleans also illuminates the limits of grassroots planning in such catastrophic circumstances, and suggests that only larger and more comprehensive efforts, such as those possible for government(s), can create the conditions under which the grassroots efforts may organize meaningfully and effectively” (2007, p. 147). I urge the community of Orleans Parish, that to get to a place where municipal government implements formalized ways grassroots efforts can have a place in prevention and reconstruction, they need to be shown the efficacy and desire for this. Without existing grassroots efforts, that have proven results, there will never be movement towards a formalized participatory democracy more thoroughly than what exists currently. With an informed community that supports, and is involved in, grassroots planning efforts then the formalization limitations can be overcome. It is the people of New Orleans, the “stricken neighborhoods who constitute the lifeblood of the Big Easy, carrying in their traditions, cuisine, musical heritage, mannerisms, and habits of speech what made New Orleans unique” (Campanella, 2006, p. 144) and it is those people who can make coordinated grassroots efforts effective and long lasting.

CONCLUSION

New Orleans is faced with many natural disasters and, as recent events have rehighlighted many other potential risks to our critical and non-critical infrastructure. The first step in finding a solution is community education, which needs to be done from the bottom up. There are then two primary opportunities to approach these challenges, preventative measures and post disaster/event response. Both these can be affected and improved by local community engagement and participation, as I hope to have demonstrated in this briefing. Although there are many hurdles to be overcome it is only through collective community action that real change is seen. We cannot simply wait for the change to happen, it needs to start from the bottom and be brought to the top for lasting change to be permanently implemented, so the people who are most affected get a valued and deserved voice in infrastructure that is meant to protect them. “Humanity is now considered to be not simply one of earth’s biological factors, but a geological actor too; an actor that shapes geophysical transformations on the earth’s stratigraphy the way only ‘natural’ forces used to do in earth’s previous long history” (Kaika, 2018, p. 1716). If humanity is that crucial of an actor, who also needs take responsibility, in the geophysical transformation of our planet, then there is no doubt that the people of Orleans Parish can reshape their city into a more equitable, infrastructurally sound, community where no one’s right to the city (Harvey 2003) is called into question.

REFERENCES

Bledsoe, A. & Wright, W. J. (2018) ‘The anti-Blackness of global capital’, Environment and Planning D: Society and Space, 37 (1), 8-26.

Campanella, T. J. (2006) ‘Urban Resilience and the Recovery of New Orleans’, Journal of the American Planning Association, 72 (2), 141-146.

Campbell, S. (2013) ‘Sustainable Development and Social Justice: Conflicting Urgencies and the Search for Common Ground in Urban and Regional Planning’, Michigan Journal of Sustainability, 1, 75-91.

Chavez, R. (2023) Why the saltwater wedge climbing up the Mississippi River is a wake-up call to the region. Available at: https://www.pbs.org/newshour/nation/why-saltwater-is-threatening-drinking-water-in-new-orleansand-what-officials-are-doing-about-it (Accessed: 26 October 2023).

Edmonds, C. (2023) Saltwater in the Mississippi Threatens Water Supply in New Orleans. Available at: https:// www.nytimes.com/2023/09/23/us/saltwater-mississippi-new-orleans.html (Accessed: 26 October 2023).

Harvey, D. (2003) ‘The Right to the City’, International Journal of Urban and Regional Research, 27 (4), 939-941.

Irazábal, C. & Neville, J. (2007) ‘Neighbourhoods in the Lead: Grassroots Planning for Social Transformation in Post-Katrina New Orleans?’, Planning, Practice & Research, 22 (2), 131-153.

Kaika, M. (2018) ‘Between the frog and the eagle: claiming a ‘Scholarship of Presence’ for the Anthropocene’, European Planning Studies, 26 (9), 1714-1727.

Leavitt, W. M. & Kiefer, J. J. (2006) ‘Infrastructure Interdependency and the Creation of a Normal Disaster The Case of Hurricane Katrina and the City of New Orleans’, Public Works Management & Policy, 10 (4), 306314.

New Orleans District, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (2023) A Saltwater Wedge Affects the Mississippi. Available at: https://www.mvn.usace.army.mil/Missions/Engineering/Stage-and-Hydrologic-Data/SaltwaterWedge/ (Accessed: 26 October 2023).

New Orleans District, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (2023) An Overview of the Mississippi River’s Saltwater Wedge. Available at: https://www.mvn.usace.army.mil/ Missions/Engineering/Stage-and-Hydrologic-Data/ SaltwaterWedge/SaltwaterWedgeOverview/ (Accessed: 26 October 2023).

NOLA Ready (2023) About Saltwater Intrusion. Available at: https://ready.nola.gov/incident/saltwater-intrusion/ about-saltwater-intrusion/?utm_source=nola&utm_ medium=banner (Accessed: 26 October 2023).

NOLA Ready Tropical Cyclones. Available at: https:// ready.nola.gov/hazard-mitigation/hazards/tropical-cyclones/#top (Accessed: 26 October 2023).

Parker, H. & Juhasz, A. (2023) We answer your questions about the saltwater wedge in the Mississippi River. Available at: https://www.wwno.org/coastal-desk/2023-09-27/weanswer-your-questions-about-the-saltwater-wedge-inthe-mississippi-river#q-2 (Accessed: 26 October 2023).

Parker, H., Hazelwood, G. & Juhasz, A. (2023) Saltwater wedge moving slower than projected; unlikely to reach New Orleans until late November. Available at: https://www. wwno.org/coastal-desk/2023-10-05/saltwater-wedgemoving-slower-than-projected-unlikely-to-reach-neworleans-until-late-november (Accessed: 26 October 2023).

Pearsall, H. & Pierce, J. (2010) ‘Urban sustainability and environmental justice: evaluating the linkages in public planning / policy discourse’, Local Environment, 15 (6), 569-580.

Rojanasakul, M. (2023) When Will the Saltwater Wedge Reach New Orleans? We Mapped It. Available at: https:// www.nytimes.com/interactive/2023/09/29/climate/neworleans-saltwater-map.html?action=click (Accessed: 26 October 2023).

Skilton, L. (2023) Hurricanes in Louisiana. Available at: https://64parishes.org/entry/hurricanes-in-louisiana (Accessed: 26 October 2023).

Smith, M. (2023) The new saltwater forecast is out for the New Orleans area. Here’s what is shows. Available at: https://www.nola.com/news/environment/new-saltwater-forecast-means-good-news-for-new-orleans-area/ article_2624ced4-6e90-11ee-8a93-0747faff9b9b.html (Accessed: 26 October 2023).

Sonne, B. (2014) ‘Managing Stormwater by Sustainable Measures: Preventing Neighborhood Flooding and Green Infrastructure Implementation in New Orleans’, Tulane Environmental Law Journal, 27 (323), 323-350.

Redefining Mobility in the Fossil Fuel Capital of Canada

Lily mae-Rolls

THE PAST: ESTABLISHING SOUTHEAST CALGARY IN THE CITY’S HISTORY AND MY BACKGROUND

In 2021, the Calgary City Council declared a state of climate emergency. Addressing the city’s sustainable development has thus become an immediate priority with policy goals created to eradicate polluting emissions, limit climate warming, and build resilience (The City of Calgary, 2022). One of the greatest challenges for Calgary is sustainable mobility. The city has become infamous for its reliance on private automobiles and everexpanding urban sprawl (Keough & Ghitter, 2021). The COVID-19 pandemic worsened this still as demand for public transport dropped due to safety concerns. The city was forced to reduce planned investment in safe and convenient transit and walking and wheeling infrastructure (The City of Calgary, 2022). However, it should be cars that are the real safety concern. Studies show that automobile dependency contributes to public health issues such as obesity, air pollution and cardiovascular problems. Urban sprawl also contributes to wildlife habitat destruction and mental health

issues associated with long commutes and a weak senses of community (Teplova, 2006). Furthermore, automobiles also contribute to social issues such as injuries and fatalities through accidents and even major road rage incidents which can end in violent altercations (Keough & Ghitter, 2021).

However, these issues are not recent. Hence, city officials have failed to sufficiently address these issues time and time again. Using my background as a Management and Sustainable Development final-year student. Along with work experience as a research intern examining policy documents, I find that the City’s policies on sustainable mobility fail to sufficiently address the needs of communities all over the city. I so extend recommendations on how communities themselves can overcome policy erasure and rebuild their fragmented sense of community. A particular focus will be placed on the southeast quadrant of the city due to personal connection as I have close relatives who have roots and plan to raise a family here. The southeast of Calgary has been historically the industrial centre of the town. This means that it suffers from the worst air pollution in Calgary but also highly segregated land use

between the economic centres (commercial and industry) and residential areas (Fig.1) (Keough & Ghitter, 2019).

Mobility in the southeast has been prioritised for large transporting trucks meaning an emphasis on highways rather than public transit systems (Fig. 2.1,2.2) (The City of Calgary, 2010). This cuts communities in the southeast even more by separating the quadrant with untraversable major highways. However, as Calgary continues to grow, more industrial land and residential development are planned to the south and east. So, a problem lies in how to connect these expanding communities without worsening air pollution and sprawl (Sun, et al., 2007). The following sections of this paper will explore the Southeast quadrants’ part in the city’s history, to understand current social tensions and infrastructure. Followed by an analysis of current policy papers to understand current progress and areas for address. The final section will detail four steps for community action in the Southeastern quadrant to improve historical sustainable mobility issues.

Before the discovery of oil, Calgary rested on prairie land and was home to several First Nation groups. However, once Western immigrants established a possibility of good arable land; the settlements were cleared (the beginning of historical injustices with First Nation people persisting today). Calgary so became a hub along the trans-Canada rain line with the southeast still being the hub of the Pacific Canadian Railways company today. As Calgary grew in prominence as an agricultural power, an extensive streetcar (or tram) network was established in the early 1900s. The system had 15 routes extending through all parts of the city including Inglewood, Manchester, and Ogden in the Southeast alone (Keough & Ghitter, 2021).

However, all this changed in 1947 when a major oil reserve (The Alberta Oil Sands Fig.

3) was discovered to the north of Calgary (Keough & Ghitter, 2021). This made Alberta the second-largest oil sands reserve in the world (Teplova, 2006). Oil and gas fuelled the city’s growth and Calgary was the fastest-growing and highest-income city in Canada. One hundred per cent of this growth occurred in the suburbs particularly in the southeast as Calgary’s industrial industry thrived contributing to a vast urban sprawl. Automobiles also became extremely popular in the 1950s. So much so that the old streetcar systems were dismantled, and public money was poured into automobile infrastructure (Keough & Ghitter, 2021).

The southeastern quarter became incredibly segregated as the land was divided into residential, commercial, and industrial land. This was due to concerns about pollution contamination between residential and industrial lands (Miller & Mössner, 2020). In 1984 concern was growing over the sustainability of current transit plans and the Municipal Development Plan was drafted to tackle this. However, the reform was challenged by private developers and industrialists who profited off the thriving automobile industry and urban sprawl and were threatened by the reinstitution of the historic streetcar lines (Sun, et al., 2007). So began Calgary’s disconnect between residents’ needs and the wants of large corporations (Keough & Ghitter, 2021).

However, oil and gas prices and notoriously vulnerable to booms and busts. In times of oil prices boom housing and living costs rose. However, when they were busts, social inequalities soared leading to growing sociospatial polarization as the city relied on oil and gas to fuel its transport systems. The low-income communities and working-class families of the southeast were particularly affected by this, and they were pushed further into the southern suburbs due to rising housing prices. This moved them even further away from the jobs and services

congregated in the centre of the city (Meij, et al., 2020). In 2008 there was a price spike for fuel due to the global financial crisis. Commuters from the southeast crammed onto public transport; the morning rush was so bad that people travelling north (from the residential to the economic centres) would take southbound trains first to get a spoton northbound train at the start of the line (Keough & Ghitter, 2021).

The city launched a response to these growing concerns in the form of Imagine Calgary and Plan-it to expand the public transport system and curb the expansion of growing suburbs. However, these initiatives only provided modest changes as once again developers used their sustained political sway to curb initiatives (Miller & Mössner, 2020). Energy consumption, greenhouse gases and the size of the suburbs have continued to increase and Calgarians still own more vehicles per capita than any other Canadian city. All whilst the oil sands have been depleted to $16.3 billion left as of 2020 (Keough & Ghitter, 2021).

THE PRESENT: CURRENT POLICIES AND CHALLENGES

Now the scene has been set, we can begin to understand the logic behind current policies to tackle mobility. The city has launched two key policy documents ‘2023 – 2026 Climate Implementation Plan’ and ‘Calgary Climate Strategy Pathways to 2050’. A major infrastructure project outlined in the policy documents to tackle the demand for more public transport, is a new Light-rail train line (LRT) (Fig. 4). However, as Calgary is incredibly monocentric and current public transport systems prioritize running through the core leaving inner quadrant connectivity extremely poor (Keough & Ghitter, 2021). The new LRT green line exemplifies this as although it does target the southeast quadrant it also runs through the centre with little connection in the inner southeastern

quadrant activities or the continued growth on the outskirts. Unfortunately, the precise same as the fault as the current two LRT lines.

As per the city’s complicated history with the automobile industry, there was also a focus on the development of electric vehicles and private energy partnerships to fulfil these added electricity requirements. All concrete plans focus on developing incentive programmes to purchase electric vehicles or changing bylaws for the requirement of developing charging infrastructure. All whilst language surrounding walking and wheeling infrastructure remains vague and theoretical with plans to “explore ways to increase investment in walking and wheeling infrastructure” and “revise community design and development” (The City of Calgary, 2022, p. 22). The city does proclaim strong goals for 40% of all trips to be taken by walking, wheeling, or transit by 2030 (The City of Calgary, 2022). But evidently, it struggles to put policy into practice.

Community-based initiatives are also noticeably absent in the ‘2023 – 2026 Climate Implementation Plan’ and ‘Calgary Climate Strategy Pathways to 2050’ plans. No specific community is ever mentioned in these documents suggesting that there is a lack of community dialogue and a heavy emphasis on top-down approaches. There are however mentions of community climate ambassador programmes like the initiative of Plan-It (The City of Calgary, 2022). However, Planit was not widely regarded as a success due to a lack of range of community stakeholders and insufficiency of community aspirations outside of physical planning (Teed & Campbell, 2010). With little suggestion that this new programme would operate any differently.

There is however repeated mention of private energy sector partnerships with policymakers. Such as the partnership with ENMAX to electrify public vehicle fleets and

ATCO to transform food waste into methane (The City of Calgary, 2022). A cause for concern due to the history of private industry swaying sustainable mobility policies in their favour. There are also plans to increase and restore green spaces by 2030 which would allow for improved community well-being (The City of Calgary, 2022). However, language in the policy document such as ‘natural assets’ and ‘natural infrastructure’ does not indicate that these would be community-led and more on an economic focus. Posing the question of who will be leading these initiatives and for what reason.

THE FUTURE – COMMUNITY INITIATIVES FOR THE SOUTHEAST

Education and Outreach – Changing Stereotypes and Perceptions

Since the extensive streetcar network was disassembled in the early years or before the lifetime of many Calgarians. It is clear to see why life without cars appears completely non-viable to many. Current policy focuses on a top-down approach, using time and cost to convince users to change their transport habits. However, this has been slow to enact change due to an absence of community engagement. Educating southeastern Calgarians using community-based communication networks could encourage people to change their behaviours through the influence of changing social norms.

Community-wide interventions allow individuals to educate themselves on their automobiles’ impact on the community and city as well as introduce them to and encourage them to be a part of community-based initiatives (Brown, 1991). Communication outreach programmes would be the most desirable as studies have shown that they increase community connections, leading to greater social interactions and a more inclined attitude toward collective actions

(Tsenkova & Youssef, 2021). The community can use so-called ‘soft measures’ which aim to re-educate car users on the environmental impact of their travel choices as well as raise awareness of travel alternatives. These measures hope that individuals will engage in a voluntary change of behaviour as they learn to change with community norms (Sottile, et al., 2017).

Theory shows that there is a strong correlation between environmental knowledge and pro-environmental attitudes, particularly in young people. Studies have shown that hearing about environmental issues in everyday life had the greatest effect on student’s thinking and attitudes. The community should thus encourage an environmental education program with young people to encourage more sustainable lifestyle choices by introducing them to tools for a broader social impact for the future of the community (Zsóka, et al., 2013). Such initiatives could involve walking or cycling to school programmes for instance the phenomenon of bike buses. These involve getting large groups of students together to cycle to school in a safe and social method, with a particularly famous example in Portland, Unites States (Fig.5) (Johnson, 2023).

Alternatively, studies have shown that social impacts had the greatest effect on adults in changing their mobility habits. Educating adults on the unnecessary amount of stress long commutes create as well as road rage can have on well-being proved to be affected in enacting environmental mobility behaviours (Sottile, et al., 2017). The community could hence launch a shock campaign through protests to change the perception about car use using the statistics about car crash fatalities in drivers and pedestrians. These could include information on the fact that 231 pedestrians were involved in traffic incidents in only 10 months last year and that the highways that divide the quadrant

are hotspots for traffic collisions (The City of Calgary, 2023). These community-based social movements have succeeded in the past with success in Dutch cities in the Netherlands who have completely changed perspectives on travel habits away from cars (Bruno, et al., 2021).

A Sharing Economy – Reducing Dependency on Private Automobiles

Traditional neoliberal economics has failed to capture the gap in the provision of transport in southeastern Calgary. In response, the community should generate its own sharing economy. The city of Calgary currently runs an e-scooter and e-bike-sharing service. However, this has a limited capacity as they are not allowed on busier roads (which are the main source of connection in the southeast) as typically remain in the downtown centre (The City of Calgary, 2023). However, facilitating a sharing economy of the southeast in the community could overcome these pitfalls. The most common phenomenon of transport sharing is carsharing/pooling. Carsharing is the act of borrowing a car on an as-needed basis. Carpooling is the act of two or more travellers sharing a car for a common trip (Guidotti, et al., 2017). Car sharing/ pooling could so supplement current transit systems whilst also providing an alternative to private automobile use (Keough & Ghitter, 2021). There would be plenty of benefits to the Southeast such as reduced congestion, pollution, and improved energy efficiency (Novikova, 2017).

Innovative car-sharing schemes have suggested that a fleet of cars could be owned by the communities to reduce the need for private car ownership. Local nonprofit organisations could be set up to run and facilitate these programmes whilst also aiming to educate the community on excessive car use and how to change their driving habits. An example of this

was ‘Phillycarshare’ a local non-profit carsharing organisation in Philadelphia, United States which aimed to reduce emissions with hybrid cars and reduce the number of cars needed in the city (Philly Car Share, 2014). These run in alternative functions to the peer-to-peer private carpooling businesses like Uber which aim to maintain automobile infrastructure to gain profits (Novikova, 2017).

The community could also launch a community carpooling group on social media to connect individuals who may be commuting to similar parts of the cities. Examples of this may include students who could commute to school together, or colleagues at work who live in similar areas. Leicester Council, England has such a scheme that encourages communities to join ‘social car schemes’ or ‘car clubs’ to join residents together with those with shared transport needs or to support those who do not have transport (Leicester City Council, 2023).

Supporting Small Businesses –Mixing Zones and Strengthening Communities

Based on the evidence that this paper has thus far proposed, private businesses have had significant political sway in Calgary. This means that transport solutions have been based on the needs of large businesses. For instance, the Stoney, Glenmore and Deerfoot trails (Fig 2.2) that divide up the southeastern quadrant to prioritising reaching business complexes on the outskirts and the transportation of goods and services (The City of Calgary, 2010). This paper therefore recommends that communities should begin to support small businesses in the quadrant itself. A solution which could provide a variety of benefits to the Southeast.

Small businesses pay more taxes than big businesses creating more funding for community amenities like hospitals, libraries

and leisure centres, reducing travel further. Additionally, supporting small businesses could create a positive multiplier effect on the community. Small businesses are civically more active, volunteer more, contribute more to the local economy and finally give twice as much more to charitable organisations per employee than large businesses (Keough & Ghitter, 2021). Helping boost the strength of the local economy. Over time this would begin to mix the previously mentioned segmented zones of the southeast relieving the necessity of automobile travel to reach residential, commercial and employment zones (Teplova, 2006). Moreover, this could begin to dilute the monocentric nature of Calgary and begin to reduce necessary travel times (Choi, 2018).

The specific action that the community could take to reach this ideal would be to first boycott large businesses such as the megamalls. Boycotting large businesses as a social action uses popular power to exert economic and political pressure on the community and denote their demands. One specific call for action comes from Dr Noel Keough and Dr Geoff Ghitter of Calgary University “In the end, we exercise our own choices about where to shop. Will those choices be based solely on the sticker price, or will we make decisions (with our dollars and our votes) in support of healthy, vibrant, and resilient local and regional communities and economies?” (Keough & Ghitter, 2021, p. 81).

Moreover, as small businesses are more personally invested in the community, they are much less transient than big businesses. Their rooted nature and social coercion in their favour could lobby policymakers to invest more in within-quadrant transit solutions (Brown, 1991). To strengthen and support a local business economy, communities could encourage entrepreneurship programmes with young people to invest in the longevity of the local economy. Furthermore, current

small businesses could form cooperatives that can strengthen their power and support one another against big businesses (Keough & Ghitter, 2021).

Guerilla Gardening – Creating Greenways and Improving Mobility

To move away from automobiles as they are the leading form of inner quadrant transport, this theory suggests using greenways as transport corridors. This scenario would leave communities with more choices for mobility with greater walking and wheeling infrastructure as a clear alternative to cars. There are over 3,400 open spaces (defined as undeveloped open pieces of land) in Calgary so this solution would involve linking them all up to create green corridors in the cities to phase out the current highways which instead divide up the city (Day, 2008).

These green corridors create a betterconnected network system beginning to rival automobiles as the main source of transportation as it could reduce trip times, (compared to being stuck in congestion), offer more route options and other benefits such as a healthier lifestyle alternative. Therefore, this would improve the aesthetic quality of the environment making walking, cycling and transit more attractive options (Choi, 2018). The Southeastern quadrant is full of decommissioned industrial land which the community could aim to gain ownership over to build a mass of open public lands (Keough & Ghitter, 2019).

The action of educating and reaching out to members of the community on sustainable mobility could generate new demand for open green spaces. In response, the community should launch a guerilla gardening mission to seize the growing passion of the community and the decommissioned industrial land (Nikolaïdou, et al., 2016). Guerilla gardening refers to a movement that aims to regenerate forgotten spaces by occupying

them with areas for growing vegetables or plants. Guerilla gardening hence physically expresses the wants of communities for green spaces by opening the planning process leading to demand for more bottomup policy approaches (Hardman, et al., 2018).

It can also create a deeper sense of community, fostering civic engagement and collective empowerment. It also has additional benefits to the community such as bringing more foot traffic to the streets and allowing local businesses to flourish. As well as contributing to food provision, biodiversity, and related ecosystem services (Nikolaïdou, et al., 2016). A great example of the success of guerilla gardening can be found in Salford, UK. In another former industrial hub, gardeners revitalised former industrial lands into allotments and community gardens which were then linked together to form an inter-connected network (Hardman, et al., 2018).

In conclusion, this report aims to explore the City of Calgary’s past and the Southeastern quadrants part of this history. Using the historical context, the report has proposed the failings of current top-down policies to sufficiently capture communities’ needs and wants for sustainable mobility. Four community initiatives were then proposed to address the issue of sustainability mobility in the southeast. Each proposal forms a stepping stone, becoming increasingly more ambitious to change the landscape of the city. Firstly, they must change perceptions and increase sustainability knowledge. Beginning to form a community passionate about creating sustainable solutions together. This can then be applied to initiatives that aim to radically change current infrastructure and social norms in the community. Creating a final community-based solution to sustainable mobility in the city alongside current transit solutions. I have endeavoured to give examples of these proposals in action in other cities to inspire the community that

these solutions are entirely possible. When inspired communities come together, they can create many amazing initiatives to benefit not only themselves but future residents.

Fig 1 – Land Use of Calgary (Everyday Tourist, 2016)

Fig. 2.1– Map of South East Calgary ( Calgary RE/MAX REALTORS, 2023)

Fig. 2.2 – Highways segregating movement and prioritising goods transport (Khakh, et al., 201

3– The Alberta Oil Sands (Blackrocksbigproblem, n.d.)

4 – Future Map of Calgary C-Train Network (The City of Calgary, 2019)

Fig.

Fig.

Fig.5 – Sam Balto and his Bike Bus (Johnson, 2023)

REFERENCES

Calgary RE/MAX REALTORS, 2023. SE Calgary Real Estate Maps. [Online] Available at: https://www.remaxcentral.ab.ca/calgarymapsearch/southeast.html [Accessed 16 October 2023].

Blackrocksbigproblem, n.d. Tar Sands & Pipelines. Blackrocksbigproblem

Brown, R., 1991. Community Action for Health Promotion: A Strategy to Empower Individuals and Communities. International Journal of Health Services, 21(3), pp. 441-456.

Bruno, M., Dekker, H.-J. & Lemos, L. L., 2021. Mobility protests in the Netherlands of the 1970s: Activism, innovation, and transitions. Environmental Innovation and Societal Transitions, Volume 40, pp. 521-535.

Choi, K., 2018. The influence of the built environment on household vehicle travel by the urban typology in Calgary, Canada. Cities, Volume 75, pp. 101-110.

Day, D., 2008. Exploring dimensions of sustainable urban development planning and their potential impact on parks in the Calgary region. Calgary, Canadian Parks for Tomorrow.

Everyday Tourist, 2016. Calgary: Planners and Politicians are too downtown and ego centric!. Everyday Tourist, 2016 March.

Guidotti, R. et al., 2017. Never drive alone: Boosting carpooling with network analysis. Information Systems, Volume 64, pp. 237-257.

Hardman, M., Chipungu, L. & Magidimisha, H., 2018. Guerrilla gardening and green activism: Rethinking the informal urban growing movement. Landscape and Urban Planning, Volume 170, pp. 6-14.

Johnson, R., 2023. An interview with Sam Balto the teacher who started Portland’s bike bus. Momentum, 9 August.

Keough, N. & Ghitter, G., 2019. Pathways to sustainable low-carbon transitions in an auto-dependent Canadian city. Sustainability Science, Volume 15, p. 203–217.

Keough, N. & Ghitter, G., 2021. Sustainability Matters: Prospects for a Just Transition in Calgary Canada’s Petro-City. Calgary: University of Calgary Press.

Khakh, A. K., Fast, V. & Shahid, R., 2019. Spatial Accessibility to Primary Healthcare Services by Multimodal Means of Travel: Synthesis and Case Study in the City of Calgary. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 16(2), pp. 1-19.

Leicester City Council, 2023. Moving Forward: The future of passenger transport in Leicestershire - Community-Led

Solutions, Ideas and Guidance, Leicester: Leicestershire County Council.

Meij, E., Haartsen, T. & Meijering, L., 2020. ‘Everywhere they are trying to hide poverty. I hate it!’: Spatial practices of the urban poor in Calgary, Canada. Geoforum, Volume 117, pp. 206-215.

Miller, B. & Mössner, S., 2020. Urban sustainability and counter-sustainability: Spatial contradictions and conflicts in policy and governance in the Freiburg and Calgary metropolitan regions. Urban Studies, 57(11), pp. 2241-2262.

Nikolaïdou, S., Klöti, T., Tappert, S. & Drilling, M., 2016. Urban Gardening and Green Space Governance: Towards New Collaborative Planning Practices. Urban Planning , 1(1), pp. 5-19.

Novikova, O., 2017. The Sharing Economy and the Future of Personal Mobility: New Models Based on Car Sharing. Technology Innovation Management Review, 7(8), pp. 27-31.

Philly Car Share, 2014. PhillyCarShare. [Online] Available at: https://web.archive.org/web/2002120113 0750/http://phillycarshare.org/ [Accessed 26 October 2023].

Sottile, E., Meloni, I. & Cherchi, E., 2017. Hybrid choice model to disentangle the effect of awareness from attitudes: Application test of soft measures in medium size city. Case Studies on Transport Policy, 5(2), pp. 400-407.

Sun, H., Forsythe, W. & Waters, N., 2007. Modeling Urban Land Use Change and Urban Sprawl: Calgary, Alberta, Canada. Networks and Spatial Economics, Volume 7, p. 353–376.

Teed, J. & Campbell, E., 2010. Plan It Calgary: A Mature Integration Model for Community Design in Calgary, Alberta, Canada, New Haven: Community Indicators Consortium.

Teplova, T., 2006. World Economy Trends and Their Implications for the City of Calgary, Ottawa: Canadian Policy Research Networks Inc.

The City of Calgary, 2010. South East Industrial Area Structure Plan, Calgary: The City of Calgary.

The City of Calgary, 2019. Green Line LRT. [Online] Available at: https://www.calgary.ca/green-line/greenline-map.html [Accessed 16 October 2023].

The City of Calgary, 2022. 2023 – 2026 Climate Implementation Plan, Calgary: The City of Calgary.

The City of Calgary, 2022. Calgary Climate Strategy –Pathways to 2050 , Calgary: s.n.

The City of Calgary, 2023. Shared Micromobility (e-Bikes and e-Scooters) program. [Online]

Available at: https://www.calgary.ca/bike-walk-roll/ electric-scooters.html#:~:text=You%20can%20ride%20 a%20shared,are%20set%20up%20around%20Calgary

[Accessed 5 October 2023].

The City of Calgary, 2023. Traffic Incidents. [Online]

Available at: https://data.calgary.ca/Transportation-Transit/Traffic-Incidents/35ra-9556

[Accessed 12 October 2023].

Tsenkova, S. & Youssef, K., 2021. Social Sustainability, Neighbourhood Cohesion and Quality of Life: A Tale of Two Suburbs in Calgary. In: J. M. C. P. R. Martinez, ed. Handbook of Quality of Life and Sustainability. s.l.:Springer, p. 371–394.

Zsóka, Á., Szerényi, Z. M., Széchy, A. & Kocsis, T., 2013. Greening due to environmental education? Environmental knowledge, attitudes, consumer behavior and everyday pro-environmental activities of Hungarian high school and university students. Journal of Cleaner Production, Volume 48, pp. 126-138.

Water, Water Everywhere leading to waterlogging issue in the smart-city of Faridabad, Haryana

Palakshi Aggarwal

INTRODUCTION

Urban waterlogging is a combination of water being accumulated due to excess rainfall, improper external drainage systems, weak internal drainage connectivity and inability of soil to store the excess water. For past few years, this urban issue has been growing rapidly in the metropolitan cities.

In the older parts of the cities in India, where drains and sewerages constructed decades back; many-a-time unable to carry the enhanced load, faces such a situation commonly with heavy rainfall. Such water logging problems are more acute in low lying areas of the cities.

BACKGROUND

Faridabad is one of the oldest cities established in 1607 AD by Shaikh Farid, treasurer of Mughal emperor at that time, with the soul aim to safeguard the high road between Delhi and Agra which is the National Highway 2 at present. It is geographically surrounded by the oldest mountain range in India, Aravali Hills in the west. The river Yamuna flows in

the east. Geologically, the area is an alluvial place and its elevated 201m above the mean sea level (msl). A smart city growing just 25kms south of the capital city, Delhi with an underlying purpose to put-off the burden of rapid growing population. It is presently home to approximately 2 million people (Acc to estimated projections of 2023) being one of the most densely populated in Haryana and being part of the Nation Capital Religion, these numbers are rising quite rapidly. Not only that, but it also emerged as the ninth largest industrial estate in Asia. With 79.44 per cent of its total population being classified as urban, Faridabad is also the most urbanized district of Haryana. This level of rapid growth has overall put an enormous pressure on the city’s limited resources leading to various challenges related to pollution, improper waste management, traffic congestion, roads deterioration, etc along with problems associated with scarce availability of resources such as electricity, water, and land.

Even though Faridabad become the top contender to transform itself into a smart city, it lacked momentum that its

neighbouring cities achieved. Among the plethora of problems, it was undergoing, the most prevalent and troublesome is inadequate infrastructure development and maintenance. Because of this, the city is submerged underwater one third of the year and it’s not getting better anytime soon. Waterlogging is a complex issue which needs the due attention urgently.

POSITIONALITY

After spending twenty-one years of my life in Faridabad, I realised how waterlogging during monsoon season was just a way of life. It was so normalised to have water reaching 3 feet height outside our houses that we used to play with paper boats, not realising the harsh reality of life. Instead of witnessing a change in the events, the situation has worsened in the past few years. Anthropogenic and geogenic factors are the major contributors to waterlogging along with frequent changes in climate.

Magnitude of waterlogging has been severe is some particular sectors and residing in those sectors whole my life, I have seen that issue from the forefront. Growing up witnessing the water level increasing every year instead of being vice-versa has been heartbreaking. During the heavy rainy days (>40mm/day), it was highlighted that nearly 17km2 of the area got blocked due to intense waterlogging situation and it was such a menace.

ROOT CAUSES

There are many reasons why waterlogging still exists in cities like Faridabad even after progressing towards the status of smart city.

The primary factor which is at the forefront to cause waterlogging in the Indian cities and specifically in Faridabad is inadequate and outdated drainage infrastructure. Not only that, but also the absence of efficient

stormwater management required to manage the heavy down pour during monsoon makes the situation even worse. Due to rapid and continuous urbanization, the rise in paved and concreted surfaces enable the underground percolation as number of permeable areas declines which in turn could have easily absorbed the rainwater. To make the existing situation even worse, the rise in the construction of high built areas has a direct effect on communities living in low-lying platforms and the waterlogging prevails. During torrential rain, contamination of water and soil occurs due to the mixing up of rainwater with sewage and stormwater.

Apart from showcasing the mistakes of the city planning committee, the local residents are also playing a big part of causing this problem to reach this magnitude. The encroaching of roads, streets, highways, etc carried by residents clogs the drainages leaving no space for water to seep creating the waterlogging issue.

CHALLENGES

While we discussed the various causes for urban waterlogging taking place in Faridabad, some of the challenges faced by the communities residing here face it in different spheres of life. But one thing is common that people’s livelihood is disrupted one way or the other.

It’s not just the inconvenience where the problem stops, it extends far to having grave repercussions for both the economy and public health. Traffic disruptions, risk of accidents, road infrastructure damage which contributes to losing valuable working hours by spending more time in traffic, road accidents data being on an all-time high and damage to private property i.e., vehicle wear and tear along with public property like buses, vans, auto-rikshaws, etc being submerged fully or partially in water.

It has come to surface that because of waterlogging, waste collection sites, water reservoirs, ponds (more than 750) which have been identified as secondary risk sites can be further hazardous. As these can end up becoming dangerous breeding grounds for water-borne diseases like diarrhoea, dysentery, etc and can also lead to serious skin problems because of exposure to pesticides, raw sewage, chemicals, etc.

RECOMMENDATIONS

In order to change the reality and shift the course of time in one’s favour, the people will have to come together to find solutions to their problems instead of waiting and suffering. One of the residents paved the way for such actions after a tragic event hit his family. After losing his 8-year-old kid in a car accident that occurred due to reckless and bad road infrastructure and correlated with waterlogging, he along with his friends and neighbours started to fill the potholes of the society hoping no family has to go through what he went through. He said,” We chose to fill potholes on Republic Day with a hope that this will give a wake-up call to government agencies. If a few of us can fill potholes, why can’t government agencies and contractors do this small thing despite having all resources at their disposal?”

People are stronger when they work together, and this got proven again when MRIIRS, a school in Faridabad received funding from the Department of Science and Technology,

govt of India to co-solve the issue of waterlogging and depletion of underground water. A constructed research system was invented and was successful in its pilot phase. This confirms that nothing is impossible if communities use their knowledge, research, and action to change something at the microlevel through a single intervention and move forward.

Using the new media strategies and technological advancements for their benefit. By organizing e-workshops to educate the people about the problems faced and make them aware about how they can contribute to help and spread the word.

One of the residents of Faridabad named Aditi Madan started an online campaign and awareness event at Charge.org to file a petition against the unfavourable situate of entire Faridabad submerge under water. The petition being circulated states, “Can our votes, as well as taxes, be better utilised through proper water management by harvesting surplus rainwater in order to provide residents of Greenfield water during summer months?”

Specifically, during the monsoon season, rainwater harvesting system should be encourage as it’s been made necessary provisions to making installation of rooftop rainwater harvesting systems mandatory. As it helps in reducing the burden on drainage systems, reducing the runoff of water and above all it’s a great water source for nonpotable purposes.

School bus stuck in flooded underpass

Waste Management Awareness and Forums is also the need of the hour. With proper waste management systems and processes the encroaching of roads be prevented which will eventually help in preventing the drains and waterways from getting clogged and contaminated. Waterlogging can be reduced significantly with proper and effective waste disposal practices.

Due to the frequent changing climatic conditions, to have a good check on the weather forecast and be prepared before rain hits the city, people of the community can install early warning systems which can help them be in check for the unavoidable circumstances and they can ensure maintenance of the drainage of their sector and set up some alternatives water sources if the conditions worsen.

Residents well-versed with app development and know-how about the technology can come with some water management applications which can help them know about the waterlogged areas of the city along with proper pictures with real-time updates so that the traffic problem can be sorted and with the data collected the most affected areas are identified and step are taken to improve the problem.

Community Accountability Forums to have a discussion platform where people can get involved in solving the issues related to waterlogging, road infrastructure, etc and brainstorm ideas on how to implement new process and hold people in position accountable for not doing their job so that effective measures can be taken in the future.

CONCLUSION

After researching about the city in which I was born in and seeing how after so many years, the outcome affecting the city for so many years hasn’t changed shows how people collaboration in a certain capacity is required

for making necessary changes and help in bringing out desired results. Infrastructure is the key to any city and especially in urban cities to ensure they remain form a long time. Thus. This issue of waterlogging just doesn’t need the help of the government but need community force of solving the issue their city is suffering together.

REFRENCES

Choubey, J. (2023a) ‘Over 90 per cent Indian cities are facing waterlogging and flooding problems...,’ The New Indian Express, 6 July. https://www.newindianexpress.com/nation/2023/jul/06/over-90-per-centindian-cities-are-facing-waterlogging-and-flooding-problems-2592012.html.

Co-solving of water logging and ground water depletion issues in Sector 15A of Faridabad City of Haryana State of India – Manav Rachna Vidyanatariksha (2022). https:// mriirs.edu.in/co-solving-of-water-logging-and-groundwater-depletion-issues-in-sector-15a-of-faridabad-cityof-haryana-state-of-india/.

Crew, L.I., Crew, L.I. and Indian, L. (2020) The logical Indian. https://thelogicalindian.com/exclusive/faridabadman-fixes-pothole-19495.

Gupta, S. (2017) Monsoon Woes In Faridabad: Water Logging Is The Main Issue. https://www.proptiger.com/ guide/post/monsoon-woes-is-faridabad-ready-to-be-asmart-city.

Jha, A. (2023a) ‘Waterlogging, the great leveller – Not just metros, tier 2 and 3 cities face the menace too,’ Business Insider, 6 July. https://www.businessinsider.in/india/news/tier-2-and-tier-3-india-also-complains-of-waterlogging-this-monsoon/articleshow/101545244.cms.

LEGISLATION ON RAINWATER HARVESTING (no date). https://www.cseindia.org/legislation-on-rainwater-harvesting-1111.

Rachna, M. (2019) ‘E-workshop organized on ‘Co-solving waterlogging and groundwater depletion issue in parts of Faridabad Smart City,’’ Manav Rachna Vidyanatariksha, 18 February. https://manavrachna.edu.in/ latest/e-workshop-organized-on-co-solving-waterlogging-and-groundwater-depletion-issue-in-parts-offaridabad-smart-city/.

School bus stuck in flooded underpass (2022). https://zeenews.india.com/video/india/school-bus-stuck-in-flooded-underpass-2512831.html.

Society, S.E. (no date a) Waterlogging: a persistent challenge in Indian cities. https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/ waterlogging-persistent-challenge-indian#:~:text=A%20survey%20conducted%20in%202022,traffic%20 conditions%20as%20a%20consequence.

Times of India (2022) ‘Posh areas of Faridabad turn into pools after heavy rain,’ The Times of India, 23 May. https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/videos/toi-original/posh-areas-of-faridabad-turn-into-pools-afterheavy-rain/videoshow/91748333.cms.

Video: Faridabad School Bus With Several Kids Gets Stuck In Water-Logged Underpass For More Than 1 Hour (no date). https://www.ndtv.com/india-news/video-faridabad-school-bus-with-several-kids-gets-stuck-in-water-logged-underpass-for-more-than-1-hour-3364499.

Zhang, Q. et al. (2020) ‘Identifying dominant factors of waterlogging events in metropolitan coastal cities: The case study of Guangzhou, China,’ Journal of Environmental Management, 271, p. 110951. https://doi.org/10.1016/j. jenvman.2020.110951.

Germany

Stuttgart 21: David and Goliath? How Can Citizens Defend Themselves Against a Mega-project?

Piotr Tokarski

An Open Letter to The Residents of Stuttgart

Dear inhabitants of Stuttgart,

The following report intends to equip you, that is, the Stuttgart Mitte community, with the tools required to counteract the various present and future challenges and disruptions that the Stuttgart 21 mega-project has brought to your day-to-day lives. Bearing the probable extension to the infrastructural plans in mind, this comprehensive report delves deep into the underlying causes of tensions and past administrative missteps, drawing insight from academic literature. By looking at the history of your struggle, I was able to provide several viable recommendations that can increase your involvement in the decision-making processes. Therefore, this briefing aims to do more than just present information; it seeks to empower each member of this community with the knowledge and tools to actively engage in the future of this unique district within the context of Stuttgart 21.

POSITIONALITY

First of all, it is essential to clarify my positionality in the context of Stuttgart 21 as a contentious issue. While providing guidelines for any community, it is crucial to engage in self-reflection regarding one’s standpoint and background since imposing a particular agenda is, by no means, my intention. Instead, I chose to rely on available relevant literature and data showing the impact and potential solutions to the described problem. Even though I am not a resident of Stuttgart, I am not a stranger to the ongoing situation. I visited this city on five different occasions, and since I am a thirdyear sustainable development student, I am inclined to choose rail as a preferred mode of

transportation. I remember how astonished I was as I exited the infamous train station to see the omnipresent physical artefacts of the local public outcry. Graffiti, banners, or stickers covered the entire fencing and scaffolding around the massive construction site. Ever since, I have been following the developments relating to S21 with keen interest, and the engagement of the Stuttgart Mitte community I witnessed inspired me to revisit their cause. Bearing my perspective as an author in mind, my objective in this paper is to highlight the potential power of community action as well as to offer insights into how extensive infrastructure projects can affect both the urban sustainability and the identity of our cities.

INTRODUCTION – WHAT IS STUTTGART 21?

Stuttgart 21, or S21, in short, is a mega-scale undertaking by the largest national railway company in Germany, the Deutsche Bahn AG (DB), the state Baden-Württemberg, the German government, and the municipality of Stuttgart (Nagel and Satoh, 2019, pp. 1684). S21, being arguably the first project of this scope Stuttgart has ever witnessed, aims to convert the historical Hauptbahnhof station from a terminus, in which all trains had to reverse to depart, to an underground transit station adjusted to the technological demands of contemporary high-speed rail. This transformation is being achieved by rotating the platforms of the existing station by ninety degrees (Pepchinski, 2021) and constructing 57 kilometres of new tracks, half of which will be in underground tunnels (See Figure 1). As part of the recently excavated network of eight tunnels beneath Stuttgart’s city centre, which completed the boring process very recently in September this year (DB, 2023), this infrastructure will constitute a critical segment of ‘the European

Magistrale’ linking key hubs of financial activity, including Paris, Munich, and Vienna (Varley, 2015, pp. 1).

For decades, Stuttgart had been a bottleneck on the railway map of Germany due to the challenge associated with its physical geography; since it is situated in the narrow Neckar River valley, the current main train station design strived to maximise the onground transit capacity, considering these disadvantageous circumstances. That is why the initial re-development plans did not aim to interfere in the densely-populated inner city of Stuttgart and the busy central station; instead, they revolved around building a new through station in Rosenstein, located in the distant municipality’s surrounding area (Novy and Peters, 2012, pp. 130). Nonetheless, this less invasive proposal was not convincing enough for the local political elite at the time. For them, it was of crucial importance that the newly constructed continental route does not bypass the heart of the capital of Baden-Württemberg (Varley, 2015, pp. 2). Moreover, a project in which all rail services in the city would be moved

Figure 1: Stuttgart 21 plan on the municipal map

below the surface of the earth has given them yet a further alluring possibility of boring an additional connection to the city’s airport and the recently built exhibition and trade centre in its close proximity (Novy and Peters, 2012, pp. 130).

As a vital part of this venture, the DB is anticipated to revitalise extensive areas of soon-to-be unexploited railway land above ground, focusing on urban and economic development (Novy and Peters, 2012, pp. 130). Being acquainted with these extensive re-development plans, a question arises concerning who is intended to be the primary beneficiary of this investment. In the subsequent part of this report, I will analyse some of the issues associated with this mega project, which indicate that it is almost certainly not the local community but rather the DB itself. Consequently, S21 has been heavily criticised for a wide array of factors since its inception in the 1990s (Novy and Peters, 2012). From a sustainability perspective, these include, among many, exacerbating local environmental injustice and a lack of consideration for the urban history and its identity.

Even though the first stage of S21 is due to be completed in the upcoming two years, the potential threat for the local communities associated with it is far from over. The construction costs exceeded 9 billion Euro in 2022 (Clinnick, 2022), whereas the initial approximations from 1995 stated that the venture required merely a quarter of the actual funds spent (Varley, 2015, pp. 1). Despite these excessive expenditures, the local policymakers do not appear to be discouraged. According to the recent review commissioned by the Baden-Württemberg’s government, there are ongoing discussions regarding supplementary expansions of S21, such as an additional terminus adjacent to the current station’s site and further tunnels (Fender, 2023). Hence, it is of uttermost importance that the inhabitants of Stuttgart’s

centre brace themselves for plausible future developments and ensure that they possess more procedural justice, as defined by Pearsall and Pierce (2010), in public planning than at the outset of S21.

THE COMMUNITY – WHO IS AFFECTED BY S21?

Being a project of an enormous scale, Stuttgart 21 has affected a broad spectrum of social groups, including commuters, owners of small-scale businesses, as well as the local homeless population, for which the now inaccessible surroundings of the train station provided a safe shelter. This last social group deserves particular attention, as the local authorities are accused of reaching for cruel and unusual measures. For example, playing loud classical music in areas not covered by the re-development, to drive the remaining homeless people out of the station area (El Ouassil, 2022). So, given the complexity of the problem, the most sensible option was to analyse the Stuttgart Mitte community collectively. Thus, this briefing’s target audience is 24 thousand inhabitants of the central district (stuttgart.de, n.d.) who suffered from a mega-scale project being built within the confines of their quarter. Furthermore, one remarkable aspect of Stuttgart Mitte is its distinct diversity: according to the city council’s statistics, as much as 48.7% of inhabitants of this district come from a migratory background (stuttgart. de, n.d.). This characteristic will play an important role in the recommendations section below.

THE CHALLENGE

Environmental Injustice

In this section, I will elaborate on how this far-reaching project serves as a glaring demonstration of environmental injustice. The initial example of this is depriving

the inhabitants of Stuttgart Mitte of highquality urban green spaces. Stuttgart 21 has been widely criticised for its ecological ramifications in the city centre. To create new infrastructure, around 300 trees, many older than a century, have been felled in the historic castle grounds park complex, the Schlossgarten. located behind the current terminus (Novy and Peters, 2012, pp. 134).

Moreover, as much as one-fifth of all trees relocated within the area as a part of this venture have not survived the sudden change in environment (Bock, 2019). This poses a serious environmental threat to the residents of the addressed district, as Stuttgart’s interior is especially prone to the urban heat island effect due to its disadvantageous topological location in the Neckar basin, between steep hill slopes. (Climate-ADAPT, n.d.). Scientific data indicates that the number of days with high heat loads (more than 32 degrees Celsius) could double by the middle of the century compared to 1971-2000, and the Mitte community will be affected the most (Schlegel and Koßmann, 2017, pp. 6-7). However, it needs to be recognised that the project visualisations display new green urban space above the underground station. Nevertheless, even if the trees are, indeed, planted there, it will not be a valid compensation for the damages inflicted in the Schlossgarten. The history of this sizeable royal park dates six centuries back, and it is deeply embedded in the local identity. Therefore, a new green area built above the concrete layers of the station and its tunnels underneath incontestably cannot match its significance in both environmental and cultural realms.

Furthermore, the project might have a harmful impact on the city’s groundwater resources. Stuttgart is the second city in Europe, following Budapest, in terms of the abundance of its mineral water springs (Vasin et al., 2015, pp. 705). The construction of the new transit station and tunnelling works

might cause damage to the underground layers storing these water deposits, leading to leaks and subsequent drying up of this resource, which is unique for a European municipality (Hsieh, 2012, pp. 36). It is necessary to add that the groundwater available for the Mitte community is already endangered as things stand, as Stuttgart is one of Germany’s most heavily industrialised cities. Being home to enormous industrial magnates such as Porsche, Mercedes-Benz, or Bosch, the city and its local groundwaters have already been contaminated with volatile chlorinated hydrocarbons in the past (Vasin, et al., 2015, pp. 705). The S21 scheme can only exacerbate the current situation. For the Mitte district inhabitants, further jeopardy to the local mineral water reservoirs could mean they would be deprived of their benefits, commonly used for spa and medical purposes. Moreover, the issues of high-quality urban green spaces and mineral water sources are intertwined because moving the tracks to an underground level will effectively lower the local “table of groundwater”, which, subsequently, can cause additional damage to the Schlossgarten in the years to come (Hsieh, 2012, pp. 37).

Disregard for the Mitte District’s identity

One of the most controversial aspects of the S21 for the Mitte inhabitants was the partial demolition of the historic train station building. The old building’s north and the Schlossgarten wings, widely considered an architectural gem, have been destroyed for the re-development’s sake. The station structure designed by renowned architect Paul Bonatz was considered one of the city’s most recognisable landmarks in general and an icon of the inter-war period modernist design (Novy and Peters, 2012, pp. 136). The destruction has sparked massive outrage and civic distrust, leading to the forming of a human chain by thirty thousand locals around

the demolition site in a desperate attempt to preserve their heritage (Gualini, 2015, pp. 72). Considering the cultural value of the knocked-down parts of the station, it is not surprising that this ordeal has been dubbed “a callous disregard for architectural history” by the international press (Ouroussoff, 2009). According to the critical urban theory, a city is made sustainable by the factors which its own residents believe to be that way. Yet, the urban has its own distinct history, and the policy-makers behind S21 did not take its importance into consideration. Since there are already ongoing talks of possible expansions to the controversial investment in the city centre, it is crucial to acknowledge the significance of the tangible historical heritage for the local community members in the further phases.

COMMUNITY RECOMMENDATIONS

Based on my research, I was able to highlight several recommendations that the community of the Stuttgart Mitte district could undertake to counteract the future challenges associated with S21 and its impact on sustainability and local culture. Being a foreign academic, someone describing the issue from outside, the following recommendations should be seen as ways to provide supplementary context to the community’s ongoing efforts and identify potential directions for future action. These include social media engagement, environmental education, as well as protest and publicity.

Social Media Engagement

The initial recommendation would be to encourage the Stuttgart Mitte community members to continue their high activity on social media. The described overambitious venture in the state capital of BadenWürttemberg lacked authentic and openended discussion with all local stakeholders. The local government insisted on pushing

through its agenda throughout the mediation, rather than listening to the voices of the biggest citizen protests Germany had seen since its reunification (Varley, 2015, pp. 1). Therefore, thousands of Mitte residents resorted to social media to express their justified discontent and scepticism. Thus, S21 can be considered an actual turning point in social media-driven activism in recent years, as it allowed the grassroots movements to gain momentum and following, even if they were not included in participatory democracy processes at the start. Twitter, in particular, has always been an important outlet for individuals and groups looking to share their opinions on the contested project. Amidst rising Stuttgart’s 21 growing disapproval, the number of primarily unfavourable tweets containing the hashtag #S21 exceeded 165.000 (Jungherr and Jürgens, 2014, pp. 80). Therefore, the role of social media platforms such as X (formerly Twitter) cannot be underestimated. Considering the likely subsequent stages of S21, it is in the Mitte community’s interest to preserve their already established online communication space, which can assist them in the synchronisation, organisation, and documentation of collective action, including environmental issue campaigns or strikes (Jungherr and Jürgens, 2014, pp. 74). Moreover, considering the Mitte community’s structure, it is essential to ensure that more content and information relevant to the topic are shared in languages other than German. Because almost half of its members have a migratory background, providing supplementary information or translations to other languages is highly recommended, with them as the primary audience. Thus far, the vast preponderance of the discourse, especially the regional news articles concerning S21, is offered solely in German, which means that a substantial share of people affected by the DB investment are excluded from the ongoing conversation. Finally, platforms like

X, Instagram and Facebook allow specialists and grassroots organisations in the fields of ecology or architecture to tag and address local policymakers, thereby safeguarding the community’s procedural justice through urban inclusion.

Grassroots-led Environmental Education

Secondly, suitable ecological education is another critical step in protecting the environmental justice of the inhabitants of the Stuttgart Mitte community. Environmental matters are already a part of the school curriculum, and the local University of Stuttgart organises events such as the ‘Sustainability Weeks’, which aim to raise awareness regarding the implications of lifestyle on the environment (University of Stuttgart, 2021). However, environmental education in the scrutinised district should transcend classrooms and university lecture hall perimeters to become more inclusive and engaging. Another issue is that the currently available education is not local enough. Due to Stuttgart’s topological specificity, as described above, the local communities might face far more severe environmental risks than inhabitants of other cities within South-Western Germany. Nonetheless, a significant share of the Mitte district residents is presumably not cognisant of the consequences of global warming, the urban heat island effect on their close surroundings. It is also plausible that they do not fully comprehend the meaning of the municipal assets in the context of climate change, including Stuttgart’s green areas or distinctive abundance of mineral water. Furthermore, since the public educational institutions are administered by the Baden-Württemberg state government, which is a direct shareholder in the Stuttgart 21 investment, it is not probable that, within these entities, there will ever be any room for debate about the shortcomings or repercussions

of the disputed project. Consequently, Stuttgart Mitte should prioritise communitydriven initiatives, wherein residents initiate grassroots approaches that are unrestricted, critical, and concrete in enacting meaningful change. It is imperative to inform the uninvolved members of the Mitte community about the impacts that S21 has already instigated and how they can be exacerbated in the foreseeable future. These grassroots-led campaigns ought to solicit awareness regarding the repercussions of the partial loss of high-quality urban green spaces and the effect on precious municipal groundwater resources. This can be achieved through small-scale volunteer initiatives stationed in the city centre, especially in the areas close to the new station, such as the Schlossgarten Park. These public events should offer flyers with relevant information, provided in several languages, up-to-date statistics about S21, and the city’s overall estimations in the following decades concerning climate change. Lastly, this solution should be interconnected with the previous recommendation, viz., the digital campaign, so that it can reach a wider target group within the Mitte district. Therefore, I suggest that the on-site volunteers display slogans, website names, QR codes, and hashtags so that they can make their cause known to the community members who didn’t have their prior stance on the issue. By doing so, they can provide them with practical and convincing supplementary information they would not be likely to obtain from other media sources.

Protests and Publicity

The final recommendation of this briefing focuses on protests and publicity. This approach should only be viewed as a last resort in case the local authorities decide to carry out the extension to S21 as aggressively as back in 2010. Then, the images of peaceful local demonstrators being shot at with water

cannons by the police caught countrywide attention and, as a result, led to a mediation process (Nagel and Satoh, 2019, pp. 1684). Therefore, the bolstering of publicity through protests enhanced the procedural justice of the Mitte community, as now they were, at least partially, included in the decision-making. What is more, protest as a means of resistance can be especially effective in Stuttgart when it concerns environmental protection. The reason is relatively straightforward: the Green Party is presently the most potent political force in the Stuttgart Municipal Council (stuttgart. de, n.d.). Therefore, the Mitte community should hold the authorities accountable if their actions about S21 do not match their political pledges and promises. Thus, in this case, protest can be used as a tool for ensuring the existence of participatory democracy. However, it is encouraged to match the form of these demonstrations to the profile of inhabitants who took part in the previous public events. The local media observed that the anti-S21 activists diverged from the typical protest demographics, consisting mainly of students, socialist scholars, and retired experts (Varley, 2015, pp. 12). If the protesting part of the community is “certainly not radical” (Varley, 2015, pp. 12), then future demonstrations should meet their needs. Hence, it is important not to follow a radical environmentalism path like organisations such as Extinction Rebellion or Just Stop Oil because action involving vandalism or other unorthodox measures may effectively discourage the target group within the Mitte district. Consequently, future protest action should remain peaceful and provide information to interested individuals, thus displaying a refined and knowledgeable image to the public. The initiative will garner increased public respect and engagement by upholding this reputation.

CONCLUSION

The Stuttgart Mitte community continues its fight for its ‘right to the city’, which is the foundation of the critical urban theory. Thus far, the overambitious infrastructural project in their neighbourhood has negatively affected their environmental and procedural justice. They have been deprived of a significant portion of their most beloved high-quality green space area. They have also lost an architectural marvel, a unique building which coexisted with them for almost a century. Throughout this time, it managed to become an integral part of the local identity. Now, facing a threat of extra stages of Stuttgart 21 in the foreseeable future, actions must be enacted as soon as the local policy-makers authorise them. The recommendations outlined in this briefing could help the residents of Stuttgart’s centre reinforce their position in public participation before any additional construction commences. They could feasibly spread awareness concerning the project and its consequences through social media engagement and grassroots-led environmental education. I firmly believe that these two suggestions, alone, will be able to bring about a significant difference in terms of the strength of the community movement. Nevertheless, were this to turn out to be insufficient, and the local authorities continue with undemocratic, top-down approaches analogously to the events of 2010. In that case, the Mitte community should consider the means of protest. Yet, they need to be cautious while employing it to not deter potential supporters by being overly radical. In the end, my recommendations only serve as a guiding framework and attaining realistic and feasible change depends on how the community members in question approach the issue themselves.

REFERENCES

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Clinnick, R. (2022) ‘Stuttgart 21 project cost increases by €950m’, International Railway Journal, 24 March [Online]. Available at https://www.railjournal.com/infrastructure/stuttgart-21-project-cost-increases-by-e950m/ (Accessed 13 October 2023).

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Deutsche Bahn (2023) ‘Stuttgart 21: Alle Tunnel fertig gegraben’, Newsroom, 14 September [Online]. Available at https://www.deutschebahn.com/de/presse/pressestart_zentrales_uebersicht/Stuttgart-21-Alle-Tunnel-fertig-gegraben-11342950 (Accessed 21 September 2023).

El Ouassil, S. (2022) ‘Obdachlosenfeindlichkeit in Deutschland Einfach kurz mal sein dürfen’ Spiegel Kultur, 29 September [Online]. Available at https://www. spiegel.de/kultur/obdachlosigkeit-in-deutschland-einfach-kurz-mal-sein-duerfen-kolumne-a-16f233bb-047e42ad-bf4f-2d233858e457 (Accessed 14 October 2023).

Fender, K. (2023) ‘Significant additional infrastructure needed to complement Stuttgart 21 project’, International Railway Journal, 21 March [Online]. Available at https://www.railjournal.com/infrastructure/significant-additional-infrastructure-needed-to-complement-stuttgart-21-project/ (Accessed 14 October 2023).

Gualini, E. (2015) ‘Cycles of contention and the planning process: agnostic pluralism and social mobilisation against Stuttgart 21’ in Gualini, E., Mourato, J.M., Allegra, M. (eds) Conflict in the City: Contested Urban Spaces and Local Democracy, Berlin, JOVIS, pp. 60-77 [Online]. Available at https://www.researchgate.net/ publication/287642509_Conflict_in_the_City_Contested_Urban_Spaces_and_Local_Democracy (Accessed 28 September 2023).

Hsieh, C. (2012) ‘The Landscape of Gap Built Upon Environmental Subjects: A Case Study of Stuttgart 21, Germany’, Lund University Libraries, pp. 1-37 [On-

line]. Available at https://lup.lub.lu.se/student-papers/ search/publication/2796091 (Accessed 18 October 2023).

Jungherr, A. and Jürgens, P. (2013) ‘Through a Glass, Darkly: Tactical Support and Symbolic Association in Twitter Messages Commenting on Stuttgart 21’, Social Science Computer Review, vol. 32, no. 1, pp. 74-81 [Online]. DOI: 10.1177/0894439313500 (Accessed 18 October 2023).

Nagel, M. and Satoh K. (2018) ‘Protesting iconic megaprojects. A discourse network analysis of the evolution of the conflict over Stuttgart 21’, Urban Studies, vol. 56, no. 8, pp. 1681–1700 [Online]. DOI: 10.1177/0042098018775903 (Accessed 25 September 2023).

Novy, J. and Peters, D. (2012) ‘Railway Station Mega-Projects as Public Controversies: The Case of Stuttgart 21’, Built Environment, vol. 38, no. 1, pp. 128145 [Online]. Available at https://www.jstor.org/stable/23289705 (Accessed 28 September 2023).

Ouroussoff, N. (2009) ‘Last Call for an Elegant Rail Station’, The New York Times, 2 October [Online]. Available at https://www.nytimes.com/2009/10/03/arts/ design/03railway.html (Accessed 17 October 2023).

Pearsall, H. and Pierce, J. (2010) ‘Urban sustainability and environmental justice: evaluating the linkages in public planning/policy discourse’, The International Journal of Justice and Sustainability, vol. 15, no. 6, pp. 569–580 [Online]. DOI: 10.1080/13549839.2010.487528 (Accessed 15 September 2023).

Pepchinski, M. (2021) ‘Main Station Stuttgart by Ingenhoven Architects’, Architectural Record, 1 August [Online]. Available at https://www.architecturalrecord. com/articles/15246-main-station-stuttgart-by-ingenhoven-architects (Accessed 26 September 2023).

Schlegel, I. and Koßmann, M. (2017), ‘Stadtklimatische Untersuchungen der sommerlichen Wärmebelastung in Stuttgart als Grundlage zur Anpassung an den Klimawandel’, Deutscher Wetterdienst Abteilung Klima- und Umweltberatung Freiburg, pp. 6-7 [Online]. Available at https://www.stadtklima-stuttgart.de/index.php?klima_kliks_stadtklimatische_untersuchungen (Accessed 10 October 2023).

Stuttgart.de (n.d.) ‘Gemeinderat Bündnis 90/Die Grünen’ [Online]. Available at https://www.stuttgart. de/rathaus/gemeinderat/mitglieder-des-gemeinderats/ buendnis-90-die-gruenen.php (Accessed 19 October 2023).

Stuttgart.de (n.d.) ‘Stadtbezirke Stuttgart-Mitte’ [Online]. Available at https://www.stuttgart.de/rathaus/ stadtbezirke/mitte/ (Accessed 12 October 2023).

University of Stuttgart (2021) ‘University of Stuttgart at the Sustainability Weeks’, All News [Online]. Available at https://www.uni-stuttgart.de/en/university/news/all/ sustainability-weeks/ (Accessed 19 October 2023).

Varley, P. (2015) ‘Megaprojects & the Role of the Public: Germany’s Embattled ‘Stuttgart 21’ Rail Project’, Harvard Kennedy School, pp. 1-30 [Online]. Available at https://case.hks.harvard.edu/megaprojects-the-role-ofthe-public-germany-s-embattled-stuttgart-21-rail-project/ (Accessed 11 October 2023).

Vasin, S., Carle, A., Lang, U. and Kirchholtes, H.J. (2016) ‘A groundwater management plan for Stuttgart’, Science of The Total Environment, vol. 563-564, pp. 704-705 [Online]. DOI: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2015.10.078 (Accessed 11 October 2023).

Reconstructing war-torn Ukrainian Cities: Addressing the Need for a Community-based Recovery model in Bucha, Ukraine

An Open Letter to Bucha Residents

Thomas Player

INTRODUCTION + POSITIONALITY

Dear inhabitants of Bucha, this community report aims to equip you (the community) with the tools necessary to implement your vision of rebuilding Bucha from the ground up. Whilst it may appear easier to rebuild the material foundations of the city (buildings, apartments, houses), I worry that the topdown planners will not be able to relate to the distressing events you lived through 18 months ago. Therefore, I ask in this report how we can rethink the urban reconstruction process in an embodied way, one that accounts for the commonness of traumatic experiences within the new urban fabric of the city. The main aim of this report is to think about how to give the Bucha community tools to become a ‘proper stakeholder’ of the restoration. Ultimately, it is the residents of Bucha that know what they need most and therefore the role of their community

is to not only advocate but validate what is needed from the top down. Finally, I suggest that if Bucha is rebuilt with its citizens at the centre of what will be a drawn-out process, it will have great potential to serve as a superb model of urban justice for years to come.

I want to confess that I am a UK citizen and do not have a connection to the Bucha community I am writing about. This makes me an outsider to the lived experiences of the Bucha community. Even though I cannot relate to the lived experiences the individuals residing in Bucha have experienced, the first thing I want to say is I do care and deeply sympathise with your community, otherwise, I would not be writing this report and would be diverting my attention elsewhere. However, I must acknowledge that there is an immediate issue that arises with someone from outside a community offering solutions. As I do not have a connection to the Bucha

community, I cannot give an ongoing firsthand account of how the reconstruction process in Bucha is materialising. Instead, I must rely upon academic sources and second-hand knowledge to offer recommendations for the reconstruction of Bucha. To counteract such issues, I aim to critically analyse such recommendations and suggest some recommendations of my own within the report.

I want you to spare time to read this report because I worry about ‘for whom’ the postwar reconstruction of Ukraine will benefit. For instance, EU President Ursula von der Leyen stated recently “We will reconstruct Ukraine. Our vision is to turn the destruction of war into opportunities to build a beautiful and healthy future for Ukraine” (Europa.eu, 2023). However, I fear that if Ukraine’s postwar construction becomes a developmental free-for-all for top-down planners to redesign Ukrainian cities, there is a risk that the psychological suffering of Bucha’s residents will be extended. This is because it is likely top-down urban planners cannot relate or know how space within the city was used by Russians often to commit war crimes. Therefore, there is a need to strengthen the role of the Bucha community in its reconstruction to know which parts of the city should be memorialised or rebuilt. This represents the most efficient way for its citizens to come to

terms with the psychological effects of war. If this is of interest to you, please read on.

Defining the Community + Context

Before we properly investigate the problematic nature of Bucha’s reconstruction, it is important to look at how the community’s disproportionate suffering at the hands of the Russian occupation might complicate efforts to rebuild the city. Russia launched a large-scale invasion of Ukraine on February 24th 2022. As part of the invasion, the Russian military entered Ukraine from neighbouring Belarus with the aim of swiftly capturing Kyiv. Bucha is a city in “Ukraine’s Kyiv Oblast with a prewar population of 37,321” (populationhub.com, 2023) and therefore to get to Kyiv, the Russians had to capture Bucha which they did on the 27th of February 2022 before eventually withdrawing on the 31st of March 2022 due to strong Ukrainian resistance.

After Ukrainian forces captured Bucha, reports of the Bucha massacre began to circulate. Approximately “458 bodies were recovered from the town” (Andreikovets, 2022) and the mayor of Bucha, Anatoliy Fedoruk, reported that “almost 90% of the dead residents had bullet wounds, not shrapnel wounds” (Andreikovets, 2022). In short, Bucha residents were systematically executed whilst under the

Figure one: Map of Bucha relative to Kyiv

Source: (knownsinsiders.com, 2023)

Russian occupation. Simultaneously, Russia indiscriminately shelled the city causing significant infrastructure damage. With respect to private infrastructure, “861 private houses [and] 122 apartment buildings” (Kulish, 2023) were destroyed. With respect to social infrastructure, “26 educational institutions [and] 5 religious institutions were destroyed” (Kulish, 2023). With respect to economic infrastructure, “127 industrial facilities were destroyed” (Kulish, 2023). The consequence of this was it created a physical landscape that was completely baron whilst simultaneously creating an extremely psychologically scarred community.

Furthermore, whilst other cities around Western Ukraine such as Kyiv and Lyiv were bombed, they were not physically under the occupation of the Russians. This is where the current Ukrainian Government’s ‘one size fits all approach’ to reconstructing Ukrainian cities faulters. Whilst Kyiv and Lyiv were bombed destroying the material fabric of their cities, as they did not experience the first-hand brutality of the Russians under occupation, I would argue that the embodied after-effects are felt to a much greater extent amongst the community in Bucha relative to other urban communities.

This makes the reconstruction element of Ukrainian cities non-linear as each urban community has a different lived experience of war. However, the multifaceted losses in Bucha go beyond simply physical structures and therefore the trauma the community experienced is now emplaced within their urban fabric. In essence, the violence in Bucha is multilayered which means it is essential urban planners consider what spaces in the city now represent and subsequently how to use spaces in the city to cope with trauma. I would argue it is the community of Bucha rather than top-down urban planners who are therefore best placed to think about this.

The Challenges + Current Policy Analysis

Kyiv’s focus remains firmly on the war on the southern and eastern flanks of their country. Despite this, Kyiv wants to start rebuilding Ukrainian cities such as Bucha now as an “act of resistance” (Cohen, 2023) against Russia. This could become problematic because the urban way of life has become a staple mode of attack of Russia by air which could delay any reconstruction efforts. On the other hand, it is promising that the Ukrainian Government has taken this stance. It shows that they recognise the city as playing a fundamental role in the socio-economic life of people but also as “spaces and places that support social connection and sociality” (Klinenburg, 2019) which as this report will argue is integral for the Bucha community to come to terms with their trauma.

Defined challenge: How does war limit the effectiveness of community-led reconstruction?

Current Policy Analysis:

The next section of this report will evaluate how Ukraine has initially proposed to reconstruct its cities. The main point this report wants to highlight is that urban recovery in Bucha is not only about physical repair but is also about the process of healing. As Sukhomud (2023) states “physical repair alone can be employed as a continuation of violence, further displacement, and forgetting” and therefore it is important for this report to assess the extent individuals in the community of Bucha are put are the centre of the policy.

Ukraine is creating the conditions of economic recovery whilst fighting a war. According to Rauws (2020), the development of cities “challenges spatial planners and decision-makers because of the wide variety of uncertainties they encompass”. The central

government in Kyiv does not know when the war is going to end and therefore they are “creating conditions for development which support a city’s capacity to respond to any changing circumstances” (Rauws, 2020). This concept of adaptive planning can be illustrated through Kyiv’s proposed ‘DREAM’ policy.

The Digital Restoration Ecosystem for Accountable Management (DREAM) is a “centralised statistical database that provides a single digital pipeline for all reconstruction projects” (DREAM.gov, 2023). DREAM puts communities at the centre of the reconstruction process as they can “create projects and present them to international partners to attract financial resources and can manage the reconstruction process themselves” (DREAM.gov, 2023). Furthermore, DREAM is extremely beneficial for reconstructing Bucha. This is because “it prioritises communities based on the level of socio-economic and human impact” (DREAM.gov, 2023) that has occurred to which Bucha should be prioritised as it has disproportionately suffered. DREAM therefore represents a democratised approach to the reconstruction of urban spaces. The people of Bucha “have a right to change themselves by changing the city” (Harvey, 2012) and therefore part of my community recommendations will be how residents in Bucha can fully utilise this system.

Despite the Ukrainian Government giving agency to communities, there are some shortfalls that need to be considered. Firstly, there may be some inequalities in participation amongst the Bucha community. Some individuals may not have access to digital tools or have the skills to use technology. Furthermore, there is a lack of tangibility involved in the process (online system) which when you consider the trauma of the Bucha community, may appear to be insensitive to their experiences.

Furthermore, it could be conceivable that war could make the process of adopting this ‘DREAM’ model more challenging. As this report will argue in the recommendations section, the biggest asset of a community is the people living there and you therefore want to utilise their local expertise to start rebuilding. However, the war has displaced people who previously lived in Bucha in two ways. Firstly, by people fleeing to escape Russian occupation and secondly by compulsory conscription calling up the working-age population to serve on the frontlines. This displacement could make the process of community reconciliation challenging. Rebuilding a community isn’t just about physical structures. It also involves re-establishing social networks, a sense of identity, and a shared community vision. However, whilst a minority of people lived through occupation, the majority of residents managed to flee. This could be socially challenging because some returning residents have not experienced the same extent of trauma relative to individuals who lived under the city’s occupation. Thus, the needs of individuals living within the affected community may differ and I question whether DREAM has the capacity to respond to every individual’s needs. However, the biggest concern for this report is that if the community of Bucha has been displaced to such an extent, then ‘who’ speaks for the community? If priority is given to residents who stayed during the occupation, then does this account for everyone’s needs in the Bucha community in a fair and equitable way.

Finally, it is essential that the communityorientated focus of DREAM is not lost at the expense of Western corporate interests. The World Bank’s “recent estimation for the reconstruction of Ukraine has grown to $411 billion” (Cohen, 2023) and therefore what this report worries about is that if the primary source of funding comes from Western institutions, there may be conditions attached to this that ignore

Ukraine’s community-orientated approach. For instance, according to Sukhomud (2023), when the “reconstruction process is directed by Western audiences, discussions about trauma often lead to people being disqualified as irrational” which is a particularly prominent concern for the community of Bucha. Worryingly, phrases such as ‘The World Bank’s mission for rebuilding Ukraine’ keep appearing in the media which makes me question whether Western institutions will engage with the DREAM system at all.

Community Recommendations:

These recommendations aim to illustrate the possible ways the residents of Bucha can become a ‘proper stakeholder’ of restoration through community-based action. These will think about how to restore agency and responsibility to the Bucha community and in some recommendations will think about how community-led action could complement the Ukrainian Government’s DREAM policy.

The mindset, models, determination, and assessments of Western government are deeply ingrained with traditional, policydominated, top-down approaches. This approach views urban problems as ones that require government action and strict policy to solve. However, the urban trauma experienced in Bucha means that it is necessary to “rethink urban reconstruction processes in an embodied way” (Sukhomud, 2023) to account for the commonness of traumatic experience within the community. Therefore, the Ukrainian Government has tried to find a balance by “integrating bottom-up processes of knowledge with topdown agency” (Semeraro, 2019) through its DREAM policy.

Whilst this is a welcomed start, I suggest community-based action (CBA), a community-led process “based on an individual community’s needs, priorities,

knowledge and capacity” (Khan, 2020) needs to come before DREAM. In essence, the community of Bucha will not be able to make the most out of the policy if community ties are not strengthened in the first place. Therefore, I will suggest bottom-up initiatives that aim to rethink how the Bucha community can use space to cope with the psychological effects of war and strengthen community reconciliation.

(a) Rubble clear ups

The first step in reconstructing Bucha is thinking about how we can rebuild community ties. The Russians continue to bomb Bucha adding to the infrastructure damage they caused during their short occupation. Therefore, I propose the Bucha rubble clean-up initiative as the initial step in creating community reconciliation in Bucha.

Everyone in the community should work together to clear up rubble in the aftermath of any Russian bombing on the city. Even though this form of civic mobilisation is small-scale, the symbolic significance of this practice should not be underestimated. The process of collective cleaning is organised in a way “that allows the trauma of ruination to be dealt with” (Sukhomud, 2023). Therefore, as the clear-up is done collectively, working together becomes an embodied cultural practice. Thus, small-scale efforts such as these will bring short-term relief in dealing with the initial destruction whilst also providing the foundations for the long-term rebuilding of the local community ties.

However, I would argue civic mobilisation only provides short-term relief for a limited number of people in the community. It is not at a scale large enough to assure the inclusion of everyone in the community of Bucha within the reconstruction process. Therefore, the next section of the recommendations will think about (through a wider lens) how we can take space into account to achieve urban justice in Bucha.

(b) Community centres as ‘spaces of social dialogue and learning’

The second step in reconstructing Bucha is starting to think about how to redesign public spaces that are responsive to the needs of the Bucha community. However, this process becomes quite complex due to the fact the Bucha community is extremely displaced.

In order to make sure the needs of everyone in the Bucha community are represented, I suggest the need for the strengthening of local participatory governance to create suitable solutions to the immediate developmental challenges brought by the War. Therefore, social dialogue is needed. This refers to the “consultation, negotiation and information exchange between government and nongovernment actors on issues of common developmental objectives” (ILO, 2014).

To facilitate social dialogue, I suggest the creation of a community centre as a physical space for local public participation and dialogue on the ground.

Here residents can discuss how to frame DREAM policy in three core areas. Firstly, Bucha’s immediate needs such as rebuilding essential infrastructure that gets food and water into the city. Secondly Roy (2016) refers to the “urban as having a historical geography”. Therefore, it is important to think about what made Bucha a great city to live in before the war. Finally, the most important discussion that must occur surrounds what ‘spaces’ take priority to be rebuilt over others. For instance, sites within the city that symbolise the most psychological trauma for residents such as execution sites should be given priority to be reconstructed over other spaces in the city.

Finally, the creation of a community hub in Bucha could educate the community about the Ukrainian Government’s DREAM policy. Older residents who may not be comfortable using a digital system to input their views could be helped in the centre to understand

how to use the DREAM system. Therefore, the new community centre could possess an additional meaning as a ‘space for learning’ about the DREAM system and a space to collaboratively propose policy harmoniously as a community.

(c) Restoration of livelihoods

Creating livelihood options again for the people of Bucha is fundamentally the most important principle in making sure the people of Bucha feel agency and responsibility again. According to Lyudmila (2019), one of the core aspects of life in the city is understanding urban space as a “machine of social and economic interaction”. Therefore, restoring these interactions will be vital in making Bucha a vibrant urban community again.

One community-based solution to restore economic livelihoods in Bucha is community-led tourism. Bucha has suffered disproportionately as an urban community due to Russian occupation. Therefore, this trauma the residents experienced is now emplaced within the urban fabric of the city. An effective way to come to terms with the trauma experienced is to tell their story to others so people around the world do not forget the atrocities that occurred. In order to cope with their psychological suffering and to provide a steady income, locals could take tourists around the city to various locations where they can learn about the history of the city before the war and understand what life was like for locals in Bucha whilst under occupation.

The income generated from this communityled tourism could then be used to stimulate further community initiatives that is representative of all groups in the community. For instance, the income generated could be used to set up a mental health centre for returning veterans or a scheme to help displaced returnees find housing. Therefore,

community-led economic growth could support the creation of further initiatives that would be beneficial in the long-term community development of Bucha.

Community-led tourism could be an effective DREAM proposal as it restores the economic livelihoods of some residents, encourages further community measures and helps individuals come to terms with their experiences under Russian occupation.

(d) Grassroot Movements in Bucha

Finally, it is essential the Ukrainian Government does not back track on its promises to allow communities to lead reconstruction efforts and bow to pressure from Western institutions. This means creating a community of accountability in Bucha where the citizens of Bucha should demand transparency and accountability from the central Government in Kyiv. There is a danger that in the process of generating knowledge for collective action in Bucha, this may interfere with the official politics of the central Government.

Therefore, in order to ensure communityled reconstruction is upheld, a grassroots organisation in Bucha should be created that would put pressure on the central Government in the event that the citizens of Bucha started to lose their voice in the reconstruction process. This grassroots movement would give agency to locals in Bucha to feel a sense of duty to their community. After the disruption to routine and day-to-day living due to the war, I think this grassroots movement would be beneficial in giving many community members a sense of purpose again. Finally, a grassroots movement could be important for the reestablishing of community ties. If you have all different groups within the community rallying around a common cause, this in my opinion will prove effective in giving the Bucha community a sense of

identity again whilst also creating a culture of accountability and transparency between the central government and Bucha.

Finally, given that Ukraine has a reputation as “the most corrupt country in Europe after Russia” (Bullough, 2015) it is more important than ever for a grassroots organisation to make sure that funds support and go to local communities rather than government officials after the war.

Further Thoughts:

This briefing sought to give a succinct overview of the difficulties Bucha’s residents are facing as they aim to rebuild their city. The proposed DREAM policy was then analysed in the briefing, with both its advantages and disadvantages discussed. This analysis then informed four community-led proposals that could accompany and complement the central government’s DREAM policy. These were rubble clear-ups, community hubs, community-led tourism and a Bucha grassroots movement. The proposed solutions in this paper offer the urban community alternative ways to rebuild community ties and make the most out of DREAM from the bottom up.

It is difficult to see how city planning that benefits urban residents now and in the future can ever be realised unless we develop more community-based approaches. Thus, I hope this community briefing serves as a starting point to think about how we can marshal inside-out thinking for reimagining who Bucha is for and under what conditions.

Slava Ukraini!

REFERENCES

Andreikovets, K. (2023): At least 458 Ukrainians died in the Bucha community as a result of the actions of the Russians, War crimes in Bucha - 458 dead were found. Available at: https://babel.ua/en/news/82626-at-least458-ukrainians-died-in-the-bucha-community-as-a-result-of-the-actions-of-the-russians (Accessed: 26 October 2023).

Bullough, O. (2015) Welcome to Ukraine, the most corrupt nation in Europe, The Guardian. Available at: https://www.theguardian.com/news/2015/feb/04/welcome-to-the-most-corrupt-nation-in-europe-ukraine (Accessed: 26 October 2023).

Cohen, P. (2023) The World Bank estimated the cost of rebuilding Ukraine at $411 billion. support is growing to use Russian funds for it., The New York Times. Available at: https://www.nytimes.com/2023/03/27/world/ europe/the-world-bank-estimated-the-cost-of-rebuilding-ukraine-at-411-billion-support-is-growing-to-userussian-funds-for-it.html (Accessed: 26 October 2023).

Cohen, P. and Alderman, L. (2023) ‘the World’s largest construction site’: The Race is on to rebuild Ukraine, The New York Times. Available at: https://www.nytimes.com/2023/02/16/business/economy/ukraine-rebuilding.html (Accessed: 26 October 2023).

Dream for communities (2023) DREAM. Available at: https://dream.gov.ua/benefits (Accessed: 26 October 2023).

Harvey, D. (2012) Rebel cities: From the right to the city to the Urban Revolution. London: Verso.

ILO (2023) Social Dialogue (governance) - international labour organization. Available at: https://www.ilo.org/ ifpdial/areas-of-work/social-dialogue/lang--en/index. htm)%20%20a (Accessed: 26 October 2023).

Klinenberg, E. (2019) Palaces for the people: How social infrastructure can help fight inequality, polarization, and the decline of civic life. New York: Broadway Books.

Kulish, H. (2023): The total amount of damage caused to Bucha City in the Kyiv region due to the war is estimated at $191,3 MLN, Kyiv School of Economics. Available at: https://kse.ua/about-the-school/news/thetotal-amount-of-damage-caused-to-bucha-city-in-thekyiv-region-due-to-the-war-is-estimated-at-191-3-mln/ (Accessed: 26 October 2023).

Lebedeva, L.G. and Orlova, L.V. (2019) ‘The city as a social space of interaction between generations’, IOP Conference Series: Materials Science and Engineering, 603(4), p. 042062. doi:10.1088/1757-899x/603/4/042062.

New European Bauhaus: Launch of capacity-building programme to start Ukraine’s reconstruction (2023) EEAS. Available at: https://www.eeas.europa.eu/dele-

gations/ukraine/new-european-bauhaus-launch-capacity-building-programme-start-ukraines_en?s=232 (Accessed: 26 October 2023).

Population of bucha (2023): Bucha population - statistics (2023) Population HUB. Available at: https://population-hub.com/en/ua/population-of-bucha-6250.html (Accessed: 26 October 2023).

Rauws, W., Cozzolino, S. and Moroni, S. (2020) ‘Framework rules for self-organizing cities: Introduction’, Environment and Planning B: Urban Analytics and City Science, 47(2), pp. 195–202. doi:10.1177/2399808320905377.

Roy, A. (2016) ‘What is urban about critical urban theory?’, Urban Geography, 37(6), pp. 810–823. doi:10.1080/ 02723638.2015.1105485.

Saleem Khan, A. et al. (2020) ‘Chennai city and coastal hazards: Addressing community-based adaptation through the lens of climate change and sea-level rise (CBACCS)’, Climate Change Management, pp. 777–798. doi:10.1007/978-3-030-37425-9_39.

Semeraro, T. et al. (2020) ‘A bottom-up and top-down participatory approach to planning and designing local urban development: Evidence from an Urban University Center’, Land, 9(4), p. 98. doi:10.3390/land9040098.

Sukhomud, G. et al. (2023) The pain of ruins: On urban trauma and collective healing, Reconstruction - Galyna Sukhomud. Available at: https://www.e-flux.com/ architecture/reconstruction/557652/the-pain-of-ruinson-urban-trauma-and-collective-healing/ (Accessed: 26 October 2023).

Images + Videos:

Bucha vector map. (2023) Vector & Photo (Free Trial) | Bigstock. Available at: https://www.bigstockphoto. com/image-452256513/stock-vektorgrafik-bucha-vector-map-detailed-map-of-bucha-city-administrative-area-cityscape-panorama-royalty-free-v (Accessed: 26 October 2023).

KnowInsiders (2023) Where is Bucha: History, travel, people, before & after the War, KnowInsiders. Available at: https://knowinsiders.com/where-is-buchahistory-travel-people-before-after-the-war-34478.html (Accessed: 26 October 2023).

Youtube.com (2023) Rebuilding Bucha after a massacre - War in Ukraine a year on | Life on the frontline YouTube. 25 February. Available at: https://www.youtube. com/watch?v=n7qRmtVxAa4 (Accessed: 26 October 2023).

The Abandoned Building Crisis in Loíza, Puerto Rico: A Community

Briefing

Erica Ostlander

The history of Puerto Rico as a U.S territory is steeped in the violence of colonisation, resulting in a political landscape dependent on the desires of foreign stakeholders (Grosfoguel, 2003). This has led to a severe decline in the standard of living for Puerto Ricans residents, where their economy and welfare are risked for the economic gains of the US mainland (Backiel, 2015). For instance, the influx of abandoned buildings in Puerto Rico is one of the many consequences of this lasting colonial framework, as marginalised communities are not receiving the necessary aid to rehabilitate themselves (Hinojosa and Meléndez, 2018). This community briefing will explore how the abandoned building crisis manifests specifically in the municipality of Loíza and give recommendations to residents on what they should advocate for to rebuild their community, rather than succumbing to the slow degradation of their municipality. Prior to discussing my recommendations for this issue, this community briefly will first give context to the issue by discussing the colonial history of Puerto Rico on a macro scale, then focus on the community of Loíza and the multiple facets of this presented challenge.

COLONIALISM IN PUERTO RICO

Puerto Rico is an island understood as an unincorporated territory of the United States, a status often exploited by an ongoing colonial agenda. Puerto Ricans are US citizens yet lack the political representation in the US government constitutional to those in the US mainland, where decisions by congress are made without official votes from Puerto Rican elected representatives (Derieux, 2010). This has led to severe limitations on resources like federal tax provisions and welfare programs, thus ostracising Puerto Rico and their sociopolitical struggles (Derieux, 2010, pg. 800).

The colonial legacy in Puerto Rico begins during its acquisition by Spain when the Taíno natives were enslaved and massacred in the early 1500s, followed by America’s seizing of the land after the SpanishAmerican war (Malavet, 2000). This history of exploitation demands for current sociopolitical issues like inadequate housing to be examined on an extended temporal scale, allowing for a recognition of these issues relative to colonialism and a weaponised dependence on the United States.

Pharmaceuticals and manufacturing industries were the leading drivers of growth in Puerto Rico in the mid-twentieth century (Corser, 2022). These US Companies were attracted to the island’s generous tax incentives to foreign investors, such as section 936 of the Income Tax Act of 2007, which creates exemptions from corporate income tax on profits generated in Puerto Rico (Feliciano, 2018). Unfortunately, this prompted a lack of investment in local businesses and self-realised infrastructure, allowing for the large US corporations to gain market dominance (Corser, 2022). When the tax breaks and incentives were suddenly withheld by the US government in 1996, it led to sudden deindustrialisation as the industries moved out of Puerto Rico, inducing severe urban decay (Corser, 2022). This was made drastically worse by the tragedy of Hurricane Maria in 2017, beyond the tragic death of thousands of residents, crucial infrastructure used to deliver goods and services was devastated, forcing a waiting game on when or if supplies would be delivered from the US mainland (Meléndez and Venator-Santiago, 2018). Without US corporations and support, Puerto Rico was forced to deepen their debt at the cost of their own community and take austerity measures in infrastructure, housing, and other key facets of growth (Newkirk, 2018).

Larger powers like the US mainland are continuing to fail in giving space to marginalised voices with the purpose of knowingly pursuing their own gain. This catered support for non-residents and rapid urban decay is leading to mass outmigration, significantly contributing to the current abandoned building crisis (Hinojosa, 2018).

POSITIONALITY

In regard to my present claim of prioritising the voices of Puerto Ricans, I feel it is crucial to address my own positionality within the issue, noting my own strengths and

weaknesses for writing this report. My family are current residents of San Juan, Puerto Rico, where half of my lineage can be traced back to. However, most of my life has been spent in the US mainland, and I have limited experience with the consequences of neocolonialism and the racialised infrastructure I will be discussing in this briefing. However, I have spent time acting as a volunteer marketing coordinator for the non-profit Casa Taft 169, a non-profit working towards the sustainable transformation of abandoned buildings, bringing my attention to often-obscured issues like anti-Blackness in infrastructure (Moscoso, 2023). My work here has allowed me to develop a more acute understanding of the obstacles one must face in pursuing the sustainable and equitable transformation of a community in Puerto Rico.

Additionally, I recognise how I myself have benefited from the colonial land relations as a person who has moved from the mainland to the island, but in this report, I hope to shed light on these persisting colonial structures, rather than participate in their concealment.

THE COMMUNITY

As previously stated, this report will focus on Loíza, a community described as an Afro-Caribbean enclave on the northeastern coast of the island. After hurricane Maria, the area was decimated and the recovery was slow, as represented by the federally distributed blue tarps meant to cover damaged roofs for 30 days remaining for many years after the tragedy (Garcia, 2019). Loíza has a high concentration of abandoned buildings, slowly deteriorating due to a lack of safeguards for environmental hazards and policies to rebuild the area (Pérez, 2002). However, this vulnerable position did not begin with the events of hurricane Maria, instead it can be traced back to the area’s history as a settlement for people who have escaped enslavement.

In the nineteenth century, Loíza became a haven for people freed from or having escaped enslavement, as the abundant mangrove systems helped conceal this area from intruders (Declet-Barreto, 2022). The natural seclusion of this area in Puerto Rico helped foster this unique cultural enclave, where many African traditions manifested through music, food, dance, and other localised activities. However, Loíza became a community that was treated through a veil of ‘otherness,’ where there is a severe lack of investment in its socio-economic development due to the community being physically separated from other municipalities (Hiraldo, 2006). Until recently, there was only one road connecting Loíza to other parts of the archipelago, and this spatial distancing has inhibited the understanding of African culture in Puerto Rican heritage as one with the constructed national identity (Hiraldo, 2006, pg. 67). The racism and social exclusion embedded in Loíza’s infrastructure led to a slow rate of industrialisation which can be witnessed through the lack of hospitals and other crucial forms of infrastructure in Loíza (García and Hernandez, 2023).

The recognition of structural racism in Puerto Rico is crucial when examining the abandoned building crisis in Loíza. These structures manifest on both the local and federal level, as on a local scale, afro descendant communities like Loíza are, as previously stated, subjected to a slow rate of industrialisation and other unjust concentrations of austerity measures. However, this manifestation of racialised infrastructure demonstrates how antiblackness is not a byproduct of capitalist and colonialist societies, but rather a prerequisite (Bledsoe and Wright, 2019). This racialised hierarchy in Puerto Rico is what allows certain areas to prosper at the expense of others through the “systematic negation of black spatial agency” (Bledsoe and Wright, 2019, pg. 26). This spatial marginalisation

can additionally cause federal agencies to fail in providing monetary aid on an equitable level, compounding the vulnerabilities of such Afro-Caribbean communities.

As an example, the amount of aid distributed by organisations like the Federal Emergency Management Agency, FEMA, have been cited as unreflective of the community’s damage, as many Afro-Caribbean communities received far less funds than what was needed (Lloréns, 2021). The lack of necessary aid for Loíza after the hurricane is correlated to the influx of abandoned buildings as many households and schools were forced to be evacuated due to their hazardous conditions (Gomez, 2020). Additionally, this concentration of abandoned buildings has invited higher crime rates, as these abandoned sites became a popular site for drug exchanges and other illicit activities, due to the lack of supervision in these locations. (Jacobs et al., 2018). This contributed to the conceptualisation of Loíza as an abandoned site, creating determents for investments in the community.

THE CHALLENGE

In this section I will address how various sociopolitical factors like gentrification, property rights, and vulnerable infrastructure are impacting the abandoned building crisis in Loíza. By examining these external factors, I can take a systems approach in my recommendations and focus on sustaining the overall welfare of Loíza’s community while addressing the wickedness of the issue.

Tax incentives in Puerto Rico are meant to encourage foreign investors to buy local property to ultimately circulate more funds in the regional economy. However, this influx of affluent investors has allowed prices to rise in the housing market, making it unsustainable for the locals to afford the cost of living in Puerto Rico’s rapidly changing economic landscape (Arrojado, 2022). This can create further obstacles for low-income residents

to secure housing in urban areas, as these gentrified spaces can exclude marginalised groups like Afro-Carribean communities. Consequently, these marginalised residents are then pushed to areas in which lack federal investment like Loíza (Machicote, 2016, pg. 28). This then exasperates a feedback loop of people leaving the island because of the inaccessibility to resources and the lack of outlets to work towards rebuilding the community according to local needs. Thus, homes are continuing to become vacant, and Puerto Ricans continue to be displaced.

FEMA formally recognises Loíza as a flood zone, where residents have increased exposure to coastal erosion and other natural hazards (García and Hernandez, 2023). Furthermore, the primary form of housing in Loíza are informal settlements outside of government regulation, leading to inappropriate land use and worsening conditions for flooding (García and Hernandez, 2023). This leads to coastal dunes and mangroves in Loíza being damaged from unprofessional constructions and the foot-traffic from unregulated beach access, inhibiting the natural environmental service of flood regulation (García and Hernandez, 2023). Homes which do not adhere to regulatory building codes often lead to issues like overcrowding or inadequate water sanitation, thus risking the health and safety of residents (Malik, et al., 2020). This serves as a crucial reminder that to ensure the welfare of Loíza residents, abandoned buildings must be rehabilitated according to governmental regulations and be officially incorporated in governmental databases.

The reason for this disproportionate amount of informal housing can again be traced back to when Puerto Rico was under Spanish colonial rule. As stated, Loíza became an area concentrated with people who escaped enslavement due to a colonial decree (Garcia, 2019). Many families currently living in Loíza gained their property rights via this

decree, and this land was then passed down generationally (Garcia, 2019). This type of property ownership differs from the wider Puerto Rican community, causing many residents of Loíza to not have formal titles to their land (Garcia, 2019). Additionally, without this proof of ownership many residents were unable to receive benefits like federal aid after Hurricane Maria as they were excluded from the provision of public services (Garcia, 2019). These lasting colonial structures make residents vulnerable and create unnecessary divisions between Loíza and the government.

RECOMMENDATIONS

From the context previously given, this abandoned building crisis requires collaboration between the public and third sector. With this approach, grassroots organisations and non-profits can cooperate with government agencies to ensure that rehabilitation programs are regulated to protect the health and welfare of Loíza residents. However, this briefing will maintain the prioritisation of a bottom-up approach to the crisis where the needs of the residents are regarded as paramount. The recommendations included in this community briefing will focus on creating a system for participatory urban design while enforcing regulations opposing the ongoing colonial agenda.

CIVIC CENTRE FOR RECEIVING INPUT FROM LOÍZA RESIDENTS

The first step in creating a system for participatory urban design is setting up formalised outlets for Loíza residents to voice their concerns and desires for their community. Through outlets like civic centres, it will be easier to decide how abandoned buildings should be transformed to best suit the needs of the community. The ability and right to transform abandoned

buildings has already been secured by the non-profit Casa Taft 169, as their lobbying efforts resulted in the creation of Act 157, amending Puerto Rico’s 1930 Civil Code (Bernal, 2022). Through this act, nuisance properties can be assigned by the municipal government to be sold or rented to nonprofit organisations, rather than having no formalised pathway to rehabilitate nuisance buildings. Casa Taft 169 has already used this opportunity to create civic centres out of abandoned buildings, where the community can gather to give their input into how they can redevelop their neighbourhood using sustainable infrastructure (Moscoso, 2017). This initiative has already proven successful in Machuchal, Puerto Rico, where Casa Taft 169 established the first self-run civic centre in Puerto Rico through the transformation of an abandoned building (Moscoso, 2017). This became a catalyst for the city’s sustainable transformation through enthusiastic and sustained civic engagement. By having a space like this in Loíza, most likely from one of the abandoned buildings already present, there will be a greater capacity for residents to speak to each other about the issues they are facing and to consider if the proposed changes risks further displacement for the community. These concerns can then be transcribed and used as qualitative data to be used as a crucial point of reference for the government and involved non-profits.

“Casa Taft 169 aims to set a different standard by demonstrating that public nuisance houses are not exclusively disposable, but instead offering great opportunities for the sustainable reimagining and redesigning of spaces” (Bernal, 2022, pg.1) To redesign spaces, Casa Taft 169 has formed a partnership with La Maraña, an organisation dedicated to participatory urban design in Puerto Rico, and as stated on their website, “to facilitate the insertion of communities in the decision-making, design and creation processes of the spaces they inhabit” (La

Maraña , 2023). This is done by using the qualitative data gathered from residents, as can be achieved through the implementation of civic centres, and transforming it into construction documents. Through this initiative, the imagination of residents can be realised while being grounded in current housing laws and regulations. Moreover, it is my recommendation and hope that La Maraña collaborates with local artists and professionals in the facilitation of these constructions, as it will encourage longterm and creative engagement with the community’s redevelopment.

Through this partnership with Casa Taft 169 and La Maraña, there will also be an opportunity to address the community’s vulnerabilities to coastal erosion and flooding. Casa Taft 169 has previously hosted workshops to educate on sustainable home repair, and this was done by getting the community involved in the physical reconstruction of the deteriorating sites. While Casa Taft 169 was being rebuilt into a civic centre the neighbourhood was invited to learn how the renewable energy systems were installed, ways to use recycled building materials, the installation process of the water harvesting systems, and much more (Moscoso, 2023). Through this initiative, abandoned buildings can also become a place for education, allowing the community of Loíza to learn how to create stronger infrastructure as a vulnerable flood zone.

OFFICIAL INVENTORY FOR ABANDONED BUILDINGS

Currently, the Puerto Rican government relies on citizens to identify, and report abandoned buildings, as the public nuisance procedures in place are ineffective due to the excessive administration and high costs associated with it (García and Gallardo, 2021). Yet, self-reporting remains a long and overly bureaucratic process, often leading to

people abandoning this pursuit according to anonymous Puerto Rican lawyers (García and Gallardo, 2021, pg. 69). This bureaucratic red tape is also associated with the slow provision of aid after hurricane Maria, especially in Loíza where many do not have formal titles to their land. This creates an inaccurate picture of the issue’s scale and allows for the further deterioration of buildings which can go beyond the reasonable capacity for repair. For instance, the “Inventory of Properties Declared as Public Nuisances” created in 2016 to address the inaction from the government in the abandoned property crisis, only reported 106 properties out of what is believed to be more than 40,000 (García and Gallardo, 2021, pg.64). It can be assumed that the government’s inefficiency in addressing this problem is made worse in Loíza, due to the isolated and informal nature of the housing in the municipality. The lack of awareness and recognition of the issue’s scale and the unique barrier in gaining titles to properties in Loíza exasperates the crisis, thus demanding full cooperation from the government in creating an efficient plan of action. To break this punitive cycle of Loíza being subjected to the slow provision of aid, a partnership between the Puerto Rican government and relevant NGOs could help streamline the process to create a reliable inventory of vacant properties.

Due to this prioritisation of efficiency and speed in creating this updated property inventory, I am recommending partnerships with NGOs who have access to advanced mapping technologies. As a point of reference, the city of Baltimore in Maryland addressed their vacant building crisis through their Vacants to Value program, which used GIS technology to compile market data on housing demands with a vacant housing inventory updated monthly using various mapping resources (Kvit et al., 2022). This created a visual which private developers could refer to, thus driving up incentives for involved stakeholders to take action in

allocating abandoned properties (Kvit et al., 2022). Regarding Loíza, I recommend that the community contact NGOs with access to GIS technology, such as Direct Relief, a humanitarian aid organisation who provides help using their extensive mapping technologies and request a governmental collaboration with them (Hensmans et al., 2023). Additionally, Direct Relief already has a relationship with Puerto Rico through the aid they provided after many natural disaster crises, allowing for a greater capacity to build this relationship further (Hensmans et al., 2023).

COMMUNITY DRIVEN HOME REPAIR

The afterlife of colonialism has left Loíza in a continuous state of disrepair, and to resolve this proliferation of abandonment there needs to be an intensive repair program. As already stated, Loíza is made up of informal housing in environmentally hazardous areas and this has led to homes to be extensively damaged to the point where they are inhospitable for people to continue to live in. There is already a Hazard Mitigation Planning Process being put in place in Loíza, however this initiative maintains a focus on implementing preventative infrastructure rather than rebuilding what is already damaged (PR.gov, 2021).

I recommend the implementation of funding programs which support the home repair costs of residents, rather than depending on external bodies to repair the issue. This will build up the autonomy of the Loíza community in creating unique and sustainable infrastructure as seen in the Casa Taft 169 initiative. In addition, I want to emphasise a focus on creating programs specifically for Loíza’s senior population. There is a housing disparity for senior citizens in Puerto Rico, as many are struggling to afford Puerto Rico’s rapidly changing economy in their retirement (García and Rúa, 2018). Homes owned by the elderly can also be a significant

cause of the proliferation of vacant housing, as once the owner of the property has passed, it can be difficult to find relatives to pursue the rehabilitation of the building. My recommended senior home repair program will be founded on building relationships with Loíza’s elderly population, where participants can help rebuild their homes sustainably and the elderly can communicate their concerns about land inheritance.

Community participation programs as I am suggesting are said to be effective in building the strength of a community through the relationships it builds within a neighbourhood. This can create more channels for communication when addressing the abandoned building crisis and act as a preventative measure for unaccounted-for vacant buildings (Osterkamp, et al., 1995). However, there are studies which doubt the effectiveness of community participation programmes, as communities are often not homogenous and want to address the issue in contrasting ways (Rifkin, 1986). Yet, I believe by opening these avenues for people to share skills and resources, there will be a growing social consciousness in favour of helping vulnerable populations in Loíza.

CONCLUSION

This community briefing of Loíza has outlined how the colonial history of Puerto Rico has led to the ostracization of the Loíza community, leading to the spread of crumbling infrastructure and abandoned buildings. Through a discussion of Loíza as a community and its history, the abandoned building crisis could be understood as a wicked issue connected to other systems of oppression. In closing, my recommendation in addressing this issue requests for Loíza residents to advocate for a formal assessment of the crisis’s scale and to collaborate with various participatory non-profits to rebuild their community according to their own visions.

REFERENCES

Arrojado, J. (2022) Minding the Gap: Applying a Rent Gap Analysis for Short-Term Rentals in Puerto Rico.

Backiel, L. (2015) Puerto Rico: The crisis is about colonialism, not debt. Monthly Review, 67(5), pp.11-18.

Bledsoe, A., & Wright, W.J. (2019) The anti-Blackness of global capital. Environment and Planning D: Society and Space, 37(1), pp.8-26.

Corser, M. (2022) Hedgepaper 76: Pharma’s failed promise: How big pharma hurts workers, dodges taxes, and extracts billions in Puerto Rico, Hedge Clippers. Available at: https://hedgeclippers.org/hedgepaper-67-pharmasfailed-promise-how-big-pharma-hurts-workers-dodges-taxes-and-extracts-billions-in-puerto-rico/#post4930-footnote-89 (Accessed: 26 October 2023).

Cui, L., & Walsh, R. (2015) Foreclosure, vacancy and crime. Journal of Urban Economics, 87, pp.72-84.

Declet-Barreto, J. (2022) Building resilience in afro-puerto Rican community based on feminist practices, The Equation. Available at: https://blog.ucsusa.org/juan-declet-barreto/building-resilience-in-afro-puerto-rican-community-based-on-feminist-practices/ (Accessed: 26 October 2023).

Derieux, A.I.C. (2010) A most insular minority: Reconsidering judicial deference to unequal treatment in light of Puerto Rico’s political process failure. Columbia Law Review, pp.797-839.

Flood Map: Elevation Map, Sea Level Rise Map. Available at: https://www.floodmap.net/ (Accessed: 27 October 2023).

Feliciano, Z.M. (2018) IRS Section 936 and the Decline of Puerto Rico’s Manufacturing. Centro Journal, 30(3).

Garcia, I. (2019) The lack of proof of ownership in Puerto Rico is crippling repairs in the aftermath of Hurricane Maria. Human Rights, 44(2), pp.20-23.

García, I. and Gallardo, L. (2021) Tackling vacancy and abandonment - community progress. Available at: https://communityprogress.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/2021-09-Tackling-Vacancy-and-Abandonment-Book-Publication.pdf (Accessed: 27 October 2023).

Garcia, I., & Hernandez, N. (2023) “They’re just trying to survive”: The relationship between social vulnerability, informal housing, and environmental risks in Loíza, Puerto Rico, USA. World Development Sustainability, 2, p.100062.

Gomez, D. (2020) Long-Range Economic Development and Resilience Planning at Loíza, Puerto Rico. MUP Capstone.

Grosfoguel, R. (2003) Colonial subjects: Puerto Ricans in a global perspective. Univ of California Press.

Hensmans, M., Ballesteros-Sola, M., & Axelrod, D. (2023) Direct relief: a tradition of public service efficiency in global humanitarianism. The CASE Journal, 19(3), pp.348-380.

Hinojosa, J., & Meléndez, E. (2018) The housing crisis in Puerto Rico and the impact of Hurricane Maria. Hunter College, NY: Centro de Estudios Puertorriqueños.

Hinojosa, J. (2018) Two Sides of the Coin of Puerto Rican Migration: Depopulation in Puerto Rico and the Redefinition of the Diaspora. Centro Journal, 30(3).

La Maraña. (2023) Available at: https://hedgeclippers. org/hedgepaper-67-pharmas-failed-promise-how-bigpharma-hurts-workers-dodges-taxes-and-extracts-billions-in-puerto-rico/#post-4930-footnote-89 (Accessed: 27 October 2023).

Kvit, A., Corrigan, A.E., Locke, D.H., Curriero, F.C., & Mmari, K. (2022) Can restoring vacant lots help reduce crime? An examination of a program in Baltimore, MD. Urban Forestry & Urban Greening, 74, p.127630.

Lloréns, H. (2021) Toxic Racism in Puerto Rico’s Sacrifice Zone: In Jobos Bay, Afro-Puerto Rican communities living in the shadow of two polluting power plants fight for the right to a safe environment. NACLA Report on the Americas, 53(3), pp.275-280.

Malik, S., Roosli, R., & Tariq, F. (2020) Investigation of informal housing challenges and issues: experiences from slum and squatter of Lahore. Journal of Housing and the Built Environment, 35, pp.143-170.

Meléndez, E., & Venator-Santiago, C.R. (2018) Puerto Rico Post-Hurricane Maria: Origins and Consequences of a Crisis. Centro Journal, 30(3), pp.2-10.

Moscoso, por M., & Moscoso, M. (2023) CASA TAFT 169. Available at:https://casataft169.com/2016/10/ (Accessed: 26 October 2023).

Natural hazard mitigation plan - PR (2021) Junta de Planificación. Available at: https://jp.pr.gov/wp-content/uploads/2022/04/Loiz-HMP-ExeSummary.pdf (Accessed: 27 October 2023).

Newkirk, V. (2018) Puerto Rico Enters a New Age of Austerity. The Atlantic. Available at: https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2018/05/puerto-rico-entersa-new-age-of-austerity/559565/

Osterkamp, L.B., & Chapin, R.K. (1995) Community-based volunteer home-repair and home-maintenance programs for elders: An effective service paradigm?. Journal of Gerontological Social Work, 24(1-2), pp.55-76.

Pérez, M.A. (2002) The place of abandonment: Geography, race, and nature in Puerto Rico. University of California, Berkeley.

Hiraldo, S.H. (2006) “If God Were Black and from Loíza” Managing Identities in a Puerto Rican Seaside Town. Latin American Perspectives, 33(1), pp.66-82.

The Queen City’s Castle is Crumbling: Discussion on AutoMotive Dependency;

Insufficient Transportation Infrastructure;

and an Unwalkable, Unbikeable Charlotte, North Carolina

Henry Smith

INTRODUCTION

Charlotte, North Carolina, nicknamed the queen city, has too many cars. In the last 10 years, I watched my neighborhood within the suburbs of Charlotte evolve from a patchwork of country roads into a sprawling expanse of four-laned highways with shopping centers at nearly every comer. These new developments lacked a concerted effort to improve public transportation. Even today, areas like my neighborhood still lack suitable bus routes and stops, demonstrating the need for private vehicles within this automotive-dependent society. Although the development of my own neighborhood is fairly recent, Charlotte has lacked adequate public transportation, walking paths, and bike lanes since the city began to expand outwards during the first stages of economic prosperity in the l 970’s.

Given the intricate nature of Charlotte’s present circumstances and the diverse array of issues confronting the city, a portion of this briefing will be devoted to equipping the

reader with the essential historical context required to comprehend its challenges. Further, this paper shall expose potential remedies to cracked infrastructure by delving into the shattered state in which the roads, sidewalks (pavements), and transportation networks remain. Consequently, the briefing will reveal necessary measures to properly tackle difficulties facing the civilians of Charlotte today. Throughout, discussions will address the significance of adapting the ideologies of the New Urbanism movement to Charlotte’s infrastructure: highlighting the vital function of interconnection and dependable public transit in shaping the future of a sustainable city.

This paper will conclude by extending an inclusive invitation to the communities impacted by Charlotte’s limited access to public transportation, individuals who hold strong convictions regarding sustainability, and organizations committed to sustainable development. The purpose of this invitation is to encourage the formation of a collaborative initiative aimed at addressing the challenges

posed by inadequate infrastructure. This group of self-empowered people will autonomously undertake initiatives, develop a formidable platform to persuade municipal authorities to enact legislative reforms, and in tum, expedite urban restoration procedures.

CHARLOTTE’S HISTORICAL BACKGROUND

The first expansion of Charlotte, North Carolina is attributed to its advantageous geographical position as a hub for commerce, which drove the steady growth of the city throughout the 18th century. This made the city well-suited as a railway hub, and in 1852 the railroad arrived in Charlotte, making it the largest city in North Carolina. The discovery of gold within the area during the 19th century inspired a gold rush and a concurrent increase in population, making Charlotte one of the most significant cities of the American South (Young, 1982). in the 20th century, the city expanded significantly due to its status as a center for textile and banking industries, which in turn attracted a diverse range of workers and professionals. Over the last several decades, Charlotte has experienced significant population growth due to its transformation into a prominent financial and business center.

Now, the population grows exponentially each year. This growth is attributed to the availability of employment opportunities, corporate relocations, and vibrant metropolitan setting, which have all acted as important attractions for individuals moving to the city. However, these economic and demographic developments were not accompanied by organized expansion in transportation infrastructure, a major cause of concern today.

Until 1976, the insufficiently-developed public transport system in Charlotte, North Carolina was greatly influenced by

the controlling interests of several private businesses. From 1891 until 1938, the city was serviced by a privately operated tram service, and private bus services continued to operate until 1976. The private companies which operated these services had the ability to selectively determine the routes they would provide: decisions which still influence Charlotte’s bus routes today.

Furthermore, Charlotte lacked the presence of a city planner or supervisor tasked with considering the integration between the urban center and the suburban neighborhoods, a glaring lack of oversight which directly resulted in the chaotic spread of housing developments around the metropolitan area. This uneven and haphazard expansion forced the city to become dependent on automobiles from its early stages of growth. The lack of a centralized city planner also allowed for a deficiency of coordination in ensuring the connectivity between trains and buses. The resulting piecemeal of transportation infrastructure was fragmented and failed to sufficiently cater to the needs of the people.

Based on data provided by the Mecklenburg County Planning Commission, Charlotte experienced a significant increase in population ranking, ascending from 47th to 20th most populous city in the United States from 1980 to 2005 (Furuseth, 1999). The bus routes already in place did not expand as the city did. Therefore, concurrent with this influx of new civilians, the city took over the job of providing public transportation by running their own bus routes. Since 1998, the Charlotte bus system has struggled to keep up with the city’s fast expansion, leading to a continuous effort to catch up.

Additionally, in the year 2006, the municipal authorities initiated the development of a light rail system. Certain aspects of the plan have been successfully executed, while others remain in a perpetual state of delay as a result of financial constraints. However, the light

rail and bus systems failed to successfully equip the citizens of the metropolitan area with effective public transport due to corruption within uptown Charlotte.

In 2022, Charlotte remains the most populous city within North Carolina, currently home to 897,720 citizens within the city limits and 2,756,069 living in the “Metrolina” region - the area surrounding the city (United States Census Bureau, 2022). Despite the 1,858,349 citizens alone in the Metrolina region, multiple Fortune 500 companies headquartered downtown, and countless other national connections, the city is still often dismissed as “one big suburb” due to its insufficient cultural offerings, autodependent layout, and its constant rise in ‘transplant residents’ (Co le, 20 18). This “one big suburb” has also been consistently ranked as one of the top 10 most unwalkable cities for decades (Baccellieri, 20 14). 95.1 % of city residents own at least one vehicle, a staggering figure which demonstrates the widespread automotive dependency plaguing the area (Automoblog and Charlotte Magazine, 2022).

Additionally, the roads built during the city’s mass expansion were constructed without any consideration for modes of transportation other than automobiles- like bicycles or pedestrians. This has left the city with little to no sidewalks, as seen by a land survey taken in where 34% of sidewalks are missing along sidestreets and 54% along main roads (Pearson, 2022). This pattern continued during the city ‘s establishment of their greenway system. Greenways, as defined by the President’s Commission on Americans Outdoors in the USA, “provide people with access to open spaces close to where they live, and ... link together the rural and urban spaces in the American landscape threading through cities and countrysides like a giant circulation system” (Ahern, 2003). However, as it stands, the greenway system in place is patchy and disconnected.

NEW URBANISM

As Owen J. Furuseth, an expert in metropolitan studies, argues 3 points· “A return to a grid circulation system, or at least the provision of more direct connections between any two points within the community. A return to communities that are more “friendly” to pedestrians and bicyclists, and less dominated by the appetite of the car for space and speed. An increase in the viability of transit as an alternative to the private automobile” (Furuseth, 1999).

The issue of automotive dependency has been the topic of academic research since the l950’s, when local and regional urban designers began promoting reliable public transit as an integral component of sustainable transportation networks (Delmelle, Yan and Duncan, 2012). In the 1980s, a group of architects, urban planners, and developers- notably Andres Duany and Elizabeth Plater-Zyberk- were responsible for popularizing and coining the phrase “New Urbanism.” Later initiatives like the Congress for the new Urbanism (C U)established in 1993- further encouraged the movement towards more sustainable cities. This all-encompassing method of promoting urban growth acknowledges the fundan1ental relationships that exist between humans and their environment. As an alternative to traditional post-World War II suburban growth, new Urbanism is an innovative strategy for land planning that promotes the resuscitation of traditional and local urban form (Furuseth, 1999).

Research has shown that compact cities have been found to contribute to decreased energy use and pollutants within transportation, observed to facilitate the preservation of agriculture and biodiversity, as well as reduce infrastructure costs and enhance labor productivity (Bibri, Krngstie and Karrholm, 2020). Density also prompts the stimulation of cultural, social, and political dynamics

facilitated by the presence of closeness and interconnectedness of different areas within a city (Bibri, Krogstie and Karrholm, 2020).

These cities will, like many pre-World War II urban environments, remain strongly aligned with sustainability objectives, creating communities that possess economic vitality, social cohesion, and environmental stewardship. The prioritization of ‘smart growth‘ and public transportation not only improves the overall well-being of inhabitants, but also plays a significant role in the worldwide endeavor to address climate change and foster a more sustainable trajectory for the future .

HOW DOES CHARLOTTE MEASURE UP?

The city of Charlotte is far away from achieving a new Urbanist landscape, as exhibited by the city’s heavy automotive dependency, fragmented bus and light rail networks, and limited walkability. The existing bus routes exhibit a concentration of stops in affluent regions. The private bus services of early-stage Charlotte established these routes during times of discrimination, prompting the transport to exist mainly within white neighborhoods. Since the infrastructure has changed minimally, individuals residing in regions characterized by significant levels of poverty must travel a distance of over two miles in some cases to access transportation (Atiemo, 202 1). This highlights the pressing necessity for the implementation of more inclusive, equitable, and comprehensive public transportation planning and investment.

Denver, Colorado, referred to as Charlotte ‘s sister city with similar city and metro population numbers, reports 140 local and regional bus routes, nine light rail lines, and three commuter rail lines (Liu, Bardaka and Paschalidis, 2022). While Denver has 9,000 bus stops, Charlotte only has 2945, alongside 67 bus routes and two light rail lines.

To add more heat to this fire, Charlotte refuses to respond to concerns as they have acknowledged a ridership crash suggesting rising companies such as Uber, people working from home and the inability to access stops have decreased ridership (Harrison, 2022). WFAE noticed a 75% decrease in the use of public transportation in under a decade (Sustain Charlotte, 2022). This drop in usage prompted Charlotte’s disinterest in transportation infrastructure and holding the Charlotte Area Transit System (CATS) accountable.

Charlotte also falls short in implementing the new Urbanist mentality of walkable and well connected cities as exhibited through the city’s current sidewalk and biking structures. Scott Curry, Charlotte’s active transportation manager, said looking back at Charlotte’s post-World War II development period is critical to understanding why the sidewalks ‘disappear’ all over the city. He says, “there was a huge segment of the city that was built under a policy framework that was all about spreading people out and moving as many cars as quickly as we could” (Donnelly and de la Canal, 2021 ). During that time period, a developer had the option to install sidewalks, but it was not enforced. Since there was a greater emphasis on automobiles than pedestrians, many streets in Charlotte were installed pavement-less.

Today, the city is building about ten to twelve miles of new sidewalk every year, while new developments fi II in gaps (City of Charlotte, 2023). However, the city is still more than 1,800 miles short, therefore, at the current rate, it could take Charlotte around 150 years to achieve an interconnected sidewalk system (Donnelly and de la Canal, 202 I).

Concern amongst civilians grew as the city noticed increasing pedestrian injuries and fatalities due to not only disappearing sidewalks, but damaged and overgrown pavements. These injuries included, from

2018-2022, 120 pedestrians and bicyclists hit and killed, 85 seriously injured and 1,900 hit experiencing minor or no injuries (Contino and Off, 2023) . Lack of adequate bike lanes results in less than .5% of commuters riding their bicycles to work in Charlotte (Caldwell and Boyer, 20 I 8). This has placed Charlotte with a biking score of27 out of I 00 ranked by the People for Bikes Foundation (PeopleForBikes, 2023).

COMMUNITY-LED SOLUTIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS

Anaya Roy, an international relations and global urbanism scholar, made three points regarding urban development - in her first two stating the need for the connection of rural and urban domains. In her third point, she acknowledges the urban and rural environments to be governmentally controlled. However, despite this general governance, she said the determination of a city, village, or town’s character in everyday life is mostly influenced by communities residing therein, regardless of the government’s presence (Roy, 2005) . She explains further the dramatic impact a community can have on its environment.

Thus, it is my recommendation to empower the victims of Charlotte, North Carolina’s weak infrastructure to band together, fom1ing a collaborative group to speed up the process of fixing the city’s transportation, pedestrian, and biking infrastructures. From this group of people, a few should be selected to serve on a board, representing the group as a whole to preserve the effort’s longevity. This committee will be able to effectively choose what necessary steps should be carried out by hosting public forums to the larger group and other civilians.

To begin, I have pieced together suggestions to aid the group’s initial efforts. These suggestions involve plans to acquire funding, field work, and concerns to be voiced to the

city. To begin, let us first address the bus and light rail routes. As a community, there is not much that can be done single handedly as the people holding governmental positions are omnipotent in deciding route quality and quantity of stops. However, the Charlotte Area Transit System will increase routes and stops in areas where ridership is more necessary. This reveals a commitment that should be taken on by this task force: riding public transport in areas of poverty. Meaning, if people within this collaborative made it a point to ride public transport where more stops are needed, the city would see a higher demand and add more stops and routes. This would in turn promote a transit-friendly city and increase Charlotte’s awareness of current issues.

Charlotte utilizes a hub-and-spoke model for their bus routes, meaning, every location is connected through one station in the city’s downtown. This approach has led to disparities in public transportation accessibility, notably for individuals residing in high-poverty areas who have to walk considerable distances in order to access a bus stop. In order to mitigate these constraints and foster a more comprehensive transportation system, it is imperative to adopt a more diversified strategy (Atiemo, 202 1). This puts emphasis on this group to lobby for a new strategy to broaden transit models.

In my eyes, within the already auto-motive dependent city, a faster solution would implement local community shuttles or microtransit services. Microtrans it in Charlotte should exist similarly to a case study in Denver. There, the microtransit vehicles were 12-passenger shuttles served to bring people from rural areas into public transport hubs. These cars, driven by Uber, were hired by the city. The case study noticed the microtransit service served as an alternative to widening their roads and intersections, saving the city money (Villwock-Witte, 20 19). With

Charlotte’s urban sprawl into rural regions, microtransit would provide a safe, reliable, and affordable way to get people connected to the city. Additionally, the model would help reduce traffic congestion and emissions, while making it easier for people with limited mobility to access resources. By effectively managing the trade-off between efficiency and accessibility, the public transport system in Charlotte has the potential to more effectively cater to the different requirements of its whole population.

Further, Charlotte’s pedestrian infrastructure, a quintessential component of new Urbanism, must be addressed by the group. Without the reparation of Charlotte ‘s sidewalks, civilians -especially communities with disabilities- will remain prohibited from accessing transport.

It is first necessary, however, to discuss the necessary funding the collective must acquire to attempt larger, hands-on projects. Bank of America, a banking organization with its headquarters located in Charlotte, initiated the process of gentrification in the city during the early 1970s. This scheme was undertaken with the intention of transforming the city’s perception, attracting individuals able to move, and bolstering the corporation’s standing as an internationally influential financial company (Smith and Graves, 2005). This initial stimulant of prompting uncontrolled development contributed significantly to Charlotte ‘s urban sprawl today. ow, Bank of America gives back to the community to help ensure the city’s sustainable growth.

The group should acquire grants from programs such as Bank of America’s ‘eighborhood Builders.‘ The company aims to foster sustainability by providing companies with resources to achieve more (Bank of America, 2023). Bank of America’s donations totaled $41 million in local grants to community efforts, $ 17 million

to non-profits, and 869,000 hours of service within 4 years (Bank of America, 2023). Other organizations likely to sponsor this group include Ally Bank, AARP Charlotte, Lowes, and national Gypsum, all witnessed donating to sustainable organizations in the city repeatedly.

With acquired funds, the group has the capacity to undertake the repair and upkeep of current pavements. Costing between $5$100 to fix small cracks or holes within one slab, the group is able to complete this process for a small cost and help ensure safety for all citizens (Hanula, 20 19). First, the team should cut out damaged areas, clean out any debris, then fill with patching mix and lastly, apply a bonding agent (Hanula, 201 9). This can be done without a permit or involving the city. It is imperative that these efforts align with the requirements set out by the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 (ADA), as to successfully provide accessibility for those with disabilities.

Additionally, the group should expand pedestrian infrastructure into regions that have been historically neglected. If proven possible, through collaboration with the city, members of the group can advocate for installation of sidewalks where they see best fit; helping Charlotte achieve their 2040 goal to complete their urban development comprehensive plan. Additionally, the group can enhance safety through better lighting, add missing pedestrian crossings, and install traffic-calming measures to make walking and biking safer.

In the future, the group could also spend money on projects that make the area look better, like planting trees and paving with colorful stones, like those featured in one of the most walked areas of Charlotte - South End. Through this, walking and biking will be safer, more engaging, and inclusive. By adding desirable features such as community gardens and artwork installations, civilians

will begin to walk and bike, in turn, increasing demand for Charlotte to fix their infrastructure.

Without money, if the group wants to take action immediately, they could incorporate an “Adopt-a-Sidewalk” program. Within this, it is recommended that members of the group volunteer to engage in the removal of overgrown grass and plants from the pavements, as well as the clearance of any impediments. This will promote easier walking and cleaner apparel.

In relation to biking infrastructure, start by improving the Greenways. Utilize a comprehensive map I created in 2023-in partnership with Sustain Charlotte-where I marked every point of hazard I could find within roughly 50 miles on the greenways. Once the group is equipped with this map, go to these locations, assess what needs to be fixed, and take action. Many bridges need improved ramps before they begin, slippery areas require sand, and hazardous points necessitate signage.

While more financial resources can contribute to addressing various challenges, it is important to acknowledge that a robust community-centered approach holds comparable value. This collective of determined individuals has the capacity to express apprehensions to political authorities: today, the city lacks this grassroots organization. This group, your group, could exert pressure on political leaders to align their actions with the preferences of your neighbors.

The group has the means to organize and host community and organizationally-sponsored activities with the aim of encouraging increased bicycle ownership and promoting their safe usage. The group could advocate for the incorporation of HOV lanes to be used only by rideshares; electric vehicles· microtransit; and buses by simply hosting

a protest. They could provide bus stops with shade and benches by rallying citizens to use public transport. Opportunities are endless when a group commits itself fully to their task. There is power within numbers: make your voices heard. With more people ‘practicing what they preach,’ administrators are more likely to enact change, acting upon situations characterized by greater demand.

CONCLUDING REMARKS

The necessity for modifications to the infrastructure cannot be overstated. The city of Charlotte is currently experiencing a pressing demand for a unified people to mobilize and disrupt the prevailing system’s equilibrium. Currently, the state of affairs allows only for the phenomenon of urban sprawl to be exacerbated. City officials will continue to ignore transportation issues in search of economic prosperity, money will not be spent on connecting the city’s pedestrian and bicycle infrastructure, and more cars will file into the area. As organizations are relocating to Charlotte, an influx of individuals will continue to move to the city, emphasizing the importance of a dramatic shift in current operations. Explained through last year’s statistics: the population percentage increase of Charlotte exceeded that of the entire nation elevating Charlotte’s prominence as a desirable destination for residency. Therefore, before it is too late, it is of utmost importance that new growth is pursued in a sustainable manner from this point forward.

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Automoblog and Charlotte Magazine (2022). Automoblog Lists Charlotte Amoııg 10 Cities With Highest Rates of Car Ownership. [online] Charlotte Magazine. Available at: https://www.charlottemagazine.com/automoblog1ists-charlotte-among-10-cities-with-highest-rat es-ofcar-ownership/#:-:tex-Around%2095.1%25%2C%20according%20to%20a[Accessed31 Oct.2023].

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Taking Control of the Energy Crisis - A community-owned solar panel system in Beirut, Lebanon as a way forward

Seema Machaca

INTRODUCTION

Beirut is home to diverse communities and has a rich and lively culture. The many summers I spent in Beirut as a child, gave me insights into the love the people have for the city, but also the daily struggles of Beirutis since the start of the 15-year civil war in 1975. More recently, Lebanon has been dealing with five crises simultaneously, which are heavily centred around governmental mismanagement (Moore, 2023). Three are Lebanon-specific crises: the influx of Syrian refugees into the country, the meltdown of the banking and economic system; and the aftermath of the August 2020 Beirut port explosion. Two are global crises from which Lebanon is not spared: the aftermath of the COVID pandemic and the continual effects of climate change. On the World Bank (2021) list of countries experiencing the most severe crises since the mid-1900s, Lebanon is in the top three. The lack of effective governance and severe economic crisis have resulted in an almost complete loss of governmentsupplied electricity in Beirut, forcing a

whole alternative industry of privately owned generators and more recently solar panels. These crises combined, specifically, the lack of effective governance and severe economic crisis have resulted in an almost complete loss of electricity in the city. The extent to which communities in Beirut have been affected by the aforementioned crises cannot be encompassed in a single paper, however, my goal in this briefing is to provide a community-led alternative solution which moves away from the involvement of the government, a root cause of the current electricity crisis in Lebanon.

The Community

The Sabra neighbourhood, defined by the UN-Habitat (2019) as a ‘disadvantaged neighbourhood in Beirut’ is a diverse bubble of about 6,215 inhabitants. It is made up of about 50% Lebanese citizens and it also hosts Syrian and Palestinian refugees. Sabra acts as an extension of the Shatila refugee camp found in the neighbouring community (UN Habitat, 2019). The struggles faced by

this community are deeply rooted in its horrifying historical context. In 1982, during the Lebanese civil war, the Shatila refugee camp and the neighbouring community of Sabra were attacked by a Christian militia group (the Phalange), who were aided by the Israeli army which was occupying Lebanon at the time (Al Jazeera, 2022). The Israeli army surrounded the district to allow the Phalange militia to enter and attack civilians for over 2 days. Around 3,500 lives were taken, and this massacre was deemed an “act of genocide” by the UN General Assembly; however, neither party was ever held accountable for the tragedy (Al Jazeera, 2022). To this day, the people of Sabra are still dealing with the effects of this massacre. Currently, most of the Sabra residents are in the low-income bracket and do not have access to adequate living conditions, most importantly a reliable source of energy.

THE CHALLENGE

Environmental justice is heavily discussed in the literature tackling ‘sustainable cities’. According to Pearsall and Pierce (2010), environmental justice is a theoretical concept that focuses on (1) how environmental burdens are divided among groups of people, and (2) the rights of the citizens to take part in the environmental decision-making process. (1) is defined as distributional justice and (2) as procedural justice. Since Sabra’s residents face energy poverty, they are not insulated from the effects of climate change like those with readily accessible electricity. This is a typical example of distributional injustice. Dagher et al., 2023 show that there is a correlation between lower energy poverty and households with higher levels of education. Thus, this community, which is comprised primarily of low-income residents and refugees, have disproportionality less access to energy. Furthermore, only 10% of the residents have fully functional government-supplied

electricity grids (UN-Habitat, 2019). After the 2020 port explosion, the technical problems with the electrical grid increased because its infrastructure was heavily damaged throughout the city (Tarnini et al., 2023). So, with an average household receiving only two hours of electricity a day, private diesel generator (DG) systems have become the new electricity market in Lebanon (Simet et al., 2023). The energy market transition was guided by higher-income households with access to DG systems. This demonstrates procedural injustice as the Sabra community did not have control over this DG energy transition (Simet et al., 2023).

This energy crisis affecting all of Lebanon has roots in Moore’s (2023) ‘five crises’ discussed above. One of the most significant contributors to the energy crisis is the economic let-down that began in 2019, when the Lebanese Lira was hit by record inflation of 8,580%, a jump from 1 USD = LBP 1,515 to 130,000 in 2023 (Tarini et al., 2023). In addition, Lebanon has a low Human Capital Index because citizens have comparatively poor basic public services. This is further compounded by the increasingly apparent climate change crisis, especially in Beirut as it is a coastal low-lying city (Moore, 2023). The term ‘crisis’ acknowledges the different challenges faced by this community; however, Sirri (2021) indicates that this term crisis is typically associated with a shortterm or recent problem. The corruption and mismanagement of the post-war Lebanese government is directly correlated with the collapse of public industries like the energy sector (Simet et al., 2023). Hence, the energy problem is complex and is a result of a long history of political turmoil that has led to deeply rooted social, environmental, and economic, inequalities. Therefore, any solution to the energy crisis in the Sabra neighbourhood must rely on multi-stakeholder involvement that does not involve the Lebanese government.

This favours solutions like the long-term community-led energy strategy suggested below.

Community Response So Far

Most communities in Beirut have relied on DGs, which was a practical solution in the past when the government subsidised diesel. However, this led to smuggling and illegal activities, which then led to diesel shortage, and consequently, the elimination of diesel subsidies (Dagher et al., 2023). DGs heavily contribute to climate change, but more importantly, they have become increasingly expensive because of the subsidy removal. For households, the market value of DG systems is at 2 billion USD (Adbdelnour et al., 2023). For low-income households, this option puts an unsustainable financial burden on families attempting to gain access to basic public services. On a more positive note, Zahle, the third largest city in Lebanon, has implemented a hydropower solution, which resulted in a decrease in energy poverty and less reliance on DGs (Dagher et al., 2023). Considering that so many of the country’s problems are rooted in the instability and corruption of the government, it is not always possible for communities like Sabra to depend on the municipality for real change, as seen in Zahle. Thus, several higher-income households have opted to install their own photovoltaic (PV) systems. How can we make this more accessible to low-income communities like Sabra?

SUGGESTIONS MOVING FORWARD

Overview

Lebanon receives about 300 days of sun per year and experiences 7 months of a dry season (Moore, 2023). As renewable energies become increasingly affordable, there has been a steep increase in solar panel usage (81%) in Lebanon from 20102020 (Adbdelnour et al., 2023). Diesel energy

is about 45 cents per kWh versus solar energy at 9-10 cents per kWh. Hence, the PV systems are becoming more appealing to Lebanese communities. Other renewable energies like hydropower and wind energy could be successful but would likely require involvement from the municipalities and government. In the past, the idea of solar farms in Lebanon has generated excitement but has ultimately been unsuccessful (Moore, 2023). Solar panels are an ideal renewable energy source for Sabra because 85% of its buildings are mixed-use and/ or residential making them suitable for PV system placement and community sharing (UN-Habitat, 2019). Thus, this community briefing suggests the implementation of a community-owned and shared de-centralised solar (PV) system.

Most consumers in Lebanon with the financial means buy private PV grids that are used to supplement the few hours of government-provided energy per day. However, Adbdelnour et al. (2023) explain that these two systems are used in conjunction because the few solar panels purchased by each household do not supply enough reliable energy for the household’s daily requirements. Even if they can afford it, there are space limitations on the roofs of a congested city like Beirut to provide each apartment with its full need of PV panels. To resolve this limitation and as suggested by several other scholars in the literature, Adbdelnour et al. (2023) propose a Peer-to-Peer (P2P) energy trading system. Essentially, it is a bottom-up (communityled) energy exchange platform that makes the energy consumer a ‘prosumer’ and allows them to sell and buy energy based on their household needs (Trivedi et al., 2022). Therefore, excess energy will not be wasted and instead, it will beshared around the community. In this suggestion, Adbdelnour et al. (2023) propose that the initial significant investment to purchase

solar panels will come from community members. Unfortunately, in the case of the Sabra, this is not an achievable option, requiring alternative funding solutions.

A PV system for the size of the Sabra community can be defined as a micro-grid system due to its small size. The development of microgrids is becoming increasingly popular in Lebanon and all over the world as it localises and decentralises renewable energy sources. Two somewhat well-known microgrid set-ups in Lebanon have inspired the Sabra initiative, the Baaloul project and the Menjez project. Baaloul, a town in the Bekaa Valley of Lebanon received funding from USAID, and support from CARITAS (a catholic-relief organisation) to develop community-owned PV micro-grids (Social Impact Inc., 2020). This initiative was extremely successful and reduced household and municipal energy bills by 25% (National News Agency, 2018). However, Chaplain (2022) notes that although this was community-led in partnership with third-party organizations, the Syrian refugee population was not included in decision-making and consequently did not gain much from the initiative. This once again depicts procedural injustice as the refugee community now only receive energy when it is in excess, which is rare. The Menjez project, on the other hand, was not as successful. This project also received funding from USAID and is supported by the René Moawad Foundation (RMF). The RMF is a political relief organisation that unfortunately used this initiative to expand its political clout in the region. This initiative is owned by the local municipality, meaning that they take tariffs on the energy and the community does not receive any profits. To avoid such complications based on previous experiences in Lebanon, the suggested Sabra initiative will not involve the government or local municipalities and aims to find alternative approaches without involving any political actors.

A Decentralised On-Grid System

Based on the above discussion, a decentralised community-based microgrid (C-MG) solution is a viable solution to support the energy needs of the Sabra community. Trivedi et al. (2023) lays out various C-MG strategies based on the existing literature including centralised, distributed, and decentralised approaches. A decentralised structure is best suited for Sabra because it has comparatively higher levels of community engagement, a high possibility for scalability in the future, and is relatively less complex. Let us break this down further. The American University of Beirut (AUB) and SOAS University of London held a workshop in 2021, that analysed “models for tackling Lebanon’s electricity crisis”. They explained that the increased use of renewable energy in Lebanon has occurred out of necessity and has been particularly successful when the private or community sector is involved (either from an investment or managerial standpoint) (ACE, 2021). This urges the need for a decentralised approach. ACE (2021) agree with Trivedi et al. (2023) in that this system would make a consistent energy supply more accessible to different community members and would reduce the energy monopoly based on DGs. Gaining access to reliable energy sources for Sabra will positively impact daily life for its residents. Giving access to these basic human rights allows for stronger development of the community and an ‘urban citizen’ identity, thus giving ownership of the city to the people (Moore, pg. 170, 2023) (UCL, 2020).

ACE (2021) do pose the challenge of the large initial investment for the PV systems. As discussed in more depth below, taking a loan could be a possible approach to alleviate the financial burden. However, this approach implies that the initial instalment of the solar panels in Sabra is used in combination with the existing DGs. The Beirut Arab University’s (BAU) transition

to renewable energy inspired this mixed approach for the initial phase of the Sabra C-MG system (Tarnini et al., 2023). Before implementing any changes on the campus, BAU scholars used HOMER, a platform that runs simulations of various energy systems. They simulated off-grid solar, on-grid solar, and DG systems. Tarnini et al. (2023) found that the DG system was impractical from a financial standpoint in the long run and was environmentally unsafe. The offgrid system was the most sustainable and environmentally friendly; however, the high investment costs, lack of available land, and “system reliability” issues made it unsuitable for this institution. The on-grid PV system in combination with DG, when necessary (in winter months), had the best return on investment and allowed for the DG’s to be used less, also lowering their maintenance and operational costs. The on-grid PV system was successfully implemented at the BAU university campus. The strategy and implementation will be different in Sabra as this is a bottom-up approach compared to the institutionally driven project at BAU. However, this initiative provides concrete evidence that a C-MG strategy is a practical approach to reducing energy poverty at a localised level in Lebanon.

Implementation

Stakeholders

This initiative would be a multistakeholder approach involving local and international actors. In both the Menjez and Baaloul projects, sustainable change was implemented with the involvement of various parties. The Sabra neighbourhood has worked with the UN before to improve the living conditions on El Jazzar Street in Sabra (United Nations, 2021). The organisers put community engagement at the forefront of the project, allowing women and men from various nationalities and ages to decide on infrastructural changes that would

lead to a better quality of life. Although a small initiative, it gives an insight into the possibilities of collaborating with the Sabra community in achieving a sustainable and reliable energy system.

Alongside an international organisation like the UN, it could be beneficial to include a solar NGO with a high level of expertise in setting up on-grid PV systems. Some possible NGOs that were investigated include but are not limited to SolarAid, Solar Village Project, and SELF (Solar Electric Light Fund). This is important to ensure that the goals of the Sabra community stay at the forefront of the stakeholders’ motivations, prioritizing environmental justice as a core value. These NGOs have not done work in the Levantine region in the past, but they could be incentivized to do so in the future. The choice of the specific NGO(s) will depend on the funding source as well.

As BAU did with its academic scholars, it would be valuable to partner with a research group that can aid in running the technical aspects of this initiative (Tarnini et al., 2023). At BAU, the academics used the HOMER system to fully simulate the financial and environmental effects of different energy systems. This briefing advocates for a similar approach in Sabra. The Sabra community could partner with the Beirut Urban Lab, an urban studies research group, who would be well-suited for this project, considering they have previous experience in urban recovery projects and simulation mapping (Beirut Urban Lab, 2023)

Funding

Between the five crises Lebanon faces, it has one of the largest public debts in the world. From 1992-2017, $36 billion of this debt has come from the electricity sector (UCL, 2020). Poorer neighbourhoods like Sabra face significant energy poverty especially after the government ended its diesel subsidies

(UCL, 2020). Thus, the initial hesitation to implement renewables has declined, and solar panels are becoming a necessity to achieve reliable energy. PV systems have a high initial capital, but they have a better return on investment in the long term compared to fossil fuels (Tarnini et al., 2023).

Funding for PV panels in Sabra could come from various sources. The first source could be a grant from USAID like that of the Baaloul and Menjez projects. Another opportunity could be crowdfunding in combination with a loan that would be paid back over time from the trading (buying and selling) of energy. Lastly, several of the NGOs discussed above provide PV systems for disadvantaged areas at a significantly lower cost. Thus, a partnership with an NGO could be extremely appealing to this community. Regardless of how the funding source is secured, the community must have full ownership of the microgrid.

Layout of the System

The recommended structural design is a five ‘layer’ system, as outlined by Trivedi et al.’s (2022) thorough literature review of community-based microgrids. The five layers are: (1) physical, (2) information communication and transmission, (3) market and business, (4) regulation, and (5) control layer. The overarching goal of the structural design is to educate and collaborate with the community at each step. Discussions at the UCL (2020) energy workshop stressed the need for community awareness and engagement campaigns as a necessary factor, regardless of whether the municipalities were involved. For instance, the community in the Akkar region of Lebanon heavily resisted the construction of a wind farm because they assumed the turbines were unsafe and that they could fall off the motors and injure people (UCL, 2020). Once this issue was addressed, the community was eager to see the installations.

Therefore, the social factor needs to be addressed for procedural and distributional environmental justice to be established in Sabra. Below is a brief description of each layer.

Physical Layer

The physical layer covers the actual equipment needed for the microgrids. Ideally, the PV systems will be purchased through grants and subsidies so that the low-income community of Sabra does not assume the financial burden while retaining community ownership.

Market and business layer

The market and business layer is separate from the implementation actors (such as NGOs, Beirut Urban Lab, and UN). Instead, the focus here is the Peer-to-Peer (P2P) energy trading system discussed above (Adbdelnour et al., 2023). This strategy is associated with a decentralised structure because the consumer can become the producer (making them a ‘prosumer’). Essentially, each building or household will have a smart meter and app system. This will then allow the prosumer to give/sell their excess energy to other households, ensuring that not only is energy not wasted, but also that households have a more reliable source of energy (Adbdelnour et al., 2023). Trivedi et al. (2022) support this suggestion and add that it leads to a micro-balanced market.

Information, communication, and transmission layer

Interoperability is key to understanding this layer. Interoperability is the ability of a computer or technical system to work in conjunction with other systems (Trivedi et al., 2022). The interoperability system plays an important role in ensuring that energy sharing between various households is possible. Thus, this briefing suggests the

installation of a smart meter and app system that work together. The Brooklyn Micro Grid (BMG) (2019) is a clear example of a successful initiative. Essentially BMG is an energy marketplace managed by the prosumers at a local level (BMG, 2019). When energy is created in excess by a certain household, it is detected by a smart meter and can be sold to another household on the app through the smart meter (UCL, 2020, pg. 18).

Regulation layer

To ensure that such systems become a longterm solution and run smoothly, Trivedi et al. (2022) suggest that a policy document be put into place. This would include the rules and regulations for the system. Ideally, this is agreed upon by the community members who will benefit the most from this microgrid solution. The Beirut Urban Lab would be the perfect collaborator on such a legal document because they have done similar work in the past (Al-Harithy & Yassine, 2023).

Control layer

The control layer ensures proper maintenance of the PV systems. Once again, this highlights the need for community and social awareness to run the system and deal with technical errors and longterm maintenance. The trading platform described above could also pay for the upkeep. Teaching the community these skills will also allow for independence in running the PV panels. However, if the initiative is operated by an NGO that provides the PV panels, it could also be involved in the control layer.

CONCLUSION

The suggested solution aims to install a reliable, sustainable, community owned and managed energy solution for the Sabra

community. This would provide hope and functionality to the Sabra community while simultaneously outlining several technical, organisational, and financial factors that need to be considered for implementation. It does not aim to suggest that this is a perfect solution for the Sabra community that has been faced with political corruption for years on end. It is however a plausible and implementable solution based on knowledge of the Lebanese situation and a review of the current literature and available opportunities building on successful examples in Lebanon. A possible limitation would be to ensure that the various stakeholders involved are able to collaborate smoothly as this would be integral to the success of this energy transition. The success of the proposed micro-grid solution will lead to environmental justice as argued by Boone and Fragkias (2013). Importantly though the success of the proposed community-owned micro-grid solution may have significant implications on energy equity in Lebanon: its success could have a domino effect with other communities wanting to emulate it.

REFERENCES

ACE (2021) ‘Watch webinar: Models for tackling Lebanon’s electricity crisis’, ace, 4 February. Available at: https://ace. soas.ac.uk/webinar-models-for-tackling-lebanons-electricity-crisis/ (Accessed: 10 October 2023).

Adbdelnour, V. et al. (2023) ‘Energy Management Model Suitable for the Lebanese Case’, in. 2023 6th International Conference on Renewable Energy for Developing Countries, REDEC 2023, pp. 157–162. Available at: https://doi. org/10.1109/REDEC58286.2023.10208196

Al Jazeera (2022) Sabra and Shatila massacre: What happened in Lebanon in 1982? Available at: https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2022/9/16/sabra-and-shatila-massacre-40-years-on-explainer (Accessed: 10 October 2023).

Al-Harithy, H. and Yassine, B. (2023) Beirut Urban Lab - The Co-Production of a Shared Community Space in AlKhodor, Karantina, Beirut Urban Lab. Available at: http:// beiruturbanlab.com/en/Details/1945 (Accessed: 9 October 2023).

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No more back pedalling: infrastructure changes to make cycling safer in central Oxford

Alice Vine

Infrastructure is what makes a city a city, as opposed to a group of people simply coexisting in proximity with one another. It connects people, allows them access to resources and services and can play a significant role in the population’s experience of living and working. Oxford is an old city, known for its historical architecture and world-leading education and research outputs. However, the city’s infrastructure has struggled to keep pace with the demands of modern urban living. Nowhere is this as clear as on Oxford’s roads. Local residents will know of the traffic, constant road works and diversions, and frustration that these can cause. However, for a particular group of road users the unsuitability of Oxford’s roads can be dangerous or even deadly. Since 2000, there have been 3,345 cycle accidents reported in Oxford, with 468 occurring in the city centre (CycleStreets, 2023). Oxford City Council’s Local Plan 2040 sets out three aims in relation to transport: to reduce the number of car journeys in Oxford, to achieve net zero emissions from transport in Oxford, and to

have zero fatalities on Oxford’s roads (Oxford City Council Scrutiny Committee, 2023). Vision Zero is a global campaign to eliminate road deaths as a result of traffic violence, and has been adopted in cities across the UK including Oxford to make cycling a less dangerous form of transport (Cyclox, 2022). From the perspective of the local council’s development plan, the benefits of cycling are twofold: the more cyclists there are the fewer journeys are made by car and subsequently the level of emissions from transport is reduced. Beyond this, there are numerous physical and mental health benefits that individuals reap from the exercise and time outdoors that cycling provides. It is the third goal, zero road deaths in Oxford, that is not possible to achieve through the act of cycling alone. It is also the most significant goal, because reducing risks and perceived risks to cyclists is imperative in its own right. Helping to reduce car journeys and emissions should be an advantageous by-product of improving cycle safety, rather than being the singular reason for doing so.

I have a personal connection to cycling in Oxford. Growing up there, I remember having my route to or from school diverted because of clashes between vehicles and bikes. The roundabout in front of my high school is notorious for how dangerous it is to use on a bike. As I write this paragraph I receive a text message from a family member about an accident that they have cycled past on their way home from work, where an older woman was knocked off her bike by a coach. Cycling is embedded in my experience of oxford, and the community more generally. It is therefore the most appropriate level from which to examine where provisions for cyclists have historically gone wrong, as well as the avenues through which it can be tackled.

This report will look at the problems facing cycling and cyclists in Oxford, focussing on how infrastructure can be reimagined at the community level to make cycling safer and more accessible. The audience is road-users in central Oxford and the local community who have the most to gain from safe and accessible cycling. It will set out reasons to support and facilitate the three types of infrastructure changes proposed. These are Low Traffic Networks, Bus Gates, and the 15 Minute City.

THE PROBLEM

In order to ensure that any recommendations made are relevant, possible to implement and will be effective, the specific problem they aim to tackle must be identified. This report is looking at cycle specific infrastructure, because of the high prevalence of serious and even fatal collisions that occur when bicycles share infrastructure that isn’t designed for them with motor vehicles. Cycling journalist and author Robert Penn says that the two key factors to increasing the safety of cycling are having a reasonable surface on which to cycle, and to be surrounded by other

cyclists (Penn, 2010). Placing cyclists in close proximity with other road users is likely to discourage cycling before they gain the experience to learn safe cycling behaviours and feel confident adopting them.

Cycling can be dangerous. Of the collisions that have occurred in Oxford since 2000, 10 have been fatal (CycleStreets, 2023). Traditional thinking around cycling assumed that the safest way to behave on a bike was to behave like a car. Placing bikes in amongst other road users and assuming they will act offensively and occupy space (Lusk, et al., 2011). However, this is not the case. Cyclists will instead act defensively, occupying pockets of space around cars rather than as if they were one. This is particularly the case among people commuting by bicycle, the primary use among female cyclists, as opposed to male cyclists who are more likely to be cycling for sport and leisure purposes (Prati, et al., 2019). While this is a generalisation, the different reasons for traveling by bicycle may result in different levels of cycle experience and different behaviours on a bike, and this is one of the theories in the literature as to why a disproportionately high number of cyclist fatalities are female (Barajas, 2020). Many cyclists choose to accept the risks of their chosen method of transport, and will mitigate the dangers through their own behaviours as far as they can (Lusk, et al., 2011). But relying on this is insufficient if cycling is to become a widespread, safe and practicable method of transport. It is also exhausting for cyclists, many of whom travel this way knowing the danger they are in in busy urban environments. The UK government has adopted an unusual stance in recent months towards cycling, despite the environmental and health benefits it offers. Prime Minister Rishi Sunak described a ‘war on motorists’ and criticised ‘anti-car’ traffic control schemes aiming to protect cyclists (Walker, 2023, p. n.p.). This is at odds

with much of the research suggesting the importance of cycling as a tool to improve the lived experiences of those in urban environments.

The problem is the lack of suitable infrastructure for cycling. The injuries, fatalities and (correct) perceptions of risk are symptoms of this.

THE BACKGROUND TO CYCLING IN OXFORD

A recent series of events surrounding the closure of the Marston cycle path providing a key access route into the centre of the city, illustrates the problems of lack of safe infrastructure and the problems with decision making regarding cycling by non-cyclists. However, before looking into this case study it is important to understand the background to cycling in Oxford, and the context in which community recommendations would be implemented.

Oxford grew from a simple crossing point over the river Thames into a city famed for its university, and with a significant car manufacturing industry as well. William Morris made his fortune in bicycles before starting Morris Motors, who made some of the most well-known British cars over the years. The original Morris factory in Cowley, East Oxford, is the second largest employer in the county, after the University of Oxford, and supports other automotive businesses in the surrounding areas (Oxford City Council, 2023). However it has always been a city known for bicycles, both town and gown. Whether cycling to the Morris factory, to cook, clean or light fires at the university, or students to and from lectures, bicycles are everywhere in old images of Oxford (Johnson, 2015). Much of the travel into and out of central Oxford was dependent on where there were bridges, because of its location at the confluence of two rivers, where the Cherwell joins the Thames on a stretch

known as the Isis. Many informal footpaths and bridges formed a network where people could travel to and from central oxford away from main roads, particularly as cars became more common place and people chose to avoid the pollution and risks that came from cycling on main roads. The University and Colleges own significant areas of land across Oxford, and as they began to make more of their land private in the 20th Century, this network of safe travel routes became increasingly restricted (Johnson, 2015). Bridges were removed and signs put up excluding the public from travelling on university land in order to maintain images of peace and civility. As Danny Dorling, a Professor of Social Geography who grew up in the city, says, ‘civility was to be enforced by edict’ (Dorling, 2023, p. 9). This forced many more people onto Oxford’s roads, significantly changing the safety and accessibility of cycling and resulted in many more journeys into and across the city centre being under taken by private cars. In the densely populated residential areas of East Oxford, such as Iffley and Cowley, the effects of this shift are particularly prevalent. Three main roads meet at The Plain, the notorious roundabout mentioned previously, with the Iffley Road, Cowley Road and St Clements converging to cross the river over one bridge to get to the High Street and centre of the city (Dorling, 2023). These residential areas are historically less affluent than other parts of the city, and provisions for safe cycling have been much less than neighbourhoods like Summertown and Marston (Johnson, 2015). The converging nature of the main roads from East Oxford also means that traffic is a problem as well making buses, the city’s dominant mode of public transport, relatively slow and ineffective and results in rat-running behaviour through narrow residential streets. However Oxford is a very compact city, with a densely built central area and limited scope for significant urban redesign. It has a high number of visitors

and many people commute to jobs and schools in the very centre of the city from outside regions. It therefore the potential to benefit hugely from increasing the number of journeys made on a bicycle, and this would also be advantageous for the local population.

When the decision was taken to close a bridge on University land in June 2023 land that brought the Marston cycle path into Oxford, because of a routine inspection in 2021 highlighting minor repairs, cyclists were left with no choice but to take either a 2km diversion including a section along St Clements and the Plain or a 3.5km round trip through North Oxford to avoid this dangerous

section of road, as seen in Figure 1. There was no consultation or warning of the closure, and when news came that the bureaucracy surrounding ownership and responsibility for the bridge would result in a lengthy delay to repairs, many people who used the route daily to schools and work faced a difficult choice. Either risk a journey over the Plain, despite many users of the Marston cycle path doing so to avoid this, or take a detour more than tripling the length of the original route (Dorling, 2023). Initially very little was done to remedy this, but with the start of the school year approaching and consequently numbers of young children cycling during rush hours increasing, Oxfordshire County Council put pressure on the University

Figure 1: Marston Cycle Path Closure Alternative Route (Dorling, D., 2023. The souls of the people of Oxford. Oxford Magazine, Volume 256, pp. 7-16.)

and City Council to act (Oxfordshire County Council, 2023). The solution was a diversion, shown in Figure 2, over another private bridge into the University Parks, universityowned land but open to the public although famously bicycles are prohibited ‘whether ridden or not’ (Dorling, 2023, p. 9). There were significant restrictions on how this diversion could be used however, bicycles would only be allowed to be walked over the bridge and through the park during a two hour window twice a day, and the route must be patrolled by volunteer cycle marshals to ensure no bicycles were ridden or taken outside the prescribed route. Volunteers signed up, and the compromise stood until the path reopened in early October 2023 (Oxfordshire County Council, 2023)

With the backdrop of oxford’s cycling history, the closure of a high-use cycle path connecting East Oxford with the centre of the city is particularly shocking. The events of the Marston cycle path closure illustrate two problems. Firstly, the lack of suitable infrastructure to provide an alternative safe route into and across central Oxford.

Secondly it demonstrates a mindset with limited understanding of the needs of cyclists. Former City Councillor Roy Darke, quoted by Danny Dorling in his Oxford Magazine article, described the events as showing an ‘open neglect of public duty and a lack of spirit and imagination’ (Dorling, 2023, p. 14). Cycling can offer huge potential benefits for health and the environment and the development plans for the city are progressing towards cycling as a solution. However there is insufficient recognition of the barriers to cyclists. No progress towards meeting these goals will be made until risks to cycling are removed and public perceptions of safety improve.

RECOMMENDATIONS

The story of the Marston cycle path highlights the need for more investment in cycle-specific infrastructure such as cycle paths and segregated bike lanes, and roads should be less dangerous to cyclists should they need or choose to use them. However, not all of these changes are possible without collaboration between policy and people.

Figure 2: Marston Cycle Path Diversion (Dorling, D., 2023. The souls of the people of Oxford. Oxford Magazine, Volume 256, pp. 7-16.)

This section of the report will look at three types of physical infrastructure changes that aim to reduce levels of traffic in areas where cyclists may be particularly at risk travelling through central Oxford, or encourage hyperproximity, meaning fewer journeys need to be made by car.

The overarching recommendation of this report is for communities to engage with the proposed changes because of the benefits they offer. Designing infrastructure around users, rather than subjecting them to it, is only possible with community support and input. Oxford’s City and County Councils, although not perfect in their actions, have shown awareness of the benefits of cycling and intent to make the city safer as a result. This will have real time impacts on the injuries, fatalities and perceptions of risk.

LOW TRAFFIC NEIGHBOURHOODS

A Low Traffic Neighbourhood (LTN) can take many forms, but the central aim is to limit the amount of through traffic passing through an area. This is most often done through modal filters such as bollards or planters which allow pedestrians and cyclists, but not vehicles, to pass through. Filters have been put in place by residents’ organisations on some Oxford streets already, but without a unified approach the effect is to displace traffic onto surrounding roads (Sustrans, 2023). A formalised LTN approach would place filters on minor roads to ensure all journeys through the area are undertaken on main roads, leaving the rest to be quieter and safer. In East Oxford, three LTNs have been proposed by the County Council, as shown in the Figure 3. Four filters are currently in place, and a further 16 are

Figure 3: Existing and proposed filters in East Oxford Low Traffic Neighbourhoods (Oxfordshire County Council, 2023. East Oxford low traffic neighbourhoods (LTNs). [Online]

Available at: https://www.oxfordshire.gov.uk/residents/roads-and-transport/connecting-oxfordshire/low-trafficneighbourhoods/east-oxford-ltns [Accessed 26 October 2023].

proposed to create distinct areas and flows of traffic. Analysing the implementation of traffic filters in Austin Texas, policy makers found that the predictability from regular traffic flows was most the important factor for reducing accidents and making streets safer for cars, pedestrians and cyclists (Martin, 2016). Recently LTN’s have appeared in (inter)national news alongside misleading claims about their purpose, and have become a contentious idea as a result of this coverage. Some arguments were genuine, such as concerns filters would limit passing footfall and therefore would be detrimental to local businesses. Others were less relevant, and popular theories that local authorities wanted to confine populations to particular areas were quickly dismissed (Quinn, 2023). The attention on the proposals slowed progress. However, a community can be effective at restarting dialogue with representatives to provoke change (Maton, 2008; Burk, 2017). An empowered show of support can play a significant role in the Council’s actions and confidence to follow through with the policy. The Marston cycle path closure showed the County Council to be receptive to the needs of the community when raised. If fully embraced and implemented, neighbourhoods could see a reduction in traffic, pollution and accidents, making streets safer and more desirable.

EXPERIMENTAL TRAFFIC REGULATION ORDERS, OR ‘BUS GATES’

Similar external criticisms have been levelled against Experimental Traffic Regulation Orders (ETROs), known as Bus Gates. Proposed ETRO’s will mimic the restrictions already in place on the High Street, where only buses, taxis and other commercial vehicles may pass (Allen, 2022). The effect of the High Street bus gate was to significantly reduce traffic in the very centre of Oxford, allowing for the pedestrianisation of key

shopping street Cornmarket (Johnson, 2015). The restrictions would prevent through traffic in the city in order to reduce congestion by requiring through journeys to be made via the ring road (Dorling, 2023). Figure 4 shows the proposed locations. After consultation, a number of concessions were made to allow certain groups like carers and commercial vehicles free movement through the filters, which are to be monitored by Automatic Number Plate Recognition (ANPR) cameras and fines issued to unauthorised vehicles. Exemptions will be made for households within these areas, up to three cars per household. In February 2023, large protests took place in Oxford against the Bus Gates, and the issue has stalled (Dorling, 2023).

Very little opposition occurred when the High Street restrictions were put in place in the 1980s, and the result was a safer, more pleasant urban environment (Johnson, 2015). Similarly to the LTNs, communities can speak up for what changes they would like to see in their area, and demonstrate the desire for safe and pleasant places to live and work. There are concerns about the capacity of Oxford’s ring road to handle more traffic as a result of fewer journeys through the city, but public transport and cycle-share provisions were included in the County Council’s original proposals, and would go a long way towards solving this. Local authorities can be held accountable to the wishes and needs of their communities to make sure that the proposed changes aren’t perfunctory and make a real difference.

15 MINUTE CITIES

The 15 Minute City Project and proposes that everyone living in an urban setting should be able to access all of the essential services they may need within a 15 minute journey by bike or on foot. This includes community level healthcare and education, amenities, recreation facilities and more. It places blended land use and hyperproximity at the

centre, and founder Dan Luscher described it as the urban planning equivalent of human centred design (Luscher, 2020) The are other aspects as well, such as widening pavements and implementing cycle lanes in order to facilitate more noncar travel. Equity is also key, the services should be equally accessible no matter where your live and your journey starts and will be established to rectify existing discrepancies in provision (Moreno, et al., 2021). The 15 Minute City would not make cycling safer directly, but instead imagines a world where more journeys are accessible by bike, and cars are needed less frequently and thus targeting both Net Zero and Vision Zero. It supports Robert Penn’s argument that being surrounded by other cyclists is key to increasing its prevalence. 15 Minute Cities are in contrast to historically dominant principles of urban design, which separate cities into zones for business, retail and residential areas

etc. The major changes needed to create hyperlocal communities require input from those communities to be effective. When similar neighbourhoods were development in Portland, Oregon, policy makers were explicit about the need for participatory change, with significant consultation with and input from communities (Flanagan, et al., 2016). The 15 Minute City has not been implemented in any official capacity in Oxford and yet it is the infrastructure proposal from this report which the community can play the largest role in shaping. As with the previous examples of infrastructure change, communities are at the heart of the design decisions in 15 Minute Cities. An empowered community engaging with their authority to ensure infrastructure is designed for them, rather than existing within the confines of it, is a marked change in attitude and has the possibility to improve quality of life in terms of cycling and beyond.

Figure 4: Proposed ETROs (Bus Gates) in Central Oxford (Allen, L., 2022. Traffic filters: pre-ETRO survey. DJS Field and Data Services for Oxfordshire County Council, November 2022.)

CONCLUSION

Cycling has the potential to make huge strides towards environmental, physical and mental health. Historically bicycles have played important symbolic roles. The freedoms they enabled through reducing reliance on cars caused women’s rights activist Susan B Anthony in 1896 to say ‘Let me tell you what I think of bicycling. I think it has done more to emancipate women than anything else in the world’ (Hawken, 2017, p. 88). Cycling has the potential to make the same impact with regards to the climate crisis. Oxford is particularly well placed to take advantage of the opportunities cycling offers to meet the aims of reducing car journeys and reducing emissions. However, this can only be achieved if the dangers of cycling are significantly reduced. Community engagement with the three infrastructure changes presented in this report will go a long way towards ensuring that this is the case.

REFERENCE LIST

Allen, L., 2022. Traffic filters: pre-ETRO survey. DJS Field and Data Services for Oxfordshire County Council, Volume November, pp. 1-73.

Barajas, J. M., 2020. Supplemental infrastructure: how community networks and immigrant identity infuence cycling. Transportation, Volume 47, pp. 1251-1274.

Burk, D., 2017. Infrastructure, Social Practice, and Environmentalism: The Case of Bicycle-Commuting. Social Forces, 95(3), pp. 1209-1236.

CycleStreets, 2023. Bikedata. [Online] Available at: https://bikedata.cyclestreets.net/collisions/#13.52/51.77378/-1.25066 [Accessed 24 October 2023].

Cyclox, 2022. Vision Zero Campaign. [Online] Available at: https://www.cyclox.org/index.php/2022/09/27/whatis-vision-zero/ [Accessed 25 October 2023].

Dorling, D., 2011. Roads, Casualties and Public Health: the Open Sewers of the 21st Century. London, Parliamentary Advisory Council for Transport Safety’s 21st Westminster Leacture.

Dorling, D., 2023. The Oxford Bus Gates and Open Minds. Oxford Magazine, Volume 451, pp. 14-19.

Dorling, D., 2023. The souls of the people of Oxford. Oxford Magazine, Volume 256, pp. 7-16.

Flanagan, E., Lachapelle, U. & El-Geneidy, A., 2016. Riding tandem: Does cycling infrastructure investment mirror gentrification and privilege in Portland, OR and Chicago, IL?. Research in Transportation Economics, Volume 60, pp. 14-24.

Hawken, P., ed., 2017. Drawdown; the most comprehensive plan ever proposed to reverse gloabl warming. New York: Penguin Books.

Johnson, R. W., 2015. Look Back in Laughter; Oxford’s Postwas Golden Age. 1st Edition ed. Newbury: Threshold Press.

Luscher, D., 2020. Introducing the 15-Minute City Project. Medium, 17 June.

Lusk, A. C. et al., 2011. Risk of injury for bicylcing on cycle tracks versus in the street. Injury Prevention, Volume 17, pp. 131-135.

Martin, E. R., 2016. Wheels of Justice: WIdespread confusion over the rules of the road for bicyclists leads to clashes. American Bar Association Journal, 102(8 (August 2016)), pp. 16-18.

Maton, K. J., 2008. Empowering Community Settings: Agents of Individual Development, Community Betterment, and Positive Social Change. American Journal of Community Psychology, Volume 41, pp. 4-21.

Moreno, C. et al., 2021. Introducing the “15-Minute City”: Sustainability, Resilience and Place Identity in Future Post-Pandemic Cities. Smart Cities, Volume 4, pp. 9-11.

Oxford City Council Scrutiny Committee, 2023. Oxford Local Plan 2040 Regulation 19 Consultation Document. [Online]

Available at: https://mycouncil.oxford.gov.uk/documents/g8096/Agenda%20frontsheet%20Monday%20 16-Oct-2023%2018.00%20Scrutiny%20Committee.pdf?T=0

Oxford City Council, 2023. Oxford Major Employers. [Online] Available at: https://www.oxford.gov.uk/ info/20238/oxfords_economy/946/major_employers [Accessed 25 October 2023].

Oxfordshire County Council, 2023. Additional route made available for cyclists during Marston cycle path closure. [Online]

Available at: https://news.oxfordshire.gov.uk/additional-route-made-available-for-cyclists-during-marstoncycle-path-closure/ [Accessed 25 October 2023].

Oxfordshire County Council, 2023. East Oxford low traffic neighbourhoods (LTNs). [Online]

Available at: https://www.oxfordshire.gov.uk/residents/roads-and-transport/connecting-oxfordshire/ low-traffic-neighbourhoods/east-oxford-ltns [Accessed 26 October 2023].

Penn, R., 2010. It’s All About the Bike: The Pursuit of Happiness on Two Wheels. New York: Bloomsbury.

Prati, G., Fraboni, F., De Angelis, M. & Pietrantoni, L., 2019. Gender differences in cyclists’ crashes: an analysis of routinely recorded crash data. International Journal of Injury Control and Safety Promotion, 26(4), pp. 391-398.

Quinn, B., 2023. Far right trying to infiltrate UK’s low-traffic protests, campaigners warn. The Guardian, 24 February.

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Walker, P., 2023. Sunak ‘backs drivers’ with curbs on 20mph limits and bus lanes. The Guardian, 29 September.

Infrastructure

Infrastructure to combat the Affordable Housing Crisis in Fort Myers, Florida

Avery MacLear

INTRODUCTION

Coastal cities must prepare for more substantial and detrimental hurricanes due to worsening climate change. Southern Florida has experienced multiple hurricanes over the past two decades, leaving communities with millions of dollars in damages (FEMA, 2020; Lee Board of County Commissioners, 2023). Hurricane relief funding will only get more expensive as hurricanes will likely begin to “produce larger storm surge levels in more concentrated areas” (Guttman et al., 2018, p. 13). As climate change continues, these hurricanes will not be slowing down. Coastal communities need to recognize their vulnerability and begin long-term plans.

Southwest Florida is particularly at risk for feeling the brunt of the worsening hurricane seasons. In 2022, Lee County was hit hard by Hurricane Ian. Specifically, Fort Myers, a coastal city located along the Caloosahatchee River. Fort Myers has a population of 95,949, with an average household income of $51,682 (in 2021), with 16% of the city living in poverty (U.S. Census, 2022). For reference, the median household income in

Florida was $59,730 in 2021 (FRED Economic Data, 2021). When Hurricane Ian struck Fort Myers, much of the city was unprepared for the storm’s intensity. Many low to mediumincome households struggled to recover, specifically mobile home park owners (Lee Board of County Commissioners, 2023). Unlike higher-income residents, these families do not have the luxury of being able to move to a new place when their home gets flooded. Protecting mobile homes in Fort Myers and providing alternatives to those who do not have housing is essential to the success and longevity of the city.

Providing infrastructure plans to protect the coastline, the city, and the residents is urgent, as the climate crisis will continue to damage Fort Myers. Additionally, Florida continues to gain popularity, and Lee County is America’s 9th fastest growing county (Lee Board of County Commissioners, 2023). The needs of the Fort Myers community will continue to grow with population increase and climate change. It is essential to spend time and money investing into the future of Fort Myers before it is too late.

For a city to continue to thrive, residents need to feel safe and welcomed. Sustaining Fort Myers requires immediate action to protect infrastructure and provide safe, affordable housing for all current and future residents. There are large mobile home communities within the city that need help. The present community briefing primarily focuses on mobile home parks and recommends two infrastructure projects to protect the future of Fort Myers:

(1) Implementing Nature-Based Solutions through protecting and promoting mangrove forests and (2) building affordable, hurricane-resistant apartment complexes to combat the current crisis.

POSITIONALITY

I am a fourth-year student at the University of St Andrews enrolled in a Joint Honours Degree studying Sustainable Development and Psychology. I am from the United States, and my work this past summer sparked my interest in Fort Myers, Florida. I was a research assistant for the Center for Contemporary Documentation, an organization dedicated to documenting climate injustice across the U.S.. I provided support to various photographers across the country who focused on documenting different instances of climate injustice. I became invested in one project in particular: the aftermath of Hurricane Ian in Southwest Florida. I was asked to research different counties’ homeless populations, mobile home communities, hurricane relief projects, and government funding. It quickly became clear to me that many low-income community members were at an increased risk of experiencing the adverse effects of natural disasters. Additionally, a limited number of infrastructure plans were in place to help protect these community members.

As an outsider who has never visited Fort Myers, I cannot begin to understand the

hardship and tragedy the people of Lee County experienced following Hurricane Ian. I also know that I lack any in-group experiences, so my recommendations may be missing key perspectives. Due to my extensive research over the past few months, I believe I will be able to propose various recommendations that will both recognize the current needs of community members while also preparing Fort Myers for the inevitable long-term climate-related disasters they will face as a coastal city.

FORT MYERS BACKGROUND & CONTEXT

Mobile Home Parks and the Affordable Housing Crisis

Mobile homes began as “travel trailers” in the mid-1920s and were primarily used for vacations. These began evolving into more permanent affordable housing options from the 1950s to 1970s (Berger, 1993). As these mobile homes became more popular, the government started recognizing them as permanent homes, which led to more “standardization, categorization, and regulation” (Berger, 1993, p. 453). These homes have gained popularity in Florida to avoid high real estate pricing while still living in desirable neighborhoods (Jacobsen Homes, n.d.).

Now, mobile homes are mobile homes are found throughout Florida but are much less ‘mobile’, and are instead a more affordable housing option for many low-income familes. Florida is home to more than 1,600 mobile home parks, with 131 existing in Lee County alone (Home Nation, n.d.; MobileHome, 2023). Within Fort Myers, there are at least 400 individual mobile homes, most located in parks that are age 55+ (Lee Board of County Commissioners, 2023). This suggests the demographic is primarily retired community members who fall below the median household income. The report

formed by the Lee County Commissioners found that “areas with more mobile homes may be an indication of underlying social vulnerability or greater recovery needs” (Lee Board of County Commissioners, 2023, p. 89). Outwith these socioecomic tensions, mobile home parks are located in areas at high risk for natural disasters, as these coastal communities are desirable locations. Additionally, mobile homeowners often do not own the ground below their homes, making it difficult for them to receive government funding in the event of a natural disaster (Levin, 2023). Mobile homeowners are thus placed at greater risk of hurricanes and flooding due to their homes’ immobility and coastal location.

Hurricane Ian

Hurricane Ian made landfall in Fort Myers on 28 September 2022. This Category 4 hurricane was “the costliest hurricane in Florida’s history and the third-costliest in United States History”, causing $109.5 billion in damages in Florida (Bucci et al., 2023, p.1). The storm surges were 10 – 15 ft above ground at the storm’s peak (Lee Board of County Commissioners, 2023). The

community in Fort Myers did not have ample time to prepare for the storm as it started as a tropical depression, then increased to a tropical storm, and finally, within 24 hours, strengthened to a Category 4 hurricane (Karimiziarani & Moradkhani, 2023). In the days and months after Hurricane Ian, 20,452 mobile home residents registered for the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s (FEMA) Individual Assistance, demonstrating the severity of the damage (Lee Board of County Commissioners, 2023).

Figure 1 above show the area that flooded during Hurricane Ian and the location of some of the mobile home parks in Fort Myers. These images illustrate that many mobile home parks fell within the extreme flooding area.

Hurricane Ian was not a ‘freak accident.’ Over the past two decades, Fort Myers has been hit with other costly hurricanes. Government funding from FEMA and HUD granted the whole state of Florida almost $3 billion after Hurricane Charley in 2004, and in 2018, after Hurricane Irma, Lee County alone received $1.9 million (FEMA, 2020; Office of the Press Secretary, 2004). Additionally,

Figure 1: Flood Map of Fort Myers during Hurricane Ian (Gamio et al, 2022).

there was considerable concern about Fort Myers being at risk for another detrimental storm before Hurricane Ian hit. An article published in 2021 argued that Fort Myers was disproportionately at risk for “storm surge damage from hurricanes,” as the city is located on the Eastern Seaboard of the Gulf of Mexico and is “home to nearly 322,000 residential structures” in a high-risk area (Stebbins, 2021). Stebbins estimated that the “total potential reconstruction cost value of these homes is $67.0 billion for storm surge damage and $72.2 billion for wind damage” (2021). Other researchers have warned Florida that if they do not start to prioritize developing flood and hurricane-resistant infrastructure on the coasts, “damages could exceed $38 billion by 2070” (Majumder, Kelly, Garcia, 2021). Hurricane damage will not stop, and Florida must prepare for the future of climate change and long-term damages.

The Effects of Worsening Climate Change on Hurricanes

It is well known in the sustainable development field that climate change is getting worse, and with it, so are natural disasters. Julie Wraithmell, a member of Audubon Florida, an organization dedicated to conserving and restoring natural resources, explains that “as carbon accumulates in the atmosphere and the planet warms, we face more extreme storms, rising sea levels, drought, and intense heat” (Audubon Florida, 2021, p. 4). As climate change worsens, these events will only become more frequent and more harmful. Ballard discusses the hard truth about the worsening climate issue, recognizing that “sadly, storms of Ian’s magnitude and strength are becoming increasingly common, and our housing must be resilient and better able to weather the flooding and wind that

Figure 2: Map of Mobile Home Parks in Fort Myers

devastated communities like Fort Myers” (Ballard, 2022). Despite this knowledge, there is a lack of action regarding climate change at the state level (Majumder, Kelly, Garcia, 2021).

Fort Myers’ location, along the Gulf of Mexico, is a particularly vulnerable area. Hurricanes in the Gulf of Mexico often produce harsher than normal impacts on land due to the shallow water and shallow ocean floor (Jacobo, 2022). Additionally, the U-shape of the gulf traps storms inside so that no matter where they go, they will likely hit populated land (Jacobo, 2022). The Southwest coast of Florida is even more at risk for stronger storm surges because hurricanes often change direction before landfall. This change in direction slows the storm down and allows for waves to get bigger (Jacobo, 2022). All research demonstrates the urgent need for action to protect against the worsening state of the climate, but plans are short term and mostly reactionary rather than long-term proactive plans.

CURRENT ISSUE

Government Funding:

After Hurricane Ian, Lee County received $1.1 billion in government funding from the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) to help them recover (Lee Board of County Commissioners, 2023). HUD outlines certain requirements for using the fund, which are limited to: “disaster relief, long-term recovery, restoration of infrastructure and housing, economic revitalization, mitigation” and planning (Lee Board of County Commissioners, 2023, p. 253). It is also required that at least 70% of the grant be used for projects that benefit low to moderate-income households, defined by HUD as families at or below 80% of the area’s Median Income (Lee Board of County Commissioners, 2023).

Mangroves:

Mangroves are an effective way to protect coasts when properly maintained. Investing in these coastal wetlands should be included in the long-term recovery aspect of Lee County’s plan for action. There was limited mention of mangroves, but they did include “restoration of mangroves, dunes, and sea grass” under the voluntary residential buyout section of their Action Plan (Lee Board of County Commissioners, 2023). However, there is no long-term monitoring of these mangroves to ensure they regenerate properly. Additionally, they have funds dedicated to restoring the shoreline but do not outline how they plan to restore mangroves. Without an explicit breakdown of an implementation strategy, it is difficult to ensure they will follow through with their proposed plan. Cities often include climate and sustainability projects in their outlines as a way to please the community and government entities; however, this does not guarantee they will follow through with implementation. There is currently no evidence of Lee County or Fort Myer’s efforts to restore local mangroves, but instead much of the focus seems to be on beach restoration. The only mangrove restoration projects that seem to be active are organized by local schools and sustainability groups. These community-led initiatives are important, but they cannot fund long-term maintenance or extensive regeneration of mangroves.

Affordable Housing and Mobile Homes:

Affordable housing is not a new issue in Fort Myers, but Hurricane Ian exacerbated the problem. Many mobile home parks were destroyed, and the county has limited plans for relocating or rebuilding houses for these community members. Additionally, developers see the destruction of mobile home parks as an opportunity to transform Fort Myers to a “playground for the rich”

(Moore & James, 2023). The lack of planning from the County and eager developers moving into the city is causing Fort Myers’ affordable housing crisis to increase drastically.

The Lee Board of County Commissioners do not have a plan for assisting mobile homeowners within the budget provided from HUD. In the report outlining their plan for the $1.1 billion they received, they admitted that “specific solutions for mobile homeowners have not yet been identified” (Lee Board of County Commissioners, 2023, p. 260). Their general ideas include replacing or elevating mobile home units (Lee Board of County Commissioners, 2023). Additionally, FEMA has regulations requiring homes, being built or rebuilt in flood areas to elevate their bottom floor to at least one-foot above flood level to receive adequate flood insurance (FEMA, n.d.). Most homeowners cannot afford to elevate their homes in line with new regulations, and even so that is a temporary solution. Sea levels will continue to rise, and with that hurricanes will become more damaging. Although FEMA did provide some temporary trailer homes to those displaced by Hurricane Ian, this is not a suitable long-term solution (Lee Board of County Commissioners, 2023). More hurricanes will continue to come, and the same destruction will happen again. Investment in long-term affordable housing options must be considered, rather than temporarily attempting to ‘patch up’ the problem. As an affordable housing alternative, mobile homes require more attention than they currently receive.

Without government funding many people will have to abandon their houses. Many Fort Myers residents do not have the “means to rebuild” and are watching as surrounding lots are being sold (Kaye, 2022). There is concern that these mobile home lots are being bought by developers who plan to implement unaffordable large luxury

complexes (Kaye, 2022). Many developers have seen the destruction of mobile home parks as an opportunity, and many parks are being bought by corporations to be renovated, leaving long-term community members with limited housing options (Hartman, 2022). This increase in luxury buildings will also likely increase the value of the surrounding area, making much of Fort Myers unaffordable to longtime residents. The government needs to provide more adequate support and planning to those displaced and struggling to find housing. The current infrastructure plans active in Fort Myers primarily involve privately owned projects prioritizing luxury housing and tourism, showing no consideration for the needs of the present community.

RECOMMENDATION

There is no obvious long-term plan for preparing and protecting the city and the current and future population from natural disasters. The current proposal recommendation will provide possible solutions to prepare Fort Myers for the future of climate change, by providing longterm infrastructure that will not need to be rebuilt year after year. This will save costs for the majority of people in the city who fall below or at the median income level, and do not have the ability to rebuild houses year after year while also helping to prepare the city for the worsening climate crisis.

Nature-Based Solutions

Julie Wraithmell perfectly explains the importance of nature-based solutions, pointing to their “co-benefits that cannot be matched by traditional infrastructure” (Audubon Florida, 2021, p.1). Fort Myers sits on the Caloosahatchee River, home to various mangrove forests and salt marshes. These are two examples of wetlands that can be implemented as nature-based

solutions that help protect Fort Myers’ coastline. Coastal wetlands, like these, “act as buffers against incoming storms and hurricanes… by slowing storm surge and absorbing stormwater” (Audubon Florida, 2021). Mangroves located along the Caloosahatchee River and by Sanibel Island can help protect Fort Myers from Hurricane damage, if properly maintained.

These mangrove forests have deteriorated over the past few decades (SE CASC, 2022). J.N. Ding Darling, a National Wildlife Refuge located on the inner coast of Sanibel Island, is home to various mangrove forests and other wetlands. There has been growing concern over the health of these mangroves due to increased nutrients in the Caloosahatchee River causing algae blooms (SE CASC, 2022). Healthy mangroves are able to bounce back from hurricanes and other natural disasters quite easily and naturally adjust to rising sea levels. However, the mangroves located in Ding Darling have not been rebounding or adjusting as expected, since Hurricane Charley in 2004 ((Krauss et al, 2023). A study that monitored their growth over a 10-year period following the hurricane found that there was a lack of recovery (SE CASC, 2022).

The deteriorating health of the mangroves has been credited to excess nutrients caused by “agriculture discharge into the Caloosahatchee River, which [elevates] soil phosphorus levels” (Krauss et al, 2023). The Caloosahatchee River is known for being ‘unregulated’ to some extent, which may be the cause of the excess nutrient flow (SE CASC, 2022).

To help protect Fort Myers’ coastline, it is necessary to employ plans that prioritize managing and monitoring mangrove forests along the Caloosahatchee River and regulate runoff from farming. This requires government action effective enforcement of runoff regulations. Plans discussed for maintaining mangroves include monitoring their soil elevation,

ecosystem metabolism, and “aboveground and belowground productivity” (SE CASC, 2022). Monitoring these indicators will help researchers understand what causes issues with mangrove regeneration and if regulating runoffs and nutrients in the Caloosahatchee River promotes mangrove health. Mangroves in J.N. Ding Darling can help lessen the impact of hurricanes on Fort Myers and neighboring areas, if appropriately maintained (Port Sanibel Marina, n.d.).

Regeneration efforts should focus on areas where mangroves previously thrived, rather than implementing them in new areas, as they are more likely to be successful in habitats where they naturally occurred (Primavera & Esteban, 2008). The focus on regrowing mangroves will be most successful right after hurricane season, when they have a full year to regenerate before experiencing harsh weather conditions. Additionally, there needs to be a protection of these areas from illegal fishing and other harmful activities. All of this requires funding but will be beneficial to the long-term protection of Fort Myers vulnerable communities. This takes time and resources that should be set aside from the budget sent by HUD. Fort Myers will promote economic success in the future by using the funding for more long-term planning.

Affordable Housing Recommendation

The second recommendation is to provide affordable, hurricane-resistant housing in sturdy apartment complexes. These apartments would provide safe, affordable housing for those currently homeless or struggling to repair their homes after Hurricane Ian. Various plots around Fort Myers offer plenty of acreage to build affordable apartment complexes (Property Shark, n.d.). This project would be an investment in the future of Fort Myers.. The project should be far enough from the coast

that it does not need to be elevated within the next two decades and allow local residents to vote on which location they prefer.

There are various options for affordable building materials. Concrete, although not aesthetically preferred, is a cheap, sturdy, and hurricane-resistant material (Concrete Construction, 2015). Separately, the University of South Carolina has been experimenting with different natural disaster resistant materials that are more affordable than the typical materials used; researchers found a strong need for affordable “hazard resistant houses” after reviewing the 2020 HUD report (Woodley, 2021). After experimenting with different materials, they found that plastic-reinforced, compressed earth bricks are affordable and hurricane and tornado-resistant (Woodley, 2021). Another study by Mohamed & Mahmoud found that using plastic-reinforced compressed earth bricks cut the cost of walls by half the typical price, making them economically advantageous (2023). These are two possible affordable building materials that could be used to build a large-scale apartment building to combat the current housing situation in Fort Myers.

Implementing affordable housing can be costly. CLEO Institute proposed a statewide fund for Florida to provide funding for “flood protection, resiliency and clean energy and transportation projects” (Majumder, Kelly, Garcia, 2021). Creating funds like this can collect donations and government grants while encouraging public and private infrastructure plans to think more long-term with the incentive of receiving monetary support. In addition to the obvious benefits of implementing stronger infrastructure in Fort Myers, these projects will positively impact the broader community by creating more jobs and providing a stronger sense of security and community (Majumder, Kelly, Garcia, 2021).

CONCLUSION

Fort Myers needs to prepare for the future by implementing infrastructure that is sustainable in the long term. The recommendations provided target the mobile home and affordable housing crisis. Mobile homes are at increased risk for hurricane damage, leading to worsening affordable housing crises when hurricanes hit. Government funding should be put towards the city’s longevity rather than temporary fixes that will continue to need repairing. The cost to implement these infrastructure recommendations will be paid off in the future by protecting and producing sturdier infrastructure that does not need to be replaced after each natural disaster. These recommendations will require funding and support from local and national government entities.

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United States

Charlotte’s Transit Troubles: Exploring the Public Transportation Predicament

Greer Campbell

INTRODUCTION

Unprecedented urbanization trends prompted mass migrations, resulting in an expected 68% of the global population to call urban areas homes, by 2050 (Nations,n.d.). This swift evolution has triggered a multitude of constraints on municipal governments applying stress on infrastructure, adequate housing and environmental concerns.

Widely recognized as a crucial cornerstone of municipal infrastructure, public transportation is pertinent to the success of urban communities, as expressed in the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The 17 SDGs address critical global challenges providing structured guidelines and cultivating a shared vision for a more equitable and sustainable future. A clearly defined target within SDG 11: Sustainable Cities and Communities, specifies the importance of secure, cost-effective, easily accessible and environmentally sustainable transportation

systems. This objective is to be attained through the expansion of public transport, with an emphasis on addressing the unique needs of vulnerable groups, such as women, children, people with disabilities, and the elderly (Nations,n.d.). The SDGs are an outline to accelerate development progress which further emphasizes the extent to which public transportation is a necessary tool for a thriving urban community.

This briefing is an overview of Charlotte’s existing public transportation system, addressing historical detriments that have contributed to current shortcomings, the importance of a healthy public transit system, and a set of community-based solutions curated from assembled data. Ultimately, this briefing outlines a strategy to enhance Charlotte’s existing public transportation infrastructure, ensuring that the needs of Charlotte’s residential and intracity communities are met, mitigating social disparities, and reducing car dependency.

Transit dependent individuals and residents in suburban communities are the target audience. Transit dependent people are those who are too young, too elderly, economically disadvantaged, or physically incapable of driving (Jiao and Dillivan,2013, pp.24). Although, the importance of public transportation accessibility is a right that should be attainable to all citizens. Charlotte’s consistent lack of reliable and connected public transportation systems reinforce social inequality, traffic congestion, and impact the well-being and convenience of residents.

AUTHOR POSITIONALITY

As a Charlotte resident, I have firsthand experience with the city’s dependency on personal vehicles, masking its lack of public transportation infrastructure. Without a car, residents are entirely immobile, having to rely on third-party applications such as Uber and Lyft to traverse the city. A diverse socio-economic city, this imposes a financial standard that is unsustainable for some Charlotte families.

Growing up personally, there was never a conversation around the use of public transportation due to its safety concerns and impracticality. In turn, I vividly remember turning 16 and obtaining my license as my first taste of freedom and independent mobility. My frustration with the public transportation system was widely echoed as I was exposed to varying communities in the city through charity work, and frequent complaints would surface of inconsistent and disorganized bus schedules, egregiously long travel times, and general system ambiguity and incompetence.

Throughout my time at university, I’ve had the opportunity to experience cities with incredibly efficient public transportation such Copenhagen, New York City and London, all of which have allowed me

to reflect on the systemic flaws within Charlotte’s public transportation system.

For the reasons stated above, I have ample personal experience to speak to the inadequacies of Charlotte’s public transportation infrastructure –supported by academic data, and practitioner sources.

BACKGROUND OF CHARLOTTE

Charlotte has experienced a notable population influx, making it among the fastest-growing cities in the United States. Strong economic opportunities, low cost of living, and an active social scene including professional sports teams like the Charlotte Hornets (NBA) and the Carolina Panthers (NFL) formulate a quintessential environment for individuals who want to be a part of an evolving city with unlimited possibilities. Charlotte, also known as the Queen City, has a robust economy and is known as a financial hub. It is home to several 2023 Fortune 500 companies, including Bank of America, Wells Fargo, and Honeywell (Fortune, 2023, pp.3). The Queen City is accessible by one of the most engaged airports globally; the Charlotte Douglas International Airport was the sixth busiest airport in the world in 2021 (Airports Council International,2022). Elevated travel convenience, unrestricted job potential and a strong social landscape are additional factors to Charlotte’s boom in population.

Charlotte is at the forefront of domestic migration trends. The Mecklenburg County Planning Commission (MCPC) reported that Charlotte moved up from the 47th spot to the 20th most populated city in the United States (US) between 1980 and 2005 (Yan, Delmelle and Duncan,2012, pp.61). Since 2005, the population has only increased and in 2020 the MCPC revealed Charlotte as the 15th most populated city in the US (www.census. gov, n.d.).

CHARLOTTE’S CURRENT PUBLIC TRANSPORTATION LANDSCAPE

Despite Charlotte’s recent popularity surge, The Charlotte Area Transit System (CATS) ridership levels have fallen revealing foundational gaps of the public transportation system. CATS consists of bus and light rail services, and limited paratransit to serve the 7% of Charlotte residents who do not own cars (Atiemo,2021).

Unreliability and safety concerns contribute to transportation disparity, restricting success of current public transportation initiatives. Printed in local newspapers, the CATS bus system has been heavily critiqued by locals that have voiced reliability and safety concern. Undependable service has left many transit-dependent individuals stranded and unable to fulfill their commitments at university and work. Dependent on CATS buses to get to work, Sharon Fincher states that the buses are, “on time when they have a driver” but “once or twice a week there isn’t one” and she is late to work (Harrison,2022). CATS struggles to address the driver vacancies issue which has led to numerous buses being canceled and some riders quitting the bus system.

Additionally, drivers’ safety concerns and surveillance requests are unaddressed leading to more vacancies and a loss of consistency, contributing to falling ridership levels. Vacancies are fuelled by safety concerns; in February 2022 a road rage incident resulting in the death of one of the bus drivers, Ethan Rivera sparked worry for driver and rider personal safety (Chemtob,2022). Episodes of violence increase the chances of riders not willing to return.

On a national scale it is proven that “of the nation’s 50 largest transit systems, no one has lost a greater share of bus passengers than CATS. Detroit had the next largest decline, losing 71% of its bus passengers from

2014 to 2022” (Dot.gov,2013). Investments into bus transportation infrastructure is dependent on fares from riders, which have decreased at an astonishing rate because of inconsistent bus reliability; this is causing a feedback loop that has left the CATS bus system in a difficult situation. The unsatisfactory performance of the CATS buses has encouraged individuals to seek transportation alternatives. Anxious bus riders, concerned about their commitments, have turned to Uber and Lyft applications, and car purchases because of the COVID -19 work from home mandate (Harrison,2022).

Efforts for a light rail materialized in 2007 thereafter prompting numerous projects focused on developing higher-density, transit-friendly communities (Delmelle, Zhou and Thill, 2014,pp.3980). The $400 million-dollar light rail investment offers 26 stations along an 18.9 mile route (Delmelle, Zhou and Thill, 2014, pp.3980) (Moore,n.d.).

Transit riders can navigate the light rail through CATS-Pass mobile app to buy tickets, plan routes, and even learn about art installations and other cultural facts about Charlotte on the way (Moore,n.d.). The initial light rail investment coincided with construction of a 67-mile outer belt freeway to advance large amounts of land for suburban development (Delmelle, Zhou and Thill, 2014, pp.3980).

The substantial increase of the working population in the Charlotte area would imply a natural increase in transportation use, but most people work from home or are not transit dependent individuals. In 2020 Mayor Vi Lyles released a transit plan proposing a penny sales tax increase to support the waning system (Harrison,2022). Many critics question the viability of Mayor Vi Lyles’ plan and public transit altogether stating, “if your system is not performing even close to pre-pandemic levels, should you not be questioning whether or not this is a course in which we want to continue?”

(Harrison,2022). The confidence in the public transit system is declining and many fears are reinforced by a lack of community initiative.

CHARLOTTE’S URBAN EVOLUTION: CONTRIBUTING FACTORS TO PUBLIC TRANSIT DEVELOPMENT

Urban development patterns in the Charlotte metropolitan area are discerned as two trends, expanding suburbanization and city center rejuvenation (Delmelle, Zhou, and Thill, 2014, pp.3979). Encapsulated as an archetype for low-density, rapidly suburbanizing growth patterns, Charlotte is devoid of natural barriers to limit expansion and lacks diligent growth management plans resulting in urban sprawl. Urban sprawl is low-density, scattered development over a vast geographic area characterized by disorganized communities, businesses, and infrastructure (Delmelle, Zhou and Thill, 2014, pp.3979). The reliance on cars for transportation stems from post-World War II development trends in the United States which displayed an “outward spatial expansion of single-family residential housing and low-density development” (Delmelle, Zhou and Thill, 2014, pp.3979). Cars offer convenience and flexibility, yet they also cause accidents, traffic congestion, environmental concerns and exclude lowincome and disabled populations.

Alternatively, Charlotte’s city center has trends of revitalization, gentrification, and concentrated development patterns (Canales, Nilsson and Delmelle, 2019, pp.192). The upscale condominium construction has developed the Charlotte skyline, offering a relatively luxurious lifestyle for a low cost compared to other cities. Central city revitalization has resulted in gentrification of central city neighborhoods to create communities that are amenity-rich and attractive to skilled professionals, thus

contributing to a high-quality labor force (Delmelle, Zhou and Thill, 2014, pp.3979). Gentrification has also impacted the demand and supply of bus transportation that has not been acknowledged or updated by CATS. Charlotte City Council member Braxton Winston, states, “he believes transit declines are due to low-income residents being pushed out, as wealthy residents displace them in neighborhoods near uptown” (Harrison,2022). Bridging social inequality gaps starts with community involvement and quality research to navigate issues such as gentrification.

THE IMPORTANCE OF PUBLIC TRANSPORTATION

Public transportation is vital to the health of all cities. The United States Supreme Court has recognized the right to travel as one of the fundamental rights guaranteed by the 14th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution (Jiao and Dillivan, 2013, pp.24). Economic gain, social equity, and sustainability concerns are factors that improve with strong public transportation.

Public transportation development is not just about moving people, it’s about economic development.

Investments in public transport are relevant to stimulating economic activity in the area around their respective stations, regarding light rail transport. Rail transit systems have the capacity to limit a significant amount of expenses that are linked to daily travel of all citizens, especially commuters in the workforce (Canales, Nilsson and Delmelle, 2019,pp.2).

The increased accessibility from rail transit accessibility has the potential to support retail and service enterprises that would benefit from a place where pedestrian traffic is guaranteed.

Access to adequate public transportation contributes to socio-economic mobility. Charlotte “ranked fifty out of fifty largest U.S. cities in terms of Socio-economic mobility” (Hosseini et al., 2023,pp.1).

Charlotte has a lack of public transportation that serves all communities and reveals long history of neighborhoods have evidence of racism, economic injustice and inferior environmental welfare (Atiemo,2021). The light rail is not accessible to all communities, “low- income neighborhoods are often only accessible by bus, and bus service requires multiple line changes to get from lowincome neighborhoods to where jobs are available” (Hosseini et al., 2023,pp.1). CATS comprises of 3600+ stops and 70 routes, which are clustered in the city center; the distribution of the transportation services follows a rational spatial arrangement (Jiao and Billivan,2013,pp.31). Charlotte’s most transit-dependent areas exist in suburban or rural portions of the city. The radial Charlotte bus service requires low-income neighborhood residents to first travel to the city center, where the job type is skewed toward the financial industry, before switching to other lines servicing the lowwage areas.

Efforts to bridge the gap between suburban communities and intracity operations will contribute to social equity efforts in Mecklenburg County.

Sustainability concerns have increased globally as climate change effects have become more prevalent; Charlotte is consistent with global patterns as energy consumption and emissions are a factor in daily transportation decisions. Since the latter part of the 20th century, “city and regional planners have been advocating for reliable public transportation as a sustainable component of their transportation systems” (Yan, Delmelle, and Duncan, 2012, pp.60).

SOLUTIONS

A transit metropolis is an urbanized region with high quality public transportation services, adaptable to everchanging community needs; four types of transit metropolises exist, but Charlotte is best suited to the hybrid system (Cervero, 1998, pp.155). The hybrid system emphasizes an adaptive transit, which meets Charlotte’s need for two different types of public transportation development. Munich, Ottawa, and Curitiba have struck the delicate balance between new development along pre-existing transit lines and fitting transit solutions to serve sprawled suburban communities (Cervero, 1998, pp.155). Like Charlotte, these cities are examples of successful adaptive transit systems. Ottawa and Curitiba target regional growth around public transport hubs; the combination of flexible transport services and mixed-use development produced substantial per capita increase to ridership rates (Cervero, 1998, pp.156). Sharing successful solutions between similar cities can inspire change and offer solutions to address shared problems.

COMMUNITY INVOLVEMENT TO MAINTAIN CONDITIONS AND PRICES

Community collaboration is critical to solving Charlotte’s transportation decline. Many solutions criticize municipal governments and call for top-down leadership to fix public transportation infrastructure. Contrarily, bottom- up community modification has the greatest potential for progress. Equitable public transport stems from community involvement and consistent feedback to better provide for societal needs. The hybrid cities must consistently be “investing, reinvesting, organizing, reorganizing, inventing, and reinventing” to account for dynamic factors like cultural norms, lifestyle

changes, and technology advancements (Cervero, 1998, pp.154).

To account for changing factors, community surveys determine overall satisfaction levels, expose route gaps, and account for social norm transitions. Alternatively, input from “in-person surveys, questionnaires, and town hall meetings with residents, neighborhood leaders, and stakeholders” aid in a comprehensive picture (Hosseini et al., 2023, pp.2). Within a well-maintained system, all kinds of data regulation can contribute to a better functioning public transportation system.

Community involvement in the municipal government is necessary for continuing success; a reciprocal relationship between governments and communities increases probability of initiative success. Accountability of government officials is a component of bottom-up change; passionate community members have unlimited potential to evoke development. Without a reciprocal relationship, government and community disputes lessen the probability of successful initiatives. Democratic communities such as Charlotte have an obligation of involvement in municipal government. The bottom-up change initiative involves voting and placing candidates that care about public transportation success and integrity in office.

Cities in Europe have experienced a sharp increase in fares, disincentivizing people from taking public transportation because of government dysregulation; the lack of ridership significantly lowered maintenance and route development investments (Cervero, 1998,pp.154). Quality and fair pricing are mandatory for the success of a reworked public transportation strategy. Fair and consistent pricing come from ridership, so the community must ride buses when possible.

INFILL GROWTH AND INVESTMENTS

Post-war suburban landscapes in the United States were fueled by population growth, rising incomes, and consumer preferences; it is necessary that current action is focused on infill and streamlining growth to ensure a more manageable future for all demographics. Infill growth focuses on development within existing urban areas instead of breaking ground in undeveloped areas. Currently, infill growth is not prioritized by prospective home buyers which reinforces greenfield development. Contributing to car dependency, the greenfield development trends have substantial environmental and spatial issues that complicate inclusive public transportation route efforts. While it is difficult to adapt public transit to satisfy spread-out development, it has been done by cities like Singapore and Copenhagen, which have transformed their settlement patterns to better satisfy transit riding; this has resulted in more pedestrian friendly communities because offices, homes, shops, and activities are located around rail nodes(Cervero, 1998,pp.159).

The initial investment into Charlotte’s new light rail system found that nearby singlefamily property values responded positively once the light rail started operation (Yan, Dellmelle, and Duncan,2012). Before operation, the house prices decreased because of proximity to an industrial area. This suggests improved appeal of single-family homes near light rail stations due to better transportation access, the disappearance of unattractive industrial uses, or enhanced area perception. Investments into infill growth and development around existing transportation hubs, will aid in consolidating public transportation routes as Charlotte’s population continues to grow. Programs that inform and educate homeowners of proximity benefits to public transit systems increase appeal and likelihood of this solution’s success.

SPATIAL MISMATCH SOLUTION

Adoptions to address the spatial mismatch in public transportation for the city of Charlotte, require a greater understanding of the demand-supply gap; with a heightened emphasis on serving low-income and jobdense areas. Smart on-demand bus systems, Realtime data, and optimized scheduling are new concepts and useful approaches for creating more encouraging and efficient transportation systems in cities that aim to meet the needs of their riders (Hosseini et al., 2023,pp.7). Specifically, the Smart Connected Bus System which has been a proposed project for Charlotte is a viable way to bridge this gap. This system allows buses to transmit signals continuously updating the system of, “real-time continuous passenger counting in bus stations and vehicles to transfer real-time data to a centralized processing system (cloud platform) for immediate bus load balancing, capacity adjustment, and scheduling.

This data will be fed directly back to bus drivers for route adjustment, bus stop skipping, and bus bunching reduction (Hosseini et al., 2023,pp.5). Community engagement and speaking out for this technology is the most valuable action for sparking substantial change.

The 2020 pandemic established a work-fromhome cultural that has gradually phased out as firms require employees to return to the office. Pleasing daily work commuters will increase ridership rates and incentivize cities to place stations where it connects to jobs (Canales, Nilsson and Delmelle, 2019,pp.190. Demand-based route adjustment ensures a high return of investments. Additionally, increasing the public transport accessibility of low-income areas will contribute to bridging the social inequality gaps that are reinforced by a restriction of opportunity that comes with a lack of accessibility to certain areas, specifically job dense regions,

around the city. Utilizing updated supplydemand gap studies will aid urban planners in formulating a development plan to increase accessibility to these areas (Hosseini et al.,2023). Studies can additionally aid prospective home buyers in understanding the extent in which public transit is accessible to them and what they can do to support the cause. Spatial mismatch is not unique to low-income communities, while this is an important area to address, the success of any new public transit system is dependent on demand and ensuring that the demand and supply align to create ease and efficiency.

NEIGHBORHOOD COLLABORATION AND PARATRANSIT ROUTES

Paratransit routes are a necessary part of developing the hybrid adaptive city; these represent vans, jitneys, and minibuses that connect passengers from suburban areas to a public transit line. Paratransit vehicles can be public or private sector operators and have an array of economic and financial benefits; they are “more effective at coaxing motorists out of cars than conventional transit in many settings” (Cervero, 1998, pp.157). The CATS public transit system operates on a hub-andspoke structure, with the origin hub centrally located and routes stem from the origin (Atiemo, 2021). Systemic issues occur when residents are not on a direct route, which is a problem in the Charlotte community because of urban sprawl. Paratransit pools can also form based on a group need, such as suburban neighbors carpooling to a nearby public transportation stop. Neighborhood collaboration is one of the most powerful tools as substantial change starts on micro levels which blossom into well recognized issues, that open space to acknowledge service gaps. From collaborating for local solutions to offering carpooling services, individual changes contribute to make consequential change.

CONCLUSION

Efficient and effective public transportation will contribute to greater environmental harmony and equality while advancing the efforts through micro changes on a city-bycity basis that will evoke macro changes.

Community input must be evaluated to integrate into a larger plan with an emphasis on evolving and encouraging a more sustainable and efficient system. Benefits of a strong public transportation system include cost- effective commuting, shorter journey times, a sense of community, safety, and independence; Charlotte residents must aid efforts by riding the bus where they can. If we all increase ridership, we can leverage the power that we do have and create better options for our neighbors.

Every society can learn from other innovations and take what applies to further its own progress. Urban development varies greatly from country to country, but sustainability strategies remain consistent and can be widely applied with discretion of nuances. There is not a universal panacea, efforts cross-referencing case studies and specific city successes can contribute to a stronger understanding of what can be applied on a widespread scale.

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Atiemo, A. (2021). The problem with Charlotte’s transportation. [online] Niner Times. Available at: https:// www.ninertimes.com/opinion/the-problem-with-charlottes-transportation/article_68841b88-788c-11eb-871c8b3b094d309b.html.

Canales, K.L., Nilsson, I. and Delmelle, E. (2019). Do light rail transit investments increase employment opportunities? The case of Charlotte, North Carolina. Regional Science Policy & Practice, 11(1), pp.189–202. doi:https://doi.org/10.1111/rsp3.12184.

Cervero, R., 1998. The transit metropolis: a global inquiry Island press.

Chemtob , D. (2022). CATS bus drivers say they face constant harassment, and security measures fall short. [online] AXIOS Charlotte. Available at: https://charlotte.axios. com/308424/cats-bus-drivers-say-they-face-constantharassment- and-security-measures-fall-short/ [Accessed 26 Oct. 2023].

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Hosseini, S.S., Azarbayjani, M., Lawrence, J. and Tabkhi, H. (2023). Towards Understanding the Benefits and Challenges of Demand Responsive Public Transit- A Case Study in the City of Charlotte, NC. [online] arXiv.org. doi:https://doi.org/10.48550/arXiv.2304.06467.

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Disintegrating congestion with development of infrastructure in and around the National Capital.

Aditya Goel

INTRODUCTION

New Delhi is the capital of one of the fastest growing economies in the world. The development of the national capital has made it expand in all directions possible. The city has undertaken numerous projects to bring in an international perspective for people who want to settle with more opportunities and facilities. (Xu and Albert, 2014) The proximity of people living and commuting to New Delhi daily makes it congested, to an extent that distances of less than a mile could take more than an hour to reach. Traffic bottleneck is formed every day in parts of New Delhi which leads to people wasting their time in vehicles. Overcrowding and overpopulation has caused an urban sprawl leading to an urban heat island effect in New Delhi. The city has ranked the most polluted one in the world which is dangerous for the community living and people visiting it.

Urbanisation is a continuous process, and an increasing number of metropolitan environments are more susceptible to extreme weather occurrences, such as heat waves, sea level rise, floods, storms, and poor air quality. Furthermore, because they

consume most of the energy and resources, people who live in cities also significantly contribute to the rise in air pollution and greenhouse gas emissions in the atmosphere. The ecology and human health are impacted by these changes to the atmosphere at the urban to global scales. However, the urban environment also offers stimulating prospects for data assimilation, novel observations, coupled modelling at high resolution, and user-specific systems and services for climate smart and sustainable cities. (Baklanov et al., 2020)

This community brief is going to highlight how development of new tunnels, highways and transportation systems have changed New Delhi. Background of the capital and how colonialism has played a part in developing the infrastructure of the city. Challenges which people of New Delhi have faced in recent times due to excess population. Recommending robust measures, a community could undertake for our target audience who are the people of national capital region and tourists.

HISTORY OF NEW DELHI

The Indian government resides in Delhi, which is home to around 17 million people in the city proper and 29 million in the surrounding metropolitan area. (Agrawal, 2020) With decorated cows strolling the streets, monkeys clinging to government buildings, crowded streets and markets, entire families crammed onto a single motor scooter, slums, and vast numbers of people sleeping on the sidewalks, Delhi - which comprises Old Delhi and New Delhi - is an odd, clogged, and polluted city. A person may initially find some of these things shocking, but they are quickly overtaken by fresh experiences that make them feel richer and more closely connected to the people and culture of India. Delhi, which was home to some of the strongest kings in Indian history, has long been kind to people of Muslim, Hindu, and other cultures. (Sharan, 2006) New Delhi, the city of the biggest democracy in the world, unites two disparate worlds. The royal metropolis of New Delhi is made up of roomy, tree-lined avenues and magnificent government buildings, while Old Delhi is a maze of enigmatic small streets, havelis, and majestic mosques.

The colonial state in British India started building massive public works projects, such as railroads and canals, in the 1830s. The British parliament, military engineers, local rulers, colonial administrators, and subsequently nationalist leaders were all interested in these initiatives. In response, Indian nationalists concentrated equally on infrastructure, creating the ‘drain of wealth theory’ and claiming that British infrastructure development was a way for the British to take advantage of the Indian economy. Although they did so with hindsight and aggregated data, early historians reproduced this balance - sheet technique to assessing colonial infrastructure, focusing on the impact of railways on the colonial economy and the scope of their

expansion. The ‘age of projects’ ushered in a period focused on the built form. This constructed form became more entrenched in the 19th century as governments looked to benefit its subjects by constructing public works initiatives. Governments, the business sector, and specialists collaborated to transform thoughts of improvement into development or a shared requirement for the advancement of humanity in the 20th century. Infrastructure has been a crucial component in enabling a range of players to advance and develop societies. In other words, the constructed forms that support the colonial and postcolonial state creation of New Delhi as well as social life, economic activity, commerce, and mobility. (Ramesh and Raveendranathan, 2020)

Growth has mostly happened on the outskirts of New Delhi, where agricultural regions have grown increasingly urbanised. Between 1991 and 2011, New Delhi’s geographic area nearly doubled, with a doubling of urban families and a halving of rural housing. Over the past three decades, urban growth has also occurred in cities outside of Delhi, including Ghaziabad, Noida, and Gurugram. (Patel, 2018) The capital of India has been rapidly expanding with the Urban context, ranking among the world’s quickest. Large swathes of grasslands and croplands are being developed into roads, structures, and parking lots, drawing in an unparalleled number of new citizens. According to UN estimates, India will add 400 million more people to its urban population by 2050, making it the world’s largest urban migration over the thirty-two-year period. (USGS, 2016)

POSITIONALITY

New infrastructure development in and around New Delhi have included tunnels, highways, road, and rapid rails. The 82.15 km Delhi Meerut Regional Rapid Transit System

(RRTS) is a semi - high speed rail corridor that is currently under construction. The project, which is being managed by the National Capital Region Transport Corporation (NCRTC), will link Ghaziabad, Delhi, and Meerut which are the three of India’s largest cities. Trains will be able to travel at a maximum speed of 180 kilometre per hour once this rail track is completed, simplifying transportation. The project is expected to cost Rs 30,274 crore in total and will comprise 24 stations located between Delhi and Meerut. (Agarwal, 2023) This is India’s first modern rail system, which will make it easier for many people to move between cities. Delhi Metro and Airport Express Line are two projects which have made commute easy in the capital. (Joshi, 2023)

This is the newly constructed, four-phase Noida International Airport. It is a greenfield site. When it is finished, spanning 5,000 acres of land, this will be the largest airport in all of India. It will include two terminal buildings and provide services to 70 million passengers annually. In terms of location, it will be in Gautam Buddha Nagar, Uttar Pradesh which makes it accessible to the parts of India that are East of New Delhi. Indra Gandhi International Airport is more accessible for people who come from the country’s West side of New Delhi. All domestic and international flights to and from Noida, Western Uttar Pradesh, and Delhi NCR will be handled by the NOIDA International Airport. (ACE, 2023)

In its budget for the fiscal year 2022 - 23, the Delhi Development Authority (DDA) had set aside Rs 725 crore for the Urban Extension Road (UER). The concept was conceived about ten years ago and is referred to as Delhi’s ‘Third Ring Road.’ It is anticipated to simplify transit from the capital’s northern region to south Delhi and Indira Gandhi International Airport. DDA felt that National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) was better suited to manage a project of this

magnitude, thus it turned the project over to them making it more serious and effective. (ET Infra, 2022) The Delhi government’s Rs 78,800 crore budget for the fiscal year 2023 - 24 also involves a massive infrastructure push. In addition to a six-point action plan for cleaning the Yamuna and removing the three waste mountains in the nation’s capital within two years. A boost in tax revenue has empowered the capital expenditure for infrastructure projects such as double - decker flyovers and roads. (ET, 2023) The most recent budget also recognises the construction of new infrastructure, the improvement of 1,400 kilometres of highways, and the development of a better transport ecology. This also includes the highly anticipated construction access-controlled motorway between the capital New Delhi and financial capital Mumbai of India. An eight - lane wide expressway that is 1350 km long that will link New Delhi and Mumbai. The journey between Delhi and Mumbai will take only 12 hours instead of 24 with the completion of this project. (France-Presse, 2023) The sixlane, 1.3 - kilometre Pragati Maidan tunnel, beneath seven operational railway lines, is the first electronically controlled structure ever constructed in India. The goal is to facilitate easy and seamless access between Southeast, Central, and New Delhi through the tunnel and five underpasses. This has helped make the city’s busy routes signals free. It is anticipated that the tunnel will assist over two lakh automobiles every day. (Express, 2022)

These projects put an emphasise on how the development of infrastructure and better connectivity with other cities are making New Delhi more accessible and less jampacked.

CHALLENGES

Unprecedentedly fast population increase has led to common, urgent problems for the national capital. Reducing urban sprawl, guaranteeing safe access to city services, and addressing the real estate industries’ influence on city planning are just a few of the issues that are intrinsically related to transportation.

Over the last twenty years, New Delhi has experienced significant expansion in both its population and geographic area. The urban area of Delhi has nearly doubled during the previous 20 years. As a result, the average travel duration has increased from 8.5 kilometres to 10.4 kilometres. In the upcoming years, it is anticipated that this commuting distance would rise even more. Congestion in the streets, air pollution, an increase in greenhouse gas emissions, and poor public health have all been caused by sprawling this city and a reliance on cars. Decision - makers must figure out how to reduce the number of miles that residents must travel, for work and how dependent they are on their cars to ensure that New Delhi is both liveable and sustainable in the long run. (Pai, 2014)

Due to its protracted and severe pollution problems, New Delhi has earned the regrettable distinction of being among the world’s most polluted cities. The primary causes of Delhi’s pollution crisis are burning agricultural residue in nearby states, vehicle emissions, industrial pollution, and building dust. The city’s low-lying topography and restricted wind dispersion, pollutants get trapped in the atmosphere, making the situation worse. (Bhatt and Dholakia, 2020) This causes what is known as the ‘Delhi Smog,’ a dangerous haze that forms during the winter. Moreover, this smog is the reason behind numerous accidents and slow - moving traffic and is dangerous for health too. During the mid - 1990s, people

were breathing in the hazardous equivalent of 10 - 20 cigarettes per day due to the 1,430 tonnes of pollutants that cars emitted. The majority of vehicle pollution was produced by diesel engines that ejected poor-quality gasoline with 200 times more sulphur. Compared to persons in other parts of India, capital city dwellers had a 12 - fold higher risk of respiratory illnesses at that time. An estimated 4 million people would receive treatment for illnesses brought on by pollution each year, and 10 to 15 percent of the population would get cancer. The air is so bad that traffic cops are required to cover their lips and noses with masks. Delhi’s declining air quality has serious health effects on its citizens, leading to respiratory ailments, heart problems, and a plethora of other health concerns. When a heavy haze covered the city and its neighbouring areas in November 2019, New Delhi had to declare a public health emergency. The 999 - air quality index level was breached in most areas of the city and its surroundings, which experts said was the equivalent of smoking 40 to 50 cigarettes a day. Levels over 400 can have an impact on those who already have respiratory conditions as well as people with healthy lungs. (Peshin and Sharma, 2017)

In New Delhi, traffic conditions can sometimes be unbearably awful. Additionally, there isn’t enough space on the roads to accommodate the 11.2 million people that live in the urban areas. This population consists of 4 million motorbikes, trucks, and scooters in addition to 7 million cars, 200,000 buses, taxis, and three - wheeled auto rickshaws. Traffic gridlocks are frequent, and the number of extremely congested road segments have grown. There is a shortage of parking, and an increased level of pollution is a result of longer journey times. Traffic is backed up by the one - way roads that can commonly be seen. Old Delhi is full of winding lanes while New Delhi has a lot of broad avenues. Road construction techniques are frequently

subpar, and upkeep is insufficient which leads to numerous roads being unrepaired causing accidents. (Hays, 2020)

Increased urbanisation has resulted in urban heat island effect in New Delhi. Metropolitan areas frequently experience hotter temperatures than the surrounding forested areas. The urban heat island effect occurs when heat from man - made structures is absorbed and then radiates into the night air, raising local temperature. According to research, Delhi’s densely populated areas might experience winter temperatures that are 7 - 9°C warmer than those in less developed areas. Due to the city’s high population density and fast urbanisation, Delhi has a well - documented urban heat island (UHI) impact. Delhi’s expansion has resulted in the replacement of large tracts of open space and natural flora with concrete buildings and asphalt, which both absorb and radiate heat, raising the city’s temperature. During the sweltering summer months, when temperatures in urban areas can be considerably higher than in nearby rural areas, this effect is most noticeable. Studies have indicated that UHI in Delhi can lead to higher energy usage, more risks of heatrelated illnesses, and changes in regional weather patterns. (Reddy et al., 2018)

RECOMMENDATION

Community has a major role to play on how they want to sustain themselves in the longer run. Collective actions taken by the community can help control congestion of an urban settlement like New Delhi. Carpooling is a simple and effective step a community could take to reduce carbon emissions. By enabling passengers to ride together to a shared location, carpooling lessens the need for individual passenger vehicles. It is frequently linked to a host of positive social effects, such as: 1) lower energy use and emissions; 2) congestion mitigation;

and 3) less demand for parking facilities. Technological advancements combined with social, environmental, and economic forces should push the community to provide shared and pooled services. (Shaheen, Cohen and Bayen, 2018) Carpooling has been employed as a tactic to increase parking and road capacity while addressing a variety of environmental, climatic, and lessening congestion goals. Even though there were fewer ridesharing choices available during the pandemic, people are now searching for carpooling options to help offset growing fuel costs. The community should promote carpooling by making group chats so that people of a certain area are kept in the loop and can help decrease harmful pollutant emissions. The best solution for people to be eco - friendly and budget - friendly at the same time. (One, 2022) New Delhi has a large amount of autos which should take multiple people at a time travelling to the same place. Community can get in touch with Uber, Ola, and other taxi companies to ask for a significant price cut in a carpool ride as they already have a sharing option on their application. This would encourage people to carpool and help in lessen the traffic of the city.

Public transport and vehicles should be always promoted by the community for locals as well as tourists visiting the city. Most of the public transport in Delhi is electric and eco - friendly which will help in decreasing pollution. Public transport has multiple benefits for the community in a city which is one of the most congested in the world. Economic benefits include lower prices and easy access to places without wasting much time in traffic. Transit also reduces road congestion as there are already lanes or bridges for buses and metro respectively. Health benefits and social benefits can be seen by people walking to transit stations and increasing connection by meeting new people on these modes. (Berggren, 2015)

Community should propose that schools and offices use buses or different carpooling techniques to get people of an area collectively and decrease traffic. This would be an upfront message for younger generations to indulge and think about the environmental. Footpaths and sidewalks are some projects which the community can explore to make it safe for pedestrians. Cycling tracks could also be promoted by the community for zero carbon emission modes of transport and having rental cycle stands in place. Community will have to work closely with the authorities for certain initiatives which can help bring change in the thinking of the government. The community should raise their voice and be included on authoritative decisions as India is a democracy and respects the viewpoints of the public. Traffic violation is a massive problem in New Delhi and leads to traffic bottleneck and accidents. The community needs to be more responsible when it comes to parking their vehicles, rash driving and many more. This can be made sure by households being stricter with their children and not allowing them to venture out at odd times. Parents setting an example for their children by following traffic rules and abiding by the laws and regulations.

The positionality of the brief describes new projects and development in the national capital. Maintaining them and using these infrastructure giants responsibly should be an obligation of the community. The community should act on anyone who seems to violate law and order in New Delhi. This would help in cleaning the public transports, roads, tunnels, and other public places. Social responsibility should be talked about and followed by the community to keep their capital clean and accessible. India undergoes extreme weather conditions and by watching out for one another, New Delhi could become a much better place to live in. People need to move their houses in monsoon due to flooding of Yamuna River and some also

die due to the extreme cold and heat. If the community makes it their responsibility to be more inclusive and not have the afro pessimist approach, then it would save lives of innocent people. The road workers toil all day and night to finish the projects for the public and offering them some water or respecting them is the least a community can do. Making sure that they are paid their wages and not abused by the contractors for over - working would help the low - income people of the city. Every locality in the city should have a local body making sure that their area or society is kept tidy. ‘Charity begins at home’ should be the attitude and then it would spread to the whole community which is working to make New Delhi more liveable. Planting trees on road dividers in the area where people live would be a great initiative which a local body could take up to decrease pollution and breathe in fresh air. Open gyms inside most parks which have could be funded by a society has also helped decrease emissions as people do not have to travel for physical workouts.

The infrastructure development is meant to dissolve congestion in the national capital, hence new schools, hospitals, and other amenities should be opened around New Delhi. This is something a community can raise and make applicable to reduce over - population in the city after having a well - built connectivity in the national capital region. Community should understand and advice each other to consider living outside the capital as the facilities are the same and might be better for the standard of living and more cost efficient. Tourists and people who visit New Delhi must be made aware of all the recommendations by using billboards or through radios. Locals could also encourage their relatives who come to New Delhi to stay with them. It could reduce carbon emissions and they could share vehicles and amenities at their relatives by having a local beside them. This would be more cost effective and

bring people closer having an economic as well as a social benefit.

CONCLUSION

This community brief has highlighted the urbanization of New Delhi and how it affects tourists, locals and the people living in national capital region. Background of New Delhi has helped people understand how it has developed over time and what colonial affects it has had on the city. The positionality of new projects in the region which makes it more accessible for everyone. Challenges of air pollution, traffic bottleneck, and urban sprawl being faced by the capital which has made it tough for people to survive in the long term. The community recommendations of carpooling, use of public transports and maintenance of infrastructure projects which could help break down the congestion in New Delhi would help sustain this city for centuries.

REFERENCES

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SOCIAL INCLUSION

288 Introduction

Nora Krogsgaard, Laura De Laguiche and Wallis Brune

290 San Antonio, Venezuela

Michelle Becerra De San Cristobal

299 Brasilandia, Brazil

Laura De Laguiche

309 Vancouver, Canada

Abbie Darroch

317 Queens, New York, USA

Will Morris

325 Ordsall, England

Lydia Allen

334 Chicago, Illinois, USA

Rory Kopplin

342 Copenhagen, Denmark

Nora Krogsgaard

350 Cape Town, South Africa

Emma Wainwright

361 San Francisco, California, USA

Olivia Huseman

369 New York City, New York, USA

Wallis Brune

377 Glasgow, Scotland

Sophie Swift

386 Glasgow, Scotland

Rebecca Mitchell

393 Leith, Scotland

Angus Mather

401 Hartford, Connecticut, USA

Hannah Stewart

411 Hong Kong, China

Mili McCoy

418 Bridgeport, Connecticut, USA

Verity Blackburn

Introduction

By Nora Krogsgaard, Laura De Laguiche and Wallis Brune

Social inclusion, a complex phenomenon, reveals itself through diverse perspectives. In some instances, the lack of social inclusion, and therefore social exclusion, introduces additional challenges to a community while also amplifying pre-existing disparities. This predicament is not novel, as underscored by Bledsoe and Wright (2018), who emphasize the importance of considering historical context for a comprehensive understanding of these challenges. The subsequent reports in this section illustrate analogous disparities in social inclusion through the pursuit of sustainable urban development across various identity lines.

In all cases, historical inequities and forces of systemic exclusion play out in a temporal cycle of present oppression that informs future inequality. This cycle contributes to a self-reinforcing, double feedback loop, locking marginalized communities into a trap of perpetual exclusion. The community reports in this section address and elucidate the diverse manifestations of these issues. Recognizing the diverse analyses in the subsequent sections, we underscore the pivotal roles played by time, space, and geopolitical context in shaping our recommendations for addressing the challenges faced by our chosen communities. This chapter is therefore split into three subsections allowing for in-depth analysis of the copious urban challenges following social exclusion.

Migration and mobility

Migration is often viewed as a threat to sustainability, rather than a facilitator of it. It is critical to ensure minority communities are not perceived as unworthy of sustainability, inclusion, and justice. Migrant communities continuously face unique implications due to improper governance, compromising security and hindering social inclusion. Due to a lack of resources and legislative support, these communities are often overlooked, deliberately marginalized, and excluded. This collection of community reports explores global manifestations of these challenges, delving into ongoing community issues, constraints faced, and potential recommendations. Reports from San Antonio del Tachira, Hong Kong, and Copenhagen exemplify the universal nature of this issue.

Peripheries and access to the urban

To examine challenges to social inclusion it is necessary to highlight communities that have been made invisible through historical processes of segregation that are inherent in systems of urbanization. These ‘othered’ peripheral communities face political, economic, social, and welfare marginalization ingrained in the fabric of social urban injustice. Vicious cycles of vulnerability and insecurity are perpetrated against these communities by unconcerned governmental systems. Referencing the philosopher Thrasymachus, it is said, “justice is shaped by the ruling class.” Following this notion and Henri Lefebvre’s concept of the right to city (1968), this section argues that peripheral communities have been denied access to the constitutive benefits of urban living. Therefore, we must elucidate these struggles and

endeavour to restore the agency of these communities within their cities. This compilation of reports uses examples from São Paulo, Cape Town, Kosice, Hartford, and Salford to illustrate how these implications are present in both the Global North and South.

Safety and social wellbeing

Equitable safety and well-being are crucial for fostering social inclusion within the urban and beyond, encompassing access to mental and physical health services, affordable nourishing food, and equal rights. Despite being disproportionately affected, many marginalized groups lack representation in policy. Disparities in healthcare, violence, and education are intricately linked to barriers reinforced by stigma, racism, and colonialism, hindering both physical and mental well-being. To address these challenges, sustainable solutions must be both communitydriven and policy-based, empowering silenced and marginalized voices with equitable rights to the city. Social exclusion is a pervasive global issue, and this section of the report examines instances from Paris, Leeds, Vancouver, and Glasgow to illustrate the multifaceted nature of the problem.and communities of color.

The Colombo-Venezuelan border: a magnet for the social exclusion of younger generations in the San Antonio Community

Michelle Becerra De San Cristobal

INTRODUCTION TO VENEZUELA’S BACKGROUND: INDEPENDENCE FROM THE SPANISH CROWN AND ITS GEOPOLITICAL HISTORY

Venezuela, located in the north of South America, was once a land conquered by The Spaniards. The country fought for its independence from The Spanish Crown between 1813-1823, and it was not until 9 October 1823 that Venezuela was liberated by Simon Bolivar from the ultimate Spanish royalist forces (Britannica, n.d.). During the independence war period, an alliance named “La Gran Colombia” (The Great Colombia) was created in 1819, constituted by Colombia, Venezuela, Ecuador, and Panama; these “revolutionary forces” were led by Simon Bolivar (Britannica, 2023) and served as a powerful united nation. However, Venezuela was driven by military rivalry and regional conflicts to exit La Gran Colombia, which led to the creation of a new national constitution that granted Venezuela its desire to become a sovereign nation in 1830 (see Britannica, 2023). Ever since, Venezuela has experienced a number of transitions, ranging from autocratic

regimes to its most democratic era in the 1960s and 70s, and most recently to Chavismo and Madurismo. The latter regimes have unfortunately led to a failed socio-economic state that is driving mass migrations out of Venezuela due to a degradation in the health care sector, hyperinflation, food scarcity, lack of a proper education, shortages of labor opportunities and increased crime. (See appendix 1 – Venezuela’s inflation trend).

This community briefing report closely looks at San Antonio del Tachira, positioned on the west of Venezuela and adjacent to the North Santander region of Colombia. This location of interest is the Colombo-Venezuelan border; one of the key border crossing points through which a significant proportion of migration has taken place. (See appendix 2 – Geographical location of San Antonio). San Antonio city, Venezuela, and the Colombian border city of Cucuta are interconnected by the Simon Bolivar International Bridge, which is a crucial crossing point between the two nations. San Antonio is therefore an essential gateway for Venezuelans who want to emigrate to Colombia and further afield as they can do so by foot. I used to live in

the Tachira State (city of San Cristobal), so I have been a witness of the border dynamics that go on in this area because I have crossed this border by foot several times. Hence, this report is written by an insider who can address the social exclusion struggles and challenges faced by young people in the San Antonio community.

MIGRATION DYNAMICS (50 YEARS AGO TO THE PRESENT DAY)

Venezuela was, and remains, a resourcesrich (oil, minerals) country. It was once sustained by a stable economy and filled with opportunities that enabled economic and personal growth. It also ranked as one of the richest developing nations in the world, so Venezuela had a net in-flow of migration. Therefore, citizens rarely left their country as there was no perceived need to look for a better quality of life elsewhere. However, the levels of economic poverty had been high for a long time before the mass exodus begun. For this reason, the root exclusion cause arises from the large population of Venezuelans who lived in poverty and were promised more access to resources as of 1998, which is when President Chavez was elected (Reid, 2023). In an attempt to ease the exclusion of the poor by reforming the economy to mitigate poverty, the actions taken by the communist-totalitarian regime of Venezuela have over the long term only caused more resentment within these communities towards the wealthier part of the population and increased the inequality gap in the whole country. Consequently, corruption, lack of governance, the destruction of the economic apparatus and rising exclusion of the poor led Venezuela to become a failed state. The ColomboVenezuelan border closure in 2015 (The Guardian, 2015) marked the beginning of the migratory phenomenon, and it aggravated the exclusion problem on the border. The San Antonio del Tachira community has thus

suffered the consequences of corruption and extra-legal border crossing that is enforced by paramilitary groups, drug trafficking, human contraband, and child prostitution (see Mantilla, 2019).

THE COMMUNITY CHALLENGE

The challenge explored lies in the hotspot of San Antonio del Tachira-North Santander region, where a significant number of migrants have decided to stay put and are over stressing the social services and labor markets leading to increased crime, contraband, prostitution, and bribery. That being the case, this community briefing aims to address the exclusion caused by the ongoing situation of mass migration that has been unleashed on the border between Venezuela and Colombia in the last 10 years but that had already been happening for 20 years. The report outlines the various problems the socially excluded community of Venezuelan citizens who live in the city of San Antonio del Tachira (Venezuela) face. Community members cross over to Cucuta daily to look for schooling, employment, food, and healthcare. Furthermore, the report focuses on the effects that migration has had on younger generations as they are vulnerable groups of people who are constantly exposed to crime and corruption, thus facing lack of opportunity for personal growth. Finally, it shall propose some recommendations for the community to undertake which are founded by the purpose of reducing the exclusion caused by inaction from the Venezuelan regime.

EMERGENCE OF MIGRATION AND SOCIAL EXCLUSION IN SAN ANTONIO

In the last 20 years, the socio-economic hit that Venezuela took has resulted in key community role players, such as doctors, nurses, teachers, and many other

professionals, fleeing the country. This outflow of migration has been greatly detrimental to the country because as of now “Venezuela continues to face one of the largest external displacement crises, with over 7.7 million Venezuelans now residing abroad” (Reid, 2023). Moreover, Pelacani & Moreno (2023, p.499), portray the exodus as “the biggest movement of immigrants at a regional and even the second biggest movement, worldwide”; second to Syria, this constitutes one of the largest, and possibly the least reported mass migrations of all times. For instance, Latin America alone hosts “the vast majority of Venezuelans, with Colombia accounting for some 1.3 million, followed by Peru, with 768,000, Chile 288,000, Ecuador 263,000, Brazil 168,000, and Argentina 130,000” (UNHCR, 2019). This outflow has exacerbated social exclusion of young people as, on the one hand, many teachers have given up their teaching careers in schools and universities, thereby creating a ruptured education system. On the other hand, the ability of those living in poverty to access healthcare has reduced as social services collapsed. In addition, with rapidly rising migration rates and the high exodus of people crossing the Colombo-Venezuelan border in desperation, the city of San Antonio became seriously destabilised due to the radical closing of the border that brought about recurring illegal crossings through “clandestine paths” referred to as trochas (Mantilla, 2019). Some of these crossings are found under and around the Simon Bolivar International Bridge, thus they facilitate the operations of “extra-legal groups such as Colombian guerrillas, former paramilitaries, and Venezuelan gangs like La Linea to further engage in human smuggling” (Mantilla, 2019). Trochas allow criminal groups to manage and control these paths by giving them a higher authority over both Venezuela’s and Colombia’s state army.

Well known paramilitary groups that are found on the Tachira-North Santander region border are the “Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias de Colombia” (FARC), which are the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, and the “Ejercito de Liberacion Nacional” (ELN) being the Army of National Liberation (see Insight Crime Report, 2022). These can be understood as Extra-legal Governance Organisations (EGOs) because they promote political corruption and enforce crimes against human rights (Fazekas et al., 2021). It is then relevant to reference these organisations because the border has effectively been under their direct management. These EGOs abet illegal migration into and out of Colombia and Venezuela at the expense of money and goods payments from the people in San Antonio and Cucuta (bribery), and the recruitment of young people to partake in paramilitary networks. For instance, an official local council member of the Tachira State said that paramilitary groups’ strategy on the border was to begin with “recruiting youths aged 15 to 20 years old” to train “them like the famous colectivos. These groups are now the guerrillas’ first line of action” (Insight Crime Report, 2022) – colectivos are carefully and strategically trained groups of civilians that commit crime on behalf of the Venezuelan government. This shows that younger generations are a clear and easy target, which puts them at high risk of being recruited by paramilitary groups as these organisations pray on their state of need and vulnerability. Moreover, the burdens on the people of San Antonio are often reinforced by the psychological impact that is caused on the communities living in very close proximity to the border. This is supported by the claim of another local political leader which stated that “living in the border is not easy. It means sleeping with one eye open, being aware that from one moment to the next you could fall victim to a bullet or a shootout that has nothing to do with you” (Insight Crime Report, 2022).

As a result of illegal border crossing and the lack of legitimate governance and migratory controls, “pendular migrants” (citizens who cross the border on a daily basis and perhaps stay on the other side of the border on a temporary basis), in particular younger generations, may be even more vulnerable to violence, increased exposure to diseases, forced prostitution and mental health trauma (R4V, 2022, cited in CorreaSalazar et al., 2023, p.177). This is because the enforcement of movement policies has been restricted by the closure of the border, which consequently has undermined the protection of migrants as human rights continue to be violated. Therefore, the humanitarian crisis observed in Venezuela is compounded by the power that paramilitary groups have over border control, and both indeed “create physical, social, economic, and policy risk environments for already vulnerable migrants” (R4V, 2022, cited in Correa-Salazar et al., 2023, p.177) as well as for the young people of San Antonio. The research conducted by Correa-Salazar et al (2023, p.183) reports that a teenage girl who participated in their work communicated that she was “forced to engage in transactional sex with older men” to help her family economically. This has led such “sex dynamics and trafficking” to become normalised in neighbouring communities, such as in Cucuta city, where a large proportion of pendular migrants tend to settle.

Cucuta is just across the border and other Colombian cities are relatively close to Venezuela, so mass uncontrolled migration flow has created a risk environment in Colombia that is gradually “reinforced by economic hardship, poverty, gender roles, and lack of legal migration status” (CorreaSalazar et al., 2023, p.186). La Parada in Cucuta, which is the name of the area on the Colombian side of the border, “is considered by law enforcement a crime-ridden slum”

(Mantilla, 2019). This is because of the border dynamics that have been previously mentioned, therefore many people who cross over to Colombia tend to remain in this area which attracts criminals from both countries. And with crime rates potentially intensified by the exodus, Venezuelans who reside, work, or study in Colombia have been deeply stigmatised, hence the Venezuelan community struggles with xenophobia in its neighbouring country. This also affects people from San Antonio as they cross the border on a daily basis. However, Colombia has put a lot of effort into promoting measures that enhance inclusion and aid the settling of Venezuelans. For instance, some policies have been amended to facilitate employability in Colombia; since 2021, expired Venezuelan passports for almost a lapse of 10 years were widely accepted (Pelacani & Moreno, 2023) thus reducing paperwork hassle. In Cucuta, a communityled “soup kitchen” was established on the border, led by a church and its volunteers with the support of United Nations bodies, to provide Venezuelans who cross the border with hot food (Mantilla, 2019). Lastly, Venezuelans were granted relatively easy access to health care, such as COVID-19 vaccinations during the pandemic, as people could cross the border to get vaccinated on the other side – A few of my own family members had the opportunity to get vaccinated in Cucuta.

PROPOSED RECOMMENDATIONS FOR THE COMMUNITY

The following measures are proposed to reduce the social exclusion of Venezuelans from San Antonio caused by inaction from the Venezuelan regime and shall suggest how to maximise the social inclusion of Venezuelans, particularly pendular migrants, in the host Colombian country.

WHAT CAN THE LOCAL COUNCIL AND COMMUNITY OF CUCUTA DO? (COLOMBIA)

Due to the huge effect that hyperinflation and food scarcity has had in Venezuelans’ nutrition, Cucuta should continue to enforce initiatives like the soup kitchen and thus encourage more of its community members to volunteer in helping out migrants from Venezuela who cross the border looking to alleviate hunger. Most importantly, the community of Cucuta should ensure that non-governmental organisations like the Red Cross and United Nations are also supporting these initiatives by potentially making these organisations sponsors of their good cause. On the other hand, the Local Council of Cucuta and associated mayors should monitor their policies that cover migration in order to: provide straightforward homologation of studies in the area and facilitate the access of Venezuela’s young people to education and Colombia’s labor market. Moreover, the community should work together to improve the inclusion of migrants by reducing xenophobic behaviours against Venezuelans and speaking up for those being harassed.

SUGGESTIONS FOR PROMOTING SOCIAL INCLUSION IN SAN ANTONIO (VENEZUELA)

Many of the Venezuelans who live in San Antonio may be ignorant of their citizen rights. They unconsciously accept the oppression from the Venezuelan regime and give up on the pursual of human rights, thus slowly becoming impotent towards the multiple situations presented in front of them and the associated consequences. However, in most cases there is no other option than to follow the government’s radical policies. I would like to propose that the Local Council of the State of Tachira must focus on ensuring that people who live on the border in San Antonio are given a voice, perhaps through

town halls led by council leaders of the state, and so are carefully considered when making decisions that concern border closures. Even though this can be quite challenging since the whole country is governed by corrupt and communist-totalitarian rulers, I truly believe that a community can come together to form a strong alliance, similar to what La Gran Colombia once was but at a level of the Colombo-Venezuelan border, through the establishment of an action programme that integrates both sides of the border. This can indeed empower citizens of San Antonio and allow them to find the confidence that is necessary to speak up and make sure that their voices are heard. In addition, community members should pressure the state council to pursue more help from powerful and accountable nongovernmental organisations, like the United Nations, to bring humanitarian aid points into Venezuela, and most importantly into San Antonio. As Correa-Salazar et al (2023, p.186) argue, “organizations acting in the community level through outreach, community engagement, peer leaderships, and social institutions like churches or community dining places (where migrants are provided meals)” are key role players in reducing, or even deterring, attempts of physical violence and extortion in San Antonio.

Increased awareness towards well-off Venezuelans around San Antonio should be promoted through accurate social media channels and unbiased news channels. This is to make them more aware of the excluded community on the border and thus create incentives to help other people in the area. This could involve opening local businesses like canteens that provide food services for people in need, or bringing meals that are easily prepared to nurseries or schools. Additionally, since food scarcity in Venezuela has brought about drastic changes in peoples’ diets, Venezuelan farm owners can use agricultural practices and knowledge to harvest crops that have been in high

demand across the whole country, in order to improve food availability and provide those people who cannot afford expensive foods with vegetables, fruits and sources of protein. This would add to community empowerment by reducing citizens’ reliance on conventional supermarket stock availability. (See appendix 3 – Food consumption changes in Venezuela).

In recent years, job opportunities that do not require people to have a degree in higher education have become increasingly available. I consider people in San Antonio to be more than capable of finding opportunities to work and earning some money in different ways. For example: art crafts, such as making jewellery, baking, cooking, or event planning workshops possibly directed by members from around San Antonio. This incentive can provide work experience that will allow young people, as well as older generations, to establish at least a minimum income. Earning money in this way may not be enough to make a living but at least it grants community members the right to work and to personal development.

Ultimately, the community as a whole should ensure that young people are protected from crime exposure. I suggest that a potential action for the community of San Antonio can be to seek for nano finance plans as these provide money borrowing to individuals, either small or large money sums, for investing in social enterprises in the city and for personal use (Bills, 2018). Through this version of microfinance, “more possibilities for reaching the underserved” are available and, considering that nano finance offers service plans that are easily modified, the technology used for these services sets up a “new communication channel that drives long-term adoption” (Bills, 2018). This can not only promote poverty eradication, but also may encourage and incentivise young people to look for courses in Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) or even empower older generations to establish

counselling programs (see UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs Survey, 2013) to help younger generations find education opportunities, such as apprenticeship programs that teach courses from how to harvest different crops (agriculture) to perhaps management accounting (budgeting). This could mean that young people are more likely to stay away from being recruited to work in paramilitary groups. Community-led support groups could be promoted to also help and mentor teenagers who have been victims of physical violence and who now struggle with trauma.

CONCLUSION

The wide variety of challenges faced by the community of San Antonio, particularly the younger generations, not only at a local level but also on the other side of the border, clearly show how social exclusion is a result of collateral damage caused by the lack of action from the highly autocratic and corrupt Venezuelan regime. Social exclusion has become a serious problem in the San Antonio del Tachira-North Santander region because of the alarming and devastating number of Venezuelans crossing the ColomboVenezuelan border, which consequently brought distress and chaos in San Antonio. Young people and their families cross the border not just for the purpose of migrating but also to be able to find food, medicine, and access to healthcare services. Sadly, these are basic needs that are nowadays difficult to access in Venezuela. The exodus of professionals (doctors, nurses) and education advocators meant that access to social and educational services became almost impossible to obtain as hospitals and schools have entered a state of near collapse. Furthermore, I would like to stress that the biggest impact of all, in my opinion, has been the emergence of a degraded education system that little by little continues to deteriorate even further. I left the country when pupils and university students were

only beginning to notice the consequences of the failed education system, and now I can see the aftermath reflected upon my own childhood friends who went to school with me back in Venezuela.

On a positive note, the government of Colombia has indeed been an important partner in providing Venezuelan migrants with humanitarian aid – the support that San Antonio citizens were desperately looking for. It could therefore be argued that, until today, the strong ties created by La Gran Colombia between its country members have remained somehow hidden but favourable to Venezuela, as demonstrated by how neighbouring countries have responded to the exodus, in particular Colombia. I believe that if the community of San Antonio is to thrive and get back up on its feet, they should fight to prevent the control of the communist machine. (See appendix 4 – Picture taken by my dad in Venezuela).

REFERENCES

Britannica (n.d.) The independence movement [online]. Available at: https://www.britannica.com/place/Venezuela/The-independence-movement (Accessed 20 October 2023).

Britannica (2023) Gran Colombia [online]. Available at: https://www.britannica.com/place/Gran-Colombia (Accessed 20 October 2023).

BBC News (2019) ‘Venezuela: All you need to know about the crisis in nine charts’, BBC News, 4 February [online]. Available at: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/ world-latin-america-46999668 (Accessed 22 October 2023).

Bills, R. (2018) World Economic Forum [online]. Available at: https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2018/02/moveover-microfinance-here-s-why-the-future-of-development-is-in-nanofinance/ (Accessed 25 October 2023).

Correa-Salazar, C., Page, K., Martinez-Donate, A. (2023) ‘The Migration Risk Environment: Challenges to Human Security for Venezuelan Migrant and Refugee Women and Girls Pre- and Post-Migration to Colombia’, Journal on Migration and Human Security, vol.11, no.2, pp. 175-193 [online]. Available at: https:// www-scopus-com.ezproxy.st-andrews.ac.uk/record/

display.uri?eid=2-s2.0-85165435858&origin=resultslist&sort=plf-f&src=s&sid=502d2effc8c893b2f8ddff6454e8ef25&sot=b&sdt=b (Accessed 11 October 2023).

Fazekas, M., Sberna, S., Vannucci, A. (2021) ‘The extra-legal governance of corruption: Tracing the organization of corruption in public procurement’, Governance, vol.35, no.4, pp.1139-1161 [online]. Available at: https:// onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/gove.12648 (Accessed 11 October 2023).

Insight Crime Report (2022) The Colombo-Venezuelan Guerrillas: How Colombia’s War Migrated to Venezuela [online]. Available at: https://insightcrime.org/wp-content/ uploads/2022/10/The-Colombo-Venezuelan-Guerrillas-How-Colombias-War-Migrated-to-Venezuela-InSight-Crime-Oct-2022.pdf (Accessed 4 October 2023).

Mantilla, J. (2019) Law Faculty Website [online]. Available at: https://blogs.law.ox.ac.uk/research-subject-groups/ centre-criminology/centreborder-criminologies/ blog/2019/12/border-control (Accessed 4 October 2023).

Pelacani, G., Moreno, C. (2023) ‘The Response of the Colombian State to Venezuelan Migration: Migratory Regularization to the Detriment of Asylum’, Derecho PUCP, vol.90, pp. 497-522 [online]. Available at: https:// www-scopus-com.ezproxy.st-andrews.ac.uk/record/ display.uri?eid=2-s2.0-85167460267&origin=resultslist&sort=plf-f&src=s&sid=502d2effc8c893b2f8ddff6454e8ef25&sot=b&sdt=b&s=TITLE-ABS-KEY%28venezuela+migration%29&sl=41&sessionSearchId=502d2effc8c893b2f8ddff6454e8ef25 (Accessed 11 October 2023).

Reid, K. (2023) World Vision [online]. Available at: https://www.worldvision.org/disaster-relief-news-stories/venezuela-crisis-facts (Accessed 23 October 2023).

The Economist (2009) ‘Politics versus trade’, The Economist, 10 September [online]. Available at: https://www. economist.com/the-americas/2009/09/10/politics-versus-trade (Accessed 22 October 2023).

The Guardian (2015) ‘Venezuela closes key crossing with Colombia after three soldiers shot’, The Guardian, 20 August [online]. Available at: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/aug/20/venezuela-maduro-colombia-border (Accessed 21 October 2023).

UNHCR (2019) UNHCR, The UN Refugee Agency [online]. Available at: https://www.unhcr.org/news/news-releases/refugees-and-migrants-venezuela-top-4-million-unhcr-and-iom (Accessed 4 October 2023).

United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs (2013) Online survey on promoting empowerment of people in achieving poverty eradication, social integration and decent work for all [online], New York, UN. Available at: https://digitallibrary.un.org/record/3868800?ln=es (Accessed 25 October 2023).

APPENDIX 2

Source: Bloomberg (n.d.) cited in BBC news (2019)

Source: The Economist (2009)

APPENDIX 4

Source: Bengoa-Enconvi (2017) cited in BBC news (2019)

“For the machine to work, your ignorance is needed” (Source: picture taken by Briceno-Sanchez, 2023)

Achieving food security and sovereignty in Brasilândia, peripheries also deserve good food

Laura De Laguiche

INTRODUCTION

I have lived in Brazil for most of my formative life where inequalities were blatant and part of my quotidian. It is gripping growing up in a place where the huge gaps between groups of society are so common and yet unsettling for most people observing it. Hunger is perhaps one of the injustices that reflects the country’s social divide the most. I would like to rewrite this famous quote from Brazilian scholar Josué de Castro (1946) and perhaps add its message to the context of why I personally am concerned with this topic.

“Half of Brazil does not sleep because it is hungry, and the other sleeps worrying about those who are hungry”.

I come from a privileged background in Brazil. I lived in the centre of my city where issues of access were never a concern. Nevertheless, this is still something I am passionate about and feel connected to. Although I am aware that my investigation is purely theoretical, paling in comparison to the insights you’ve garnered through years of practical experience and daily confrontations with

these matters. I have studied food insecurity in the Brazilian context in depth and this is my humble attempt to communicate what I have learnt.

This report is addressed to Brasilândia. A community in the northern region of São Paulo, Brazil’s largest city. I will contextualise the issue in the country’s economic and social settings and perhaps shine a light on the scale to which food insecurity is felt by the Brazilian population. Furthermore, I will talk about the urban geography of São Paulo’s periphery and link it to the problem of food deserts and swamps which represent a great difficulty of access and right to the city of its inhabitants. By framing Brasilândia within this context, I will be able to better address the issue of food insecurity and propose relevant answers to the unjust reality of the community.

Finally, I will offer potential solutions, drawing inspiration from the resilience shown by other communities. By focusing on the positive impact of local food production, restructuring supply chains, and addressing

food habits and waste, I will show how the community can attain food sovereignty. My role as a bridge between Brasilândia and these communities is meant to encourage you to examine your own circumstances in a similar light.

THE CONTEXT – BRAZIL, A COUNTRY THAT CLAIMS TO FEED THE WORLD BUT CAN’T FEED ITSELF

Five years after proudly celebrating the achievement of being removed from the UN Hunger Map in 2014, Brazil, unfortunately saw itself back on it since 2019 (FAO, 2023). This is partly attributed to the change in the country’s export strategy and focus under a new government. Additionally, Brazil faced significant setbacks from the pandemic, which starkly underscored the deep-seated inequalities within the country, and highlighted troubles of food insecurity. Today, 30.7% of the Brazilian population lives in moderate or serious food insecurity (PESSAN 2022, p.36). This is equivalent to approximately 60 million people.

According to the Brazilian Food Insecurity Scale (Ministério do Desenvolvimento Social e Combate à Fome, 2014), moderate food insecurity consists of changes in adults’ eating patterns where there is restriction in quantity. Moreover, severe food insecurity is characterized by a break in the usual eating patterns which restrict the quality and quantity of food of the whole family – this may also encompass experiences of hunger.

Hunger is a merciless injustice in Brazil. It prompts us to think of the self-reinforcing cycle that traps marginalized communities into such vulnerable places. Enforcing principles of citizenship, accessibility, and solidarity is key for disrupting this pattern which seems to be cemented into the Brazilian order (PESSAN, 2022, p.9).

Brazil takes pride in being a major global exporter of vital agricultural commodities such as soy and corn (Delgado N. and Zimmerman S., 2022). However, the regrettable truth is that a substantial portion of their agricultural efforts is directed towards export rather than domestic consumption. This has led Brazilians to rely significantly on imported food items for their sustenance. To ensure the competitiveness of these exports, the Brazilian Real remains consistently devalued (Costa M. 2022; Peres J., 2022).

Additionally, Brazil’s current frame results in small-scale producers to be discouraged to continue because of the high barriers to the market. Their reliance on longer supply chains and the lack of support from the government makes it difficult for such produce to be a reliable option for small farmers who usually end up turning to soy (Duarte A. et al., 2020). Consequently, staple elements of the Brazilian diet, including rice, beans, manioc, coffee, and vegetables, continue to experience significant levels of inflation.

How can a country which prides itself on feeding the world justify such high levels of food insecurity?

WHEN URBAN GEOGRAPHY BECOMES AN OBSTACLE FOR A HEALTHY DIET

The lack of access to in natura (minimally processed) food by peripheral neighbourhoods is one of the components constructing the rigid wall isolating the outskirts from its city. Looking into this, Duran (2013) and Borges C. (2018) observed that areas scoring badly in social indicators such as education and wellbeing have limited access to good quality food. Showing that it is not only a question of food; it’s a broader struggle for a good quality of life.

The PESSAN 2022 report states that 15% of the urban population in Brazil experiences severe food insecurity (p.37). It is safe to

infer that most of the difficulty is felt by the marginalized populations and that the cityscape only emphasises this barrier. The issue of insecurity has become pressing, Guilherme Simões from the National Secretariat of Peripheries reports that there have been more than 2000 new initiatives to fight against hunger since the pandemic (IBGE, 2023). I argue that there is an important link to be made between Brazil’s urban expansion and the reinforcement of inequalities by the geography of cities.

Latin America’s informal and social production of urban spaces is a distinctive characteristic (Fernandes, 2007, p.203). The informal has had the connotation of disorganized or inferior, but in this context, it is perhaps more subtle than this. Pongeluppe (2022, p.2780) describes “the favela effect” as a phenomenon through which spatial inequalities reinforce and perpetuate socioeconomic disparities by separating what is formal and what is informal – what a city is or is not, who is hungry and who is not.

Henri Lefebvre’s (1968) concept of the right to the city together with Via Campesina’s (1996) understanding of food sovereignty are good lenses through which we can examine this phenomenon. Understanding that the issues of access are fundamentally connected to social justice and the design of food systems is essential. Having the city as a right also means being autonomous and able to sustain yourself independently of your location within the urban area. Food deserts are places where access to in natura foods is scarce or impossible. Similarly, food swamps are areas where the sale low-nutrient products predominate (Alimentando Políticas, 2018, p.1). In both scenarios, people are forced to travel long distances to secure healthy food. This is the unfortunate reality of many people living it São Paulo’s peripheries. Its urban sprawl to peripheral areas started in the 1970s (Alves

H. and Ojima R., 2013, p.119). The growth of peripheries also meant the consolidation of its limited access to essential infrastructure such as food systems. Considering this background, food deserts, represent a violation of Brazilian’s right to the city and sovereignty, as they disproportionately affect marginalized communities, perpetuating social injustices. It is therefore clear that the unequal geography of urban spaces in Brazil exacerbates social inequalities, particularly in the context of food access. The concept of “food deserts” and the struggle for the right to the city underscore the pressing need to confront these disparities in pursuit of social justice and the establishment of healthier and more inclusive urban environments.

BRASILÂNDIA, NORTH OF SÃO PAULO

Vila Brasilândia is in the northern zone of São Paulo and falls under the jurisdiction of the Subprefecture of ‘Freguesia do Ó’ This neighbourhood is among the 1,747 favelas in the city of São Paulo (SP2, 2023). It’s estimated area is covers 21,0 km², with a population of approximately 264 thousand residents (Prefeitura de São Paulo, 2023).

Like many other peripheric communities in Brazil, the forming of these neighbourhoods is a fusion of individuals from diverse backgrounds, all drawn together by the allure of the city’s opportunities. Based on a documentary featuring community members (Brasilândia, 2013) the origins of Brasilândia are traced back from the conversion of cane sugar farms into informal residential centres the 1930s. Brasilândia is named after Basílio Simões who, at the time, led the community to build the Church of Santo Antonio.

Brasilândia experienced sizeable changes after the 1940s when the neighbourhood witnessed a significant influx of migrants. These migrants included individuals from

the northeast of the country who were escaping drought in their home states, families from the interior of the state seeking opportunities in the capital, and a significant number of Europeans and Japanese seeking refuge from the war and a fresh start in the Americas.

Since then, Brasilândia expanded in a predominantly hasty manner. Consequently, obstacles to accessing city services such as electricity, healthcare, transport, and food suppliers. The community’s right to the city turned frail as inequalities and vulnerability became increasingly evident. The lack of recognition by the inner city became more patent when the Covid-19 affected peripheral communities disproportionately. People in the densely populated favelas did not have the “privilege” of self-isolation, most had to continue working, living from one paycheck to the next. This necessity, coupled with the additional burden of long commutes to access food, work, and health centres rendered their circumstances nearly intolerable. The Brasilândia district reported the biggest number of covid-related deaths in the city of São Paulo (Nicolav S., 2020). Severe food insecurity increased drastically which led the Brasilândia to join fifteen other communities from the periphery in a march against hunger in 2021 (Folha Noroeste, 2021).

Residents of the neighbourhood have created supportive initiatives to help one another in these difficult times. ‘Vó Tutu’s’ (Grandma Tutu) institute (Instituto Ações Sociais da vó Tutu, 2023) is an organization that exemplifies resilience and solidarity. She distributes approximately two thousand breads daily to residents who wait in line to be served by volunteers. Most of these people lost their jobs recently and have struggled greatly to feed themselves and their families. These breads are made by Grandma Tutu, her family and other community members every day of the week. She became viral

on social media during the pandemic and was able to turn her proactiveness into the far-reaching institute she has today. Other groups or organizations in Brasilândia such as “Coletivo Mulheres da Noroeste” who usually do not focus on food insecurity have turned their attention to this pressing issue and engaged in collections of basic baskets of goods and supporting mothers in the community (Gatti T., 2022).

These efforts are mainly led by women, who have proven to be key players in the fight for sovereignty. We must keep in mind that they are the most compromised by food insecurity in the country (PESSAN, 2023, p.45). Vivas (2012) argues that in order to challenge the prevailing agro-industrial model, a feminist stance must be incorporated to disrupt the current trapping framework. Although the solutions in the next section do not address gender disparities directly, I believe they could all benefit from a feminist attitude, because of the profound impact such approach could have on food security and the inequalities intertwined with this problem. This is not only important for Brasilândia as a community but could serve as an example for the whole country.

SOLUTIONS

Produce your own food locally

My initial suggestion for Brasilândia is for the community to unite and participate in efforts that promote local food production within the periphery. Given the unfair persistence of food deserts and swamps in the area (CAISAN, 2018), the community can take the reins in matters like community gardens and centres to attain food justice and sovereignty on their own terms. Gottlieb & Joshi (2010) define food justice as a way to disrupt the status quo reigning over food systems by engaging in social activism. In our context, this advocacy from community-led projects is a way for

Brasilândia to achieve food sovereignty and regain its right to the city (Datta R., 2021) by challenging the city geography. I will use examples from the “Morro das Pedras” community in Belo Horizonte, and the Paraisópolis favela in the south of São Paulo to illustrate the benefits of urban farming for peripheral communities.

Residents of Morro das Pedras agglomerate in western Belo Horizonte introduced a community garden project called “Morro Verde” to make use of its unused spaces in 2017 (Mendonça R. et al., 2020, p.225). The community garden not only thrived as a symbol of resilience but also created a positive atmosphere in the community which started to engage in new projects such as a yoga centre. Bringing production and consumption closer together, stimulates exchange and criticizes the city’s traditional production format, resuming the possibility of collective spatial production (Passos, 2023, p.135). Such initiatives can show communities how to cope with the multifaceted challenges posed by poverty and limited access by enforcing principles of citizenship. Not only does it serve to address pressing economic and resource constraints, but it also creates a platform for residents to harness their inherent strengths and unite in common purpose as proposed by the food justice theory. This could give Brasilândia a sense of freedom and independence which is not given by the traditional system.

Similarly, Paraisópolis a favela situated next to one of the richest neighborhoods in São Paulo has always struggled with inequalities of access (Paraisópolis 100 Anos, 2021). In 2020, in response to the challenges presented by the pandemic, the community built a 900m² concrete building for its first urban farm growing organic food called “Agro Favela” (Brissac C., 2022). The garden has a special focus on women from Paraisópolis who are victims of domestic violence, where it also serves as welcoming and formative

space. They can participate in workshops or the project itself and where they learn how to grow food on the local “lajes” (flat roofs). Paraisópolis’s agro favela has produced 2.6 tons of vegetables since its creation (Causin J., 2023). This is a great example of how urban farming can successfully give a community its own healthy food supply and can lead it to the path towards food sovereignty, because it empowers the community to sustain itself without relying on external systems which unfortunately do not serve the periphery’s needs.

Reduce the distance food has to travel

While my next suggestion might seem similar to the previous one at first glance, I will focus on constructing more inclusive food supply chains in order to reduce the price residents of Brasilândia have to pay for food due to transport costs. The Brazilian food system is heavily reliant on road transportation, as do most industries in the country (Araújo M., Campos V., Bandeira R., 2013, p.152). Before getting to stores and supermarkets around the city, the produce goes through CEASA (the centre for the supply of fruit and vegetables of the city) where it is later on redistributed. The problem with this system is that it first impedes the consumer to from knowing where the produce is coming from (Vradis A. and Bartholl T., 2019, p.255) and increases the inbuilt cost of food because of the detour it has to take. Using examples from Campo Limpo and Manawatū, I will defend that reducing this distance by connecting Brasilândia to small producers close to the city would result in lower prices and more choice for the community. Claro R. and Monteiro C. (2010) argue that in food deserts, this could be a good way of increasing supply without relying on policy, which means it can also have quite a strong impact on the community’s food sovereignty.

Manawatū, a region in New Zealand’s North Island started community led food action network aimed at creating tighter connections between food suppliers and food banks to alleviate hunger and facilitate redistribution (Manawatū Food Action Network, 2023, p.3). With this approach, families receive the essential aid they need while also fostering stronger, more interconnected communities. In a similar vein, Campo Limpo in southeast São Paulo opened its first organic sales point in the city’s peripheries. “Armazém Organicamente” was opened by Thiago Vinicius in 2019 and aims to challenge the neighbourhood’s lack of supply by bringing in food that is produced directly to the shop, making good quality food accessible to Campo Limpo (Gould L., 2019).

Both examples show how inclusive food systems could be a good way of achieving resilience in a two-way relationship between small producers and the population of Brasilândia. The resulting collaborative effort can help them navigate Brazil’s export promoting system which has been detrimental to both parties (Amaral A., Jones G., Nogueira M., 2020). If instead of going through CEASA, fruits and vegetables could come straight from the producers, the price of these goods would be fairer, Brasilândia could choose where its food is coming from, and it would create ties with producers which could be key actors in achieving food security (Béné C., 2020). Therefore, a simpler route carved between the community and local farms can fight against the strengthening of food deserts caused by the intricate journey food follows. In this case, food security could be achieved without any external intervention – making Brasilândia once again the main player in its fight for food sovereignty and security.

Food habits

Finally, my last suggestion addresses food and waste habits of the Brazilian population

in general, which if revised by Brasilândia, could equip the community with informed choices regarding food and managing local produce. The typical Brazilian diet is not very balanced. According to the Brazilian Ministry of Health (2014), there is an excessive consumption of red meat in the population, often reaching up to two times a day, although this can vary based on income, lower-income households would prioritize red meat over other foods. The recommended amount is no more than three portions per week (World Cancer Research Fund, 2018). Additionally, Souza A. et al. (2013) reveal a decline in the consumption of fruits and vegetables in Brazil, contrasting with the climbing intake of ultra-processed foods, attributed to lifestyle changes as described by Walter (2020). Similarly, Brazilian households produce considerable amounts of waste compared to other countries (United Nations Environment Programme, 2021, p.62). Encouraging communities to learn about healthy eating and resourceful ingredient use is vital for food security, especially when budget constraints limit the inclusion of diverse food groups. Implementing these strategies could alleviate the financial burden often associated with grocery expenses. I will use examples from Mossoró, Paraisópolis and communities in Free State and Northern Cape where projects helped educate the area on diverse diets and how to use food waste.

“Mãos de Maria” is a community kitchen in Paraisópolis which employs and offers cooking classes to peripheral women in order to strengthen women in the community and support the favela. The kitchen distributes ten thousand packed lunches every day since the pandemic (Mãos de Maria, 2023). This initiative helps women achieve food justice for their community and supports local food systems, which in the long run could create sovereignty. Looking at a more educative approach, an intervention led

by community nutrition advisors in Free State and Northern Cape aimed to enhance the local population’s understanding of balanced and cost- effective nutrition (Walsh, C., Dannhauser, A. and Joubert, G. ,2003). Nutrition was their priority, and indeed, fruit and vegetable consumption improved as well as dairy products. Lastly, Mossoró’s Association of Family Organic Producers in Mato Grosso Brazil, started a project where they asked consumers to save their eggshells and bring them back to the market to incorporate them as fertilizers because of their high calcium content (Nóbrega I., 2020). This shows how a community can address waste issues in a way that benefits both their local environment and the greater community at large.

These examples illustrate the potential of instructional efforts and partnership for positive change surrounding nutrition and waste. For Brasilândia, this could be a good way of expanding the possibilities of what a healthy meal looks like and help achieving food security addressing things which don’t necessarily link to supply or geography. This could also have some impact on the family budget and result in sounder more nutritious choices which are adapted to their environs.

CONCLUSION

In Conclusion, my exploration of food insecurity in Brazil underscores the pressing need for change. The country’s return to the UN Hunger Map is concerning. The case of Brasilândia exemplifies the challenges faced by marginalized populations. The unequal urban geography exacerbates food inequalities, yet stories of resilience and solidarity, particularly among women, offer hope. I propose three solutions for Brasilândia: local food production, inclusive supply chains, and improved food habits. These initiatives can lead to greater food

security, independence, and sovereignty. Nevertheless, it is important thing to keep in mind that these initiatives do not make up for decades of state negligence, poorly planned infrastructure, and deep rooted spatial inequalities that created the problem of food deserts in the first place (Amaral, A. et al., 2020). I have not fully examined this issue from all its angles either. Race and gender are quite important when looking at inequality of access in Brazil, but they would deserve more than a community report to be properly included into the discussion. Independently, the message is clear: a transformation towards a fairer and inclusive food system is possible when communities come together and apply principles of citizenship to restore the one that was taken away from them. Hopefully one day, all Brazilians can sleep through the night peacefully knowing that everyone will have food for tomorrow.

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Feminist Indigenous Resurgence in the DTES: Reclaiming Culture, Sovereignty and Community

Abbie Darroch

LAND ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

I would like to gratefully acknowledge that the area this community briefing will focus on- the Downtown Eastside of Vancouveris situated on the traditional and unceded territories of the Coast Salish peoples. I recognise the historical and ongoing effects of colonialism on Indigenous peoples, including those who live in the DTES, and I would like to pay respect to the custodians of these lands and waters. Recognising that this land belongs to and has been cared for by the Musqueam, Squamish and Tsleil-Waututh First Nations is a small act, and through this briefing, I hope to amplify the voices of the community of Indigenous women living in the DTES, who continue to fight for justice, sovereignty, and equity every day.

INTRODUCTION

This community briefing will endeavour to illustrate the ongoing marginalisation and oppression that Indigenous women face in the city of Vancouver, particularly in the Downtown Eastside neighbourhood. It will aim to bring to light community initiatives which have thus far empowered and healed many Indigenous women in the

area and will compile the perspectives of the community as to what more they need. This briefing will address the community of Indigenous women in the DTES, but also those on the periphery of this community, and those in positions of power, to work towards multiplying existing strategies, and commencing the creation of new strategies that Indigenous women have stated are necessary. It must be acknowledged that, while this brief will attempt to encompass the challenges that Indigenous women and girls face in the DTES, they are innumerable and deeply ingrained into the colonial system which has long dominated Canada. Therefore this brief will inevitably fall short of providing a truly all-encompassing account of the historic and current challenges faced by Indigenous women and girls, however, it will strive to illuminate the challenges faced in the DTES and endeavour to suggest holistic and impactful solutions.

Indigenous women are one of the most marginalised communities in Canada, with forty-three percent of Indigenous women living in poverty in 2007, which is double that of non-Indigenous women (Sterritt, 2007), and it can be assumed that this disparity has only increased in recent years. This brief

will aim to magnify and unite the voices of Indigenous women living in the downtown east side of Vancouver, who have been struggling to establish the spaces and services necessary to battle the pervasive legacy and ongoing effects of colonialism. These effects include the disproportionate violence against Indigenous women, homelessness, poverty, flawed child welfare and policing institutions and the opioid crisis (Martin and Walia, 2019). Seventy percent of Indigenous peoples living in the city of Vancouver live in the Downtown Eastside, which constitutes approximately forty percent of the area’s population (Benoit et al, 2003). The DTES is a neighbourhood which has long experienced elevated levels of homelessness, crime, drug deaths, violence, and child welfare intervention (Martin and Walia, 2019). The disproportionate percentage of Indigenous peoples living in this area is a direct result of trauma and cultural loss which permeates Indigenous communities because of colonial and state violence and the residential school system (St. Denis, 2021). There is existing support in the DTES for Indigenous peoples, such as harm reduction sites, low-barrier shelters, and some culturally appropriate social and health care services (Benoit et al, 203). Despite this, there are just three spaces which are solely reserved for women, creating a significant barrier to Indigenous women seeking help (Martin and Walia, 2019).

POSITIONALITY

I lack the authority to assert my personal views on initiatives that may help to improve the quality of life of Indigenous women living in the DTES, being from Scotland, and having lived in Canada for only a year. However, throughout the year I spent living and studying in Canada, I visited the DTES and learned about the extent to which Indigenous peoples are deeply affected today by colonial processes and policies.

I also learned how the marginalisation of Indigenous peoples particularly affects Indigenous women, through the intersection of aggressive colonial and patriarchal systems. Prior to my stay in the DTES, the streets had recently been cleared of the people who lived there and their dwellings, essentially criminalising the community that had existed there. Witnessing the effects of this harsh act in the sombreness that encompassed the DTES thereafter made me aware of the struggles that homeless people in the DTES face in seeking help from the authorities and motivated my engagement in this project. My aim for this briefing is to give Indigenous women in the DTES agency to enact what they know needs to be done to combat the systematic violence and marginalisation that they are facing. I write from a position of solidarity, with a goal of elevating the perspectives of the community. I will endeavour to draw my research primarily from academic literature and personal accounts produced by Indigenous people and aim to focus specifically on the works and firsthand information from Indigenous women who live and have lived in the DTES. In particular, I will be taking much of my information from the participatory research that was meticulously carried out by the Downtown Eastside Women’s Centre, whose aim in gathering this information was to contribute to the national inquiry for missing and murdered Indigenous women and girls. The report they produced includes accounts from 113 Indigenous women who have been survivors of gendered and racial violence, and many are relatives of missing and murdered Indigenous women and girls. I will also aim to make recommendations to the general population of Vancouver and the DTES, especially to men living in the city, securely housed and non-Indigenous people and those who hold positions of power, for example, those in the police force.

INTRODUCTION TO THE DTES (THE AREA)

The Downtown Eastside (DTES) area of Vancouver, which can be seen in figure 1, is situated on Squamish, Tsleil-Waututh and Musqueam First Nation’s territory in what has now been named British Columbia. Approximately 18,000 people live in Vancouver’s DTES, and the area has remained one of the most marginalised populations in Canada in recent years. This has been due to a combination of unstable and poor housing, such as single-room occupancy (SRO) rentals, numerous cases of missing and murdered Indigenous women, high rates of drug usage, in particular crack cocaine, and, above all, the legacy of colonial violence against and displacement and assimilation of Indigenous peoples in Canada (Linden et al, 2013).

THE COMMUNITY

It is due to decades of colonial policy and violence that there is such an overrepresentation of Indigenous peoples in prison, living homeless and suffering from addiction. The Indian Act was originally passed in 1879 is still in place and continues to impact the lives of Indigenous peoples in Canada. This bill enabled the creation of reserves, the theft of Indigenous land and the annihilation of Indigenous culture through violent institutions such as residential schools (Joseph, 2018) (Sterritt, 2007). The residential schooling system is a significant cause of the intergenerational trauma that is rooted in many Indigenous communities and the cultural loss that so many Indigenous peoples have experienced. The purpose of the residential schooling system was to completely isolate Indigenous children from their traditional lands, cultures and communities, and assimilate them into Western culture. Indigenous children faced severe cases of violence and abuse at the

hands of their ‘’educators’’ were they to engage in any aspect of their culture. The trauma that this has left in both the children that experienced residential schools, and the communities lost their children has driven many Indigenous women to addiction. Additionally, the cultural and spatial isolation that so many Indigenous people experienced meant that many could not find their way home after being institutionalised in residential schools. Many people, after returning home, were not able to speak the language of the community around them, or engage in any traditional practices, leaving them struggling to find a place to belong (De Leeuw, 2009). It is a combination of these effects that has resulted in so many Indigenous peoples living homeless, and seeking out a form of community in areas such as the DTES. The child welfare system in Canada is merely a continuation of the sinister ideas behind residential schools, and the disproportionate apprehension of Indigenous children occurring today is reproducing the isolation and trauma that colonial these processes caused. Indigenous women have been particularly impacted by policies such as the Indian Act, which, for example, sanctioned the removal of Indian status from Indigenous women when they married a non-Indigenous man, and the banishment from their band when they married an Indigenous man from another band. This resulted in the complete isolation of so many women from their cultures and families, leaving them with no roots and no home to return to. This is a major reason for so many women living homeless, being criminalised and entering into sex work, where they are acutely vulnerable to violence (Martin and Walia, 2019).

THE CHALLENGES

For many people in the DTES, single-room occupancies have become the predominant source of housing. According to many

Indigenous women who live in the DTES, they feel extremely unsafe and vulnerable in SROs, due to cases of broken locks, limited privacy, poor sanitation, vulnerability to eviction and high incidences of deaths in SRO rooms (Martin and Walia, 2019). When interviewed, one woman who has been living homeless for years in the DTES responded;

“Those SRO rooms are tiny and make you more crazy. There is just a bed and you have to share bathrooms and kitchens. My door was broken down so I never felt safe” (Martin and Walia, 2019).

Additionally, a concerning increase in gentrification within the area has resulted in the destruction of many buildings that operated as SROs, for example, the Balmoral and the Regent hotels, which were only demolished in 2022 (Little, 2022). This forced many people onto the streets and displaced an entire community.

The overdose rate of Indigenous peoples is three times higher than the general population of Canada, and the impacts of the opioid crisis are felt acutely in the DTES (Martin and Walia, 2019). Many Indigenous women have lost people to drug overdoses with the rate of fatal overdoses among Indigenous women being eight times higher than among non-Indigenous women. One woman reported that;

“There have been two overdoses in my building. No one is checking on people to make sure they are okay. There was one incident where the building ran out of Narcan. That’s not acceptable. Everyone in the DTES has started to accept this as normal and saying “This is how it is”” (Martin and Walia, 2019).

The most critical issue in Canada today is the rate of violence against Indigenous women and the scale of missing and murdered Indigenous women and girls. In

the DTES, the rate of violence is double that of the city of Vancouver, and eighty-seven percent of women reported that they do not feel safe in the area (Martin and Walia, 2019).

The Downtown Eastside Women’s Centre (DEWC); a low-barrier centre for women in the DTES; found that there had been onehundred and twenty-nine cases of missing Indigenous women from those who had passed through the shelter over nine years, whereas the police files showed that there was less than fifty.

The distinct difference in the statistics kept by the DEWC and the police exhibits the racism within the police force and suggests why many Indigenous women are reticent to trust the police. For example, one woman who lives in the DTES stated ‘’The way the police treat us, I really have to keep my cool’’, and another said ‘’You feel it in your body that you are being targeted’’, which discussing the police force in the area. This discrimination can be seen in the incarceration statistics for Canada, where nearly eighty percent of incidents of selfharm in prison are Indigenous women (Martin and Walia, 2019), and the rate of incarceration of Indigenous peoples is approximately nine times higher than that of non-Indigenous peoples (Robinson et al, 2023). Furthermore, out of one-hundred and fifty-seven Indigenous women who were interviewed as part of a women’s safety audit, just fifteen percent said they would consider going to the police should they feel unsafe. The Failure of the police force to protect Indigenous women against the high rates of violence they face is a major barrier to tackling this violence and investigating cases of missing and murdered Indigenous women (Martin and Walia, 2019).

Disproportionate rates of poverty among Indigenous women in the DTES compared with non-Indigenous women magnifies the above-stated challenges, enforcing a cycle of poverty on many women. The price of rent

for many SROs is far from cheap and income support is extremely low, this combined with near impossible criteria to meet to receive benefits and high levels of racism in many workplaces leaves many women struggling to break this cycle. One woman stated that ‘’No one hires me once they see I am a native woman’’ when discussing her struggles in searching for work (Martin and Walia, 2019).

All of the aforementioned issues that are acutely impacting Indigenous women living in the DTES are intrinsically linked to state violence, namely the removal from and dispossession of Indigenous land, a colonial welfare system, intergenerational colonial trauma and an unjust ‘’justice’’ system. Overcoming the challenges that Indigenous women face in the DTES is impossible without decolonisation, that is to say, the dismantling of the colonial system that dominates the city of Vancouver.

PRESENT ACTIONS AND FUTURE RECOMMENDATIONS

Throughout the years, there have been initiatives developed in the DTES to support Indigenous women, mostly by these women themselves. This section will discuss these existing support systems and how they have been beneficial to many, but also how they could become more widespread across the area, and perhaps improved to ensure there is a safe space for every Indigenous woman in the DTES. The Downtown Eastside Women’s Centre (DEWC) first opened in 1978 and has been functioning since then as a low-barrier drop-in centre and emergency homeless shelter solely for women (Martin and Walia, 2019). Not only does it provide shelter, laundry services, hot meals, bathrooms and showers, but it also advocates for women seeking legal or health services or victim support, a volunteering programme, an elders council and a healing

circle. Fifty-four percent of Indigenous women, when asked, reported that the DEWC was the safest place in the DTWS for them. Five-hundred women on average utilise the services provided by the DEWC, seventy percent of these women being Indigenous (Martin and Walia, 2019), which highlights how beneficial it has been to so many Indigenous women, but also the need for more spaces and services such as this in the DTES. The DEWC is also committed to investigating the cases of missing and murdered Indigenous women (Martin and Walia, 2019).

The SisterWatch programme, created in 2010, is a programme which aims to increase the safety of women, girls women, two-spirit and trans people in the DTES. It was created in collaboration with the Vancouver police department, and provides services such as emergency phones stationed across the city, changing policy regarding how emergency responders treat victims in the DTES and improving communication and consultation with the DTES community. However, SisterWatch is severely underfunded, and meetings between the Vancouver police department and members of the DTES community only take place every six weeks (VPD, 2023). Furthermore, the high levels of distrust experienced by many Indigenous women in the DTES towards the police have created an obstacle to the success of this programme.

The Aboriginal Front Door Society is another space dedicated to offering a safe, nonjudgmental space for Indigenous peoples in the DTES. This society has been created and is kept by Indigenous peoples, and aims to be a place that is not associated with any form of institution and that offers healing and a sense of belonging to those who access its services. These spaces are so important to have in the DTES, and the benefits that would arise from having places such as this dedicated solely to Indigenous women and

girls would be a huge development in the support available to Indigenous women and girls (AFDS, 2023).

Furthermore, the Battered Women’s Support Services and the February 14th Annual Women’s Memorial March Committee aim to tackle violence against women and girls. The former endeavours to assist women in navigating legal landscapes, and the latter holds a memorial march for missing and murdered Indigenous women, raising awareness of the current critical situation (The Volcano, 2017)(Martin and Walia, 2019).

As mentioned previously, the criminalisation of Indigenous women and the abuse that so many have faced at the hands of the police force is a significant barrier to Indigenous women and girls feeling safe in the DTES. Therefore the current system that the police follow regarding law enforcement in the DTES must be revolutionised for the relationship between Indigenous women and the police to cease becoming one of fear and hatred. This institutional violence against Indigenous women is a product of ongoing colonial gendered violence, therefore there must be a significant transformation in the current policing system from this maintained colonial power dynamic to a dynamic which begins to prioritise Indigenous perspectives and ways of thinking in law enforcement. Furthermore, there should be the development of more collaborations between the Vancouver Police Department and Indigenous women who live in the DTES like the SisterWatch Programme. This development may include regular meetings between Indigenous women and police officers in the DTES, which would take place in a safe, non-judgmental space, in which both parties can share their perspectives and concerns. There must also be the creation of more low-barrier shelters and spaces that Indigenous women can access with the secure knowledge that they will not be persecuted by the police. There also must

be significant funding and effort put into creating a collaborative branch of the police force, which is dedicated to working with Indigenous women to investigate cases of missing and murdered Indigenous women.

It is also imperative that there is a significant push for educational and training programmes for those in the police force, and men in positions of power and who live in the area which work towards violence prevention. These programmes are not only essential to put the responsibility on men to prevent engendered violence, but they should also endeavour to educate people on addiction support and how to help people with empathy, rather than judgement.

Another essential step towards improving the safety and inclusion of Indigenous women in the DTES is the creation of more centres run by and dedicated solely to Indigenous women. These centres may act as low-barrier shelters, sanitation facilities, childcare, elder council and healing through cultural reconnection, points of access to legal, employment or educational services, victim support and a safe space for those struggling with addiction. Offering spaces for Indigenous peoples to become reconnected with their culture is an essential step towards allowing Indigenous women to heal from colonial trauma and begin progress towards decolonisation. Services such as this, however, cannot be possible without funding and recognition from the authorities, which should be given freely as a small step towards reconciliation for decades of gendered state violence against Indigenous women. Furthermore, victim services for Indigenous women should move away from being led by the police force or the regional healthcare system, and become more community-led, incorporating culturally appropriate counselling and landbased healing (Martin and Walia, 2019).

CONCLUSION

To conclude, the violence and discrimination the Indigenous women face in the DTES, making the neighbourhood an unsafe place for them to be, cannot be separated from the decades of gendered colonial violence enacted by the state against Indigenous women. The forced removal of Indigenous women from their traditional lands and communities through racist bills such as the Indian Act, the cultural isolation that occurred from the forced attendance of residential schools, and today, the flawed child welfare system have resulted in the social and economic marginalisation of Indigenous women. Due to the high number of single-room occupancies, there is a large population of Indigenous women in the DTES, and due to the disproportionate levels of homelessness, drug abuse, crime and poverty, this increases the vulnerability of Indigenous women in the area to racial and gendered violence. Due to the institutional racism present in the police force and healthcare services, Indigenous women in the DTES struggle to access support. This community briefing addressed the community of Indigenous women living in the DTES with the aim of collating a report on the existing services in the DTES, and how these services can be multiplied and improved to improve the safety and healing of Indigenous women in the DTES. The conclusion of this briefing cannot be complete without the acknowledgement that while this brief has attempted to encapsulate the many challenges that Indigenous women in the DTES face, it has only scratched the surface of the many inequities experienced by Indigenous women.

REFERENCES

Aborigional Front Door Society. (2023). Available at: https://abfrontdoor.org/index.php/about-afds.

Benoit, C, Carroll, D and Chaudhry, M. (2003). ‘’In search of a Healing Place: Aboriginal women in Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside’’. Social Science & Medicine, Volume 56, Issue 4, Pages 821-833. Doi: ISSN 02779536, https://doi.org/10.1016/S0277-9536(02)00081-3

De Leeuw, S. (2009). ‘’ ‘If anything is to be done with the Indian, we must catch him very young’: colonial constructions of Aboriginal children and the geographies of Indian residential schooling in British Columbia, Canada’’, Childrens Geographies, 7(2), pp. 123-140. Doi: 10.1080/14733280902798837

Linden, I et al. (2013). ‘’ Research on a Vulnerable Neighborhood—The Vancouver Downtown Eastside from 2001 to 2011’’. Journal of Urban Health, 90, pp. 559573. Doi: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11524-012-9771-x

Little, S. (2022). ‘’ Demolition of Vancouver’s notorious Balmoral hotel to begin in November’’. Global News, November 1st, 2022. Available at: https://globalnews.ca/ news/9242785/balmoral-demolition-begins-november/.

Martin, C (Nisga’a – Gitanyow) and Walia, H. (2019). ‘’ RED WOMEN RISING- Indigenous Women Survivors in Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside’’. Downtown Eastside Women’s Centre. Available at: http://dewc.ca/ wp-content/uploads/2019/03/MMIW-Report-FinalMarch-10-WEB.pdf

Robinson, P et al. (2023). ‘’Over-representation of Indigenous persons in adult provincial custody, 2019/2020 and 2020/202’’, Statistics Canada.

St. Denis, J. (2021). ‘’ Meet the Indigenous-Led Organizations Saving Lives in the Downtown Eastside’’. The Tyee. September 1st 2021.

The Volcano. (2017). ‘’ ANNOUNCEMENT FROM THE FEB 14TH WOMEN’S MEMORIAL MARCH COMMITTEE’’. The Volcano, February, 12th, 2017. Available at: https://www.thevolcano.org/2017/02/12/feb-14th-womens-memorial-march/.

Vancouver Police Department. (2023). ‘’SisterWatch’’. Available at: https://vpd.ca/community/project-sister-watch/

Figure 1: Map showing the DTES highlighted. Source: Bing Maps.

Bing Maps (n.d.). Bing Maps. [online] Bing Maps. Available at: https://www.bing.com/maps?osid=f34e9a8e-5a2f-4727-b67a441b76673ea0&cp=49.281396%7E-123.099696&lvl=14.5&v=2&sV=2&form=S00027 [Accessed 2023].

Community Resilience in Edgemere, Queens

Will Morris

INTRODUCTION AND RELEVANCE:

Living through Hurricane Sandy was one of the most vividly memorable moments in my life. I was 9 years old when I watched my beloved neighborhood get inundated. I am lucky enough to say my family was nearly unscathed. Over the following apocalyptic three weeks, it was just emergency service workers going house to house restoring energy, bailing water from basements, rebuilding homes, cutting fallen trees into firewood, and reinforcing a sense of community. This firsthand experience of a natural disaster has left a profound imprint on my understanding of the importance of community resilience. Though my neighborhood in New Jersey has since fully recovered, places in the New York Metropolitan Area are still making progress. Rockaway Beach, an area in Queens in which one of my closest colleagues calls home, has repeatedly experienced the detrimental multiscalar impacts of climate change in the form of flooding and exacerbated inequalities. As someone who has seen the power of community in times of crisis and who understands the long-lasting

implications of these events, I believe I have a vital perspective and voice in offering recommendations and support to the Edgemere community as they strive to build and strengthen their resilience. As a person who has personally endured the challenges brought by severe weather events and who appreciates historical urban intricacies, I am deeply invested in Edgemere’s future. I ask that my experience and understanding should be considered a meaningful contribution to the discourse on how to best fortify Edgemere’s resilience.

HISTORICAL CONTEXT:

The peninsula Rockaway is divided into nine neighborhoods, from east to west they are Far Rockaway, Bayswater, Edgemere, Arverne, Hammels, Rockaway Park, Belle Harbor, Neponsit, and Breezy Point. More than 75% of Rockaway residents live in Far Rockaway, Edgemere, Arvene, and Rockaway Park (DiNapoli and Jain, 2022). For the purpose of this community report, I will be referencing surrounding areas and emphasizing the Edgemere community as a whole.

The beginnings of the neighborhood go back to the mid 19th century when wealthy planners drew plans to create a seasonal resort area spanning from the eastern to the western shores. This vision gave birth to the community of Edgemere, a thriving seasonal resort town offering breathing space for city residents looking to spend time by the sea. As the 20th century progressed, the area experienced demographic shifts, the resort town soon was transformed into a year-round residential community for lower income New Yorkers. Public housing projects in Edgemere, Arverne, and Hammels were designated as places to keep the urban poor out of the city center (Seip, 2022). Robert Moses, the former Secretary of State of New York and a known racist, had much involvement in these projects (Mahler, 2012).

In 1997, City planners formally instituted the Edgemere Urban Renewal Area, with the intention of implementing a durable development strategy until 2037 (furmancenter.org, 2008). The objective of this renewal initiative was to facilitate the construction of 800 residential units and 100,000 square feet of commercial retail space on the peninsula. However, the onset of the 2008 financial crisis disrupted the development plans for the city-owned vacant land, which was still far from completion.

CURRENT CONTEXT:

Edgemere, being situated on a peninsula, is particularly vulnerable to the compounding impacts of climate change, including sea level rise and increasing frequency of severe weather. In 2019, the community had a population of 18,100 in 2019, with 60% of its residents identifying as Black and 32% as Latinx (Hester Street, 2019). The population is expected to rise with an increase in housing development projects within the decade.

The devastation wrought by Hurricane Sandy in 2012 underlined the critical need for resilience and adaptation strategies, driving local authorities and community based programs to work together in crafting responses. Preceding Hurricane Sandy, Edgemere was still considered a less advantaged community characterized by vacant lots and boarded homes (AP, 2022). The average median household income for a family of four in Edgemere is currently $32,785 compared to $44,000 for the greater Rockaway area. Approximately 36% of people live below the poverty line and the area has an unemployment rate of 17%. Around 21% of people are homeowners in contrast to 79% who rent (Seip, 2022). The presence of the New York City Housing Authority (NYCHA) is significant, with five campuses in the Edgemere and Arverne area, occupying about 12% of publicly owned land and housing approximately 25% of the population (Mayor’s Office of Environmental Remediation, 2016). Given Edgemere’s historical status as a lower income community, these NYCHA housing projects have provided an affordable option for families for decades.

There are various community programs in Edgemere and the greater Rockaway area that acknowledge the compounding effects of climate change, racial inequality, and unequal access to social and educational services. These programs, RISE Rockaway, Rockaway Islamic Center, The Edgemere Community Civic Association, Ocean Bay Community Development Corporation, and Ocean Bay Resident Council are key community resources to engage with to participate and benefit from various development initiatives.

IMPACTS OF HURRICANE SANDY:

Hurricane Sandy devastated coastal communities in the New York Metropolitan

Area and beyond. In total, there was approximately $65 billion in damage in New York and New Jersey combined and $19 billion in NYC alone (Calvan and Press, 2022). In Edgemere, 90% of neighborhood businesses were forced to close, exacerbating existing financial struggles caused by the 2008 financial crisis. A storm surge of 3-6 ft occurred throughout Edgemere, where waves from the Atlantic Ocean met Jamaica Bay (Dubois, 2016). In the aftermath, many wealthier neighborhoods benefitted from initiatives like Build It Back and FEMA. Where in contrast, Edgemere, though offered the same resources, experienced delays in their availability compared to other communities (Townes, 2019). It would be unfair to make the assumption that one neighborhood was more severely affected than another. In reality, every neighborhood in Rockaway felt the overwhelming impacts of the hurricane, with disparities primarily rooted in income inequality and historical neglect (Dubois, 2016).

Build It Back is a program funded by the US Department of Housing and Urban Development to provide aid to residents until they reach a stable point. The assistance provided during recovery efforts included lifting homes to above flood levels, providing flood insurance, and implementing buyback programs where the organization buys homes and offers relocation to approved housing areas. However, procedural and managing requirements for the program changed frequently, giving residents, who trusted that their homes would be reinforced, a false sense of hope. An audit carried out by the office of the Comptroller found that the NYC Department of Housing Recovery Operations neglected to adequately oversee contractors and gave out $6.8 million for work that was inadequate or unfinished, thereby exacerbating delays in providing assistance to those affected by Hurricane Sandy (NYC Comptroller, 2015).

Many residents were told they would be assisted in recovery, but were then denied access to such plans, resulting in a severe distrust towards development projects from the local community. Personal accounts from Edgemere residents recount the mismanagement and confusion surrounding Build it Back. One resident recounts how she was displaced from her home for over a year, “When I got home, we did a walkthrough. I had at least twenty items on the list that needed to be addressed. There was mold, there were things inside that were broken….They kept telling me, oh that’s not part of the Build It Back program — you can’t have this done, you can’t have that done.” (Townes, 2019)

Of 3,696 Queens residents who applied for housing assistance through Build It Back, only 67% of projects had been completed by late 2021. The significant delays and incomplete projects reflect the systematic challenges with the program, leaving many residents in a state of uncertainty. Furthermore, in the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy, managed retreat emerged as a strategy to aid recovery efforts . Defined by RISE Rockaway as the “relocation of people and infrastructure from coasts or floodplains to deal with flooding due to climate change,” the goal is to ensure adequate housing in less flood prone areas (Seip, 2022). However, some residents were relocated to houses with structural damage and inadequate living conditions (Khafagy, 2021). This movement exacerbated existing inequalities, underscoring the need for effective recovery strategies to address the concerns of all affected residents.

RECOMMENDATION 1: ENHANCED COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT AND FLOOD RESILIENCE:

The Resilient Edgemere Community Plan (RECP) was organized by the New York City

Department of Housing Preservation and Development in 2015 to increase community engagement and resilience in the face of Hurricane Sandy recovery. Collaborating with a diverse range of stakeholders, this plan outlined four main goals: protecting Edgemere from flooding, creating resilient housing and maintaining a low density feeling, improving transportation and street usability, and increasing neighborhood amenities. The plan is supported by a specific set of targets and projects, such as spending $14 million for construction of berms to protect against a 30in rise in sea level (NYC HPD, 2015). A Progress Report released in 2020 gave detail to the advancement of the 61 objectives made in the 2015 proposal. Of these objectives, 17 are completed, 34 were in progress or ongoing, 9 were in the design or proposal stage, and 1 was delayed (NYC HPD, 2020).

In a 2019 report by the NYC Panel on Climate Change, Eastern Rockaway was found to be among the most socially vulnerable areas in the City, ranking in the 99th percentile across various indicators related to socioeconomic status, household composition, disabilities, minority status, language, housing, and transportation (Seip, 2022). Hurricane Sandy exacerbated existing inequalities which are still evident in Edgemere, underlining the increasing need for durable mitigation measures and planning. Recognizing this, the US Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) have maintained an active presence in Rockaway, given its infrastructural vulnerability to coastal flooding and erosion (Dubois, 2016). Beach restoration has occurred steadily since Hurricane Sandy, strengthen coastal resources and outlined in the RECP Progress Report, in 2019, the USACE was given a Rockaway Reformulation Plan, which aims to protect multiple Rockaway communities from flooding through the construction of a fortified dune system, jetties, berms, and elevated beach access points (NYC HPD, 2015). In Edgemere, the proximity

of Jamaica Bay poses a constant threat of coastal flooding in the vicinity of Beach 43rd street and Norton Avenue. This area is currently susceptible to tidal changes and numerous lots were acquired by the City as a part of the managed retreat process, leaving the future of these lots and residents who remain uncertain. The long term vision derived from the RECP suggests this entire area should be transformed into a park with the dual purpose of serving as a flood barrier and wetland mitigation strategy, effectively limiting further coastal development (NYC HPD, 2020). However, this ambitious plan raises a pressing question regarding the preservation of current homes.

Building from the RECP, I strongly advocate for raising standards for the community resilience objectives. Drawing from the Progress Report, I emphasize that actions under review, in the proposal stage, or delayed should be successfully completed or in final stages of development by 2030. Furthermore, I propose that before 2030, offers are made to residents who live in vulnerable areas, such as Beach 43rd street and Norton Avenue, to engage them in a managed retreat process. In this process, the City could provide the land it acquired and developed following Hurricane Sandy to the residents, ensuring the sanctity of their living conditions. An important factor to consider within the managed retreat process is homeowner attachment and willingness to move. This arises a complex challenge which should be solved through the development of higher quality housing near and around the area. The community of Edgemere places high value on open spaces and strong residential connections, community organic farming projects like Edgemere Farm and The Garden by the Bay have the ability to even further increase community engagement and resilience, through access to organic food and community education (Seip, 2022). It is therefore my recommendation that the development of Norton Avenue park is

completed within a reasonable timeframe. Simultaneously, local organizations should initiate community-based education programs aimed at informing residents about organic food and flood resilience. The overarching challenge here is the managed retreat process, which should occur with community involvement and workshops like those discussed in a section below. Through this, a stronger Edgemere community could serve as a valuable model for the future development of lower-income areas.

RECOMMENDATION 2: INCREASED ACCESS FOR SMALL BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT AND AFFORDABLE HOUSING:

Within the framework of the RECP, the fifth section is specifically dedicated to increasing neighborhood amenities. The goals associated with this section encompass expanding access to retail services, improving facilities, facilitating jobseeker support, fostering a healthier neighborhood, and improving communications between city officials and residents (Seip, 2022). A study conducted by Hester Street in 2016 revealed significant discontent among residents. Over two-thirds of 300 survey respondents expressed dissatisfaction with available retail options. Furthermore, 46% of respondents stated their willingness to relocate their business to the Rockaway area if they were able, while 45% expressed desire to start business in the area (Hester Street, 2019). Residents face limited options, forcing them to travel outside their community for basic necessities. Despite these challenges, two new private development projects, Edgemere Commons and Arverne East, have begun in the area. These projects aim to increase the availability of income-restricted affordable housing options and retail space for the community. However, the risk of gentrification remains a concern despite City policies aimed at controlling it.

Edgemere’s first mixed-use development project, Edgemere Commons, approved in 2019, started construction in 2022 and is expected to take 10-15 years to complete (Seip, 2022). The project is set to offer over 2,200 affordable residences and 72,000 gross square feet of retail space. A large portion of these units will be income-restricted, catering to households earning up to 80% of the annual median income in the area (NYC DCP, 2019). While this project is a promising endeavor, I argue that more must be done to gain equal opportunity for residents in Edgemere. The prospect of 72,000 gross square feet of retail space presents a unique opportunity, raising concerns about the types of business that will operate here and their alignment with community needs. Recent news indicates the arrival of a new local supermarket offering affordable food options (Morris, 2023). However, the success of this venture is contingent upon several factors, including its connections with community farming initiatives, its adaptability to changing demographics, and its influence on the local economy. An essential factor to consider is heightened flood risk. While dense affordable housing options can provide safety from storm surge, food and retail amenities are at risk of destruction. I suggest that Edgemere Commons be constructed with an intuitive understanding of the local flood plain, one suggestion is a graded pedestrian walkway which could operate as a catchment to promote safety and align with the unique flood dynamics in the area. An example of this is the newly built Rockaway Corridor which includes a porous pavement design to improve drainage dynamics (NYC Environmental Protection, 2023).

Due to the timespan of the Edgemere Commons development project, it is highly suggested that already available retail space is utilized. A suggestion from the aforementioned Hester Street article is a

shared community kitchen for entrepreneurs who want to grow their businesses provides an insightful solution to underutilized community space (Hester Street, 2019). Encouraging local farming organizations to supply food to community-based businesses like cafes and restaurants is another viable avenue. It is my recommendation that the Edgemere Commons framework serve as a baseline for enhancing access to entrepreneurial opportunities in the community. The multifaceted approach outlined here––addressing retail space, food supply, entrepreneurial support, and quality housing––can contribute to a more inclusive and vibrant Edgemere.

RECOMMENDATION 3: COMMUNITY BASED TRANSPORTATION MODEL:

The existing transportation framework in Edgemere consists of a combination of subway and bus services. In order to reach Manhattan, residents have access to a weekly bus service and a subway route with a travel time exceeding one hour. The Q22 bus provides daily coverage throughout the Rockaway peninsula and is considered a convenient mode of local transportation. However, as reported by my colleague, reliability and timeliness concerns have been raised regarding the Q22 bus service, reflecting the need for a more trustworthy schedule. The A is the only train that runs through Rockaway, it is also the longest subway line in all of New York City. The line runs from Far Rockaway to the northern tip of Manhattan and offers four station stops in Edgemere and Arverne. An alternative to the NYC transit system, the Long Island Rail Road (LIRR), which has a station in Far Rockaway and takes a similar amount of time to reach Manhattan, is a 9 minute bike journey, 12 minutes by car, and 20 minutes by train. After Hurricane Sandy, a ferry service was introduced due to the damage caused to the A train line. This ferry service

provides a transportation alternative that takes approximately an hour for travel to Lower Manhattan, mirroring the time frame of other modes of transport in the area. A free shuttle service was introduced by NYC Ferry, with two shuttles operating east and west of the ferry terminal (NYC Ferry, 2023). However, according to my colleague, this service is unreliable as wait times are unpredictable and overcrowding during peak hours discourages riders from taking it. Increased access to the ferry terminal from Edgemere is needed, as the current journey takes about 20 minutes by bus and bicycle, and 12 minutes by car to Beach 108th Street in Rockaway Park. A report conducted in 2019 by the NY State Comptroller offers that over 70% of residents in western Rockaway drove to work and had the shortest commute times on the entire peninsula, whereas in Edgemere, Arverne, and Hammels, 40% of residents commuted to work through public transportation and the average travel time exceeded 50 minutes (DiNapoli and Jain, 2022).

One objective for increasing regional access in the RECP involves the implementation of pedestrian and cyclist access to the ferry terminal near Beach 108th Street. The Progress Report highlights several actions taken to increase transportation accessibility in Edgemere, including the creation of pedestrian plazas in high traffic areas, walk signals at 12 intersections on the main road, Beach Channel Drive, and implementation of newer and extended select bus services to regional centers like Manhattan, Downtown Brooklyn, and Jamaica (NYC HPD, 2020). Due to the unreliability of the Q22 bus service and the inconvenience of traveling to the ferry terminal, the A train is the most viable option for traveling to Manhattan. But still, the A train can only leave Rockaway through the opening of the rail bridge over Jamaica Bay which can be disrupted to allow boat traffic to travel (NYC HPD, 2015).

In collaboration with the local transit authority, I suggest the NYC Ferry shuttle and a community based transportation model should coexist. A community shuttle, facilitated by a community based program like RISE Rockaway, should enhance accessibility for residents with mobility issues to access local amenities and transportation hubs like the ferry terminal, subway stops, and the LIRR station in Far Rockaway. This shuttle should be wheelchair accessible, and during peak transit hours, should operate with two shuttles on the western part of the peninsula. Furthermore, addressing the current reliability concerns surrounding the Q22 bus service is imperative, particularly considering that Edgemere residents often rely on resources off of the peninsula (DiNapoli and Jain, 2022). The responsibility for mitigating the substantial delays and public distrust associated with the Q22 bus service should rest with the NYC Department of Transportation and other authorities. A community-centered approach is advocated as a way to address these concerns effectively. The adoption of such an approach involves a thorough understanding of individual residential needs. Community workshops, as successfully run by RISE Rockaway, offer a model for engaging in discourse and collectively enhancing comprehension of the community’s unique transportation demands. Therefore, I recommend the organization of similar community workshops to foster an improved understanding of the personal needs and travel requirements of Edgemere residents. Community organizations like RISE Rockaway have the groundwork to implement a community based transportation system for local residents, and it is therefore recommended to leverage their community knowledge and capacity in achieving a more inclusive, resilient, and efficient transportation system in Edgemere.

CONCLUSION:

Edgemere has the ability to become resilient, and the efforts already made toward a better future will conceivably strengthen the community and its resources. However, it is important to discuss conserving community character in the face of gentrification. I suggest more research should be done to highlight the issue of gentrification in Rockaway. It is also vital to consider the fact that the community of Edgemere and the socio-ecological issues its residents face have been historically neglected, therefore I suggest more research to be done beyond this report.

REFERENCES

AP (2022). POLITICO Pro. [online] subscriber.politicopro.com. Available at: https://subscriber.politicopro. com/article/eenews/2022/10/27/superstorm-sandy-legacy-recovery-far-from-equal-on-ny-shore-00063592.

Calvan, B. and Press, A. (2022). On New York City’s Sandy-ravaged Rockaway Beach, recovery is riven by race, class and inequality. ‘It’s a tale of two peninsulas’. [online] Fortune. Available at: https://fortune.com/2022/10/26/hurricane-sandy-recovery-climate-change-race-inequality-edgemere-rockaway-beach/

Dubois, B. (2016). CUNY Academic Works CUNY Academic Works Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects CUNY Graduate Center. [online] Available at: https:// academicworks.cuny.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=2384&context=gc_etds

DiNapoli, T. and Jain, R. (2022). An Economic and Demographic Snapshot of The Rockaways. [online] Office of the New York State Comptroller. Available at: https://www. osc.state.ny.us/files/reports/osdc/pdf/report-7-2023.pdf

furmancenter.org. (2008). Edgemere Urban Renewal Area – Directory of NYC Housing Programs. [online] Available at: https://furmancenter.org/coredata/directory/entry/ edgemere-urban-renewal-area.

Hester Street and NYC Office of Environmental Redmediation (2019). EDGEMERE, QUEENS NYC Office of Environmental Remediation Place-Based Community Brownfield Planning. [online] Available at: https://hesterstreet.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/2019-02-05_ OER-Rockaway_Report_FINAL.pdf

Mahler, J. (2012). How the Coastline Became a Place to Put the Poor. The New York Times. [online] 4 Dec. Available at: https://www.nytimes.com/2012/12/04/nyregion/

how-new-york-citys-coastline-became-home-to-thepoor.html

Mayor’s Office of Environmental Remediation (2016). PLACE-BASED COMMUNITY BROWNFIELD PLANNING FOUNDATION REPORT ON EXISTING CONDITIONS. [online] Available at: https://www.nyc.gov/ assets/oer/downloads/pdf/rockaway-boa.pdf.

Morris, S. (2023). ShopFair Supermarkets to Join Edgemere Commons Mega-Development in Edgemere, Queens. [online] New York YIMBY. Available at: https:// newyorkyimby.com/2023/01/shopfair-supermarkets-to-join-edgemere-commons-mega-development-in-edgemere-queens.html

NYC Comptroller (2015). Comptroller Stringer Audit Of Build It Back Reveals Millions Paid Out For Incomplete Work, Double-Billing & Undocumented Travel Costs. [online] Nyc.gov. Available at: https://comptroller.nyc.gov/ newsroom/comptroller-stringer-audit-of-build-it-backreveals-millions-paid-out-for-incomplete-work-double-billing-undocumented-travel-costs-2/

NYC DCP (2019). Peninsula Hospital Site Redevelopment City Council Modification Technical Memorandum. [online] NYC Office of Environmental Coordination. Available at: https://a002-ceqraccess.nyc.gov/Handlers/ProjectFile.ashx?file=MjAxOFwxOERDUDEyNFFcdGVjaF9tZW1vXDE4RENQMTI0UV9UZWNobmljYWxfTWVtb3JhbmR1bV9fMTExMjIwMTkucGRm0&signature=3a7f867168d7291394da533fce29bfb2d87605aa

NYC Environmental Protection (2023). City Completes Reconstruction of Rockaway Corridor. [online] The official website of the City of New York. Available at: https:// www.nyc.gov/site/dep/news/23-025/city-completesreconstruction-rockaway-corridor-dramatic-safetyupgrades-new-porous.

NYC Ferry (2023). Rockaway Ferry Route & Schedule | NYC Ferry Service. [online] New York City Ferry Service. Available at: https://www.ferry.nyc/routesand-schedules/route/rockaway/

NYC HPD (2015). Resilient Edgemere Community Plan [online] NYC.gov. Available at: https://www.nyc. gov/assets/hpd/downloads/pdfs/services/resilientedgemere-report.pdf

NYC HPD (2020). Resilient Edgemere Community Plan 2020 Progress Report. [online] NYC.gov. Available at: https://www.nyc.gov/assets/hpd/downloads/pdfs/ services/resilient-edgemere-progress-report-08-20.pdf

Seip, M. (2022). Community Visioning for Vacant Land following Managed Retreat in Edgemere, Queens [online] RISE Rockaway. Available at: https://www. riserockaway.org/rise/initiatives/community-visioningfor-vacant-l/community-visioning-edgemere/CVEfinal-report-action-plan:en-us.pdf.

Townes, D.J. (2019). When the Ocean Met the Bay: A Journalistic Innovation to Superstorm Sandy Recovery [online] Medium. Available at: https://medium. com/@diara.townes/when-the-bay-met-the-ocean-ajournalistic-innovation-to-superstorm-sandy-recovery9324a1e41d4a.

Ordsall: How Community-Level Strategies Can Combat Exclusionary City-Level Governance Changes

Lydia Allen

INTRODUCTION

With approximately 10,100 residents, Ordsall is one of the smallest of 20 total wards within the city of Salford by population (ONS, 2021). Located in the east of the city, shown in Figure 1 (see Appendix), the ward borders neighbouring city Manchester as well as the newly regenerated Salford Quays (Salford City Council, 2022). This Ordsall community, to whom this briefing is addressed, are united by location and therefore place-based policy and governance across time. Drawing upon theory from geographer David Harvey (1989), this briefing claims that challenges facing this community stem from a city-wide transition from a managerial to entrepreneurial governance strategy. Focus is given to Ordsall residents as, in being within close proximity to a site of significant regeneration such as Salford Quays, it is speculated that this community is more acutely exposed to governance-manifested processes of exclusion.

To fairly offer recommendations to this community, considering the challenges faced within the broader context of their

urban environment, it is important to first assess suitability for the author’s doing so in terms of preconceived knowledge and wider positionality (England, 1994). Although not a member of the Ordsall community, through having family reside in Salford and visiting Ordsall and Salford Quays on numerous occasions, there is great awareness of the city dynamic. Therefore, whilst the approach to a study of challenges facing Ordsall residents and subsequent formulation of a set of community-level recommendations cannot be entirely objective, first-hand experience of the city provides the alternative benefit of facilitating a more informed evaluation of whether recommendations could be both feasible and implementable.

In addressing positionality, it is also appropriate to outline and justify the ontological and theoretical lenses utilised within this briefing – in simpler terms, what the urban is and how we can understand it respectively - as they largely influence the challenges identified and recommendations offered to the Ordsall community. What constitutes a just and sustainable city varies

across stakeholder groups (Williams, 2009); a commonality in ontological outlook between Ordsall residents aligns with Castree et al.’s (2013) definition of community as “a grouping of people” with “a common set of customs and shared circumstances”, and is hence why the community level is appropriate for this report and in ventures towards urban sustainability. In line with critical urban theory (Brenner, 2012), the common problems identified within this briefing as faced by Ordsall residents are perceived to have stemmed from a broader shift to entrepreneurialism through a pervasive neoliberal growth agenda (Harvey, 1989). The marginalisation of Ordsall residents and subordination of their needs aligns with Lefebvre’s notion of varying “readings” of a city (Lefebvre, 1996 in Edensor, 2005, p. 4), and further parallels can be drawn between this and the interpersonal subjectivities in experience associated with standpoint theory (Castree et al., 2013). It is hoped that through recognising and utilising this lens, an urban power imbalance can be best acknowledged, and recommendations offered which can feasibly counteract representational disparities.

Following this introduction, the briefing outlines the historical context upon which Salford and the Ordsall community have been built and shaped, before detailing challenges faced by this community and how these are evidenced on the ground. Recommendations are then offered in response to these challenges to be adopted by the community to foster a more just and sustainable urban environment.

CHALLENGES

The overarching challenge for the Ordsall community, this briefing argues, is that a transition from managerial to entrepreneurial governance across Salford during the last half-century has had a

disproportionately exclusionary impact on the ward’s longstanding residents (Harvey, 1989). Understanding this assertion first requires a historical understanding of the exogenous forces which have brought about this shift in governance strategy:

Salford is one of several recognisable UK postindustrial cities, Liverpool being another example within northwest England (Killick, 2019). Managerial approaches to governance dominated in the city until the 1970s, oriented more towards Keynesian economics of welfare and fairer distribution of resources across a city’s population (MacLeod, 2011 in Black, 2015). However, a decline of Salford’s industrial base culminated in closure of the docks in 1982, creating a window of widespread unemployment and worsened deprivation; unemployment reached 32% in Ordsall during 1985 (Henderson et al., 2007). In response to this industrial decline Salford was remarkably quick to adopt a neoliberal approach to remaking the city (Black, 2015), mirroring regeneration strategies visible in other infrastructurally-similar areas such as London’s Docklands (Henderson et al., 2007). This means that the role the city was expected to play on the national stage had shifted to become growth-focused and tailored to privatisation. Importantly, an element of competition was introduced to obtaining investment, with government funding allocated to areas demonstrating the highest prospective returns (Black, 2015; Christophers, 2008). A performative aspect to regeneration was thus introduced over pursuit of greater city-wide equality; grand infrastructural development superseded poverty reduction efforts which would have made a less significant imprint on the national development stage (Black, 2015).

The incremental regeneration of Salford Quays is a clear exemplification of this, including the relocation of MediaCity to the site in 2011 (Black, 2015). Similar to how neoliberalism expected accumulated

wealth to ‘trickle down’ to lower social groups, it was hoped that this regeneration would raise aspirations of local communities and eventually provide new employment opportunity (Jeffery and Jackson, 2012). However, reduced social provision in line with the neoliberal agenda unsurprisingly prevented any heightened ambition from being mobilised, with less than 1% of Salford residents who applied for a new job being successful (Carter, 2012). This redistribution of investment was therefore almost unanimously detrimental towards more deprived communities and residential groups such as those found within Ordsall, and - paired with austerity cuts to welfare provision and increased residential exclusion via gentrificationacted to perpetually exacerbate intra-city socioeconomic inequalities (Levitas, 2012). It is these widening socioeconomic inequalities which pose greatest challenge to the Ordsall community, manifested in several ways as evidenced below.

Index of Multiple Deprivation

The Index of Multiple Deprivation (IMD) is a composite measure of relative deprivation, utilising seven domains of deprivation to calculate a single value for comparison across local areas (Penney, 2019). The Index is particularly useful for exemplifying how the change in governance outlined above has manifested as exacerbated inequality on the ground for several reasons. Firstly, the high spatial resolution of the Index – the Lower Layer Super Output Area (LSOA) level – allows both inter- and intra-ward disparities to be viewed within the wider city, meaning the indicator can reveal crossscalar evidence of spatial exclusion (CDRC, 2022). Calculation of a single relative value additionally bypasses the complexity of considering each domain of the indicator in isolation, also indirectly appreciating how the socioeconomic aspects of an individual

or community’s lifestyle intersect and therefore cumulatively influence lived experience. Figure 2 shows spatial variation in IMD decile within Ordsall and compared to neighbouring Salford Quays (IMD, 2019 in CDRC, 2022). The map highlights a stark difference in overall deprivation level between Salford Quays and Ordsall in 2019, with a transition from least to most deprived decile as you travel eastwards between the two wards. Interestingly, the boundary into the most deprived decile region corresponds closely with Ordsall’s ward boundary shown in Figure 1 (Salford City Council, 2022), highlighting clear geographical ward-level disparity, and therefore again supporting identification of Ordsall’s population as a group with some feature of commonality as required by the community definition stated earlier (Castree et al., 2013).

Housing

A second way in which the shift to entrepreneurial governance has manifested and posed challenge to the Ordsall community is through emerging inequalities in housing provision, tenure, and affordability. 809 additional affordable homes are required each year to meet Salford’s growing demands, yet current annual provision sits at around 280 homes for the entire city (Salford City Council, n.d.). Too much new housing is unaffordable, and some longstanding Ordsall residents have been priced out of property by gentrification processes associated with influx of young, skilled individuals (Jeffery and Jackson, 2012). Figure 3 highlights spatial variations in housing and service accessibility in 2019, showing – alongside other areas surrounding the Quays – another disproportionate impact on the Ordsall community (IMD, 2019 in CDRC, 2022).

Census data also reveals stark variation between Ordsall and the Quays regarding housing tenure, despite the wards being

adjacent (ONS, 2021). The proportion of the community social renting in Ordsall was 36% in 2021, compared to 6% for Salford Quays and a national average of 17.1%, indicating much greater demand for affordable property within Ordsall (ONS, 2021). Between 2011 and 2021, however, private renting increased by 8% in Salford – the third highest rate in the UK (ONS, 2023). This evidence collectively implies that housing provision under entrepreneurial governance has failed to cater for the needs of the Ordsall community.

Personal Exclusion

Another key consideration is how these spatial differences are experienced at the personal level within the Ordsall community, and to what extent these spatial differences in housing and overall deprivation promote individual feelings of exclusion. Resident testimony via a BBC Radio show focusing on recent residential developments within Ordsall revealed that while longstanding residents have experienced improvement in the overall safety and security of their local area, this is to the detriment of a sense of belonging and integration into the wider city (You and Yours, 2022). One Ordsall resident testified that the city has become “a space where people don’t feel welcome”, noting how “the dual carriageway is often seen as a barrier between the two communities” (You and Yours, 2022). The dual carriageway in question separates Ordsall and Salford Quays, exemplifying how positioning of developmental infrastructure has become a further physical manifestation of the sense of othering promoted by regeneration practices. Further to this, community involvement in regeneration has been low, with focus dedicated to private investment almost entirely at the expense of wider public participation (Henderson et al., 2007). An entrepreneurial governance strategy can therefore be further labelled as unjust towards the Ordsall community due to

resulting obstructions towards individual participation in democratic decision-making (Black, 2015). This interpretation again ties to Lefebvre’s writing on “readings” of a city (1996 in Edensor, 2005, p. 4), with power imbalances allowing some development aspirations to dominate over others - clearly observable in the case of Salford where a neoliberal reading via a select group has been allowed to take hold and pervasively control regeneration. This additionally draws on Black’s (2015, p. 26) notion of “foreclosure”, in which continued perpetuation of the entrepreneurial narrative by a small number of individuals etches a single development pathway with corresponding foreclosure of alternative interests.

Despite limitations in how many variables could be covered within the scope of this briefing, the above examination of spatial disparities in overall deprivation, housing tenure and feelings of inclusion emphasise differential treatment between wards. There is a strong indication that this social fragmentation stems from socially and spatially selective economic investment, with heavily funded areas such as Salford Quays consistently outperforming wards such as Ordsall where investment is more absent.

RECOMMENDATIONS

Through a shift in governance strategy the needs of the Ordsall community have become subordinated to the economic ambitions of the wider city, and – as outlined above – this has become increasingly evident on the ground through ward-level disparities in relative deprivation, housing provision and diminishing feelings of belonging and community cohesion. It is therefore essential that any recommendations offered to the community reflect this backdrop of differential treatment and seek to broaden public participation in relevant decisionmaking.

Recognition of this need to re-mobilise the voices of marginalised groups for solutions to be effective is far from novel. In commenting on distributional justice, Harvey draws upon Rawls’ assertion that this justice can only be achieved if “the advantages of the most fortunate promote the well-being of the least fortunate” (Rawls, 1969 in Harvey, 2009, p. 109). However, in the case of Ordsall this has largely failed as Salford’s socioeconomic returns on investment have not disseminated to the more deprived communities in much the same way that notions of trickle-down economics have been seen to fail elsewhere (Peck, 2005 in Christophers, 2008). This analysis implies that in an entrepreneurial urban system obsessed primarily with economic growth, recommendations towards reaching a more egalitarian society for the benefit of marginalised communities must deviate away from the economic dimension of development as far as tangible. Harvey then raises the argument for amplifying the voices of the more impoverished, to the extent that their approval becomes a prerequisite for decision-making (2009). Although unrealistic to aspire towards a complete societal rebalancing of power, inspiration can be taken from this broader theory to provide means for public participation for an otherwise disregarded community such as Ordsall.

TACKLING DEPRIVATION

The first recommendations in this briefing focus primarily on the economic domain of deprivation, seeking to encourage members of the Ordsall community to join, expand and create groups akin to the Salford Poverty Truth Commission (PTC) (Co-operative Councils Innovation Network, 2023). The commission was formed entirely by Salford residents and instigated in 2016, adopting a coalition structure by including both citizens with lived experience of poverty alongside

those in higher positions of authority (Cooperative Councils Innovation Network, 2023). The overarching aim of the PTC is to mobilise voices within an otherwise marginalised group by providing a platform for those living in poverty to express needs and concerns, thereby facilitating crosssector collaboration between those facing a problem and those with more power to implement effective solutions (Co-operative Councils Innovation Network, 2023). The views of residents facing poverty have been expressed largely through creative means such as poetry or drama, a noteworthy observation given its similarity to modes of creative resistance to gentrification observed in other post-industrial cities such as Liverpool (Co-operative Councils Innovation Network, 2023; Killick, 2019). Furthermore, a common thread of creativity throughout urban theory – from capitalist creative destruction in the remaking of a city (Harvey, 2014 in Black, 2015), to the gentrifying influx of a creative class (Florida, 2002), to recent evidence of creative resistance from communities (Killick, 2019) - invokes a sense of a community reempowering themselves in the face of an otherwise pervasive development agenda.

Additional political support has been offered towards the work of Salford’s PTC through engagement from both Mayor of Salford Paul Dennett and Mayor of Greater Manchester Andy Burnham (Church Action on Poverty, n.d.). It would be a further recommendation to the Ordsall community to engage with opportunity for political participation wherever possible. This could be through writing a letter to the local councillor or MP or, for longer-term engagement, following agendas from councillor meetings such as Salford’s monthly Housing/Regeneration Briefing (Salford City Council, 2023). This is particularly true given Salford and Greater Manchester’s enduring left-wing political landscape, as it would be expected that those

in positions of political authority would be more responsive towards projects employed in pursuit of a more egalitarian society. It is these individuals who have the means to communicate the needs of Ordsall’s community on a regional or national stage – and any investment or support gained through this political channel will likely be better tailored to the needs of the community if the needs are raised by community members themselves in the first instance.

In response to questions over why crosssector collaboration is so important in these recommendations for yielding impactful solutions, it can be argued that if a community were to act in isolation against broader governance, this would fail to acknowledge that it is a difference in perception of the city between stakeholders which has led to exacerbation of the problems faced by the community in the first place. This links back to my earlier mention of different “readings” of a city, with the PTC exemplifying where the differing power relations of stakeholders are acknowledged but then utilised to enact viable change (Lefebvre, 1996 in Edensor, 2005, p. 4). As similarly noted by Lydon, a linkage of topdown and bottom-up practices should act to enhance “social capital” and build “tactical resilience” in pursuit of urban sustainability and justice (2017, p. 290,285). This point on collaboration is also particularly true given feelings of othering and separation already experienced by the Ordsall community; working with those in positions of authority would ideally act to bridge this social gulf and enhance community cohesion and belonging.

Housing

Approaching the challenge of housing provision, despite Salford City Council openly acknowledging that their current supply of affordable housing is far from meeting the city’s ever-increasing

requirements, there is a growing sense that recent removal of government-imposed regulations could empower the Council to make more substantial change in coming years (Salford City Council, n.d.). Funding obtained in 2019 has facilitated planned construction of 129 new council homes across three wards – 53 of which are within Ordsall (Salford City Council, n.d.). Dérive is a supplementary organisation set up in 2017, owned entirely by Salford City Council and aiming to provide “truly affordable homes” (Dérive Salford, 2023). Through the organisation plans are in place for 300 new homes within Ordsall, with over 50% envisaged as being affordable and a selection available for rental to match Ordsall’s dominant mode of tenure as outlined above (Dérive Salford, 2023). Paul Dennett - City Mayor of Salford - claims that these homes will provide for “future generations”, highlighting an intergenerational scope to considerations which marks a key tenet of sustainability thinking (Dérive Salford, 2023). Considering growing political momentum towards affordable housing provision, what recommendations would be prescribed to the current Ordsall community to ensure that plans are actualised?

With a substantial proportion of planned housing implementation taking place within Ordsall, it is a strong recommendation for the community at this early stage to ensure that their imminent housing needs and the council’s proposals are closely aligned – and if not, to voice their concerns as widely as possible. To a certain extent this engagement has been facilitated by Dérive, with a “dropin session” held via an afternoon and evening timeslot where residents could engage with the envisaged plans and communicate with those in charge of developing them (Dérive Salford, 2023). A questionnaire has also been released which asks for residents’ opinions on the redevelopment overall, its layout, housing types and its contribution to wider

ward regeneration (Dérive Salford, 2023). It is further recommended that residents who did not attend the September session respond to the questionnaire, as this could provide accessible means of restoring power within the community towards democratic engagement – a challenge identified earlier in the briefing. A statement of community involvement will then be produced which should add transparency and accountability to the planning process and therefore reassure residents that their thoughts have been adequately listened to and acted upon (Dérive Salford, 2023). This engagement should additionally broaden community awareness of changes expected within Ordsall, working towards improved community cohesion as different groups’ visions for the city continue to be materialised in various ways. It would be hoped that this could not only cater to the regeneration needs of the community, but allow entrepreneurially-oriented changes to be made without residents feeling marginalised or ignored.

CONCLUSION

Within this briefing, challenges faced by the community of Ordsall regarding overall deprivation, housing affordability and social cohesion were identified as products of a city-wide shift in governance strategy from managerial to entrepreneurial (Harvey, 1989). This transition has orientated focus towards the economic dimension of development - largely at the expense of longstanding residents – to create a profitable but highly unequal and fragmented urban landscape.

Recommendations were offered which would hope to amplify the residential “reading” of the city and therefore rebalance power relations in a way which will act to promote more sustainable and inclusive urban development (Lefebvre,

1996 in Edensor, 2005, p. 4). The briefing advocates for residential participation in decision-making wherever possible, alongside political engagement to hopefully promote the community’s needs beyond the boundaries of the city. Commonality across the recommendations given is seen through cross-sector collaboration and a cooperative sentiment, whereby the community is advised to work with those in authority rather than against them as a means of further improving community cohesion.

While each city is a unique product of its history, residents, infrastructure and governance, Salford is far from alone in its industrial heritage and profit-oriented regeneration agenda (Peck et al., 2013). Therefore, although this community briefing has been tailored to address Salford’s Ordsall community, it is hoped that the recommendations offered can be adapted and translated to other deprived wards within the city, or beyond to cities experiencing the similar adverse impacts of a neoliberal agenda. Overall, it is hoped that this briefing addresses a wider need for more just and inclusive regeneration practices across urban areas to progress towards achieving sustainable urban development.

Figure 1: Map showing the ward boundary of Ordsall

Source: Salford City Council, 2022

Figure 2: Map showing IMD 2019 deciles for Ordsall and Salford Quays

Source: IMD, 2019 in CDRC, 2022

Figure 3: Map showing Housing IoD 2019 deciles for Ordsall and Salford Quays

Source: IMD, 2019 in CDRC, 2022

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Separate and Unequal: Improving Equitable Public Education in Chicago, Illinois

Rory Kopplin

INTRODUCTION

The public education system in Chicago, Illinois, is a pipeline to Harvard for some and to prison for others. Education inequality is one of the largest threats to development in the large American city, strongly associated with urban segregation and achievement gaps (Owens 2017; Reardon 2016). Public education in Chicago was ranked “worst in the nation” by former education secretary William Bennett in the late 1980s, though much progress has occurred since and many of the city’s public elementary and high schools now rank very highly nationally (Reardon 2016; Barrow et. al. 2017). While the Chicago Public Schools (CPS) network is regarded for its decades-long improvements and wide range of opportunities, these benefits are certainly not felt equally among student populations (Rury 1999).

The urban education environment, in this case, can be seen as an accurate reflection of the social conditions of the city (Davalos 2022). The explicit racial and economic

divide in Chicago affects every aspect of its society. Residential and school segregation patterns contain a relationship through neighborhood demographic transitions that typically match those present in learning environments, where race serves as an indicator for neighborhood and education quality (Owens 2017, 77).

One such interest to those creating equitable educational policy is social inclusion, defined as “the process of improving the terms of participation in society, particularly for people who are disadvantaged, through enhancing opportunities, access to resources, voice and respects for rights (United Nations 2016, 17).” Students deserve to be represented with high levels of education and access to resources for university, career, and beyond. It is often difficult for those not receiving equal opportunities to become equal in future knowledge and success, including occupation and higher education (Sawhill 2013). Unequal educational opportunities foster a segregated urban environment and social exclusion, impeding

equitable population development (Reardon 2016; Barrow et. al. 2020). This briefing seeks to explore the causes and consequences of this phenomenon and provide suggestion towards improving these conditions for all students.

EXISTING EDUCATIONAL SYSTEMS

In the modern age, most public-school students in urban areas attend their neighborhood institution (Owens 2017, 64). To this end, while every urban school district contains varying levels of education quality, some seek to widen this gap in pursuit of a greater academic level for high-performing students (Owens et. al. 2016, 1183). CPS is one such district. The establishment of charter and “magnet” schools for elementary level students contributes to this goal, but the greater separation lies within the ‘Selective Enrollment’ (SE) process many students go through to be accepted to preferable performance high schools (Rury 1999; Barrow et. al. 2017). The desire of these institutions lies within their selectivity, where high district and federal funding contribute to resources and performance metrics are aspirational for higher education and career opportunities (Davalos 2022; Quiroz & Lindsay 2015). Additionally, these schools are rated very high nationally, often over other elite private schools while still under a city-funded model.

The existing system follows a process of application and assessment for acceptance into selective enrollment public schools, 11 of the 208 high schools in Chicago that making up barely 5 percent of all options available (Barrow et. al. 2017). Before attempting to enter programs, students are first separated by socioeconomic status and placed into neighborhood-based ‘tiers’ ranked 1-4, where admitted students are split equally. This separation occurs before examination and attempts to increase the chances of low-

income students, though this is not always the case (Barrow et. al. 2020). Through the evaluation period, students aged 12-13 must submit near perfect grades and standardized testing scores before taking the CPS High School Admissions Test. Each element of this process is worth one-third of the student’s final score, ranked out of 900 (Davalos 2022). In context, the top selective schools average a score of 896-900 per admitted student. Therefore, it is incredibly competitive and stressful for these young students to perform to the level expected of those attending these well-rated institutions.

Not all students wish to attend a selective public school. Their main alternative is a neighborhood high school within the CPS network, of which there are around 150 serving Chicago’s 77 neighborhoods (Chicago Public Schools 2023). While many of these schools are considered wellperforming, the inherent racial and income segregation present within the city suggests that those in wealthier, often whiter, neighborhoods receive better neighborhood education (Owens 2017). Students in poor and minority areas are much more likely to drop out or commit crimes, as their neighborhood schools in comparison contain a much lower quality of education (Maly 1998). Though minority families tend to consider school quality less when selecting a residential area, the implicit social structures and class systems are strong factors in neighborhood makeup and in turn, educational patterns (Owens 2017).

School choice is often controversial and follows patterns of inequality, but in context is an effective indicator of education quality (Owens et. al. 2016). Outside of the two above structures, parents can choose to send their children to tuition-based private schools, or public districts outside of the city limits of Chicago. However, for the purposes of this briefing, the following content will only be applicable to those within the Chicago

Public Schools system, with an emphasis on high school education, as this is where many students begin to excel or falter to meet future requirements for social capital (Sawhill 2013).

AN UNEQUAL REALITY

Some aspects of better-performing and selective schools include smaller class sizes, wide range of extracurricular offerings, opportunities for career advancement and higher educations, and very rigorous class programs (Barrow et. al. 2020). Students who attend underfunded schools with high poverty are not exposed to these concepts and are less likely to pursue more challenging educational opportunities in the future (Reardon 2016). Higher concentrations of low-income students leave schools more vulnerable to resource loss, low graduation rates, and poor academic quality (Owens et. al. 2016). Those students have fewer options for higher education and career prospects, correlating to the formulation of a gap in opportunity that extends beyond the classroom (Sawhill 2013; Owens 2017).

Many school reform policies in Chicago and beyond seek to improve equity for achievement. The restructuring of education systems to support the goals of low-income students may include moving them to schools in more affluent areas, merit-based performance thresholds for study, and supportive programs to increase admission into specialized schools (Quiroz & Lindsay 2015, 376-379). While some well-intentioned and successful, many efforts have left a myriad of students to be disregarded if they are not considered to have high potential (Rury 1999). The comparison of these aggregate or simple indicators often hinders environmental justice due to lack of analysis and predictive elements and leave little implication for specific solutions for policy outcomes (Pearsall & Pierce 2010). The impact of separating students

into achievement groups through school choice promotes the existing structures of segregation in the public education system at large (Owens et. al. 2016). Unequal opportunity is a circumstance prevalent in each aspect of urban segregation, including economic and racial separation, consolidation and isolation of resources, and a lack of political accountability necessary to lessen these aspects (Reardon 2016).

Within Chicago, much more is necessary to ensure potential advancement for all students. School assignment and school choice programs historically promote racial isolation or ineffective exposure, heavily affecting education quality (Reardon 2016).

Ideally, sending children from multiple locations to specialized establishments “work[s] to decouple residential segregation from urban segregation (Owens et. al. 2016, 1160).” However, if the foundation of the structures present is not equal then neither is the outcome. Racial segregation is higher in environments where white families use resource advantage to live near particular schools, which in turn become inaccessible to minority families (Owens 2017). This is the case with the CPS system, as the ‘tier’ basis for deciding SE eligibility, is often modified and exploited by those seeking to advance and excel (Davalos 2022). The lengths that wealthy, often white, parents go through to get their children into higherranked schools are very indicative of the makeup of said institutions (Owens 2017). Preparation courses, private tutors, and specialized extracurriculars are resources utilized for families intending to participate in high-achieving environments (Quiroz & Lindsay 2015).

Parents are more likely to choose a neighborhood based on the educational opportunities nearby (Owens 2017). Though this occurs in most types of districts, there is a larger influence in dense urban atmospheres. Neighborhood segregation is inexplicably

tied to racial and economic segregation in urban areas. Housing separation determines the institutions students are encouraged or privileged to attend, the conditions of spatially poor areas indicative of low education quality (Maly 1998). Poverty rates also have a significant impact on achievement and correlate to residence (Reardon 2016). Moreover, income segregation proliferates disparities in education quality and outcome through variations in rigor, class sizes, and resource disadvantages (Owens et. al. 2016). The relationships between racial segregation, achievement gaps, and income inequality in Chicago are major contributing factors to the success and development of the urban population.

CONSEQUENCES AND EFFECTS ON DEVELOPMENT

The complex relevance of education inequality in the modern world lies within its impacts on development and sustainable urban environments. Cities are much more likely to consider effective and comprehensive innovations regarding development if the population is of high educational standing, both academically and technically (Owens et. al. 2016; European Union Commission 2022). Additionally, while traditional environmental justice efforts often effectively ignore the pillars of social issues, education falls into the social justice category of analysis, a central factor in sustainability goals and achievements (Pearsall & Pierce 2010, 576). Immense urban racial segregation, such as in Chicago, impedes positive cultural relations and hinders the development of a democratic society through creating labor market inequality and resource access (Reardon 2016, 51).

The development of the population of an urban environment has significant impacts on the development of the city itself. If

the majority of those educated do not pursue academic careers and are without an alternative, indicators for segregation prevail and control societal capital and proliferate standards of inequality (Reardon 2016; Sawhill 2013). The concentration of poverty in schools, typically neighborhood institutions, reflects the conditions of the surrounding environment (Maly 1998). This denies students access to the middle class with disadvantages that impact their future level of economic opportunity (Bradbury & Triest 2016). Social class transition occurs more easily at the obtaining of a university degree, improving economic opportunity (Sawhill 2013).

Education inequality in students has a variety of sufficient impacts on an urban population, namely the proliferation of segregation, poverty, and a higher risk of the ‘school to prison pipeline,’ a cultural phenomenon where low-performing students are more likely to turn to crime due to a lack of support in their education which forces them to be without financial stability later in life (Maly 1998; Sawhill 2013). Segregation constitutes concentrated poverty among minority groups, rapidly increasing poverty levels for a specific demographic (Maly 1998). A scholarly emphasis on the demographic makeup and quality of schooling ties into the concept of school choice and its effect on neighborhood segregation. The application of education to an already divided system continues those metrics of inequality for students throughout their lives. The racial and financial composition of neighborhoods continues well into adulthood and affects the types of careers available for urban and suburban residents once factors like housing markets and commute are considered (Owens 2017). These consequences are much more impactful along racial lines, where minority groups can be abandoned by the systems imposed to improve their societal conditions (Bradbury & Triest 2016). The

disadvantages of segregation only become more relevant under multiple contexts, and education quality is often at the forefront of this separation for children (Owens 2017, 77).

RECOMMENDATIONS FOR IMPROVEMENT

The overarching goal of a more equitable public education environment in Chicago would primarily be to raise every school in the district to the quality level of Selective Enrollment institutions while also promoting diversity (Davalos 2022; Rury 1999). This significant shift would improve education quality and demographic transitions, fostering high performance (Kotting 2022; Naftzger & Bradley 2021). Given the intense and deep-rooted nature of issues surrounding education inequality and urban segregation, solutions must be comprehensive and all-encompassing to achieve success (Pearsall & Pierce 2010).

Policy has been accomplished historically to improve notions of urban segregation, such as the abolition of formal racial school segregation (Reardon 2016). However, there is a significant lack of policy that approaches the causal relationships behind many factors surrounding poverty, segregation, and its impacts on education (Owens et. al. 2016). Current researchers attempt to fill this gap, through studies determining the factors that affect students the most and the impacts of these corroborations (Reardon 2016). As a large factor regarding school choice is the prevalence or lack of neighborhood compatibility, future policy must address this concern in tandem with wider programs to support equitable improvements to urban residential quality (Owens 2017). An opinion frequently addressed by scholars of urban development, “to design effective policies aimed at equalizing both neighborhood and school contexts, policymakers must understand the degrees to which

neighborhood composition contributes to school segregation” as well as the cyclical relationship between these two factors, where school choice also influences future neighborhood education and opportunities (Owens 2017). To this end, it is necessary to consider the association between these factors when evaluating policy objectives and outcomes. Breaking the link between school attendance and neighborhood residence is not as realistic a solution in most environments rather than improving district conditions equitably so more neighborhoods contain desirable institutions (Owens 2017, Reardon 2016). This alternative solution would foster diversity despite the inevitable selecting of a residence based on school district and distinguish a more equal foundation for all students to participate (Rury 1999; Davalos 2022). Policy outcomes, while decided solely by elected officials, are often heavily influenced by community organizations. Underprivileged school communities should seek to improve their own conditions with political support, an objective that is more compressive and successful concerning urban segregation (Rury 1999).

Community movements to improve equity are currently successful within the CPS system and act as ongoing indicators for advancement for the district. One such effort is the Chicago Community Schools Initiative (CSI), a welfare-based system run by parents, prominent community members, local government, and supported by CPS itself. This movement functions to address and supports those aspects of education that affect families outside of the classroom like economic opportunity and family structures (Chicago Public Schools 2023). The Sustainable Community Schools (SCS) strategy works in tandem with the former as a collaboration between the very active Chicago Teachers Union (CTU) and the district. Within this scheme, those schools

at the lowest socioeconomic levels receive stipends for community-driven programs such as sports, arts, and academic enrichment (Barrow et. al. 2020). Most of these classes are taught by community members outside of school hours and provide a way for kids to gain more from their institutions as well as a safe and trusting environments for parents to send them (Naftzger and Bradley 2021). The promotion of sustainable practices within education environments functions as a more accurate approach to education reform due to its complex analysis of theoretical structures (United Nations 2016; Pearsall & Pierce 2010). Successful development indicators must understand the distribution of demographics within cities to account for structural improvements and in turn recognize the current aspects of their unsustainability, an achievement often prosperous through community-led equity enrichment efforts (Pearsall & Prince 2010, 577).

Movements such as these are important for all students in the district but become vital for neighborhood institutions which are consistently threatened with closure. Social crises in the city tend to affect smaller, non-specialized schools much more, where they are rarely met with adequate recovery funding and resources (Reardon 2016). To this end, high-poverty schools tend to have both low performance and lack advanced curricula, so those students wishing to continue their education are not properly supported (Ibid). Socioeconomic status is measured in demographic indicators, but often contested and seen as arbitrary, requiring a variety of scopes and purposes to be analyzed alongside the use of SES factors (United Nations 2016). On the other hand, selective and private schools tend to feel less of the effects of greater societal issues such as economic recession, health crises, and political disputes (Rury 1999; Dogan & Yenmez 2019).

In tandem with policy and organization, CPS should create a more equitable funding plan for all public schools. Due to the established strong connection between residential wealth and education quality, further steps must be taken to ensure achievement is possible for poor students (Owens 2017; Bradbury & Triest 2016). As a large majority of school funding is obtained through local taxes from property values and fundraising contributions, income segregation en masse contributes to resource inequalities between institutions (Owens et. al. 2016, 1162; Quiroz & Lindsay 2015). Federal school funding initiatives should be reallocated in power from the middle to lower class, including loans and tax credits, to support closing this gap for low-income students (Sawhill 2013). Financial burdens are the largest impediment to pursuing higher education, heavily impacting disadvantaged students (Ibid).

Similarly, local and national organizations alike might consider creating more opportunities for those students who do not wish to attend universities or have more technical over traditional academic skills and interests. This could take a multifaceted model of assessing students’ needs and interests and then providing a wider range of classes in typical learning environments to support them (Sawhill 2013). Some schools in Chicago already seek these types of enrichments, through programs outside of school like the SCS strategy or collaborations with technical schools and community colleges (Chicago Public Schools 2023; Kotting 2022). These programs are often offered to high school students as a means of exposing them to new trades and occupations. However, the access and scale of such schemes must be improved to include more of the city’s population and delivered at the same quality in wealthier areas as they are poor ones. Only through

an equitable lens will progress occur for students dependent on these systems, a postulation often cast aside by those in power (Owens 2017).

CONCLUSIONS

Participation in society is hindered when access is lacked toward social services and opportunities, including education (United Nations 2016). Significant connections between wellbeing and social aspects of sustainability are primarily concerned with development and quality of life (Pearsall & Pierce 2010, 577). The reduction of inequalities and promotion of social inclusion benefits all sectors of living standards, especially in urban environments with dense populations (European Union Commission 2022). Urban segregation and education quality are significantly linked, mostly among the factors of racial achievement gaps and economic inequalities that drive the structure of public-school districts (Reardon 2016; Bradbury & Triest 2016). Similarly, a rise in income segregation and exposure to poverty directly correlates to measures of educational inequality, factors that are further exacerbated in populationdense urban environments (Owens et. al. 2016; Reardon 2016).

The public school system of Chicago is inherently unequal and forces many students to stop their education early with no alternative options, often turning to crime or minimum-wage tasks that impede urban development and uphold racialized classes structures (Barrow et. al. 2020). While specialized schools often attempt to assist in integration, they also “provide a way for high-income parents to avoid their neighborhood schools (Owens et. al. 2016, 1183).” Students with low socioeconomic status attending selective enrollment schools are more likely to attend higher education institutions than their counterparts (Barrow

et. al. 2017). Therefore, the district-wide implementation of successful strategies from high-achieving schools is vital to increasing higher education retention, a significant factor in career earnings (Sawhill 2013).

Support of students in Chicago’s public schools requires definition and acknowledgements of key issues regarding inequity, including unequal school funding, education quality, and promotion of alternative skills. A lack of affordability and preparedness pose the biggest threat to university enrollment and student success, both of which have advancement potential within the K-12 environment (Sawhill 2013). There is strong support for improvements to the entirety of Chicago’s school system, with an emphasis on improving school environments for important neighborhood institutions and areas that are often neglected (Barrow et. al. 2017; Barrow et. al. 2020).

Historically, CPS policies are made under a liberal and progressive front, supporting integration with significant federal spending on education (Rury 1999). Education policy in Chicago is often lacking in depth, and community movements in funding, so a combined approach might be necessary to ensure the goals of all stakeholders are met and that quality education is provided to all students on an equal basis (Rury 1999; Barrow et. al. 2020). Racial integration at multiple levels is necessary to improve disparities in school poverty rates and urban segregation (Reardon 2016, 51). Improving Chicago’s public education systems is an essential facet to correcting urban segregation, accomplished primarily by increasing equitable opportunity for students with racial, economic and intellectual consideration. A focus on these areas promotes sustainable community development and positive future investment (Owens et. al. 2016).

REFERENCES

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Sean F. Reardon. “School Segregation and Racial Academic Achievement Gaps.” RSF: The Russell Sage Foundation Journal of the Social Sciences 2, no. 5 (2016): 34–57. https://doi.org/10.7758/rsf.2016.2.5.03.

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Denmark’s Ghetto Plan

Nora Krogsgaard

INTRODUCTION

Communities are experienced and defined in multifaceted ways. Thus, it often becomes difficult to draw a line between bystanders and participants; one must consider who is included and who makes these definitions. The definition of community allows for an arbitrary divide between humans, merely furthering the challenges of segregation and social exclusion. The challenges of segregation are ever-present, whether a definition is arbitrary or not, one must also recognize that there are specific characteristics individuals do not share and thus segregate them, intrinsically or extrinsically. Later in this report, my recommendations touch upon how bystanders may be able to aid the participants of communities when exploring the challenges they experience. Sharing a similar hurt or having the comfort of similar beliefs and lifestyles, strengthens a community through a sense of belonging. This report aims to highlight how individuals beyond just one community can contribute to this too.

The following report considers the

communities experiencing social exclusion due to their ethnic backgrounds in Copenhagen, Denmark. However, suppose one defines a community as a group of people with common characteristics, such as ethnicity. In that case, we consider a much larger community beyond Copenhagen. The notion of community continues to evolve and develop as we continue to globalize. If communities are not merely based on geographic location but rather particular characteristics, the knowledge of your and my community is one that we should share. Communities worldwide and within a nation can learn from one another and understand their community is larger, more interconnected, than one may think.

MY POSITIONALITY

I was born 20 minutes outside of Copenhagen and spent the next 18 years in schools in and around Copenhagen. Growing up in Denmark, I became familiar with national political debates and disputes. Though I never truly experienced nor actualized the discourse surrounding

the disputes on immigration, despite attending an international school for most of my education. My evident oblivion to the communities, affected by these disputes and the challenges, is troublesome. The Copenhagen I have grown up in is different from the Copenhagen I have discovered throughout my research for this report. The lack of open dialogue surrounding diversity and inclusion in my everyday life and my years in education is a significant driver in my recommendations for these challenges, outlined later in the report.

Before suggesting recommendations to the community, it is vital to acknowledge that you, the community experiencing these challenges, are the experts. As a scholar my role is to shed light on these implications, outline and suggest a framework for implementation, and highlight how similar communities have utilized this to their benefit.

THE COMMUNITY AND GHETTO PLAN

Denmark has long been a very closed nation in hopes of promoting their national values. Thus, with increasing immigration and refugees entering the country, Denmark has struggled with proper integration strategies, leading ethnic minorities in Denmark to be socially and geographically excluded.

On January 1st, 2018, the former rightwinged Prime Minister, Lars Løkke Rasmussen, held the annual New Year’s speech, where the plan for removing all ‘ghettos’ by 2030 was announced (BT, 2018). The contentious and evolving social policy known as the “Ghetto Plan” was introduced to address socioeconomic disparity issues.

Mjølnerparken is a housing complex located in Northwest Copenhagen and has been categorized by the government as a “hard ghetto”. With the Ghetto Plan, 60% of the residences are to be sold, torn down or

redeveloped by 2030, with no plan to aid the relocation of the residents (Politiken, 2023). Residents of Mjølnerparken, you will be the focus of this report, nevertheless I will still acknowledge the broader communities around Denmark that, too, are faced with the regulations set by the Ghetto Plan.

The language used in politics is noteworthy. Referring to areas of higher ethnic-minority populations as ghettos shift the political debate from social inclusion considerations to mere racial and ethnic dimensions and prejudices. As of 2021, this plan is now referred to as the Parallel Society Policy (Paolino, 2022). The removal of “parallel societies” shifts the discourse to the debates of social inclusion, integration, and the removal of segregated communities. Nevertheless, as we will discover through this report, is the rebranding of this plan merely a coverup?

This policy aims to address the challenges faced by the specific communities living in these ghettos, particularly those with a significant non-Western immigrant population. According to Danmarks Statistik, this refers to anyone from a country outside of the EU and North America (2019). However, the definition continues with additional exceptions of Iceland, Australia, Switzerland and many more, creating a sense of apprehension when considering who is included in these “non-Western” communities in the eyes of Danish politicians. Migration researcher Garbi Schmidt underlines that the Ghetto Plan evidently sees immigration as the main issue and cause of segregation in Denmark, once again connotating ghettos to a particular race and ethnicity (Paolino, 2022 and Schmidt, 2022).

These areas, labelled as ghettos, are often criticized for a perceived lack of integration and participation in Danish society, with concerns raised about language proficiency,

engagement with the labour market, and adherence to Danish norms and values (Paolino, 2022). This in and of itself is a significant challenge the community is currently facing and will be further discussed later in the report. One driving concern behind this policy is the notion of the “great replacement”, a far-right fear which posits the replacement of the native population by immigrants and the erosion of Danish values (Paolino, 2022). Policymakers aim to prevent this outcome, as well as the furthering of minority-majority communities in Copenhagen, which are home to sizeable proportions of people from many ethnic groups, through this Ghetto Plan (Catney, 2022). The emphasis on preserving national values, consequently, leads to the displacement of 60% of the current ghetto classified areas, underlining clear challenges, and worries for your community (Paolino, 2022).

Considering these developments, the Ghetto Plan has significant implications for the broader immigrant community of Denmark. The target of the Ghetto Plan is to ensure residents with non-Western backgrounds do not exceed 40% of the population in residential areas by 2030; introducing further challenges and questions surrounding housing security for these residents who risk their homes being torn down (Versi, 2020). The criteria for an area to be classified as a ghetto include a majority non-Western population and whether the area has at least two of the following: low income, high crime, high unemployment, or low levels of education (Versi, 2020).

The policy, however, has not been without controversy. Internationally, it has been criticized for its perceived discriminatory and racially biased nature, leading many to label it as both racist and discriminatory. The implementation of such measures has ignited debate and divisions within Danish society.

DENMARK IN THE CONTEXT OF DIVERSITY

As it is, the challenges with the Ghetto Plan are not uncommon nor found only in one area of the world. The discourse surrounding segregation and social exclusion in Copenhagen is one of many worldwide. As mentioned earlier, this report attempts to highlight how large and widespread your community truly is, drawing in on examples from scholars and other nations where these challenges exist or have been explored.

Denmark’s population has, for a long time, been, and continues to be, extremely homogenous. It was only in the 1960s, when Denmark was facing industrial labour shortages, that Denmark slowly began opening its borders to Turkish, Pakistani, and Yugoslavian citizens (Lewinter et al., 1996 and Schmidt, 2021). Following this, in the 1970s, families of the labour migrants followed and moved to Denmark too. After the 2015 Syrian refugee crisis, the political discourse surrounding refugees, non-EU and non-Western immigrants became one of hostility, with emphasis on the fear of losing Danish values. With the slow influx of immigration since the 1960s, one may question the considerations, or lack thereof, of integration strategies put forward by the government, and how this consequently affects your community today.

The concept of a “ghetto”, although existing in Europe and North Africa, was a foreign phenomenon in Denmark before the 1900s (Schmidt, 2022). Between the 1850s and 1960s, Danish newspapers reported on the rise of ghettos in larger metropolitan cities around Europe, often described and portrayed as poor and dirty areas (Schmidt, 2022). This narrative was furthered amongst other European newspapers, dehumanizing the residents living in these areas, leading to numerous xenophobic and racist uproars.

The 100 years leading up to workers’ immigration to Denmark allowed the media to fuel the stigma and negative perceptions of ghettos. The rise of ghettos in urban areas of Denmark became more apparent in the late 1960s, linking ghettos to immigrants (Schmidt, 2022). Social housing was, and continues to be, one of the rare affordable accommodations in Copenhagen, causing the rise of Turkish and Pakistani guest workers residing there. The deteriorating conditions of the social housing merely furthered the narrative outlined in the decades prior.

A vital socio-political shift occurred near the 1980s when debating Danish immigration policies. Initially, the discourse revolved around the social inequalities for immigrants, yet a noticeable shift highlighted a link between immigration, ghettos, and religious practices, specifically those within Islam (Yilmaz, 2016, p. 84). The following sections will focus on the social challenges that followed the communities living in these areas.

Within the past 60 years, only 5% of the Danish population originate outside the EU (European Commission, 2023). This minimal development of diversity is salient. The brief introduction to the history of Danish immigration and how the media has presented these housing areas sets the context for the remainder of the report.

THE CHALLENGES FACED

Denmark’s policies continue to indicate the regression of migrant integration performance in the past years (MIPEX, 2020). The challenges faced by the communities living in the ghettos are multitudinous, yet all interlinked. It is worth noting that simply labelling and categorizing an area’s residents based on their ethnic backgrounds is disadvantageous to the communities’ external opinion and perception. With the

additional policies put in place in recent years, this only introduces further challenges to the community.

Segregation

A clear challenge experienced, even before the introduction of the Ghetto Plan in 2018, is segregation. Despite the intention of the Ghetto Plan being to integrate ethnic minorities and prevent parallel societies from forming, it seems the opposite has occurred. A resident of Mjølnerparken shared her thoughts, “I don’t feel this law makes us feel included – it’s the opposite. You’re saying to kids from a young age that they are not good enough, that they have to do extra to be accepted by society” (Versi, 2020). The Ghetto Plan is not integrating communities; rather, it is further exacerbating the segregation that already exists, further labelling the minority communities as trouble.

Traditionally, we have understood ‘citizenship’ as the status of belonging to a country. Yet, it has long taken a different form and meaning in the urban context. Challenges arise when questioning the citizenship of your community in Mjølnerparken. Some residents in Mjølnerparken are ethnically Danish; others are second or thirdgeneration immigrants who have lived in Denmark their whole lives. Nevertheless, these residents are classified as non-Western. In urban study literature, scholars think of citizenship beyond the formality of the state and its citizens, rather, they challenge the formality and open the discussion of citizens belonging to an informal community. One cannot hold a legal membership to something as personal and arbitrary as an individual’s lifestyle choice (Isin et al., 2008, p. 1). Still, somehow, Danish politics seem to disregard whether you have only lived in Denmark. Instead, it is the informal lifestyle “citizenship” which worries the politicians, only creating a further segregation and discourse of “them” vs “us”.

Displacement

A direct impact the Ghetto Plan is having on the community is the blatant eviction. Not only is this a housing crisis for residents of these ghettos, but the correlation between ethnicity socioeconomic and political challenges are ever present.

A clear issue that follows is the lack of understanding and awareness of how selective demolition is significantly altering neighbourhoods and continuously disproportionately displacing minority populations (Lukes et al., 2019, p. 3200). These discriminatory processes are evidently systemic yet covered in bureaucratic legislation, making it nearly impossible to accurately evidence and challenge (Lukes et al., 2019, p. 3201). The contradictions of strict legislation and implementation and the reality of urban life highlight how vital your voice is here (Benit-Gbaffou and Oldfield, 2011, p. 447). Change must come from you, as it is evident that current integration schemes are only worsening the challenges.

Residents of Mjølnerparken, you have expressed your concerns and worries, highlighting how the selling of these residential homes does not necessarily correlate to forced eviction, but consequently, as rent increases, families will be left with no other option. “It’s the people that live in those buildings who are struggling”, not the buildings that are being torn down or sold, Samiah Qasim emphasizes (Versi, 2020). Once more, merely underlining the social challenges buried within the discourse of housing redevelopments to remove the stigma souring these deprived areas.

Employment Opportunities

A considerable debate is that there are high levels of unemployment in Vollsmose, another classified ghetto in Odense, a fellow community. This is not due to a

lack of attempts from the residents. Youth activist, Ibrahim El-Hassan, is an active member of Almend Modstand, a movement against housing discrimination and forced eviction. El-Hassan highlights the need for a reorganization of the job market, as he has experienced the implications that follow employment due to Arabic surnames (Aljazeera, 2021). Regrettably, this is not a new challenge. The feminist scholar Sara Ahmed explains how her surname “slows her down”, adding challenges to her everyday life that might not be experienced by a white woman (Ahmed, 2007, p. 162). We become strangers in our homes when something like our name segregates us from the rest. Ahmed highlights how “having the ‘right’ passport makes no difference if you have the wrong body or name”, furthering the ideas and questions surrounding citizenship once more (Ahmed, 2007, p. 162). The struggle to find higher-paying jobs limits residents to where they can afford to live, furthering the narrative that these areas are impoverished and dangerous communities. “If they really want minority Danes, I mean us from ethnic backgrounds other than Danish, to integrate more into the Danish society, then it’s necessary to include us and not push us away, alienate us and stigmatize us and make us into a problem” El-Hassan shared (Aljazeera, 2021).

Forced inclusion

Though integration into Danish society is easier said than done, implications arise when this integration is forced and written by Danish politics rather than engaging with the communities at risk of social exclusion. The government have enforced a regulation stating children at the age of 1 must enrol in day-care at least 25 hours a week to teach the Danish language and values (Ringgard, 2018). However, the children are only at further risk of being stigmatized and segregated. When politicians categorize communities

and individuals as residents needing special treatment, there is a risk that this attitude is projected onto the teachers and, thus, to the children, further alienating the children from society (Ringgard, 2018). Furthermore, the issue of selective discrimination is once more presented. “If I moved over to the other side of the road, I would not be having any of these problems”, Qasim explains, as this regulation solely relates to residents of the classified ghettos in Denmark (Versi, 2020). The attempt from the Danish government to integrate children into Danish society continues to present further challenges to you and your sense of belonging.

COMMUNITY RECOMMENDATIONS

It is evident the challenges that your community faces are complex, interlinked, and continuously growing. However, highlighting the challenges and understanding how these are arising contextualizes the need for communitydriven action and that these initiatives are vital to increasing social inclusion.

It is worth noting, once more, my positionality within this social conflict. I have been a part of a very homogenous community, one that rarely interacts with residents outside of our bubble, unaware of what was occurring just 20 minutes away. The following recommendations are based on successes in other similar communities to those of the residents in Mjølnerparken. Nevertheless, linking back to my initial discussion on community, the bystander and participant begin to interact once again here. As a bystander of the Ghetto Plan and your community, which have been directly affected, I have the responsibility to be a participant in the action against social exclusion. Below, I outline two main recommendations. The first is a more theoretical conversation that must be had nationally to destigmatize your community

by others. The second recommendation takes inspiration from Malmö, where communities have experienced similar exclusion. This recommendation is a more concrete plan for action that I hope you may consider.

1. Destigmatizing the conversation

Had I been introduced to the challenges that your community was facing in school, and been given initiatives and actions I could take, I, and many in my community, would have jumped at the opportunity to help. Throughout this report, I have significantly highlighted how it is the politicians and the government who have continued this stigmatization and narrative of the residents of the categorized ghettos. Thus, it is up to communities and society to take back the narrative and rewrite it.

There is a clear need to understand how individual experiences differ in order to live in a racially just society. We must acknowledge that one community’s privileges often come at the expense of others’ marginalization (Finney et al., 2023, p. 5). Including other communities in this discussion helps the excluded communities to be seen and acknowledged. From here, we must take further action to socially include them in activities. Once we understand the need for, and implement, inclusive dialogue, we begin to tackle the challenges of employment, thus prejudice and further displacement.

However, if inclusion is forced, exclusion persists. The policies and challenges of forced day-care by the Ghetto Plan highlight this. Integration must be sought by all communities involved. According to the scholar Ceri Peach (1996), the concept of segregation has often been vilified. Still, Peach argues that it is not uniformly negative and can serve as a method for accommodating differences within a society. Peach

recognizes the value of allowing these ethnic communities to exist while integrating them into the broader environment (1996, p. 380). In essence, Peach’s perspective highlights the delicate balance needed between preserving cultural identity and fostering social inclusion. Ultimately, he argues, the choice should be left to the individual or the community rather than imposing a uniform policy. Through the interviews with the residents of Mjølnerparken, it is evident that social inclusion is wanted and needed. Yet, we must still allow other lifestyles and traditions to exist within the larger society.

2. A plan for action

In the recent decade, Malmö has dramatically struggled with the integration of migrants and refugees following the 2015 Syrian refugee crisis especially. To lessen tensions between communities and allow for a socially integrated society, Malmö introduced a primary school football club against racism, currently engaging with 30 schools (Malmö FF, 2023). In association with the local Swedish UNESCO Collaboration, this program allows for children of diverse ethnicities to come together to play football. Racism and prejudice are not intrinsic values; this is something we are taught and fed to believe. Teaching children from a young age that their friends and teammates do not necessarily speak or look a certain way, yet you are all able to get along and play a fun game, diverts the negative narrative of immigration and ethnic groups that has been portrayed for decades. Initiatives, such as Malmö FF’s, would benefit both the communities categorized as ghettos and help other communities, such as my own, to remove the stigma surrounding immigration in Scandinavia.

As mentioned, I attended Copenhagen International School (CIS) for most of my education. Yet, the challenges and communities I have been introduced

to through this report are new to me. International schools would be a beneficial community to begin engaging with for your community, as diversity is not as foreign to these students as it might be for public Danish schools. If the children in Mjølnerparken and the children at CIS can come together weekly for a friendly game of soccer, then integration and inclusion become a choice that emphasizes leisure and enjoyment. This may seem like a small action; however, soccer has notoriously put internal political disputes aside, to create an atmosphere of national appreciation and camaraderie. Not only would this benefit the children and future generations of Denmark, it would also allow for parents to meet. As discussed earlier, prejudice is taught, and changing this at an early age stops the continuous cycle of hostility. That said, it is not too late for parents, the soccer plan allows parents, too, to rethink their reservations.

At heart, social integration is only possible if there is an understanding of the challenges beyond just your community. Initiatives for inclusion and destigmatisation can begin only when outside communities understand and acknowledge the social exclusion that exists.

REFERENCES

Ahmed, S. (2007). ‘A phenomenology of whiteness’, Feminist Theory, 8(2), 149-168.

Aljazeera (2021). Am I Danish?: Ibrahim vs the Ghetto Laws | Witness Documentary. (online) Available at: https:// www.youtube.com/watch?v=fB6lsEA6chs (Accessed 26 October 2023).

B.T. (2018) Her kan du læse hele Lars Lække Rasmussens nytårstale. Available at: https://www.bt.dk/politik/herkan-du-laese-hele-lars-loekke-rasmussens-nytaarstale (Accessed: 26 October 2023).

Benit-Gbaffou, C., & Oldfield, S. (2011) ‘Accessing the State: Everyday Practices and Politics in Cities of the South’, Journal of Asian and African Studies, 46 (5), 445452.

Catney, G. et al. (2022) ‘Ethnic diversification and neighbourhood mixing: A rapid response analysis of the 2021 Census of England and Wales’, The Geographical Journal, 189 (1), 63-77.

Danmarks Statistik (2019) Defor inddeler vi verden i vestlige og ikke-vestlige lande. Available at: https://www.dst. dk/da/Statistik/nyheder-analyser-publ/rigsstat-klumme/2019/2019-07-11-derfor-inddeler-vi-verden-i-vestlige-og-ikke-vestlige-lande (Accessed: 26 October 2023).

European Commission (2023) Governance of migrant integration in Denmark. Available at: https://ec.europa.eu/migrant-integration/country-governance/ governance-migrant-integration-denmark_en#:~:text=The%201960s%20industrial%20labour%20shortages,Asia%2C%20followed%20in%20the%201970s (Accessed: 26 October 2023).

Finney, N. et al (2023) ‘Introduction: the need for Evidence for Equality’. In Racism and Ethnic Inequality in a Time of Crisis. Bristol: Policy Press, pp 1-29.

Isin, E.F. (2008) ‘Theorizing acts of citizenship’, Acts of Citizenship, 11(6), 1-12.

Lewinter, M-, Kesmez, S.S., Gezgin, K. (1996) ‘The social situation of elderly Turkish immigrants in Copenhagen, Denmark’ J Cross Cult Gerontol, 11(2), 115-129.

Lukes, S., N. Noronha and N. Finney (2019) ‘Slippery discrimination: a review of the drivers of migrant and minority housing disadvantage’, Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies, 45(17), 3188-3206.

Malmo FF (2023) Grundskole-Fotboll mot rasismer. Available at: https://www.mff.se/grundskolefotboll-mot-rasismer/ (Accessed 26 October 2023).

MIPEX (2020) Migrant Integration Policy Index. Available at: https://www.mipex.eu/denmark (Accessed: 26 October 2023).

Paolino, J. (2022) Forget parallel societies: Is the ghetto plan stuck in a parallel universe? Available at: https:// cphpost.dk/2022-10-22/news/forget-parallel-societies-is-the-ghetto-plan-stuck-in-a-parallel-universe/#:~:text=The%20years%2Dold%20ghetto%20plan,their%20 racial%20and%20ethnic%20composition (Accessed 26 October 2023).

Peach, C. (1996) ‘Good segregation, bad segregation’, Planning Perspectives, 11(4), 379-398.

Politiken (2023) Slaget om Mjølnerparken er i fuld gang Available at: https://politiken.dk/indland/art9309331/ Slaget-om-Mjølnerparken-er-i-fuld-gang (Accessed 26 October 2023).

Ringgard, A. (2018) Forskere: Vuggestue-tvang i ‘ghettoer’ er et risikabelt eksperiment. Available at: https://videnskab. dk/kultur-samfund/forskere-vuggestue-tvang-i-ghettoer-er-et-risikabelt-eksperiment/ (Accessed 26 October 2023).

Schmidt, G. (2021) Den første ghetto. Aarhus: Aarhus University Press.

Schmidt, G. (2022) ‘What Is in a Word? An Exploration of Concept of ‘the Ghetto’ in Danish Media and Politics 1850–2018’ Nordic Journal of Migration Research, 12(3), 310–325.

Versi, J. (2020) Denmark’s ‘ghetto plan’ and the communities it targets. Available at: https://www.aljazeera. com/features/2020/1/15/denmarks-ghetto-plan-and-thecommunities-it-targets (Accessed 26 October 2023).

Yilmaz, F. (2016) How the Workers Became Muslims: Immigration, Culture, and Hegemonic Transformation in Europe. eBook: University of Michigan Press.

What the taxi strikes have shown about Cape Town’s stark inequality: A Community Briefing on the Nyanga area

Emma Wainwright

INTRODUCTION:

Whilst it is no secret that the city of Cape Town has large inequalities, the recent Taxi strikes have highlighted just how vast the infrastructural disparities and subsequent social exclusion are. Cape Town is a city renowned for its nature, culture and diversity yet it is one of the most unequal societies in the whole world. This community report will discuss the strikes as well as the historical context that has led to the current situation in Cape Town. The focus of this report will be on the Nyanga Township and addressing four interconnected challenges facing the community: food insecurity, educational inequality, unemployment and a lack of basic infrastructure. Following on from critical urban theory, four potential communitybased solutions will then be explored. For the purpose of this report, the South African slums will be referred to as townships or informal settlements. When writing about Black townships, my positionality must be acknowledged. As a privileged, White person who grew up in contact with this community, I do not pretend to know the

experience of living in a township but would like to contribute to voicing their issues and exploring possible solutions.

On 3 August 2023, the South African National Taxi Council (SANTACO) announced a week-long regional strike in the Western Cape. It began after a policy was passed that allowed police to impound these vehicles. Mass violence and protests erupted that saw buses set alight and vital transport routes closed. These minibus vehicles are essential to the livelihood and welfare of many South Africans. 85% of taxi patrons are Black with 74% of all users falling under the poor or lowincome bracket (South African Institute of Race Relations: 2019). Thus, it was majority Black, low-income people that suffered from these strikes.

HISTORICAL CONTEXT:

At the outset, a report on the social exclusion of Black South Africans could not be written without an acknowledgement of the legacy of the Apartheid system. The forced removal and racialised urban planning during this

time largely shaped the current spatial demography. The Group Areas Act of 1950 gave the state legal control to create ‘group areas’ where only residents of a certain race were able to live. It limited Black African and Coloured land ownership and allowed the state to use military force to implement these boundaries (Mesthrie, 1993). In Cape Town, specifically, urban segregation was enforced on a mass scale over the course of 20 years. Over 150,000 non-white residents were forcefully removed out of the city and made to live on uneven, sandy land in the periphery of the city in an area known as the Cape Flats. This area is extremely vulnerable to climate disasters and consistently experiences flooding and wildfires (Trotter, 2022).

Infrastructure and amenities were consequently racially divided, from the seating arrangements on public transport to segregated places of boarding and exiting. The local government placed more emphasis on controlling the townships rather than investing in them. The areas were underfunded and overcrowded with little attention paid to infrastructure. Public transport routes were designed for the central white communities and the peripheral nonwhite communities were forced to pay for taxi minibuses in order to compensate for this. Myriad informal businesses have consequently been established within the informal settlements to fill the gap in the market. However, these businesses are still more vulnerable to higher inflation and a lack of funding, this is known as the global phenomenon of ‘poverty penalty’ (Galbraith et al., 2023) (Figure 1)

CONTEMPORARY CAPE TOWN:

As the country transitioned into democracy, this entrenched separation is still very visible in the topography of South Africa. The townships are home to a third of South Africa’s population and 60% of the country’s

unemployed population. The demarcated townships created during Apartheid have grown exponentially but the residents still have no legal claim over the land. Cape Town particularly, has experienced large growth in its townships due to rural migration and the COVID-19 economic recession. An estimated 70,000 news shacks were erected during the national disaster regulations put in place from 2020 to 2021. (Johnson, 2022). The government has abandoned the Reconstruction and Development Plan (RDP) of 1994 which directly aimed to revitalise the townships and no national strategic policy plan has since been implemented. (Figure 2) Currently, there is no waste collection, running water nor sanitation facilities within most townships and access to healthcare services and basic nutrition is limited. (Makgobola, 2023) Electricity has been provided by the state but the recent rolling blackouts, referred to as load-shedding, leave the entire country without electricity for up to 8 hours a day. However, the higher income residents can buy generators or install renewable energy sources whilst it is the lower-income township dwellers who again suffer the most, thus trapping them in the cyclical poverty trap. (Johnson, 2022)

Policy decision making is still in the hands of an elite few and urban planning and investment is focused on the wealthier areas of central Cape Town. Areas such as Nyanga are excluded in fear of safety issues and market volatility. The complicated intersections between historical urban segregation, socio-economic and racial divides as well as rapid modern urbanisation, mean that it is still majority Black Africans in townships who are the most vulnerable within society.

The Nyanga Township is one of the oldest and largest Black townships in Cape Town. Due to the community’s position near Cape Town’s International airport and the N2 major highway, it was an epicentre of

the taxi strikes and subsequent violence. Nyanga is a part of Cape Towns’ urban sprawl that began with the forced removals during Apartheid and has since exploded in population due to urbanisation. The area is widely considered one of the most dangerous places in the region, with a 2019 report finding it to have the highest murder rate in the country. Furthermore, it has one of the highest HIV/AIDS rates in the country, with prevalent sexual violence and a lack of education worsening the spread. An estimated 30% of the population in Nyanga is infected with HIV and this has resulted in a significant orphan population within the community. (Head, 2017). Over the course of the taxi riot, five people were killed in escalating gun violence and looting whilst more than 50 people were arrested. The residents of Nyanga were unable to travel for work and were also forced to walk to access basic amenities. Municipal services were suspended, including the closing of hospitals and schools in the area. Consequently, food and produce available in the townships were subject to large pricehikes due to the scarcity of deliveries and transport.

SOLUTIONS:

There is currently a large gap in the government support for communities such as Nyanga. The Covid-19 Pandemic and subsequent economic recession have meant that government funding has largely been reduced. Top-down efforts to improve the infrastructure of Nyanga are slow moving and cannot keep up with the growing demand. Although the problem is multifaceted and cannot be solved quickly, a contextualised, needs-based method has been proven to create positive change. The solutions outlined below will be based on improving two existing social organisations using other successful projects as inspiration.

Then focusing on upgrading infrastructure, in this case, transport and sanitation, again using solutions that have been successful in similar urban contexts.

DIRECT COMMUNITY ACTION INITIATIVES:

“The children of any nation are its future. A country, a movement, a person that does not value its youth and children does not deserve its future” – Oliver Tambo, South African antiapartheid activist and politician. (ANC, 2022)

Creating sustainable growth and empowering the local community starts at the smallest level, with the education of children. Oliver Tambo recognised that the youth were the future of South Africa in the 1980’s, yet education is still greatly unequal within the country today. One such organisation is the Etafeni Centre, which aims to empower the children within Nyanga as well as combatting the HIV/AIDS epidemic. The organisation aims to support orphans, children and caregivers who have been influenced by the epidemic. Etafeni runs over 12 programmes and is funded through donations and corporate sponsorships. The centre runs skills programmes that trains HIV-infected mothers in craftwork which is then sold and provides a steady income for the women. The residents surrounding the centre have been trained in HIV/AIDS information and Childline counsellor certification, thus if a child were to lose their parents, there is a network of caregivers ready to step in. For the children, there is the Etafeni Playgroup Project, which is available to all children of the community but makes sure to accommodate for orphans and those whose families have been affected by HIV/ AIDS. Supervised homework and after school care is provided for older students

and they are given access to educational resources. The recent multi-stakeholder development of a playground and greenbelt means that the community now has a beautiful, convivial space to enjoy. (Etafeni Day Care Centre Trust, 2022) After a firsthand visit to the centre, I can attest to the success of this project. The centre is abuzz with activity and has become a beacon for the surrounding community.

Etafeni has created lasting change within Nyanga through its excellent framework and implementation. An improvement would be to extend the reach of the centre and particularly the education it provides. The Sister Nivedita Schools on Wheels initiative in Gujarat, India provides education and technological resources to some of the most marginalised children in the area. (See Figure 3) This renovated bus brings learning opportunities right to the doorstep of rural villages. The buses are equipped with computers, printers and Wi-Fi as well as a myriad of educational resources. Most impressively, lessons taught by other teachers or educational videos are able to be livestreamed to the children on the bus. LED projectors can display lessons both inside and outside the bus as to cater for different environments. As of 2012, Schools on Wheels was travelling to over 88 village schools and reached over 20,000 children throughout the state of Gujarat. The educators involved in the project want to holistically uplift the schools, so they provide training and tools for over 650 teachers and parents as well. (Mozelius and Roy, 2012) As the residents of Nyanga have no access to free transportation, many cannot afford to travel the long-distance to Etafeni or schools that are far away, thus their children either walk or do not attend. An idea such as the Schools on Wheels project would be a very effective way for Efateni to expand its reach and directly help fight marginalisation within Nyanga.

Abalimi Bezekhaya, is another effective community-run organisation. It is an urban agricultural initiative which supports residents in cultivating food gardens within their homes and creating community gardens. Nyanga’s food insecurity was highlighted during the strikes, but the residents have faced long-term food crises long before this due to social exclusion. By encouraging food independence, Abalimi Bezekhaya is empowering Nyanga residents to take their livelihoods into their own hands and work together as a community. They provide small-scale farmers with training, agricultural resources and market access to create an income. There are now multiple ‘Abalimi farms’ in Nyanga, including in two primary schools. The initiative has now been replicated in Zimbabwe and was awarded a gold medal in the 2020 International Ecological Awards (Barr, 2017).

The success of this project illustrates how local action can be beneficial in creating community empowerment. A recommendation to further improve this initiative within Nyanga is to create youth apprenticeship programmes. This has been done in Kibera in Kenya, in the largest slum in Africa, with the organisation Green Dreams. In 2008, the managing director of this organic produce company, Su Kahumbu, saw rampant food scarcity and youth unemployment and had the idea to create an urban farm to train these youths in a farm in the heart of Kibera. The Youth Reform Group, a collective of 36 unemployed reformed criminal boys, became the pilot class and it has been a resounding success. The group was trained in irrigation and soil management, worm composting and sustainable vegetable farming methods on the half-acre plot. (See Figure 4) The farm first supplied the local community but then began making a profit and now sells produce to the wider

area. As of today, Kahumbu wants to start a television series in order to inspire and teach other young Africans how to get involved in sustainable, organic agriculture within slums. (Rice, 2008) The current youth unemployment in South Africa is 66,70% and it is the youth from townships who face the greatest hardship. (Statistics South Africa, 2022) At the Abalimi farms, experienced farmers could be placed with vulnerable young people from the surrounding area and be mentored in agriculture. This would not only alleviate food scarcity but also create employment and opportunity within Nyanga.

IMPROVING EXISTING INFRASTRUCTURE:

In the context of infrastructure, one of the biggest issues in townships is the lack of infrastructure and accessibility. People travel hours to get to their places of work whilst the taxi companies are privatised and thus subject to price surges. Grocery shops, healthcare services and civil services are in the centre of the city and again require hours of travel. Upgrading and expanding the current public transport network involves many complexities and sustaining a project of this scale is better suited for national government and large corporation involvement. As important as funding is, galvanising the community is where true sustainability occurs. Minna Orneus, a Swedish senior specialist for the Unit for Environmental Cooperation put it very succinctly when she said “It’s not just about housing and infrastructure, it’s also about empowering the urban poor and building their capacity to engage and be aware of their rights. The participation of slum dwellers is the key for a successful slum-upgrading programme” (Rowe, 2022).

CABLE CARS – NOT JUST A TOURIST ATTRACTION.

When looking for community-based solutions for townships such as Nyanga, it is important to have approaches tailored to the specific nuances and contexts of a slum. Thus, replicating successful initiatives from other slums in the world could prove to be very beneficial. The Metrocable in Medellin, Columbia is an example of one such success. (Figure 5) This network of aerial cable cars has transformed the lives of residents in some of the city’s most dangerous slums. It connects the slums on the hilltops (known as barrios) to the centre of the city and in doing so has vastly changed the accessibility of the area. The metrocable has provided consistent, cheap and reliable transport for the residents. Thus, allowing them to travel for work, healthcare and other amenities. This project provided the community with more than just a new form of transport but symbolised how the residents were a part of the city and fostered a sense of belonging for a community that was previously marginalised. It championed collaboration between government and residents and was aimed at directly addressing the needs of the people. (Dourabi, 2018)

The cable car leading up to Table Mountain is mainly used by tourists, it could be feasible to use for public transport. Although the contexts of Nyanga and South Africa are different, an idea such as an aerial cable car system could be a viable solution to combat the transport inequality and consequent social isolation that many South Africans face. Open, respectful dialogue and collaboration between the local government and residents would be transformative in a South African context. Due to the history of Apartheid, communities like Nyanga have a strained relationship with the government and the taxi strikes drew public attention to this, particularly with regards to police brutality. The practicality of an aerial cable

car in Cape Town may seem out of reach in terms of funding and location. However, the local government has long since been planning a renovation of the public transport network and this could be a part of that. Cape Town faces traffic congestion and an aerial transport system would be greatly beneficial in the mountainous city.

IMPROVING SANITATION WHILST PROMOTING INCLUSIVITY:

Taking inspiration from another urban slum in Africa, this recommendation focuses on including slums and slum residents in the city in order to fight social exclusion. Mukuru is a slum in Nairobi, Kenya with a population of over 700,000 people. It is situated along the Nairobi-Ngong River which has become over polluted and a health hazard for residents. As well as health risks, Mukuru faces similar challenges to other slums. This community faces a lack of basic infrastructure, high crime rates and widespread poverty. Although the informal settlement is a mere 7 kilometres from the central business district of Nairobi, there is vast inequality between wealthier residents and businesses and residents of Mukuru. Nevertheless, there has been significant improvements in combatting the marginalisation of this community (Rowe, 2022).

In 2017, Mukuru was declared a Special Planning Area (SPA) in what is one of the biggest slum regeneration initiatives. The project run by Muungano wa Wanavijij, places emphasis on community inclusivity in order to improve the sanitation infrastructure within the settlement (See Figure 6). Using a collaborative and multi-stakeholder approach, this project gave funding and resources to numerous initiatives that promoted the improvement of the slum. The entire community was asked to voice their most pressing needs and concerns.

Homes were separated into 1,000 groups, based on family households. The group was autonomous and responsible for voicing their needs to improve their living conditions. As part of this, a Mukuru resident was chosen to represent each group and were taught to collect data about the sanitation facilities in their area. This has resulted in the removal of over 3,000 hazardous pit toilets. As of today, 1,000 households have flushing toilets and running water. This no doubt changed the everyday lives of Mukuru residents and provided them with healthy sanitation and dignity. Yet, it also transformed the way that slum residents are integrated within the city. The city acknowledged the importance of the slum within an urban context and prioritised the opinions and needs of the residents (Marano, 2022).

In the context of Nyanga, this would be an excellent project to replicate. Not only is sanitation a pressing problem but the residents are excluded from the city. An initiative similar to the SPA in Mukuru would empower the community of Nyanga to take control of their future and feel as if they are valued members of the urban community. The scale and specificities may need to be altered but the overarching ideals of collaboration and inclusivity should remain the same. The framework of creating these groups could prove especially effective in creating a formalised structure for Nyanga wherein the government and other actors can communicate and collaborate with the community. It may begin with sanitation but as this initiative grows, it has the potential to alleviate many of Nyanga’s most pressing issues.

CONCLUSION: A WAY FORWARD?

The recent taxi protests did bring the inequalities faced by many Black South African communities to public attention. Yet, sufficient action has not been taken to combat

this pervasive historical and socio-economic exclusion. The residents of Nyanga, were hit particularly hard by these strikes and have faced tremendous challenges. Nyanga was shaped by the oppressive land regulations of Apartheid which radically changed the urban landscape of the entirety of Cape Town and South Africa. Situations have not improved since the dawn of democracy and the township population has grown. Thus, the big question for the future is how to integrate townships into the fabric of a city and improve the lives of its residents. Two existing organisations within the community, Abalimi Bezekhaya and Efateni Community Centre have effective frameworks in place to combat youth unemployment and food insecurity. In a more tangible sense, improving the infrastructure of townships seems to be a mammoth task. However, successful initiatives have been implemented in urban areas around the world such as those in Mukuru, Kenya and the Barrios in Medellin, Columbia. In taking inspiration from these projects, Nyanga could greatly benefit from coming up with innovative solutions.

One key takeaway from this report is that the future seems to be headed towards cities and to achieve Sustainable Development Goal 11, the slum populations of the world need to be incorporated into cities. Urban discourse seems to be slowly recognising the importance and potential of these areas on a global scale. South African townships may have their challenges, but they are also sites of hope, progress and change.

REFERENCES

Abalimi Bezekhaya (n.d.). Abalimi Bezekhaya. [online] Abalimi Bezekhaya: Farmers of the home – promoting small scale urban farming. Available at: http://abalimibezekhaya.org.za/ [Accessed 12 Oct. 2023].

African National Conference (ANC) (2022). ADDRESS BY THE TREASURER GENERAL OF THE ANC, COMRADE PAUL MASHATILE, ON THE OCCASION OF THE 10th PROVINCIAL CONFERENCE OF THE ANC IN LIMPOPO. 3 June 2022 – ANC. [online] ANC. Available at: https://www.anc1912.org.za/address-by-the-treasurer-general-of-the-anc-comrade-paul-mashatile-on-theoccasion-of-the-10th-provincial-conference-of-the-ancin-limpopo-3-june-2022/ [Accessed 15 Oct. 2023].

Barr, K. (2017). Improving Food Security in South Africa [online] Food Tank. Available at: https://foodtank.com/ news/2017/02/improving-food-security-in-south-africa/ [Accessed 5 Oct. 2023].

Dourabi, A. (2018). In Medellin, cable cars transformed slums—in Rio, they made them worse. [online] Apolitical. Available at: https://apolitical.co/solution-articles/ en/medellin-cable-cars-transformed-slums-rio-madeworse [Accessed 12 Oct. 2023].

Etafeni Day Care Centre Trust (2022). Etafeni 2022 Annual Report - Etafeni. [online] Etafeni. Available at: https://www.etafeni.org.za/etafeni-2022-annual-report/ [Accessed 7 Oct. 2023].

Galbraith, J., AlMarri, L., Bhati, L., Brooks, R., Green, Z., Hu, M. and Irshaidat, N. (2023). Poverty Penalties as Human Rights Problems. American Journal of International Law, [online] 117(3), pp.397–440. doi:https://doi. org/10.1017/ajil.2023.25.

Head, T. (2017). Nyanga, Western Cape, has a murder rate of one in every 206 people. [online] The South African. Available at: https://www.thesouthafrican.com/news/ nyanga-highest-murder-rate-south-africa/ [Accessed 10 Oct. 2023].

Johnson, S. (2022). ‘This is apartheid’: Cape Town slum residents condemn forced removals. [online] The Guardian. Available at: https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2022/nov/02/cape-town-slum-residentscondemn-forced-removals-apartheid [Accessed 5 Oct. 2023].

Makgobola, T. (2023). The ANC Must Fix the Townships or the Townships Will Fix the ANC. [online] Daily Maverick. Available at: https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/opinionista/2023-04-27-the-anc-must-fix-the-townships-orthe-townships-will-fix-the-anc/ [Accessed 10 Oct. 2023].

Marano, L. (2022). Counting for change: the Hustle for Social Inclusion in Nairobi. a Case Study of the Mukuru, Special Planning Area (SPA). [online] Centre for Development and the Environment (SUM) University of Oslo. Available at: https://www.duo.uio.no/bitstream/han-

dle/10852/96753/Dissertation-Laura-Marano.pdf?sequence=1&isAllowed=y [Accessed 15 Oct. 2023].

Mesthrie , U.S. (1993). Tinkering and Tampering: A Decade of the Group Areas Act (1950–1960). South African Historical Journal, 28(1), pp.177–202. doi: https://doi. org/10.1080/02582479308671972.

Mozelius, P. and Roy, A. (2012). Education on Wheels–Mobile Dissemination of E-services and Computer Based Learning in Rural Gujarat, India. In: Proceedings of the 11th European Conference on e-Learning. Academic Conferences Limited, pp.370–376.

Rice, X. (2008). Organic farm blossoms in Kenya’s largest slum. The Guardian. [online] 19 Sep. Available at: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2008/sep/20/kenya.food [Accessed 15 Oct. 2023].

Rowe, M. (2022). The global effort to improve the world’s slums. [online] Geographical. Available at: https://geographical.co.uk/culture/the-global-effort-to-improvethe-worlds-slums [Accessed 6 Oct. 2023].

Sister Nivedita Foundation (1994). School On Wheels Project. [online] schoolonwheels.org.in. Available at: http://schoolonwheels.org.in/frmAboutus.aspx?tid=1 [Accessed 18 Oct. 2023].

South African Institute of Race Relations (SAIRR) (2019). THE CRITERION REPORT PUBLIC PERCEPTIONS OF TAXI USE, SAFETY AND CRIME SPECIAL EDITION THIS REPORT WAS MADE POSSIBLE BY THE ASSISTANCE OF THE FRIEDRICH NAUMANN FOUNDATION FOR FREEDOM. Johannesburg: The South African Institute of Race Relations.

Statistics South Africa (2022). South Africa’s youth continue to bear the burden of unemployment. | Statistics South Africa. [online] Stats SA. Available at: https://www.statssa. gov.za/?p=15407 [Accessed 15 Oct. 2023].

Trotter, H. (2022). Trauma and memory: the Impact of Apartheid-era Forced Removals on Coloured Identity in Cape Town. In: Burdened by Race: Coloured Identities in Southern Africa. Cape Town: University of Cape Town Press, pp.49–79.

Figure 1: Enforced Group Areas of Cape Town. Crankshaw, O. (2012). Deindustrialization, Professionalization and Racial Inequality in Cape Town. Urban Affairs Review, 48(6), pp.836–862. doi:https://doi. org/10.1177/1078087412451427.

Figure 2: Racial Demography of Cape Town, South Africa. Statistics South Africa (2011). Mapping diversity: an exploration of our social tapestry | Statistics South Africa. [online] Statistics South Africa. Available at: https://www.statssa.gov.za/?p=7678 [Accessed 17 Oct. 2023].

Figure 3: School on Wheels visiting a slum in Gujarat. Paul, S. (2012). Schools on Wheels Bring Education to Gypsies in Rural India. [online] Global Press Journal. Available at: https:// globalpressjournal.com/asia/ india/schools-on-wheelsbring-education-to-gypsiesin-rural-india/ [Accessed 18 Oct. 2023].

Figure 4: Hassan, one member of the Youth Reform Group, and Su Kahumbu in front of Kibera’s first organic farm.

Hance, J. (2008). How Youth in Kenya’s Largest Slum Created an Organic Farm. [online] Mongabay Environmental News. Available at: https://news.mongabay. com/2008/12/how-youth-inkenyas-largest-slum-createdan-organic-farm/ [Accessed 18 Oct. 2023].

Figure 5: The MetroCable in Action. (Dourabi, 2018)

San Francisco

California United States

San Francisco’s Education Systems’ Relationship to the Fentanyl Crisis

Olivia Huseman

INTRODUCTION

This community briefing will address the fentanyl crisis in San Francisco and how it is targeted toward minority groups through deep-rooted systematic racism shown through the inattention to the public education system. The concerns related to minority groups will be addressed by focusing on the specific impact of the public education system on these communities. The San Francisco Unified School District (SFUSD) and involved politicians will be addressed when outlining my recommendations for the future of these communities.

WHY THIS COMMUNITY SHOULD BELIEVE WHAT I HAVE TO SAY

I was raised in the San Francisco Richmond District, attending public elementary, middle, and high schools in various locations around the city. My high school, Lowell High School, has the reputation to be a ‘high-performing’ public school in California, as it remains the only school in San Francisco to admit based on the test in the system. This has placed the institution in a place of criticism, as this led to the underrepresentation of non-Asian students of colour (Ma, 2023). Due to this,

a bandaid coverup in the form of changing the admissions system into a lottery-based admission was implemented. This change has made many realize that this problem cannot be solved by simply changing the system and hoping everyone will easily accommodate, as those who attended underfunded elementary and middle schools struggled greatly with the curriculum at hand. This change made it evident that the challenge extends further than changing the admission process, as students who were not prepared to be placed in a challenging work environment struggled.

Furthermore, I witnessed first-hand the worsening drug and homeless crisis in the San Francisco community. The little effectiveness in the attempts made by the policymakers necessitates a more thorough evaluation of the problem. Understanding the historical significance behind funding inequalities in public education has opened my eyes to potential approaches for addressing the drug crisis more effectively. My research for this community briefing was influenced by my first-hand experience of these changes.

I would like to preface this by acknowledging my privilege as a white woman. I have never experienced what the minority communities

in San Francisco have endured, and I will not pretend otherwise. I am utilizing my experience as a San Francisco native to offer recommendations for bettering the community.

THE COMMUNITY

A minority group is characterized as a linguistic, ethnic, or religious community that represents less than half of the population of the territory they reside in (United Nations, 2023). The race of the minority groups varies, and in San Francisco, there are a few different groups. According to an Axios article, the city’s population of 800,000 people includes 39.2% White, 34.4% Asian, 15.4% Hispanic or Latino, 8.4% mixed-race, 5.2% Black, 0.5% Indigenous, and 0.4% Pacific Islander individuals (Chen et al., 2022). Unfortunately, systematic racism, a form of racism that is embedded in laws, systems, or unwritten politics that creates practices or beliefs that condone unfair treatment towards people of colour, has led to the fentanyl crisis in San Francisco.

The history of the United States of America and educational segregation began with the deliberate denial of education to AfricanAmerican people. Even after the abolition of slavery, African-American education remained segregated as well as receiving fewer years and months of schooling a year, yet the government played it as “separate but equal” (The California Reparations Report, 2023). It wasn’t until the Brown v. Board case of 1954 that the Supreme Court found school segregation unconstitutional. Still, there were various forms of segregation, argued through Johnson v. SFUSD, in which SFUSD assigned less experienced and lowerpaid teachers to predominantly AfricanAmerican (SFUSD, 2021).

In response, SFUSD created the Horseshoe Plan in 1971, which assigned students to schools within their geographical zones to

foster racial balance. Although it reduced segregation, some families were unsatisfied and desired to move to schools outside their zones (State of California - Department of Justice, 2023). Many white families moved their children to private schooling facilities, reducing public school enrollment by 20,000 students.

This problem was mitigated in 1983 with the Optional Enrollment Plan and a race cap, which allowed students to transfer to schools outside of their district, with the condition that no ethnic or racial group exceeded 45%. As assumed, this disrupted the desegregation plan, and since then, SFUSD has struggled with maintaining a plan for racial inclusivity in schools making desegregation today worse than it was 30 years ago. The current plan consists of families’ ability to apply to any school in the district, using the ranked-choice system. However, this led to schools enrolling 60% or more of the same racial/ethnic group, which has resulted in ‘unintentional’ segregation throughout San Francisco and less funding for schools with majority-minority groups (SFUSD, 2020). Unfortunately, progress since has been limited.

An overview of fentanyl-related deaths from 2020-2022 reveals the racial disparities in mortality rates. African-American individuals have a higher overdose rate of 1,217.2 per 100,000 people, compared to 249.5 per 100,000 White individuals (City and Council of San Francisco, 2022). This statistic is appalling, and yet, it underscores the urgency of addressing systematic racism that remains so apparent through the San Francisco education system.

Since the start of the fentanyl crisis, it is apparent that the racial minority are the groups that are most greatly affected and this is in part due to the deficits in the San Francisco public education system.

THE CHALLENGE

Since the 1970s, the fentanyl and homeless crisis in San Francisco has remained prevalent, but it did not rise unprovoked. This crisis has been decades in the making, with state and federal funding cuts for housing and mental health outreach as well as skyrocketing housing costs creating an unlivable environment for minority groups. As present in these politicians’ struggles to rid of the fentanyl and homelessness crisis, it has become apparent that this needs more than a bandaid coverup, and branches into the origins of systematic oppression. The paragraphs below will outline the failed attempts, past and present, mayors have made to improve the homelessness/drug crisis.

Dianne Feinstein, San Francisco’s mayor from 1978-1988, implemented the ‘sheltersandwich’ response, which relied on creating church-based soup kitchens, shelters, and city-funded short-term hotel stays. Due to this being addressed as a transient issue, this approach failed, as lack of management and funding quickly led to an increase in the homeless population (Green, 2019).

According to Green, Arthur Christ Agnos, her successor who campaigned as a social worker, created the ‘Beyond Shelter’ strategy, with the goal of providing services to the city’s homeless population through housing and mental health outreach programs. He began to construct two multi-service centres which would act as mental and physical health service stations for the homeless but he prematurely opened the centres. Due to a lack of resources and workers, the clinics became overcrowded and unable to operate as promised.

As a former police chief, Jordan created the ‘Matrix’ program in which he forcibly moved the homeless into housing services. This method was immediately unhelpful, as within the first six months of the program,

the police had given 6,000 citations to the homeless, according to Green. The majority of residents supported the plan due to their fear of the deteriorating city, but critics despised the criminalization of people due to their homelessness.

In 1996, Mayor Willie Brown developed a more promising plan in which he pledged to expand social services through outside government funding. He was successful in creating new housing areas by renovating cheap hotels, rent subsidizing and increasing the affordability of housing, but the plans were halted due to the economic expansion and gentrification in the 1990s. He became more controversial when he removed the Misson Rock homeless shelter to build a parking lot, showing where his priorities lay. During his second term, due to homelessness spiking by 8,600 people, he began to believe that homelessness was an unsolvable issue.

In 2004, Gavin Newson, a city supervisor, created Proposition N: Care Not Cash, which was understandably controversial. Prior to this measure, 3,000 homeless adults were given roughly 450 dollars monthly for housing and food, however, Newson decided to cut this funding, due to concern about using it for drug purchases (Academic Dictionaries and Encyclopedias, 2010). He instead put it into creating a baseline for affordable housing, mental health care, and substance abuse treatment. He then introduced a 10-year plan which consisted of creating 3,000 housing units and opening 24-hour clinics. This was temporarily successful, decreasing homelessness by 30% yet Newson continued to believe that homelessness was an unresolvable issue.

Mayor Ed Lee began his two terms by paying little attention to homelessness as he desired to appeal to tech companies, opening him up to criticism. Due to this, he opened the first navigation centre, which provided drug rehabilitation and provided

assisted housing. He proceeded to invest $1 billion into a citywide homeless department with the goal of grouping all services for the homeless in one area (Green, 2019). A year after this was implemented, there was a significant decrease in youth and family homelessness, but public complaints about encampments increased.

The most recent effort has been from the current Mayor London Breed whose campaign was based around her promise of continuing Mayor Ed Lee’s implementations of building 5,000 annual housing units. She strongly advocated for implementing safe injection sites to promote responsible drug use (Office of the Mayor, 2021a). Regardless, the homeless count in January 2023 identified a 30% increase in homelessness since 2017, with 9,800 people being unhoused. Proposition C proposed creating a tax on large corporations which would’ve surrendered the $300 million to homeless services, however, Breed was in opposition to this. Her approach to the drug crisis is ‘picking a hornet’s nest’ according to (Sturm, 2023) San Francisco Public Press, as arresting for possession of fentanyl is leading to a greater issue of non-compliance.

There is a common lack of interest in these politicians; their lack of acknowledgement towards the failures in the San Francisco public school system and their disregard for the need for improvement. No mayor has addressed this when discussing the potential causes of the drug crisis.

According to an article by California Matters, San Francisco has the worst AfricanAmerican student achievement out of all California counties, and that is the fault of SFUSD (Calefati, 2017). SFUSD is expected to lose $5 million in funding by 2026, due to a decrease in student enrollment in public schools (Quintana, 2023). This decrease could be caused by San Francisco’s high living costs, or families moving their children

to private schools for better education. This means a decrease in public school teachers’ salaries, causing many to resign and put their efforts elsewhere. We have seen this in the past couple of years, as SFUSD claims that 15% of classrooms have been run by substitute teachers. This puts many public schools at risk of shutting down, mainly in underprivileged areas, leading to increased inequality in the school systems (ReView, 2023). Unfortunately due to the underperformance of African American students, caused by the underfinanced school system, the schools with majorityminority students will be mainly affected, leaving them only with the choice of moving to a different school that is also financially unstable.

There is an obvious correlation between ethnicity, the public education system, and the fentanyl crisis that people in power refuse to acknowledge.

MY RECOMMENDATIONS FOR IMPROVEMENT

The Community School Model

SFUSD’s struggle in supporting their students is an obvious fiscal deficit, regardless the main focus should be properly implementing a school system that allows the students to remain educated while preparing them for a successful future. I believe that a community school model would be their most successful way to ensure the well-being of students for the present and future. A community school is defined as a school that provides support and services that directly implement the needs of each community individually through making collaborative decisions with families, students, and staff (SFUSD, 2023). These public schools partner with stakeholders to achieve the goals the community sets for students to thrive. One of the hopeful aspects of a community school is that each

school is distinct, and organized around the community itself, resulting in a wellrounded education for what the students require. There are seven main principles that guide the implementation of a community school; pursuit of equity, investment in the whole-child approach to education, building the school learning through the strengths of the community, use of partnerships within the community for progress, commitment to shared accountability and interdependence, investment in trusting relationships, and fostering a purely learning institution (Institute For Educational Leadership, 2018). It is important to note that every implementation is more difficult than it sounds, however, if every staff member is meeting the requirements, there should be no crucial issues.

A firm implementation of student support in the forms of counselling and clinics for mental, physical, and emotional assistance to ensure each student gets help regardless of whether their family is capable of providing that for them. This requires the teachers and families to be fully knowledgeable about these services to make sure the students are aware of the help they can receive. These services need to be culturally and linguistically relevant to be fully able to appeal to the community.

The school is required to enrich learning through summer programs, interactive activities, field trips, and offering extra classes to children who seek added guidance. This would mean that community partners would have to provide opportunities to students during non-school hours to promote further engagement and education. This could be through assigning projects that encourage the students to actively educate themselves outside of school hours, or simply offering a supportive environment for students before, during, and after school hours. An enriching after-school program that aligns with the curriculum would meet

this requirement and would mean SFUSD would need to provide well-paid partners to engage in this process with students.

It is crucial for these schools to engage with the communities and families who surround the children being educated so that they have the ability to provide knowledge of what the school needs to better their children’s learning environment. This requires families to have equity of voice and power in the school’s decision-making as well as support and value of these families. Family encouragement to support their students learning at home and providing resources for families to adequately perform this is crucial. Most importantly, the families and communities acknowledge the school as a place of learning and they do not interfere with this process.

Collaborative leadership between students is necessary to promote confidence and motivation for students to actively remain a part of their community and learn from their peers in a positive way. This learning through your peer’s technique from an early age will actively bring this trait forward in each child when in the workplace and ensure they remain conscious of their actions consequently.

Community schools have proven successful, as when properly implemented, this model has encouraged more funding on both the state and national levels (Wolff, 2022). This is a product of lower rates of absenteeism, higher graduation rates, more encouraging grades and test scores, and further enrollment in college classes (Community Teachers Association, 2023). This model has been implemented in a few schools around San Francisco and has increased child involvement in education but it is crucial that these spread to ALL the public education institutions in the city to ensure overall successful post-education. Providing resources in schools that will encourage

children to strive for a better future for themselves will further lower the risk of drug involvement and open judgement-free communication.

Decriminalize Drug Possession

Throughout San Francisco, drug possession has remained criminalised. California’s Proposition 47 altered non-violent crimes into misdemeanours with the goal of using prison resources on more serious offences. Drug possession has since resulted in the maximum sentence of 1 year in jail and a $1000 fine. Although this reduced the number of people in jail throughout California and saved the state $150 million, this proposition has failed to implement other methods of reducing illegal substance usage such as therapy programs or simply reducing fear (National Institute of Justice, 2021). What I mean by that is that there are many citizens who are scared to reach out for help due to the fear of being criminalized for their actions. I believe that decriminalising drug possession is the most effective method of reducing overall drug use.

There has been increasing evidence that drug busts/heavy police involvement increase overdoses. A study performed by Brown University has been proven to be due in part to drug users fear of reporting an overdose to authorities and searching for other sources of drugs after having their drugs removed from their possession, which decreases their tolerance level while searching for a new source of drugs which could have an unexpected potency (Brown University, 2023). These drug busts coupled with a lack of health and safety resources for struggling users have increased the mortality rate from fentanyl.

Democratic citizens of the USA are increasingly concerned about the effect these criminalizing measures have on the safety of their peers. Denise Cullen, a victim of

losing her child to an overdose, has written “But he didn’t have to die. There were two people with Jeff that day,…They could have called for help but, instead, they pulled him from the SUV and left him on a lawn. And while people will say that they were monsters, they weren’t. The monster was fear…Criminalization and punitive drug laws have resulted in nothing but more imprisonment, more deaths, and more devastated families.” (Cullen, 2023) Due to her first-hand experience with drug loss, she advocates for health-based solutions (Ludwig, 2023).

In 2001, Portugal decriminalized drug possession and invested in health-based solutions, which decreased the number of drug-related deaths. This does not mean that they legalized drugs, but people who possess drugs face no criminal prosecution. They are sent to a dissuasion commission which places the victim in front of a social worker, psychologist, and a lawyer who are present to assist the person rather than harm (SFNext, 2022). This could lead to a recommendation of a therapeutic community for at least a year, or simply outpatient treatment which are both aimed to treat these people like people.

San Francisco could effectively implement this system and significantly reduce the rampant effects fentanyl has on the city by simply investing the $150 million saved from reducing prison time into creating a dissuasion commission plan and removing the fear of the policing system (SFNext, 2022). Mayor London Breed should utilize this money for these solutions by initially decriminalizing drug possession to take fear away from admitting to drug use.

Increase Minority Resources In Schools

My final recommendation is for San Francisco to invest time and money into

advocating for minority resources in public schools. In 2020, Mayor London Breed and Supervisor Shamann Walton claimed they were going to further allocate a portion of the San Francisco Police Department budget to support the African-American community (Office of the Mayor, 2021b). They invited community members to share their ideas on how to accomplish this through a citywide survey and two weeks of nightly meetings to gather feedback from the public. Although this is extremely productive, Breed should also implement inclusion programs for minority students. This could be in the form of a permanent education class or an after-school program aimed to educate students on the history of African-American

Inclusion of programs led by the AfricanAmerican community to educate students on the benefit of education to all youth should be implemented. There are a multitude of organizations specific to assisting minority students with planning their future or with simply discussing present challenges in their lives. These organizations should be actively promoted by schools if not provided.

100% College Prep is an example of an organization dedicated to serving underserved communities through assisting with applying for and achieving post-secondary degrees. They also provide services on how to apply for scholarships while engaging with each individual student. Programs such as this should be implemented in schools to encourage students to value their education regardless of the drawbacks of systematic racism (100% College Prep Institute, 2023). As Breed promised, the money from defunding the police should be implemented into inschool support and education. By receiving input from students through a community school model, actively engaging in the bettering of educational assistance should be prioritized.

CONCLUSION

To conclude, the fentanyl crisis in San Francisco has developed through systematic racism shown through the inattention to the public education system. I recommend implementing a community school model, decriminalising drug possession, and investing in minority resources in schools. It is the responsibility of SFUSD and policymakers to integrate these to decrease fentanyl mortality rates and increase active participation in each student’s education.

REFERENCES

100% College Prep Institute (2023). 100% College Prep [online] 100% College Prep Institute. Available at: https://www.100collegeprep.org/.

Academic Dictionaries and Encyclopedias (2010). Care Not Cash. [online] Academic Dictionaries and Encyclopedias. Available at: https://en-academic.com/dic.nsf/ enwiki/678094.

Brown Political Review. (2023). What Lowell High School Teaches Us About Educational Inequity in San Francisco. [online] Available at: https://brownpoliticalreview. org/2023/04/educational-inequity-in-san-francisco/#:~:text=For%20example%2C%20in%20San%20Francisco.

Brown University (2023). Fatal overdoses increase after police seize drugs, study finds. [online] Brown University. Available at: https://www.brown.edu/news/2023-06-07/ law-enforcement-drug-seizure.

Calefati, J. (2017). Why is San Francisco the state’s worst county for black student achievement? CalMatters. [online] 25 Oct. Available at: https://calmatters.org/education/2017/10/san-francisco-states-worst-county-blackstudent-achievement/.

Chen, S., Fitzpatrick, A. and Beheraj, K. (2022). How San Francisco’s racial demographics have changed since 2000 [online] AXIOS. Available at: https://www.axios.com/ local/san-francisco/2023/07/06/san-francisco-demographic-trends.

City and County of San Francisco (2022). Unintentional drug overdose death rate by race or ethnicity | San Francisco. [online] sf.gov. Available at: https://sf.gov/data/unintentional-drug-overdose-death-rate-race-or-ethnicity.

Community Teachers Association (2023). Community Schools. [online] California Teachers Association. Available at: https://www.cta.org/our-advocacy/issues/community-schools#:~:text=A%20community%20 school%20is%20both.

Ludwig, M. (2023). GOP Presidential Contenders Cling to Drug War Policies Fueling Overdose Crisis. [online] Truthout. Available at: https://truthout.org/articles/gop-presidential-contenders-cling-to-drug-war-policies-fueling-overdose-crisis/.

Institute For Educational Leadership (2018). Community School Standards . [online] communityschools.org. Available at: https://www.communityschools.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2020/08/Community-School-Standards-2018-1.pdf.

ReView, S.F.R. (2023). City Hall: Connie Chan. [online] Richmond Review/Sunset Beacon. Available at: https:// sfrichmondreview.com/2023/09/04/city-hall-conniechan-32/.

SFUSD (2023). Community Schools | SFUSD. [online] www.sfusd.edu. Available at: https://www.sfusd.edu/ community-schools.

SFUSD (2021). Facing Our Past, Changing Our Future, Part I: A Century of Segregation in San Francisco Unified School District (1851–1971) | SFUSD. [online] www.

sfusd.edu. Available at: https://www.sfusd.edu/facingour-past-changing-our-future-part-i-century-segregation-san-francisco-unified-school-district.

SFUSD (2020). Facing Our Past, Changing Our Future, Part II: Five Decades of Desegregation in SFUSD (1971-today) | SFUSD. [online] www.sfusd.edu. Available at: https://www.sfusd.edu/facing-our-past-changing-ourfuture-part-ii-five-decades-desegregation-sfusd-1971today#:~:text=The%20Horseshoe%20Plan%20had%20 dictated.

State of California - Department of Justice (2023). EXECUTIVE SUMMARY ‘THE CALIFORNIA REPARATIONS REPORT’. [online] Available at: https://oag.ca.gov/system/files/media/exec-summary-ca-reparations.pdf.

Sturm, S. (2023). Drug Crackdown Has Sparked Violent Turf Warfare in Central San Francisco, Supervisor Says. [online] San Francisco Public Press. Available at: https:// www.sfpublicpress.org/drug-crackdown-has-sparkedviolent-turf-warfare-in-central-san-francisco-supervisor-says/.

National Institute of Justice (2021). Program Profile: The Impact of California’s Proposition 47 (The Reduced Penalties for Some Crimes Initiative) on Recidivism. [online] CrimeSolutions, National Institute of Justice. Available at: https://crimesolutions.ojp.gov/ratedprograms/740.

Office of the Mayor (2021a). Mayor London Breed Advances Historic Homelessness Recovery Plan with Four New Innovative Projects | Office of the Mayor. [online] sfmayor. org. Available at: https://sfmayor.org/article/mayor-london-breed-advances-historic-homelessness-recovery-plan-four-new-innovative-projects.

Office of the Mayor (2021b). Mayor London Breed Announces Spending Plan for Historic Reinvestment in San Francisco’s African-American Community | Office of the Mayor. [online] sfmayor.org. Available at: https://sfmayor.org/article/mayor-london-breed-announces-spending-plan-historic-reinvestment-san-franciscos-african.

Podcast, F.O.C. (2022). What San Francisco can learn from Portugal decriminalizing drugs. [online] San Francisco Chronicle. Available at: https://www.sfchronicle.com/ podcasts/article/Listen-How-Portugal-dealt-with-itsheroin-17564952.php.

Quintana, A. (2023). San Francisco school board proposing cuts that could include closing schools. [online] KTVU FOX 2. Available at: https://www.ktvu.com/news/san-francisco-school-board-proposing-cuts-that-could-includeclosing-schools.

United Nations (2023). About minorities and human rights [online] OHCHR. Available at: https://www.ohchr.org/ en/special-procedures/sr-minority-issues/about-minorities-and-human-rights#:~:text=Concept%20of%20 a%20minority%3A%20mandate.

Wolff, P. (2022). Opinion | Proposal to Support Struggling Students Deserves Voter Support. [online] The San Francisco Standard. Available at: https://sfstandard. com/2022/07/26/proposal-to-support-struggling-sf-students-deserves-voter-support/.

Social

Fighting Food Apartheids in New York City

Wallis Brune

INTRODUCTION

Sustainable development goal two, ‘Zero Hunger’, articulates the imperative necessity to end hunger, for access to proper nutrition, and further, nutrition that has been sustainably sourced for all people (United Nations, 2022). Food is a non-negotiable constituent to livelihood which must be infallible. It is a bracket that comes before all else. If humanity is not fed, there is no faculty for industry, for economy, for knowledge, for politics…there is no faculty for life, nor joy. In our contemporary, global arena to still sanction food crises is an abomination. Even in the most wealthy and modernised communities, if panoptic food security judges “i) the proportion of people whose access to basic nutritional requirements is secure, and ii) the extent to which global food production is sustainable” (Berry et. al, 5), it fails.

Overview

This briefing will focus on New York City, which is often classified as the wealthiest city in the world (Time Out, 2023), and surely acts as a beacon for the western world. New York City paradoxically hosts food apartheids in

many of its neighbourhoods, while others thrive in Whole Foods, health food shops, farmers markets, and juice bars. It cannot be a city of idealism when so many of its people suffer, food insecurity being just one of its inadequacies. Where New York City dances as a city that entertains sustainable and queer food options for consumers in the sphere of concentrated whiteness and wealth, it trips 1 in 10 households, often people of colour and those who live under the poverty line, into complete food insecurity (DiNapoli, 2023). The juxtaposition between accessibility to nourishing and sustainable foods and food crisis in New York City, and of course, the larger global atmosphere, must be stabilised. This report will focus on eradicating food apartheids in New York City as the primary step towards food security in the city through access, finance, and education.

Positionality

I am an undergraduate student, a white woman, coming from a middle class family, who grew up in a Suburban town in Connecticut, the largest city in proximity to me being New York City, a full state over. My positionality, I understand, grants me a

certain level of ignorance and disembodied understanding of the experience of living within a ‘food dessert’, much less New York City as a whole. Food insecurity is a crisis I have never encountered firsthand, and likely never will, which could fairly label me as unfit to propose solutions to stabilise a problem I haven’t lived. I will argue, however, that my privilege and prolonged accessibility to sustainable nourishment, and passion towards the latter, gives me a platform to speak on why the acquisition of such is of commanding importance for all people, in all cities. I eat vegan and try my best at sourcing locally, which is an elevated privilege in the current climate of food politics, but I thoroughly believe that the right to do so should be an ability for everyone in an ideal future, for personal well-being, environmental restoration, and global peace. I acknowledge that many welleducated folks who have high accessibility to whatever food they’d like to consume, and access to discourse regarding food systems disagree with my previous claims. Therefore, I choose to eat and approach food systems in a queer way: “to queer… is to alter [dominant] discourse and [to] challenge the normative.” (Overend, 81). Only recently “have scholars used queerness in the context of food studies to challenge normative assumptions of food and eating, such as those that reproduce healthist, ableist, heterosexist, and white-centric food practices” (Overend, 81). Because I choose to eat queer, I must also endorse basic food security to my utmost ability, for I am hyperaware that, as I view it, food activism is impossible to do hungry.

CONTEXT

Holistic food security fails in New York City. The city possesses a plethora of food apartheids, which can be defined as “areas where low-income residents of colour do not have access to healthy and affordable

food and fast food restaurants dominate the landscape” (Gordon et. al, 696), and places where “at least one-third of the population is more than half a mile from the nearest supermarket” (Rozner, 2022). New York City is known for its small convenience stores, called bodegas (Gordon et. al, 697). It has been found that across the five boroughs that compose New York City, “10 neighbourhoods have more than 25 bodegas to every supermarket, and almost 20 neighbourhoods have upwards of 15 bodegas to every supermarket” (Rozner, 2022). For most people living in these neighbourhoods, it is the nearby and less expensive convenient stores they will seek when “they get home from their second or third job” (Rozner, 2022). The distance an average consumer is willing to travel to a food shop is a quarter-mile, approximately 0.4 km, or 5 minutes by walking (Li et. al, 2014). The definition of a food apartheid proposed by the US Department of Agriculture explains that the distance to a supermarket is often “more than 1 mile” (Li et. al, 2014), which is a distance people are simply not able to make fit in their schedule, therefore subjecting them to bodegas.

The neighbourhoods that host the largest concentration of food apartheids in New York City are the Bronx, Brooklyn, and Harlem (Bloomberg, 1). It was reported that regarding these neighbourhoods, “In areas of Brooklyn, for instance, bodegas make up more than 80% of food stores, with only one in three selling low-fat milk, compared with nine in 10 supermarkets. Only one in four East Harlem bodegas sells apples, oranges and bananas. Leafy green vegetables are available in only 4% of the bodegas in East Harlem and 2% of those in Central Harlem” (Bloomberg, 1). The lack of wholesome food options, and thereby pervasiveness of an unbalanced diet, is detrimental to the health and well-being of these communities. Consequences include “impaired cognitive

development, lower resistance to disease and increased risks during childbirth for both mothers and children” (Segal, 198), and increased rates of obesity. It was observed that within New York City, “‘the highest levels of obesity (32%- 40%) were observed in census tracts with no supermarkets,’ where the residents only had access to bodegas and convenience stores” (Segal, 198). It is important to note that these levels of obesity are concentrated in poor areas, as “The prevalence of obesity in one of New York City’s wealthiest neighbourhoods, known as the Upper East Side, was 9% in 2006, while prevalence ranged from 21% to 30% among adults living in East and Central Harlem and North and Central Brooklyn; some of New York City’s lowest income neighbourhoods” (Gordon et. al, 696). This statistic demonstrates the direct relationship between economic status and accessibility to health. Within Harlem and Brooklyn specifically, “the locations of these food deserts correspond to areas with the highest proportions of Black residents and the lowest median household income” (Gordon et. al, 699). The relationship between food to low-income Americans, often those of colour “is influenced by a host of factors not the least of which might very well be environmental racism—lack of access to public transportation to get healthier food sources, and the placement of fast food and liquor store chains in closer proximity to you than an affordable produce centre” (Harper, 156), where the relationship between white middle-class Americans and food is “a combination of white and class privilege [that] have socially and physically placed you in a location of holistic health-oriented food locations that exist in proximity to you” (Harper, 156).

Thus, it is obvious that “racialization, of course, is linked to class, and class is linked to who gets to live in healthier environments more than others’’ (Harper, 156). So, it becomes imperative to understand New

York City food apartheids as intertwined with social exclusion and class, making the solutions anything but straight-forward, as they must up-root deeply embedded social injustices. Accordingly, the struggle becomes for those living in a food apartheid, how can different decisions be made when “one has little control over one’s environment? How is making healthy lifestyle choices directly tied to issues of racism—-enviromental and medical—and even genocide?” (Harper, 9).

Interpretations of the Context

Because “access to healthy foods in urban areas is limited by factors such as poverty and race” (Gordon et. al, 696), the areas facing food insecurity in New York City are classified in this report as food apartheids instead of the more common term, food deserts. The term food desert has been criticised in some contexts (where in others it is accurate) due to misrepresentation, because it seemingly suggests “a natural, barren landscape and proposes that increasing the number of grocery stores is a quick solution. Furthermore, this term neither resonates with nor is a part of the identities of the individuals who live within these areas” (Alexis, 2021). Food apartheid, instead, “addresses the root causes of poor food environments and health disparities among predominantly low-income communities of colour” (Alexis, 2021), acknowledging that the respective food crisis coincides with social exclusion, and cannot be understood separately. Just as using the correct terminology matters, as a means of articulating the nuances of food insecurity in New York City, so do identifying solutions that embody the realities of the people it droughts.

A disembodied and often proposed solution, would be to simply establish more supermarkets, or source more fresh produce in bodegas: “The assumption throughout the food deserts literature is that if the

people living in food deserts were somehow given access to better food, they would buy it and be healthier as a result” (Wright et. al, 175). For example, “‘The introduction of a government-subsidised supermarket into an underserved neighbourhood in the Bronx did not result in significant changes in household food availability or children’s dietary intake.’One commentator on the study remarked, ‘Increasing access to fresh food does not guarantee that people have the money, let alone the time and knowledge, to take advantage of it’” (Wright et. al, 176). This is because accessibility is only one component of food insecurity (Wright et. al, 175). As Mark Bruenig understands, “the same thing that causes food deserts to exist is what causes them to persist — in effect — even when supermarkets come into the area. It is not proximity to grocery stores that matters; it is income” (Wright et. al, 180).

When an “average healthier diets cost about $1.48 more per person per day” or for a family of four, “$1.50 per day times 365 days times four people = $2,190 per year. So going from a less healthy to more healthy diet would add 9.5 % to the annual cost of living for a four person family right at the poverty line, and even higher percentage increases for families below the poverty line” (Wright et. al, 178), a trade-off between nutrition and cost is forced. When New Yorkers are already facing “rising costs of living due to inflation, too many families compromise on food when faced with fixed bills like rent, health and childcare, and transportation” (Food Bank NYC, 2023). Beyond cost, education is also of pressing significance to establish food security: “this is all to say that knowledge is power, and that knowledge also provides a certain amount of access” (Harper, 10). Educational deficit regarding nutrition will therefore impact what foods those in food apartheids prioritise and purchase. This is to say that as long as poverty and inadequate education prevail, so will food apartheids, even when there is sufficient food access.

CURRENT ACTIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS

Disclaimer

It is vital to note that my intention is neither to platform myself as a solutionist nor denounce previous action taken, as these operations are colleagues, and more accurately, superiors to myself, in responding to a failed government apparatus that has caused and perpetuated the hunger pandemic in New York City. My aim is rather to engage in pre-existing dialogue and potentially foster new discursive developments. In order to propose workable solutions to food apartheids in New York City, access, finance, and education must be considered. It is not feasible, nor within my capability to propose recommendations that are allencompassing; therefore, I will be focusing on pre-established methods of action and potential means of enhancement to reach more New Yorkers, more consistently.

Access: Green Carts

The 2008 established program, by the New York City Health Department, Green Carts, aims to deliver fresh produce as an accessible resource to groups in need and remove “often-prohibitive travel costs” (Widener et. al, 734). The introduction of Green Carts was especially viable as the start-up costs are about $1,800 to $3,000, and they require no building space or urban space: they are completely mobile entities (other than storage space) (Bornstein, 2012). For Green Carts to be successful, it is imperative that they reach the areas “with the lowest reported fruit and vegetable consumption and the highest obesity rates” (Li et. al, 2014). This has not been found in application: “Seven percent of 265 Green Carts were in food deserts, and most (78%) were near 2 or more existing healthy stores” (Li et. al, 2014). It has been noted that Green Carts “primarily go where people and businesses congregate,

not necessarily where food deserts are” (Li et. al, 2014). In order for Green Carts to utilise their benefits properly, a spatial optimization model throughout all five boroughs should be used to “identify which households are most in need of improved access to produce”(Widener et. al, 735). There needs to be a precise record of which areas need to be served by Green Carts, and a system that demands accountability for the carts to mobilise to the target areas, such as implementing incentives for vendors, so that Green Carts can be a reliable method of food accessibility (Li et. al, 2014).

Access: Food Bank for New York City

The Food Bank for New York City describes themselves as “working to end food poverty in our five boroughs since 1983 [...] [with] a multifaceted approach centred on helping low-income New Yorkers overcome their circumstances and achieve greater independence” (Food Bank for New York City, 2023). The hunger-relief platforms they offer are soup kitchens, food pantries, senior centres, and SNAP (Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program) enrolment. The NYC Food Bank website has a virtual map which can be used to locate nearby resources throughout the city, outlining the agency name, contact name, phone number, program type (food pantry, soup kitchen, etc.), address, city, state, zip code, and daily hours (Food Bank for New York City, 2023). Their website also outlines SNAP enrolment instructions so that people can accurately apply to receive a supplemental grocery budget (Food and Nutrition Service, 2023). In just 2022 alone, the New York City Food Bank distributed more than 95 million meals, 21 million pounds of fresh produce, 23 million pounds of culturally relevant food, 1 million pounds of non-food essentials, and secured $36 million in SNAP benefits (Food and Nutrition Service, 2023). The

Food Bank for New York City is a successful means of food accessibility, but seems to do so in a lens of temporality. In application, 45.7% of the program staff are not fulltime workers, and 35.7% of the program staff are unpaid (Food Bank for New York City, 13). The program cannot be a lasting platform for city-wide food access when half of its workers are volunteers, and staff cannot permanently continue unpaid. Staff must have a proper salary as an incentive to work full-time. Operating one food pantry or soup kitchen is expensive, much less the numerous that the New York City Food Bank facilitates: “one must consider costs for salaries, food, cooking supplies, utilities, and other expenses” (Food Bank for New York City, 13). I propose that the Food Bank for New York City needs to be funded more sufficiently, and should be government sourced, but to do so, would ultimately require the dissimilation of the neoliberal city. The New York City Food Bank is laboriously working to solve problems that have been facilitated by the negligence of government apparatus. The “Food Bank Member Network are running their operations on a shoestring budget”, while providing a lifeline for many New Yorkers. Where funding needs to increase, so does the time that food resources are open. Many of the services on The Food Bank for New York City ‘Find Food’ map are open one day a week, for 2-4 hours (Food Bank for New York City, 2023). In order for food banks to be a reliable resource of food accessibility, hours must also increase.

Finance: New York Food Stamps (SNAP)

SNAP is a food assistance program that distributes federal money to people in need through electric benefits (EBT) which allows the purchase of foods such as breads, cereals, fruits, vegetables, meats, poultry, and dairy products (Segal, 199; NY Gov, 2024). In order to receive SNAP benefits, there is a relentless application procedure that includes many

eligibility measures and an interview process including verification requirements during working hours which could create transportation or mobility issues (Kaye et. al, 15). Applications are legally supposed to be reviewed within 30 days, but notoriously take longer, even months longer (Lubben, 2023). Lack of social capital is another barrier toward access to food stamps, which most often include marginali groups such as immigrants or the elderly (Kaye et. al, 15). Additionally, errors in benefit distributions are common, such as underpayments and overpayments (Kaye et. al, 16). I recommend that “SNAP staff understand and implement their duty to assist FS applicants in acquiring required documentation, and that applying households are made aware that this is a staff responsibility” (Kaye et. al, 25). Additionally, staffing must increase in order to end long waiting periods, and staff must endure proper training and be given ceiling caseloads so that each case is properly managed (Kaye et. al, 24). Finally, policy applications and notices need to be simplified and better advertised in order to increase accessibility to users, as well as increase efficiency (Kaye et. al, 24).

Finance: Fighting Poverty

The prevalence of poverty in New York City restricts all efforts toward food security: personal, community-based, and institutional. To properly fight food insecurity, to kill it, is to also kill poverty. While it is incredibly challenging to suggest prescriptive solutions toward poverty as a whole, the following would help specifically eradicate food apartheids: “fighting food insecurity demands fighting for anti-poverty income policies like living wage, paid time off, expansion of the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC), and targeted Child Tax Credit (CTC) for low-income households” (Food Bank for New York City, 19). David Harvey writes:

‘At this point in history, this has to be a global struggle, predominantly with finance capital, for that is the scale at which urbanisation processes now work. To be sure, the political task of organising such a confrontation is difficult if not daunting. However, the opportunities are multiple because, as this brief history shows, crises repeatedly erupt around urbanisation both locally and globally, and because the metropolis is now the point of massive collision—dare we call it class struggle?—over the accumulation by dispossession visited upon the least well-off and the developmental drive that seeks to colonise space for the affluent’ (Harvey, 39).

Education: Nutrition Programs K-12

The “University of Pennsylvania Center for Community Partnerships’ Urban Nutrition Initiative (UNI), which works with public schools in West Philadelphia” is a successful nutrition program that implements nutrition education “into social studies, language arts, maths and science classes” (Segal, 203). By educating children about healthy nourishment, it is more likely their parents will be influenced to purchase healthy foods (Segal, 203). Similar nutrition education programs should be implemented in K-12 schools across the city so children can reference their knowledge throughout development, as well as passing it on to their legal guardians.

Education: Healthy Bodega Initiative

Nutritional education can be implemented subliminally and effectively through advertising for healthy purchasing throughout bodegas. While a previously established project facilitated by the Healthy Bodega Initiative by the New York City Health Department in 2006, when advertisements were supposed to be implemented in Harlem, “upon observation in one neighbourhood, none

were found” (Segal, 204). If advertisements promoting nutritional purchases were actually distributed in bodegas throughout food apartheids, this could be a promising means of easily distributing knowledge in a convenient way, influencing consumers to buy more nourishing foods.

CONCLUSION

In this briefing, I have articulated the presence of food apartheids in New York City, and their inherent cohabitation with social exclusion and concepts of access, finance, and education. I have recommended New York City community groups facilitating food security measures and the New Yorkers receiving it, should continue internal discussion until complete food security is accomplished, and hopefully consider my own recommendations for better distribution. It is extremely difficult to propose feasible solutions when the food crisis is deeply embedded in inequity, poor governance, and when so often ‘the right to the city’ (Harvey, 2008) belongs exclusively to the white elite.

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Berry, E. et. al (2014) ‘Food security and sustainability: can one exist without the other?’ Available at: https:// www.researchgate.net/publication/272358414_Food_ security_and_sustainability_Can_one_exist_without_ the_other.

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Harper, B. (2012) ‘Going Beyond the Normative White “Post-Racial” Vegan Epistemology’, in Psyche Williams Forson, C. C. (ed.) Taking Food Public: Redefining Foodways in a Changing World. Taylor & Francis.

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‘The Glasgow Effect’: How Poverty Impacts Health in the City of Glasgow

Sophie Swift

INTRODUCTION

This community briefing will focus on the city of Glasgow, Scotland. Post-industrial Glasgow boasts a thriving economy and cultural diversity, yet it faces an ongoing poverty crisis, catalysed by income disparities, impacting the health and wellbeing of individuals and communities that fall below the poverty line. This briefing will examine the intricate nexus between poverty, heightened by economic inequalities, and its profound impact on health and well-being. Restrictions to a healthy diet, smoking habits, and illnesses caused by household dampness and mould will be discussed as contributing factors to the city’s complex and prominent health inequalities, that gives rise to the “Glasgow Effect” phenomenon. Measures carried out by Glasgow City Council, the Scottish Government, and the UK Government have not been efficient in addressing the harsh grapple on individuals who are facing health disparities as a consequence of a prominent income imbalance. Therefore, I outline three recommendations to encourage discussion and enable solutions that will greatly improve the causes, and subsequently

the consequences, of the evident health disparities between socio-economic groups in the city of Glasgow.

I have lived in Scotland my entire life, witnessing first-hand the impacts income inequality has upon marginalised groups concerning housing, education, and health. My positionality as a middle-class undergraduate student who is not a direct resident of Glasgow, must be acknowledged as I put forward recommendations to aid the community of Glasgow towards a more economically inclusive and healthier city. Any recommendations put forward below should be taken as well-intentioned towards the discourse around the topic and should be considered second to the ideas and opinions of those within the community.

POVERTY AND “THE GLASGOW EFFECT”

The city of Glasgow has a long history of poverty stemming from the dismantling of the city’s industrial base in the 1970s, resulting in major job losses that have never been entirely replaced. Thake and Staubach (1993) argue that the root cause of poverty

is economic, stemming from three main sources: unemployment by those marginal to the job market, low wages earned by those employed in declining traditional industries, and reductions in welfare expenditure (Pacione, 2004). These can be observed throughout the city of Glasgow across multiple decades. In the city, unemployment has risen to 4.7% since 2022, slightly higher than the Scottish average of 3.1% in the first quarter of 2023 (ONS, 2023). Additionally, the rate of economic inactivity, those who are neither employed nor seeking employment, is 25.5% (ONS, 2023).

In response to the financial crash in 2008, the UK Government implemented budget cuts across public services and reformed the social security system (MacLeod et al., 2018). This policy shift disproportionately affected residents of towns and cities, where a significant portion of the population relies upon these services and benefits, resulting in them being more susceptible to the negative consequences of welfare reform (Pacione, 2004). In an investigation into the disparity in life expectancy between the richest and poorest 10% of the city’s population, the Glasgow Centre for Population Health identified that the UK government’s austerity policies were primary attributes to the continuously expanding life expectancy gap. Their findings reveal a stark reality: the poorest 10% of men are expected to die 15.4 years earlier than their wealthier counterparts (BBC News, 2021). This data highlights the impact economic policies have on the health and well-being of Glasgow’s residents.

In 2008, the World Health Organisation (WHO) put a spotlight on Glasgow’s stark health inequalities. They identified that a boy from a deprived area, Calton, had a life expectancy of 54 years compared to a boy from an affluent area, Lenzie, who would expect to live until the age of 82. The discrepancy between these two locations is alarming.

Two years later, a study found that people from deprived communities, like Calton, had poorer health and lower life expectancy than people from similarly deprived areas across the UK (Reid, 2011). This gave rise to the “Glasgow Effect”. This phenomenon, coined from the “Scottish Effect”, sheds light on the striking disparities in health outcomes linked to income inequality. This complex web of factors, encompassing access to healthcare, educational opportunities, living conditions, and social determinants, significantly influences the health and wellbeing of Glasgow’s diverse community (GCPH, 2010).

CONTRIBUTING FACTORS TO THE “GLASGOW EFFECT”

I will briefly address three key factors that have significantly contributed to the “Glasgow Effect”: smoking, illnesses caused by mould and dampness within households, and restrictions to accessing a healthy diet. These critical themes are intricately linked with the issue of poverty and contribute to amplifying health inequalities within the city.

Smoking

In Glasgow’s most deprived regions, nearly two-thirds of the population are smokers, contributing to the city’s elevated smoking prevalence compared to the rest of the UK. This disparity is primarily attributed to adverse socioeconomic conditions within the city, as noted by Gray and Leyland (2009). Their research underscores the central role of smoking as a primary driver of health inequalities, which is a well-established fact given the widely known risks of smoking, such as increased risk of heart attacks, strokes, and cancer, especially within the lungs. In 2016, Glasgow recorded the highest lung disease

death rate in Britain, emphasising the link between smoking prevalence and economic status (BBC News, 2016). Thus, there is a critical need for targeted efforts to address the smoking prevalence and its health consequences in Glasgow’s deprived communities.

Restrictive Diets

Obesity is associated with a number of serious health risks, including coronary heart disease, type 2 diabetes, various cancers, and hypertension (MathieuBolh, 2021). Within the city of Glasgow, obesity is a prominent issue intricately linked with the impact of poverty. As of 2019, 61% of adults were classed as overweight and 27% as obese in Glasgow, presenting the highest levels across all Scottish cities (Understanding Glasgow, 2023b). The impact of poverty on obesity rates is alarming, with adults living in the most deprived areas exhibiting an obesity prevalence that is nearly twice as high as those in the least deprived areas (Batterham, 2020). Individuals who live in deprived areas are more likely to have diets based on added sugars and fats as they are more affordable. Moving to a healthier diet based on fresh fruit and vegetables, lean meats, and fish is more expensive, with low-income households struggling to afford the extra expense (Mathieu-Bolh, 2021). Additionally, the current cost of living crisis means that food prices are unpredictable and susceptible to increase multiple times. Obesity levels are not just down to poor diets. Limited access to physical activity has an added impact on obesity. Deprived areas have fewer parks, fitness clubs, and accessible environments for physical activity. This not only affects physical well-being but heavily impacts mental health (Mathieu-Bolh, 2021).

Household Mould and Dampness

Poor housing conditions, predominately found in deprived areas, harm the health of tenants with mould, dampness, and cold triggering sickness. Within Glasgow, over a quarter of households live in damp or overcrowded conditions (Alysha, 2023). There is a well-established correlation between poor housing conditions and lower socio-economic communities, with significant research supporting this connection. The Glasgow Centre for Population Health recognises a strong link between poor housing, including damp and mould, and health inequalities in the city(Garnham and Rolfe, 2019). Research from the World Health Organization backs this up, highlighting the health risks associated with indoor mould and dampness and identifying that individuals in deprived areas are more likely to be exposed to these health problems (Rolfe et al. 2020). The health problems associated with poor housing can cause unemployment, continuing a vicious cycle of poverty and poor health for future generations. Within the city of Glasgow, there is a need for targeted policies, housing improvements, and community initiatives to address this issue and mitigate the impacts.

CURRENT COMMUNITY ACTION

In Glasgow, a multitude of community groups, charities, and organisations dedicate themselves to mitigating health inequalities. I will briefly explore the efforts of two groups that strive to alleviate the health disparities resulting from poverty.

Annexe Communities is a community-led development trust that works with people to reduce health inequalities and improve well-being. Since the trust began in 1986, it has kept a central focus on healthy living (Annexe Communities, 2023b). At the heart

of the trust is a healthy eating café that serves affordable, healthy meals consisting of vegetables, lean meats, and fish to those who struggle to afford nutritious, balanced food. This initiative helps to reduce food poverty within deprived areas whilst also tackling the prominent obesity crisis within the city (Annexe Communities, 2023a). Additionally, Annexe Communities has developed a Social Prescribing Project designed to facilitate individuals to move towards a healthier lifestyle and enhance their overall well-being. This program offers a range of activities, including walking groups, dance classes, and budget-friendly healthy cooking classes, contributing to improved mental and physical health (Annexe Communities, 2023c). In April 2009, they held a presentation to address and educate the local community on the stark health inequalities within the area. The presentation included topics on child health inequalities, community strategies to tackle food poverty, and social isolation (Annexe Communities, 2023d). This initiative spreads awareness of the prominent issues that occur within the city and empowers individuals with knowledge about how they can contribute to solutions.

The GalGael Trust is a community-based charity originating from one of the most deprived areas of Glasgow, where it started from an environmental campaign. Now, their ambition is to create and practise a healthy community that benefits individuals and society as a whole (GalGael, 2023).

Alistair McIntosh, one of the founding directors of GalGael, believes “a loss of soul” is the source of Glasgow’s health problems. He argues that those who struggle economically are more likely to fill their lives with “various forms of addiction”, causing catastrophic health outcomes (Reid, 2011). The initiative offers community activities such as woodworking and plastering classes, gardening lessons, carving, and

arts and crafts, to bring life back to the city. According to Professor Phil Hanlon, GalGael provides a fresh beginning for those who were poorly affected by the post-industrial era’s economic challenges, enabling them to gain new skills and facilitating employment opportunities in thriving sectors, such as the financial industry. This holistic approach encourages individuals to move away from struggling communities that suffer severe health and social imbalances (Reid, 2011).

GOVERNMENT AND COUNCIL ACTION

The Scottish Government has made it clear that reducing health inequalities is a core component of their overall goal of achieving ‘sustainable and inclusive economic growth’, with the tackling of inequalities being featured in their 2022/23 Programme for Government (ScotPHO 2023). I will discuss the efforts taken by the Scottish Government, alongside the Glasgow City Council, to reduce the disparities in health and well-being.

‘Equally Well’ was a report carried out by the Scottish Government’s Ministerial Taskforce, alongside Glasgow City Council, the Glasgow Centre for Population Health, and NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde, that focused on the health inequalities in the city of Glasgow. It recognised that in order to tackle current health inequalities, there cannot be a sole focus on healthcare, and a cross-sector approach must be observed. To put recommendations into place and explore innovative ways to reduce inequalities, the report believes that the creation of ‘test sites’ would be beneficial. Each site, although varying in approach, would have the same key focus of reducing health inequalities by changing how public services were delivered. Evidence shows that a built-up environment has strong associations with health inequalities. Therefore, a strong focus

was put on addressing inequalities through integrating town planning and public health (GCPH, 2012). Given that this report was carried out in 2008 and subsequent years have shown minimal improvement, with some arguing that health inequalities have worsened over the past decade, it suggests that despite the Scottish Government’s attempts to conquer health inequality within Glasgow, their progress does not suffice.

Glasgow City Council acknowledges that there are drastic inequalities within the city. In 2016, they established the Health and Inequality Commission, bringing together health experts, city councillors, and representatives from community groups to provide an in-depth analysis of inequalities caused by poverty. They also develop proposals to reduce the poor health observed across the city, ensuring that individuals have the opportunity to live longer, healthier lives (Robertson, 2017). Despite the commission acknowledging the problem, it is challenging to identify their impact on the city’s population.

The British Medical Association (BMA) created a three-tiered toolkit for clinicians to work together to address and reduce health inequalities. This toolkit is a key aspect of Sir Harry Burns’ President’s Project, recognising that medical professionals are uniquely positioned to address health inequalities and advocate for individuals who are experiencing such imbalances (MehlmannWicks, 2022). Tier 1 focuses on campaigning against health inequalities, either by writing to MPs, creating posters, or teaming up with colleagues to create petitions. Tier 2 asks for the creation of peer support groups and invest in the education and knowledge surrounding health and wellbeing. Those from marginalised communities may not always be offered the same health education, which offers them the chance to learn and spread acquired knowledge further into communities. Finally, Tier 3 aims to organise

collaboration with local organisations and create specialist roles within the medical field to ensure all needs are met across various groups (Mehlmann-Wicks, 2022). The Scottish Government took inspiration from the toolkit and created the programme ‘Deep End’. Deep End is a Scottish Government funded pilot programme bringing in link workers to 100 general practices located in the most deprived areas of Scotland, 31 of which are situated in Glasgow. These link workers support general medical practices to link people with community resources that can help them live healthier, longer lives by supporting them towards their goals (Mehlmann-Wicks, 2022).

As evident in existing literature, health inequalities are intrinsically linked to poverty, stemming from broader economic disparities. While solving these overarching issues can be challenging, targeted solutions are being implemented to address specific health imbalances, such as the mitigation of household mould. Glasgow City Council are currently carrying out a pilot project that uses smart technology to detect dampness within social housing, with the goal of preventing its impacts on resident health, particularly in terms of respiratory disease. However, the programme is currently only set up in 30 homes, with plans for expansion across the city (Clements, 2022). Although this reflects the council’s commitment to addressing inadequate housing conditions, the slow roll-out rate raises concerns. As of 2018, Glasgow housed 292,619 households, meaning that just 0.010% are experiencing this new technology (Understanding Glasgow, 2023a).

RECOMMENDATIONS

In order to address health inequalities, it is necessary to resolve the issue of poverty first. My first recommendation focuses on policy

reform within Glasgow, as well as the rest of Scotland. The roll-out of Universal Credit (UC) in the city of Glasgow had detrimental impacts on the most disadvantaged families and individuals, and it continues to have a negative impact through its frameworks.

Critics of the scheme believe it increases rent arrears, pushing individuals further into poverty (BBC, 2020). Therefore, I recommend that community groups and individuals lobby the UK and Scottish Governments for policy reform to ensure Universal Credit provides a supporting mechanism for those who need it, as the current course of action does not sufficiently meet the needs of people. The initial and foremost factor that requires reform within the UC system is the elimination of the five-week waiting period. This initial wait generates anxiety and stress whilst also inflicting long-term impacts on individuals’ financial stability (Robert et al., 2020). A recent study found that the uncoordinated timing of UC payments and rent deadlines causes stress and anxiety as tenants are at a high risk of eviction (Robert et al., 2020). Therefore, people should lobby the Government to try and make payments synchronise with standard rent deadlines, e.g., the first day of the month. Although the Scottish Government is not directly in charge of Universal Credit delivery, it does have its own benefit schemes, such as the Scottish Welfare Fund. These programs require adaptation to better assist the Glasgow community in poverty reduction and achieving sustainable livelihoods. The budget allocation for the Scottish Welfare Fund has remained unchanged since 2013/14 despite an increasing demand for the service (Robert et al., 2020). This indicates that the fund is failing to keep up with the ongoing cost of living crisis. Additionally, as the Scottish Welfare Fund is implemented at a local authority level, there is an imperative need for increased awareness of availability and application procedure (Robert et al., 2020). This could be effectively achieved through

community groups, such as organising workshops or displaying informational posters in community groups like GalGael and the Annexe Communities. These efforts have the potential to significantly expand the fund’s outreach to individuals who might not have had the opportunity to be informed about it.

My second recommendation involves building upon the ongoing initiatives led by local community groups, including those mentioned previously, such as the Annexe Communities and GalGael Trust, with a strong emphasis on increasing the number of community gardens throughout the city of Glasgow. Community gardens have the potential to mitigate chronic and noncommunicable diseases, such as respiratory and cardiovascular conditions, diabetes, and various cancers (Lovell et al., 2014). These illnesses are often exacerbated by factors that disproportionately impact lower socioeconomic areas, such as smoking, household dampness and mould, and elevated obesity levels caused by restricted access to nutritious foods. Regular involvement in a garden setting can contribute to the attainment of recommended levels of physical activity and provide motivation to alleviate physical activity levels outside of the group setting (Lovell et al., 2014). In more recent years, health sectors around the world have started to identify gardening as a way to reduce the high prevalence of health conditions within deprived communities (Earle, D 2011). Therefore, more economically deprived areas in Glasgow would benefit from community gardens becoming more widespread. Food poverty can contribute to health inequalities, given that access to nutritious meals plays an important role in maintaining a healthy lifestyle. Community gardens provide a space to reduce the barriers that prevent families and individuals from adopting healthy behaviours as they provide access to fresh and healthy food, improve food

security, improve diets, and build stronger, inclusive communities (Lovell et al., 2014). Community gardens give a sense of empowerment within a community and bring back a sense of control and identity, which they may have lost with changing austerity measures, financial struggles, and the sheer lack of valuable resources by Glasgow City Council, the Scottish Government, and the UK Government.

My third recommendation pinpoints reducing mould and dampness within social housing, as throughout this report, we have identified it as being a contributing factor to health inequalities within the city of Glasgow. Recommendations will be aimed at both community members and governmental bodies. Communities must put pressure on their landlords, Glasgow City Council, and the Scottish Government to ensure regular maintenance checks and appropriate repairs are carried out. They should also lobby for a strengthening of policy and regulation that ensures landlords adhere to strict standards that will prevent and manage dampness and mould within social housing. It can also be suggested that communities come together to identify local solutions, as residents are knowledgeable about the specific challenges being faced within their homes. The Scottish Government and Glasgow City Council must put further investment into research and innovation to explore new, sustainable technologies and building materials that can help prevent and manage inadequate housing conditions. For example, putting more funding towards the smart technology that detects dampness to speed up the rollout process (Clements, 2022).

CONCLUSION

The city of Glasgow faces significant health inequalities, stemming from the prevalent issue of poverty. Despite the efforts of both the Scottish and UK Governments to

implement various initiatives to reduce these inequalities, tangible progress remains elusive. Consequently, the ongoing work of community groups in the city becomes crucial. While community-based actions possess indispensable local knowledge and insights, they operate with much less authority compared to national governments. As I put forward my recommendations, I am hopeful that the community will critically reflect upon and utilise them to produce meaningful change in the fight against health inequalities.

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Gray, L. and Leyland, A.H. (2009) Is the ‘Glasgow effect’ of cigarette smoking explained by socio-economic status?: A multilevel analysis. BMC Public Health, 9(1). doi:https://doi.org/10.1186/1471-2458-9-245. (Accessed: 24 October 2023).

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Glasgow Scotland

Mental health inequalities in Glasgow

Rebecca Mitchell

INTRODUCTION

The city of Glasgow is the most populated in Scotland and is considered a cultural and creative hub due its world-class museums and lively music scene. However, you don’t need to look too far into this vibrant city to discover the disparities that exist within its boundaries. Between the prosperous West end to the adverse East end, or from one side of the Clyde tunnel to the other, it is clear that socio-economic inequalities prevail even within an arm’s reach of one another. These socio-economic disparities determine health inequalities that exist in Glasgow, one specific example that emphasises this is that the difference of life expectancy in Calton (a deprived area) compared to Lenzie (an affluent area) is a massive 28 years (Vacarella et al., 2019). This shows that low income, marginalised communities in Glasgow do not receive adequate health support, at least not up to the standard of more affluent communities. This report is going to look specifically at mental health disparities within Glasgow and resources that are available to communities that have a lower socio-economic status, as well as the stigma those with mental health illnesses face.

I would also like to outline my positionality

before moving on to the main body of this community briefing. I have lived in Glasgow for the majority of my life, therefore I have grown up in this same system that appears to be failing many people. However I had been oblivious to this gap in mental health services as I have never experienced any mental health conditions myself, and only as I have become more aware of these issues have I started to pay more attention to them. I only started to become more conscious of this issue when the covid-19 pandemic hit in 2020 and I became a support worker at a mental health care home for people that require more support. This really opened my eyes into the challenges and stigmas that those with mental health needs face. Thus, although I have not experienced any of these challenges first hand, I have observed them. It should also be noted that the purpose of this report is to provide a greater insight into the issues addressed for anyone who might be interested, from those who are affected by these inequalities to policy makers who want to make a positive change. The report will conclude by offering two recommendations that I believe could help to improve the Scottish health care system in supporting those with mental health illnesses in Glasgow.

CURRENT SITUATION

Every year, one third of all people in Scotland are affected by mental illness (Gov.scot, 2023). The Scottish Government’s mental health and wellbeing strategy acknowledges that some societal groups have poorer mental health than others due to the unequal distribution of wealth (Mental health and wellbeing strategy 2023), hence these inequalities are not something that is overlooked. However, this strategy focuses on Scotland’s nation as a whole and fails to account for the differences between Scottish cities. There is a clear differentiation between the mean mental health scores in Glasgow compared to other Scottish cities and especially to Scotland as a whole (Gov. scot, 2023). This emphasises the fact that there needs to be greater attention placed on Glasgow, as clearly the strategies that are working for the rest of the country aren’t working for Glasgow and perhaps a more refined and individual approach is needed.

Researchers that have studied the inequalities faced in Glasgow compared to the rest of Scotland and the UK have come up with a theory called the ‘Glasgow Effect’. The term ‘Glasgow Effect’ first surfaced when people started researching why cities in the UK with similar deprivation levels were experiencing different health outcomes (Walsh, 2010). Glasgow, Liverpool and Manchester all experience virtually identical levels of deprivation, educational attainment and single parent households, however ill health in Glasgow (measured by premature mortality rates) was overall found to be over 30% higher in Glasgow than either Liverpool and Manchester (Walsh, 2010). This has not always been the case however. One hundred years ago, health outcomes in these three cities were much more alike. It has only been in the past 40 years that the gap in health outcomes has widened between Glasgow and the other English cities (Walsh, 2010). This shows that there have been positive

developments put in place in Liverpool and Manchester that are improving health outcomes at a faster pace than in Glasgow. Many assume that the Glasgow Effect is only applied to physical health, however it has previously been proven to apply for mental health as well (Gray, 2007). A meaningful figure found in the study carried out by David Walsh in 2010 is that death rates by suicide in Glasgow are 70% higher than the rates in Liverpool and Manchester, highlighting that the consequences of ill mental health are much greater in Glasgow. This shows that although deprivation is a key component of health outcomes, there are many more components that must be considered, otherwise the health outcomes in Glasgow wouldn’t be so dissimilar to two other almost identical UK cities. One of these components that perhaps should be considered more is the use of alcohol and drugs in Glasgow, because although the levels of alcohol consumption, smoking and estimated drug use in these three cities are much the same, deaths caused by drugs and alcohol in Glasgow were more than double that of Manchester and Liverpool (Walsh, 2010).

The relationship between drug use, alcohol consumption and mental health is a complicated one that has been researched extensively, with some researchers suggesting that alcohol and drug use is the driving factor of mental health illnesses, while some researchers argue for the reversed order, that ill mental health is the driving factor of alcohol and drug use (Bell & Britton, 2014). There are multiple common risk factors that apply to both the use of drugs and alcohol and mental health illness, such as genetic vulnerabilities, environmental influences, stress and childhood experiences and trauma (NIDA, 2021). Therefore, once these risk factors that apply to both substance abuse and mental health are considered, the comorbidity

of the two should not come as a surprise. Alcohol consumption is one of the primary causal factors of major depression and anxiety (Fergusson et al., 2009), and drug use has more of a direct association with mental illnesses such as bipolar disorder and schizophrenia (NIDA, 2021). People suffering from ill mental health may begin using substances such as alcohol and drugs in an attempt to self-medicate, however once this fails to be the case, they are likely to continue (ab)using these substances in an effort to relieve the symptoms of their mental illnesses (Mitchell et al., 2007). All this research supports the opinion that a vicious and dynamic cycle is the best way to summarise the relationship between drug use, alcohol consumption and mental health, for example alcohol consumption leads to deteriorated mental health, which in turn leads to increased alcohol consumption and drug use, which only leads to further deterioration of one’s mental health (Bell & Britton, 2014). In Glasgow’s case, due to the high levels of alcohol consumption and drug use, it is key that health care systems consider this direct relationship in order to provide simultaneous treatment for mental illnesses and substance misuse disorders (Jane-Llopis & Matytsina, 2006). In terms of why there are worsened outcomes in Glasgow, despite there being similar levels of alcohol and drug consumption as Manchester and Liverpool, this is perhaps down to Glaswegians using substances at a more excessive rate and more extreme levels which is not recognised by routine health surveys (Walsh 2010).

MENTAL HEALTH SERVICES AND SUPPORT

Before proceeding to the recommendations section of this report, I think it is necessary to first discuss the services and support that is available in Glasgow. The NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde (NHSGGC) has a website

called Heads Up which provides advice on how to access the most suitable support for your needs. This website recommends that the first step in getting help for mental health is to make an appointment to talk to a GP. Although it fails to mention the fact that wait times to get an appointment at a GP can be quite lengthy at times, due to staffing shortages or general unorganisation (Carey & Spratt, 2009) which could be off putting to someone seeking help for their mental health, it does highlight the benefit that GPs will have good knowledge of mental health services in the local area. The Heads Up website also details two free helpline services for anyone struggling with their mental health to get professional and confidential support. This is very beneficial information for the NHSGGC to provide, as the helplines are available to anyone who has access to a phone, to receive a safe space to talk to a professional without fear of discrimination due to their socio-economic status.

There are multiple reasons why someone might choose private healthcare over the NHS to treat their mental health, some of these being the long wait times to receive an appointment, not being able to get an appointment outwith working hours, GPs not being able to provide the treatment or support one needs, or needing more intensive and long term support (Mind, 2017). In terms of specialist treatment for more severe mental health illnesses, turning to private healthcare is a much more expensive option. The cost of a one hour counselling session through a private therapist can range anywhere from £40£100 (NHS inform, 2023), and the cost of a private mental health live-in care home in Glasgow can be anywhere around £500 per night (Rehab Guide, 2023). Of course, the care these private institutions can provide will be exceptional and they will also be able to offer a wider range treatments depending on

the service users individual needs, however the cost itself makes clear that this treatment option is inaccessible for anyone on a lower income salary, or who is unemployed, which is very likely for someone who struggles with their mental health due to the stigma they face when it comes to employment. This, once again, highlights the inequalities that deprived communities face in terms of receiving mental health care. It should never be the case that someone doesn’t receive adequate health care based on how much money they have to pay for it.

RECOMMENDATIONS

1. Making higher quality green spaces more widely available

The first action that I would recommend taking in the step towards reducing mental health inequalities for low income communities in Glasgow is creating green spaces that are not only more widely accessible, but also of better quality as a means to create more positive mental health outcomes. The term green spaces is used in this recommendation to define gardens, parks, outdoor sports facilities and open spaces that are available to the public, free of charge and for the exclusive use of pedestrians and cyclists for their leisure. In recent years, there has been a vast number of studies undertaken that exhibit the impact that having access to green spaces in an urban area can have on one’s mental (and physical) health. Some of the wider benefits of having access to green space are outlined by Callaghan et al, (2020), and include a greater amount of physical activity, better physical health, and a greater sense of community cohesion. In terms of mental health, benefits of having access to green spaces while living in a busy urban environment include reduced cortisol levels (the stress hormone), an ‘escape’ from the mental fatigue of the busy setting of an urban area, and a general

improvement of psychological health (Callaghan et al., 2020). The United Nations have committed to providing “universal access to safe, inclusive and accessible green and public spaces” especially for minority groups and marginalised communities as part of the sustainable development goals (World Health organisation, 2016), which shows that this is an initiative that can be beneficial globally if implemented correctly.

A study that has been carried out on the relationship between greenspace and levels of deprivation in Glasgow has found that there is a strong correlation between the two (Baka & Mabon, 2022). However, this study was important in highlighting that there isn’t necessarily a lack of green spaces in more deprived areas for lower income communities, rather a stark difference in the quality of green spaces available for them. It was found that green spaces available in areas where there is a greater level of low-income communities were significantly less well-kept, less safe and had less perceived greenness (Baka & Mabon, 2022). This deduces that mental health inequalities between higher and lower income communities can be attributed to the unequal distribution of quality green space between affluent and deprived areas in Glasgow.

Enhancing green spaces and making them more widely available would be a preventative measure as it is reducing wider mental health needs, which could be regarded as more effective than creating solutions as a consequence of ill mental health (World Health Organisation, 2016). Therefore, I would recommend to the city of Glasgow council to consider a wider range of green spaces that are accessible and available to all communities. I would recommend that in order to do this, engagement with local stakeholders, environmental organisations and health providers is key to producing the most successful outcomes, as well as the

local communities as they will be the main users of the green spaces.

ANTI-STIGMA PROJECTS AND LOCAL SUPPORT

The second recommendation that I would like to offer is in the hopes of reducing the stigma surrounding mental health illnesses and in turn encouraging people to not be intimidated about seeking professional help. The examples of antistigma projects and support groups that this report will move on to discuss aim to tackle public stigma, which is the negative and prejudiced attitudes of others; and self stigma, which is the internalised negative attitudes and humiliation that people with ill mental health have about themselves and their own condition (American psychiatric association). Those who face stigma due to their mental health face social exclusion in their daily lives, when it comes to employment, education and relationships (Quinn & Knifton, 2005).

Students are amongst one of the groups that experience the highest levels of self stigma towards their mental health (Quinn et al., 2009). Studies have found that there is still reluctance from students to open up about their struggles with mental health while studying at university or any higher education institution (Quinn et al., 2009). This is due to both internal and external factors, stigma being a main component of both. In a study funded by the Scottish Government’s National Programme for Mental Health, Quinn et al (2009) found that the first main barrier that students are faced with is accepting themselves that they need help, and the second barrier is knowing how to to get help, and what this will even involve. It was found that many students were reluctant to seek help due to the fear that it could affect their future job opportunities (Fuller et al., 2004), which

is definitely not the case due to disclosure laws. Therefore, I believe that implementing anti-stigma projects in higher education institutions in Glasgow is one effective way of reducing the stigma surrounding mental health illnesses from an early stage in life. This could involve running campaigns and raising awareness of the true facts about mental health and debunking stereotypes. Anti-stigma projects in higher education institutions should also make clear the student services that are available to students, so that anyone who wants to seek help knows exactly where to go and what options are available to them, whether this is to a counsellor, a peer group or a professor.

It must also be acknowledged that socioeconomic status is the leading factor of unequal access to higher education in Scotland (The Scottish Government, 2020), therefore to only implement anti-stigma projects in higher education institutions could widen the gap in mental health inequalities. Therefore, it would also be most favourable to implement anti-stigma projects within local communities with an emphasis on communities in deprived areas. An organisation in Maryland, US started up anti-stigma workshops in order for anyone to come along and learn about harmful stigmatising behaviours, attitudes and practices, and create a safe space for participants who do suffer with their mental health (On our own of Maryland, 2022). These take place in a wide variety of communities and multiple different stakeholders have become involved from within the healthcare sector, and participants have reported that benefits of these workshops include decreased stigma, improved attitudes and a greater sense of community (On our own of Maryland, 2022). For this reason, I believe that implementing similar workshops in lower income communities in Glasgow would help to proactively reduce social exclusion towards people with mental health

illnesses. Having a wide range of workshops that appeal to different interests will also encourage more people to attend them, for example some people may be more likely to attend a creative, arts based workshop, and some people may prefer workshops that involve physical activity such as football clubs or running groups. In order for these types of projects to work, they must have the support of local organisations, policy makers, NGOs and healthcare providers.

An additional community led initiative, similar to these workshops, that I would encourage communities to get involved in, is the implementation of local support groups. Support groups allow for anyone suffering with their mental health to meet like-minded people and encourage personal growth. Support groups are especially useful for people who suffer from mental illnesses such as depression that can make someone feel isolated from their peers. An organisation in Kenya called the Users and Survivors of psychiatry in Kenya (USP-K) establishes support groups in Nairobi for people with ill mental health to support its members in integrating themselves into their communities (WHO, 2021). USP-K support groups have seeked to reduce social exclusion by educating participants on their human rights and the ways they can apply them to their daily lives. It has been reported that members of the USP-K support groups have reclaimed their voices and become less ashamed of asking for the help that they are entitled to (WHO, 2021). This example from Nairobi highlights how successful support groups can be for people seeking advice for their mental health, and how beneficial it can be to meet people going through or that have previously gone through similar experiences.

Both workshops and support groups are also good opportunities to socialise with people in a positive way, that doesn’t involve harmful substances such as alcohol

and drugs that deteriorate mental health. I believe that the implementation of local workshops and support groups in low income communities in Glasgow would not only reduce mental health stigma, but provide an outlet for people to express their emotions in different ways, whether this is through creative projects, physical activity or simply socialising with people who share lived experiences. Sequentially, this could have a positive effect on mental health outcomes and reduce the health inequalities that are found in Glasgow.

FINAL CONCLUSIONS

To conclude this community briefing, I would like to re-emphasise the importance of community led approaches as a means to reduce the effects of mental health disparities across Glasgow. This report has outlined how people with ill mental health face social exclusion, and why communities in deprived areas are at greater risk of mental illness. I have demonstrated the benefits that can come from improving green spaces, implementing anti-stigma workshops and creating local support groups, however these are only some of many initiatives that can be taken to reduce mental health inequalities, and further reading is required to cover all bases of how to create equality for marginalised communities. Emphasis really needs to be put on these in order for Glasgow to not fall any further behind other UK cities in terms of health disparities. Although Glasgow is a modern, vibrant and friendly city, it is important to remember the quote from Mahatma Gandhi, “the true measure of any society can be found in how it treats its most vulnerable members”, and Glasgow needs to start taking action in order to stop failing those living in deprived areas who are suffering with their mental health.

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Social Exclusion of the Working Class in the Regeneration of Leith

Angus Mather

INTRODUCTION

Across the contemporary world, countless cities have entered an age of reinvention, in which community spirit is tested by cities’ perpetual addiction to development. Lapsley, Miller, and Panozzo note, “The world of cities has increasingly become one of calculating and quantifying, as they compete in an increasingly explicit way with each other for population, economic resources and influence” (2010, p. 308). The remoulding of urban areas to fit modernday socio-economic ideals comes at a cost, particularly for those within the working class population, who find themselves neglected and marginalised during the development process. The destructive potential of urban regeneration practices towards social exclusion forms the basis of this community briefing, which centres around an especially acute case within the area of Leith in north-east Edinburgh. Edinburgh has evolved into a place of vibrance and style, possessing an attractive blend of grand historical features that sit alongside impressive modern infrastructure.

Edinburgh’s trendy, desirable aura has pervaded across its various regions, most notably in Leith, which has been voted the 16th coolest neighbourhood in the world by Time Out magazine (Time Out, 2023). This can be linked to the gentrification that has taken place in Leith over recent decades, which has sought to change the nature of the region from a stagnant, troublesome port area to a lively, thriving high-end community. However, despite the process of gentrification going on for some time, Leith remains in a state of transformative dismay, creating disconnects and fluxes within its diverse community (Doucet, 2009). Within Leith’s diverse community, no group has been mistreated more than the working class; whether that be from the deindustrialisation of the past to the gentrification of the present, they have been continually discriminated against. Their needs have been suffocated by development planners, and their concerns have fallen on deaf government ears, resulting in the social, economic, and spatial exclusion of the working class throughout the regeneration of Leith.

FRAMING POSITIONALITY

The selection of Leith as the site of my community brief was inspired by my childhood in downtown Edinburgh, where I spent the bulk of my formative years. Growing up close to Leith in the nearby town of Cramond, I developed strong ties and a close bond with the area, primarily through being a fan of and making regular trips to watch Leith’s professional football club, Hibernian FC. Through the many weekends spent in the area and conversations with fellow Hibernian supporters, who were typically among the working class, I gained first-hand experience of the changes and challenges going on in Leith. My understanding of the local context grew quickly and has continued to grow throughout my time at the University of St Andrews as my knowledge of geographical and sustainable concepts has been enhanced. The emotional bond I have with Leith has been ever-present in my life, and I hold a deep-rooted hope that its regeneration will shift away from its inequitable nature and instead be sustainable and just for all. This desire provides the motivation behind this community brief and upholds the idea of the ‘right to the city’, where access and prosperity are experienced by all on a selfimposed rationale (Harvey, 2008).

HISTORICAL BACKGROUND OF LEITH

The historic heartland of Leith lies in its docklands, having been used as Edinburgh’s primary trading port and the gateway to the city from as early as the fourteenth century (Matthews and Satsangi, 2007). The port of Leith played a pivotal role in cementing Edinburgh’s place in the global trading market, specialising in the trade of coal and grain, with the total area of the docklands rising to 170 hectares after the final developments were complete (City of

Edinburgh Council, 2005). Despite Leith being situated directly beside Edinburgh, Leith was its own municipality before it merged with Edinburgh in 1920 (Doucet, 2009). When Edinburgh engulfed Leith, it brought Leith’s nearly 90-year independence to a close, creating a narrative that Leith is within Edinburgh but not truly a part of it (Leith Local History Society, 2012). The maritime and industrial sectors were the socio-economic lifeline of Leith, employing a large proportion of the area’s workforce and providing a great sense of identity and pride for the local community.

However, Leith’s thriving docklands began to decline following the conclusion of World War II and the establishment of more neoliberal political systems. This caused major deindustrialisation within Leith and created mass deprivation across the area, as government privatisation saw ownership of the docks and other valuable community features switch from the state to private entities. Deindustrialisation had a particularly profound effect on Leith’s working class, who found themselves stripped of their livelihoods and displaced from their tenement homes so that new apartment complexes could be built in their place (Doucet, 2009). Due to the economic struggles and infrastructure issues that persisted in Leith throughout the 1970s and into the early 1980s, the quality of life in the area took a serious downturn, and the neighbourhood became renowned for its degradation and crime. Leith became synonymous with substance abuse and grime when Irvine Welsh later published his world-famous book ‘Trainspotting’, which explores the trials and tribulations of a group of drug-addicted friends living in Leith during the 1980s (Brooks, 2015).

As Leith progressed through the 1980s, it entered into a process of gentrification, a highly contested process still ongoing to this day. Leith began to transition from an

area of hopelessness and impoverishment into a charming and economically alluring neighbourhood, with house prices in the area increasing by 100% in as little as five years (Doucet, 2009). Despite the improvements that gentrification brought, aspects of Leith’s dark past still lingered into the 21st century, as its Harbour Ward had an unemployment rate among young adults that was 85% above the city average (Doucet, 2009). The belittlement and indignity that Leith faced throughout its history, notoriously among its working class, highlights the need for community-based management to rectify the issues of poverty and marginalisation.

THE CURRENT STATE OF LEITH

Leith has undergone several upmarket and high-scale developments over recent years, changing the area’s character into a popular tourist destination and a honeypot for young professionals. This is largely due to the drastic modification of Leith’s housing and retail structure, with luxury apartments scattered across the new Western Harbour development, in addition to a plentiful supply of designer stores found within the Ocean Terminal shopping centre (Burley, 2020). Leith is also a major contributor to the soaring Airbnb market in Edinburgh, with the city boasting a concentration of Airbnb listings eight times greater than New York (Taylor, 2018). The varied housing stock now present in Leith has resulted in an extremely mixed population forming within the area, with the last census designating the Leith Walk Ward as the most diverse in the nation (Brooks, 2015).

Many alterations have also taken place along the Shore, the social hub of Leith, as the hardened, working class pubs have been redeveloped into avant-garde hipster bars, along with the addition of numerous Michelin-starred restaurants. The high-end market switch that has occurred in Leith has

brought many big chains to the area, looking to cash in on the economic potential of the neighbourhood. However, their arrival puts severe pressure on the local, independent shops that have been part of the community for some time, potentially hindering their success and putting them out of business. Additionally, four out of ten Leith residents thought that the tram line development through the area would help support and improve business within the community (McCrone, 2018). Yet, in reality, the project cost the taxpayer significantly, as it was £375 million over budget, with the threeyear delay in construction limiting economic growth within the area due to the restricted access into Leith (Taylor, 2018). Evidently, post-industrial gentrification was necessary within Leith, but its detrimental side effects put into question whether all residents have benefitted equally and everyone’s ‘right to the city’ has been maintained. Ultimately, Leith’s gentrification has disregarded its working class community by prioritising profits over equitable societal growth, essentially rehashing the social exclusion that occurred in the past.

HOW LEITH’S REGENERATION HAS CHALLENGED THE WORKING CLASS

Gentrification is a politically contentious subject that can be perceived differently across an urban area, but its success should be gauged not only by the upgrades in the physical environment but also by the betterment of the community living within. This is where Leith’s regeneration has failed, however, as developers have tailored the area’s gentrification towards the middleupper class by being overly concerned about returns on investment and enhancing Leith’s public image. Belinda Blythe, a resident of Leith and a local volunteer, shares similar views, stating that “the council is spending millions on regeneration, but it’s not spending the money where it’s needed, on

upgrading the facilities we already have” (Brooks, 2015). It is largely Leith’s working class that has been overlooked, a common theme in regeneration processes that’s supported by Professor Henry Overman, Professor of Economic Geography at the London School of Economics and Political Science, who claims that there is “little evidence that such transformation significantly improves outcomes for existing residents” (London School of Economics and Political Science, 2021). The Leith Docks Development Framework (LDDF) has been the chief development scheme in Leith’s regeneration, but there is a belief that planners used their power and authority to strong-arm the developer and secure ascendancy over the development, thereafter dismissing the desires of the working class community (Matthews and Satsangi, 2007). A similar issue was observed during Cardiff Bay’s regeneration, as an investigation into the project found that economic gain held more importance during the policy-making and marketing process among proprietors and developers than equitable community growth and collaboration (Matthews and Satsangi, 2007). This suggests that inappropriate investments and unsuitable developments for the working class community are common problems during the gentrification process, primarily because developers lack a strong grasp of the communities’ backgrounds and development wishes, viewing the regeneration process as merely a task to be completed that ensures sufficient profits. The omission of localism in Leith’s regeneration has amplified issues of social exclusion as the working class population is starting to realise they are not the target demographic or main beneficiaries of their own local gentrification.

The LDDF promised to construct 18,000 new properties across Leith Docks, with 30% of the housing to be designed for

families (Matthews and Satsangi, 2007). However, the vast majority of these new properties are only suitable for middle- to upper-class incomes, adding to the lack of affordable housing in Leith that is pushing the working class out of the area. There’s a growing sense around Leith’s working class that their housing demands are not being heard, with one local resident saying that gentrification has “priced the Leithers out of Leith” (Doucet, 2009, p. 308). This puts into question Edinburgh’s housing framework and planning system, both of which are further marginalising the working class with each new development.

As Leith’s regeneration is doing little to create an adequate supply of affordable housing for the working class, they are being indirectly displaced to the peripheries of town or out of Leith completely. Due to the rising house prices brought about by gentrification, Leith working class residents cannot afford to make the transition from rented to owned housing, nor can they move to more spacious homes when their family grows. With increasing movements of working class residents out of the area, social segregation begins to emerge as the population becomes increasingly fragmented. Irvine Welsh, the aforementioned author behind ‘Trainspotting’ and a Leith native, worries that the community will become “completely destroyed” if the working class continues to disappear from the area (Taylor, 2018).

The displacement of the working class has meant that Leith is gradually losing its community spirit and historic character as its regeneration progresses. The area has become divided socially and spatially, and while there is no apparent tension between the new gentrifiers and Leith’s working class population, the two groups generally do not integrate. This is because the working class cannot afford to socialise in the gentrified areas of Leith due to the steep prices of the new shops and amenities, while the

gentrifiers do not venture into the local, independent stores and stick to the big brands they know, resulting in poor social cohesion. The facelift that gentrification provides is welcomed by Leith’s working class community; however, they are worried about the social exclusion that has stemmed from it, with Doucet suggesting that Leith’s working class was “positive about the changes in the neighbourhood, though more pessimistic about the changes in their neighbourhood” (2009, p. 312).

The marginalisation imposed upon Leith’s working class population will only be resolved if they band together and carry out various forms of community action on a range of scales. The following section will offer some recommendations for the working class community of Leith to promote social inclusion and encourage community engagement, which will allow their voices to be heard and hopefully create a more equitable neighbourhood.

RECOMMENDATIONS AND COMMUNITY ACTION

It is not the responsibility of the working class to fix the problems associated with Leith’s regeneration, as new frameworks must be developed within the local government and planning committees that place higher value on the concerns and demands of the community. However, the following recommendations will help to empower Leith’s working class and hopefully set them on a path towards initiating this change.

Protests and campaigns

This approach involves the working class community taking it upon themselves to stand up against the injustices they have experienced from regional planners and developers, forcing the local government to take them and their wishes seriously. This strategy incorporates a bottom-up

development formula to incite sustainable improvements in the neighbourhood and openly challenges the preferential nature of Leith’s gentrification. This form of community action was effectively utilised during the ‘Save Leith Walk’ movement, in which campaigners from Leith’s working class community and beyond joined each other in protesting against Drum Property Group’s £50 million proposed development spanning three acres along Leith Walk, the street that links Leith to the heart of Edinburgh (Taylor, 2018). The development planned to knock down Leith Walk’s signature red sandstone buildings, which housed local shops and businesses beloved by the community, to make space for more than 140 new homes and various office and retail units catered towards the middleupper class (Drum Property Group, 2022). This inspired the formation of the public-led ‘Save Leith Walk’ initiative, where locals were able to express their opinions about the new development in a variety of ways, including targeted fundraisers, direct negotiations with local governance, and community protests (Save Leith Walk, 2023). A petition sent to the City of Edinburgh council containing 12,300 signatures against the proposal, combined with the aforementioned instances of direct community action, resulted in a full revision of the development plan to become more compatible with the desires of Leith’s working class community, keeping the area’s iconic red sandstone buildings intact (Taylor, 2018).

This example demonstrates the social power and political influence that can be generated when members of a community support each other and work towards achieving one common goal. In terms of ensuring fairness and transparency for Leith’s working class in future development plans, local campaigners should work with the surrounding community to grow and establish subgroups within their ranks that

focus on different aspects of sustainability within the area. This multifaceted approach to campaigning would help optimise sustainable development in the area by considering sustainability on a larger, more equal scale. Additionally, local campaigners may choose to collaborate with local stakeholders and sustainability experts to help enhance and refine the process.

Improving awareness and presence of local heritage

Gentrification runs the risk of removing a community’s rich history and local identity, an issue sadly experienced during the regeneration of Leith. However, community fundraising for the construction of a local heritage centre in the newer, gentrified areas of the neighbourhood would help to improve local residents’ sense of place within contemporary Leith. The heritage centre could exhibit the history of Leith Docks and its invaluable contributions to the growth of Edinburgh, and house displays showing how Leith has evolved into one of the trendiest neighbourhoods in the world. Local volunteers from the working class community and beyond could help run the centre, which would take a fiscal load off the local government and ensure an authentic experience for visitors. English Heritage conducted surveys in areas that have undergone historic environment regeneration projects like the building of a local heritage centre and found that these projects had improved 93% of respondents’ views towards the neighbourhood (Maeer, Robinson, and Hobson, 2016). Leith currently has a few tourist information boards scattered across its docklands, but this is a minimalistic effort to preserve the local heritage of the area. The creation of a local heritage centre in Leith would restore a sense of pride in the working class population, helping to reinstate the local identity and community spirit that have been lost through gentrification. A local heritage centre would

also provide the chance for new gentrifiers to visit and get acquainted with the history of Leith, helping to boost awareness and improve social dynamics in the area.

The creation of social spaces

The working class has lost their place within modern Leith as gentrification has fragmented their community and seen them gradually displaced to the outskirts of town. Their traditional pubs have been replaced by fancy, new-age bars, and the reliable stores they routinely shop in have been transformed into expensive establishments that they cannot afford. The working class of Leith have essentially lost their social space and the networks that came with it, so the creation of a social club would help massively in restoring these invaluable community connections and relationships. The social club could base itself in a local institution like a community centre and, perhaps with the help of the Leith Trust and Leith Community Fund, could host meaningful events and discussions for the working class population of Leith (Leith Community Fund, 2023). Leith already has one social club consistently used by the older working class community, named the Leith Dockers Club, but another is required so that all audiences can be suitably catered for, particularly young families and children (Leith Dockers Club, 2023). The social club could expand upon its in-person meetings by setting up its own social media page, providing a digital form of support to Leith’s working class community that can be accessed at any time.

CONCLUSION

This brief has explored how an inequitable and unethical process of gentrification has spoiled the regeneration of Leith for its working class community. Countless injustices have been imposed upon the

working class throughout Leith’s transition from a dreary, run-down port area into a glamorous and socio-economically enticing modern neighbourhood. The primary issues Leith’s working class population has had to endure during the area’s regeneration include the loss of affordable housing, indirect displacement to the fringes of town, and the slow breakdown of local identity and community spirit in the area. The planners and developers involved in the gentrification process were more concerned with elevating Leith’s public image and maximising profits than helping support social inclusion and securing genuine sustainable development. Despite the vast resources invested towards Leith’s regeneration, the process failed to ensure an equal ‘right to the city’ across Leith’s community, due to the uneven and discriminatory nature of these investments that favoured the middle-upper class over the working class. The needs of the working class population have been continually overlooked during Leith’s regeneration, resulting in severe marginalisation and social exclusion within the community they worked so hard to build. However, this brief has also uncovered the strength and impact that Leith’s working class community can produce when they utilise successful forms of community action to object against poor governance and inadequate development plans. The recommendations proposed in this brief are worthwhile and effective steps towards ensuring a socially just and fair regeneration process for the working class community of Leith. Global cities are experiencing an age of reinvention, but that doesn’t mean equitable societal growth cannot be maintained across various population groups. As long as inclusive community-based management occurs that considers bottom-up solutions for development and the needs of an urban area without prejudice or bias, sustainability can be upheld and preserved for future generations.

REFERENCES

Brooks, L., 2015. Choose Leith? Trainspotting locations reveal the changing faces of Edinburgh. The Guardian. [Online]. Available from: https://www.theguardian. com/cities/2015/feb/05/choose-leith-trainspotting-locations-changing-edinburgh-irvine-welsh [Accessed: 19th October 2023]

Broughton Spurtle, 2018. Save Leith Walk campaigns at City Chambers. Broughton Spurtle. [Online]. Available from: https://www.broughtonspurtle.org.uk/news/ save-leith-walk-campaigns-city-chambers [Accessed: 23rd October 2023]

Burley, H., 2020. Has Leith’s regeneration lived up to all the hype? - David Alexander. Edinburgh News. [Online]. Available from: https://www.edinburghnews.scotsman. com/business/has-leiths-regeneration-lived-up-to-allthe-hype-david-alexander-1379185 [Accessed: 20th October 2023]

City of Edinburgh Council, 2005. Leith Docks Development Framework: Supplementary Planning Guidance. The City of Edinburgh Council.

Doucet, B., 2009. Living through gentrification: subjective experiences of local, non-gentrifying residents in Leith, Edinburgh. Journal of Housing and the Built Environment, 24, pp.299-315.

Drum Property Group, 2022. Red Sandstone Building, Leith Walk. Drum Property Group. [Online]. Available from: https://www.drumpropertygroup.com/development/red-sandstone-building-leith-walk/ [Accessed: 23rd October 2023]

Harvey, D., 2008. The right to the city. The city reader, 6(1), pp.23-40.

Lapsley, I., Miller, P. and Panozzo, F., 2010. Accounting for the city. Accounting, Auditing & Accountability Journal, 23(3), pp.305-324.

Leith Community Fund, 2023. [Online]. Available from: https://leithcommunityfund.org/ [Accessed: 24th October 2023]

Leith Dockers Club, 2023. [Online]. Available from: https://leithdockersclub.co.uk/ [Accessed: 24th October 2023]

Leith Local History Society, 2012. Timeline: Some milestones in the history of Leith. Leith Local History Society [Online]. Available from: http://www.leithlocalhistorysociety.org.uk/timeline/timeline.htm [Accessed: 19th October 2023]

London School of Economics and Political Science, 2021. Government urban regeneration initiative failed to improve Britain’s most deprived areas. The London School of Economics and Political Science. [Online]. Available from: https://www.lse.ac.uk/research/research-for-

the-world/politics/government-urban-regeneration-initiative-failed-to-improve-britains-most-deprived-areas [Accessed: 21st October 2023]

Maeer, G., Robinson, A. and Hobson, M., 2016. Values and benefits of heritage: A research review. Heritage lottery fund.

Matthews, P. and Satsangi, M., 2007. Planners, developers and power: A critical discourse analysis of the redevelopment of Leith Docks, Scotland. Planning, Practice & Research, 22(4), pp.495-511.

McCrone, D., 2018. Lost in Leith: Accounting for Edinburgh’s Trams. Scottish Affairs, 27(3), pp.361-381.

Parliament House Hotel, 2017. Places to visit in Edinburgh: make Leith your next port of call. Parliament House Hotel. [Online]. Available from: https://parliamenthouse-hotel.co.uk/blog/places-to-visit-in-edinburgh-leith/ [Accessed: 20th October 2023]

Save Leith Walk, 2023. [Online]. Available from: https:// saveleithwalk.org/ [Accessed: 23rd October 2023]

Taylor, M., 2018. ‘The wrong type of development’: the battle for Edinburgh’s Leith Walk. The Guardian. [Online]. Available from: https://www.theguardian.com/ cities/2018/nov/05/the-wrong-type-of-developmentthe-battle-for-edinburgh-leith-walk [Accessed: 20th October 2023]

Time Out, 2023. The 40 coolest neighbourhoods in the world. Time Out. [Online]. Available from: https://www. timeout.com/travel/coolest-neighbourhoods-in-theworld [Accessed: 18th October 2023]

Beyond the Food Desert: A Comprehensive Approach to Food Insecurity in Hartford, CT

Hannah Stewart

INTRODUCTION

Interpreting the Report

This report aims to provide the people of Hartford with inspiration and tools for combating food insecurity. Acknowledging the historical contexts of the city and the systemic injustices facing its communities, this report proposes recommendations to the residents themselves. The knowledge within is not informed by personal experience living in Hartford, nor has the author been subjected to the racial and socioeconomic injustice present in the city. However, the report comes from a position of lifelong proximity to food insecurity in rural Connecticut. Written from this perspective, the aim is to present additional options and empower through communitybased approaches rather than demand, instruct, or condescend. On this note, the report recognizes that no solution is perfect and asks that community members apply their knowledge and experience to improve the suggestions within. Furthermore,

expecting community members to take on the extra burden of solving food insecurity themselves is not appropriate in some contexts. Therefore, the hope is that this report will be approached with an openminded understanding that communitybased solutions have the power to transform systems of injustice which are largely neglected by state or federal governments.

Brief Overview

Hartford has been described as one of New England’s ‘forgotten cities’ (Walsh, 2013). This sentiment may be relatable to many of its communities experiencing neglect. Once a bustling hub of industry and manufacturing in the 19th and 20th century, Hartford now faces the post-industrial legacies of unemployment and population decline (Heidenkamp, Russell & Sloan, 2016). Amongst other systemic challenges, the isolation of low-income residents and racial segregation have contributed greatly to food insecurity in the area.

Hartford

It is important to outline two elements of contextual importance to this report: the history of the city and of its communities. The following sections serve as an acknowledgement of the deep historical context of life in Hartford. This overview is by no means exhaustive. However, it is impossible to address the issues of food insecurity in Hartford without full knowledge of how the development of the city has shaped its communities. Furthermore, the author wishes to acknowledge the extremely detrimental effects of systemic racism and socioeconomic injustice and respects that it is impossible to comprehend these realities from an external perspective.

Hartford Then and Now

Hartford is a post-industrial city. Manufacturing firms began to arrive in Hartford in the late 19th century contributing to the development of working-class factory districts (Walsh, 2013). These events triggered an influx of employment opportunities, infrastructure, and investment that helped the city flourish in the following decades. However, this growth began to slow and was eventually extinguished in the 1980s. It is recognized that the death of industry in Hartford has come to define the challenges, strengths, and even the compositions of the city’s communities (Heidenkamp, Russell & Sloan, 2016; Barber, 2013).

Investment in the city dried up following the halt of manufacturing. Not only did economic and government attention turn elsewhere, but entire fields of skill, expertise, and generational knowledge were deemed irrelevant. Today, Hartford is dealing with the legacies of this loss. Most of the city is made up of low-income communities (Martin et al., 2014). Furthermore, Hartford

has a poverty rate of 28%, more than doubling rates state and nationwide (Seaberry, Davila & Abraham, 2021; U.S. Census Bureau, 2021). Job and housing insecurity in the city–both worsened during the COVID-19 pandemic–have contributed to a rise in unemployment and crime (Ennis, 2023; Seaberry, Davila & Abraham, 2021). Furthermore, urban decay and lack of funding puts Hartford residents at risk of chronic disease and exposure to toxins (Seaberry, Davila & Abraham, 2021).

Hartford’s Communities

Hartford’s population has undergone several demographic shifts since the late 1800s. The industry boom saw the introduction of a large number of European immigrants. Wealthier Yankee populations began to consolidate to the north, west, and south of downtown, and for the first time Hartford’s neighborhoods were distinctly divided socioeconomic class (Walsh, 2013). This distinction impacted the ability of immigrant workers to rise into white collar, skilled labor jobs. Here lie some of the first indications of the uneven distribution of resources typical of Hartford and its surrounding suburbs (Barber, 2013).

This trend was mirrored in the 1920’s when the American South and Caribbean replaced Europe as the main source of migration into Hartford. At the time the African American population in the city grew sharply with the promise of higher wages. This population faced severe racial segregation and were afforded essentially no opportunities for social or economic mobility (Schlichting, Tuckel & Maisel, 2006, 2013; Walsh, 2013).

A further migration surge in the late 1900s consisted of Latino immigrants from Puerto Rico and Jamaica (Bauer, 2013). Wealthier white populations consolidated and began to move out of urban Hartford. By the 1970s, Hartford was minority white, and migrants continued to arrive in the city despite the decline in manufacturing jobs.

Hartford Equity Profile 2021 (Seaberry, Davila & Abraham, 2021)

● 121,024 residents in 2021

● 87% BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, and People of Color)

● 36% Black and 17% Latino

● 18% of resident speak English less than very well

● 22% of residents are foreign born

● Median household income is $36k

● 28% poverty rate

● 24% of Black and 35% of Latino households are below the poverty line

● 51% of households spend at least ⅓ of income on housing

● 20% of adults without health insurance

Food Insecurity

“Food security means access by all people at all times to enough food for an active, healthy life.”USDA’s Economic Research Service (ERS)

More than just hunger, food insecurity is related to a lack of access to healthy food. It is not just a rural problem; it can occur anywhere that healthy food is made inaccessible to certain populations (Lyonnais et al., 2020). Thus, food insecurity is surprisingly common in many cities in the US. It is important to understand that accessibility of food can be determined by different factors; therefore, there are different ways of defining which communities are food insecure (Sullivan, 2021).

Types of Food Insecurity

Food Deserts: Food deserts occur where there is an overlap of low-income and low proximity to healthy food (Martin et al.,

2014). Here, accessibility is related to money and distance. In these locations populations have low-incomes and live unreasonably far from affordable healthy food options. Food deserts are the primary qualification of food insecurity used by the USDA (Sullivan, 2021) and are fairly common in cities. However, this economic approach may overlook additional areas of insecurity.

Food Swamps: Food swamps are locations that have some healthy food retail options but are over saturated with less healthy food. In these locations, the healthy options are often outnumbered by cheaper, unhealthy options. Healthy food is made inaccessible due to the over accessibility of processed food, junk food, or fast-food locations (Fielding & Simon, 2011). Issues of class, racism, and ability bias all play a role in this qualification of food insecurity.

Food Mirages: Food mirages appear to have lots of healthy food options, but many residents lack the funds or resources to purchase them (Breyer & Voss-Andreae, 2013). In food mirages accessibility is not just related to money or distance. Many factors can create obstacles to accessing nearby healthy food. These include, race, disability, education, immigration status, or parental status. Food mirages are common in inner cities (Sullivan, 2014; Wiebe & Distasio, 2016).

These classification provide a fuller understanding of the many elements that contribute to food inaccessibility and insecurity. Although food deserts are convenient to diagnose, the role of systemic racial injustice as well as income, ability, and mobility bias must be recognized as powerful forces that isolate certain communities (Price & Jeffery, 2023). Furthermore, approaches to food security must have an emphasis on access to healthy food. There are links between food insecurity and declining mental or physical health. In particular,

the relationship between chronic disease and food insecurity has been described as a dangerous cycle with inter-generational effects (Seligman & Schillinger, 2010).

Food Insecurity in Hartford

Firstly, it must be acknowledged that as a minority white city, food insecurity in Hartford disproportionately impacts its Black and Latino communities. Secondly, many of the census tracts in Hartford are classified as low-income. Acknowledging these facts and their historical context provided above is vital for interpreting food insecurity in the city.

Food Insecurity in Hartford (Seaberry, Davila & Abraham, 2021; Ennis, 2023)

● 29% of residents see food insecurity as a personal health risk

● 20% of city classified as food desert

● 34% identify obesity as a health risk

● 30% of households have no access to a vehicle

● Higher density of chronic disease and mental strife than statewide

● All above values are higher than CT values

● All above values higher in Black and Latino residents and lower in white residents

SOLUTIONS

Existing Solutions

Policy Based Solutions

There are several policies that attempt to combat food insecurity in Hartford. The following programs run by federal and state governments:

● Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP): Low-income individuals can purchase food using an Electronic Benefits Transfer card provided by SNAP, USDA. In 2021, 56% of Latino and 34% of Black Hartford residents received SNAP benefits (Seaberry, Davila & Abraham, 2021). The expiration of pandemic era expansions mean that benefits are not accepted everywhere and remain unavailable to food insecure residents with slightly higher incomes (Ennis, 2023).

● Women, Infants, and Children (WIC): Supplemental health care and food are provided to qualifying mothers through federal funding (USDA). Policy makers are considering a permanent expansion of services. Despite increased engagement with this program in Hartford, it has similar challenges to SNAP (Ennis, 2023).

● Gus Schumacher Nutrition Incentive Program (GusNIP): GusNIP incentivizes nutritious eating and the accessibility of healthy food using government grants to state and local governments. However, GusNIP struggles with equity as the grants are competitive (Krieger, 2022).

Community Based Approaches

Building supermarkets or providing benefits does not fix the problem fully. Government and policy solutions struggle to evenly provide support and often highlight existing inequalities (Price & Jeffery, 2023; Sullivan, 2021). The following are some current community-based programs in Hartford (Ennis, 2023):

● Hands on Hartford (HOH): This nonprofit provides community services from within including a food pantry supporting 800 Hartford families per month. The style of this pantry allows for flexibility according to taste, diet, culture,

or religion. There is also an emphasis on produce and fresh food beyond the food pantry staples. HOH also brings community members together to access additional resources.

● KNOX: This non-profit is involved in greening-up Hartford. One of their initiates is a gardening scheme consisting of 21 gardens and engaging 300 community members. The project repurposes decaying properties into flourishing gardens all over the city. The gardens have put 8 tons of food back into local systems and provide resources and support for all interested residents.

● Forge City Works: This farmers market in Frog Hollow allows local growers to sell their produce directly to Hartford residents. Like many of the farmers markets in the city, Forge City Works accepts and even doubles SNAP benefits. Effort is being put into making the market more accessible through the installation of a small neighborhood market.

RECOMMENDATIONS

The following section consists of recommendations for action to combat food insecurity and enhance existing programs in Hartford. The community-based approach to food insecurity tends to address the problem more effectively. Although there are benefits to the government programs, they can be impacted by political pressures. Furthermore, federal and state level nutritional programs are temporary solutions that fail to address the context of food insecurity in Hartford. Therefore, these recommendations are rooted in a community-based approach to inspire and support the people of Hartford as they tackle food insecurity and its larger context. The hope is to aid Hartford’s communities as they reclaim the rights to food, security, and health so often denied in their city.

Expanding Mobile Markets

Inability to access food in Hartford is more than just an issue of distance. It is an issue of uneven distribution of food and of overburdened residents. Many Hartford residents have low access to vehicles or public transport, limited time, and caring duties. Factors such as single parenthood, immigration status, and language isolation can contribute to a Hartford resident’s ability to access food. Residents with disabilities and chronic disease face extra challenges especially with the risk of COVID. Considering these difficulties, one suggestion is to bring food directly to residents.

Hartford Food System runs the Hartford Mobile Market. This market runs yearround and provides access to produce for low-income residents. However, this is the only mobile market running in Hartford, and currently it only advertises stops twice a week. If mobile markets could be scaled up in Hartford and advertised more effectively, it could be a valuable resource for more residents.

● What: Mobile markets bring fresh food and produce to low-income residents at home. This style of market can simultaneously address issues of healthy food access and distribution in Hartford. Furthermore, mobile markets can boost small farms and food businesses closer to home (Spencer, 2013).

● Who: Mobile markets would serve the low income and more isolated communities of Hartford. Many of these residents, such as elderly, infirmed, and nonEnglish speaking Hartfordians struggle to access food or support services. Mobile markets are proven to alleviate food insecurity in these communities and can be designed to accept SNAP or WIC benefits (Robinson et al., 2016).

● How: Acting as a supplement to traditional farmers markets like Forge City Works or community gardens, mobile markets typically run out of repurposed buses or trucks. Often hailed as a relatively low budget project, mobile markets can take several forms including mobile gardens, pop up markets, and delivery services for fresh weekly essentials (Sullivan, 2021). There are also opportunities for partnerships with pantries, markets, and gardens, making this an ideal solution for expanding the services of successful, but oversaturated programs in Hartford. Markets are often run by non-profits receiving funding from various supporters and foundations.

● Resources/Examples:

Arcadia Mobile Market, Washington D.C.: This market runs out of a bus and brings fresh produce to various food insecure neighborhoods weekly. The Mobile Market accepts all food assistance benefits and sources its food from within a 125mile radius.

About Fresh, Fresh Truck, Boston, MA: This mobile market has a weekly markets schedule and a grocery delivery service. The Fresh Truck aims to provide impacted communities with year-round food security in a city with few supermarkets. This program has a distinct focus on health and sustainability and partners with Boston Medical Center.

myveggievan.org: This website contains resources on building, understanding, and sustaining a mobile market system. The website has information and support for those interested in setting up a mobile market. This includes a toolkit that can also be accessed on the USDA SNAP-Ed page.

Local Currencies and Benefits

“Introducing complementary currencies links underutilized resources with unmet needs”Hallsmith & Lietar (2011, 66)

Healthy food and produce are often not feasible options for low-income individuals. Given that many Hartford communities are low-income, food affordability massively contributes to food insecurity. Local level economic solutions can help lift neglected communities out of deep food insecurity and provide more long-term solutions in Hartford.

● What: Local currencies run alongside official currencies. They circulate only in local settings and are accepted by local businesses that choose to participate. They can address issues of food affordability by creating a local economy not tied to nationwide systems of inequality (Brown, 2021). Similarly local benefits systems mimic nationwide nutritional programs like SNAP on a more personal level. Both local currencies and local benefits programs can improve the food security of communities that are excluded or targeted in national economic systems (Hallsmith & Lietaer, 2011).

● Who: Local currencies can promote the livelihoods of a community with ‘unmet needs’ (Hallsmith & Lietar, 2011). Even when a community is low-income or lacks investment, local currencies engage with local businesses. This system could be beneficial for Hartford residents struggling to afford healthy food (Dunne, 2011). Furthermore, local benefits programs can be used to support food insecure individuals who may not typically qualify for SNAP. Local benefits programs can also provide more flexibility for residents in Hartford. These solutions benefit food insecure

community members, local businesses, and the community at large.

● How: Local currencies develop in partnership with research foundations, local banks, and local businesses in the interest of keeping money in a community (Hallsmith & Lietar, 2011). These currencies take off through incentivizing community engagement. Some currencies provide discounts at certain shops and can be converted into national currency (Brown, 2021). They function best when they meet unfulfilled needs of community members (Hallsmith & Lietar, 2011). In Hartford, complementary currency could help to unburden community members by either directly alleviating food insecurities or freeing up income for food expenses.

Locally based benefits programs are developed through partnerships with institutions such as hospitals, homeless shelters, or immigrant support programs to identify eligible residents. These programs provide community members with benefits or money for purchasing food (Bigora, 2023). Engagement with this sort of program in Hartford can help to fill gaps left by federal programs.

● Resources/Examples:

The Bristol Pound, Bristol, UK: Instituted in September of 2012, the £B was developed through a feasibility study and a partnership with the Bristol Credit Union. By January 2015 1,500 people had opened accounts in £B, £B750,000 had been issued, and 794 local businesses accepted £B. This system has helped build resilience in the community.

The Bristol Method: This report generated by Bristol Green Capital in 2015 provides an overview of the benefits and creation of complementary currency.

Schumacher Center for New Economic - Local Currency Program: This center is responsible for the creation of a local currency in Berkshire County, MA. BerkShares were created in partnership with local banks and 350 businesses to circulate currency within the community. The center’s website is also home to vast archives and resources detailing examples and methods for creating local currencies.

About Fresh - Fresh Connect, Boston, MA: This benefits program is run by a local non-profit in partnership with healthcare organizations. This program works with healthcare teams to enroll at risk patients in Fresh Connect. Patients receive prepaid cards for purchasing produce funded by the non-profit’s supporters. Fresh Connect is now available in locations across the US.

Youth Empowerment

Food insecurity is extremely detrimental to the development and health of youth. In Hartford roughly ½ of children live in poverty; furthermore, there is a high rate of obesity in children, and younger residents are more susceptible to diet-related disease (Martin et al., 2014). Encouraging the involvement of youth in Hartford’s existing programs and giving young people the tools to understand nutrition can break intergenerational cycles of food insecurity. Empowering youth in Hartford can also strengthen community cohesion and existing programs (Glover & Sumberg, 2020).

● What: Engaging and educating youth simply means specifically targeting and supporting younger community members in the already existing gardening schemes or nutrition education programs (Sullivan, 2021).

● Who: In Hartford only 49% of adult residents believe youth have positive role models, and only 38% think it is a good place to raise kids; these values are 77% and 74% statewide (Seaberry, Davila & Abraham, 2021). Creating youth-specific services and programs in Hartford will directly benefit young people, but it will also help deepen community cohesion and personal investment in the city (Glover & Sumberg, 2020). This solution aims to leave a positive impact on young people and by extension the large Hartford community.

● How: Youth empowerment and engagement can include the creation of services just for children or teens such as the addition of a youth garden to the KNOX gardening scheme. It may also involve the consultation and promotion of young people within program administrations and the advertisement of relevant nation and statewide youth conferences.

● Resources/Examples:

Teens for Food Justice (TFFJ), New York, NY: This non-profit promotes teen leadership, advocacy, and health through a network of educational gardens. The program partners with 19 schools, 7,900 students, and 10 communities to distribute 45,000 pounds of studentgrown produce per year to low-income communities through schools, markets, and pantries.

Rooted in Community National Network (RIC): This grassroots movement empowers youth to lead. It encourages health in cities through youth gardening, agriculture, and environmental or food justice work. RIC hosts national conferences, facilitates youth training, and mentors organizations. An Advisory Council of youth and adults runs RIC.

CONCLUSION

The content in this report is aimed to provide the people of Hartford with additional tools and knowledge to combat food insecurity in their city. The hope is that the context, history, and recommendations will help empower Hartford’s communities to challenge systems of racial and socioeconomic inequality from within. In this spirit, the report offers solutions that complement and expand on existing programs in the city. Rather than criticizing, the author hopes that these options will illuminate the capability of the city and the strength of its people. The author thanks the people of Hartford for their consideration and grace.

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Bauer, J. (2013) ‘A Metro Immigrant Gateway’, in X. Chen and N. Bacon (eds.) Confronting urban legacy: Rediscovering Hartford and New England’s forgotten cities Lanham: Lexington Books, p. 145.

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The Exploitation and Abuse of Migrant Domestic Worker Communities in Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, China

Mili McCoy

STATEMENT OF POSITIONALITY

I am not a member of the community discussed in this report, although I grew up surrounded by, and having close friendships with, Migrant Domestic Workers in Hong Kong. I feel able to speak to the MDW community because my experiences growing up in Hong Kong have afforded me an understanding of the city, it’s urban communities, societal structures, systemic hierarchies, and general workings as a diverse metropolis that oftentimes maintains its pride in being a modern, international, and humane city by turning a blind eye to the mistreatment of certain groups that form an essential part of its urban fabric.

INTRODUCTION

At the end of 2022, there were approximately 338,000 migrant domestic workers in Hong Kong (Immigration Department, 2023). This community, composed overwhelmingly of women from Indonesia and The Philippines,

occupy a unique migrant status - they reside in Hong Kong on temporary, contractbased employment visas that come with stringent restrictions, including the denial of the right to ever qualify for citizenship (Tong and Jiang, 2020), and are protected by a minimum wage that is significantly lower then the limit protecting locals (Cheung et. al, 2019). They are Hong Kong’s largest ethnic minority, and as of 2016 represented 9.3% of the overall workforce (Churchill, 2022). Since the 1970s when this type of migration from the Philippines and Indonesia began to grow, migrant domestic workers, henceforth referred to as MDWs, have formed an integral part of the fabric of Hong Kong’s society. In 2018, they contributed an estimated USD$12.6 billion to the economy, which was 3.6% of the GDP that year (Experian Asia Pacific and Enrich HK, 2019). Additionally, they allow a significant number of mothers the freedom to seek employment outside of the home, with local NGO Enrich HK estimating that over

110,000 local mothers were able to return to work in 2018 due to their employment of a MDW (Experian Asia Pacific and Enrich HK, 2019). This community’s economic and social contributions are immense. Despite this, they are disproportionately subject to violence, exploitation, and abuse. It is estimated that up to 95% of MDWs in the region have experienced some form of exploitation, while a shocking one in six has been the victim of forced labour (Churchill, 2022). This report sets out to examine the conditions that result in such high levels of abuse and exploitation, the unique challenges MDWs face, and the steps that may be taken by this community to improve the nature of their temporary, but often lengthy and incredibly difficult period of residency in Hong Kong.

CHALLENGES

In order to understand the abuse and exploitation faced by this community, a closer look at the policy initiatives and legislation surrounding the unique visa status of MDWs is necessary. The process of securing a visa and coming to Hong Kong is typically facilitated by an agency.

Although there is some legislation to protect MDWs from agency exploitation, it is largely

ineffective. Agencies regularly charge exorbitant fees, putting MDWs into debt before they even step foot on Hong Kong soil, and engage in additional exploitative practices like the confiscation of essential documents, such as passports and marriage certificates. The legal limit that employment agencies may charge under Hong Kong law is HKD $430, yet when surveyed the majority of MDWs report being charged at least HKD $5,000 (Churchill, 2022). Furthermore, an Amnesty International Report found that the majority of Indonesian MDWs experienced the confiscation of at least one essential document by a recruitment agency, explicitly for the purpose of ensuring full

fee payment if the MDW were to pull out during any stage of the recruitment process, a sum often amounting to over 17 months of wages (Churchill, 2022).

Obtaining a visa and ensuring employment is extremely difficult without the help of an agency, and consequently many MDWs begin their time in Hong Kong heavily in debt and therefore primed to remain in exploitative or abusive employment situations.

Once employed in Hong Kong, MDWs are subject to specific restrictions on their work contracts and living arrangements that make them particularly vulnerable to abuse, isolation, and discrimination. One such restriction is the “Live-in Rule”(Churchill, 2022). MDWs are required to engage in employment with a Standard Employment Contract, which by law contains a mandatory clause stipulating that they must reside within their employer’s home. To reside independently of their employers is a crime, and MDWs who do so risk criminal prosecution and deportation (Churchill, 2022). The Live-in Rule exists primarily due to Hong Kong’s housing and overcrowding crisis. Rent and housing prices are notoriously high in Hong Kong, and it is widely believed that the Live-in Rule protects locals from being penalised by the presence of MDWs in the city. However, residing within their employer’s homes make MDWs extremely vulnerable to abuse and exploitation, and makes them more likely to be denied their legal rights,

because they have no place of refuge from a demanding or abusive employer (Churchill, 2022). Standard Employment Contracts also don’t specify a maximum number of working hours (Bell, 2005) and this, in conjunction with the Live-in rule, means that MDWs frequently work upwards of 17 hours a day, with little to no distinction between working hours and downtime.

Another restriction that contributes to the vulnerability of MDWs is the “Two Week Rule.” The “Two Week Rule” is a piece of immigration law that The United Nation Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women has cited as being a key contributor to the high levels of exploitation and abuse experienced by MDWs (Cheung et. al, 2019). The rule states that MDWs have two weeks to find new employment if their contract is terminated by either them or their employers. Many MDWs find it difficult to find new employment in such a short span of time, and so frequently opt to remain working in abusive, exploitative households rather then attempting to change employers and risk losing wages that are essential to family back home, or to the paying off of debts incurred through the use of recruitment agencies.

In addition to the legislative factors that contribute to this community’s challenges, local attitudes to MDWs and discrimination play an important role in the difficulties this group faces. MDWs, due to their unique temporary immigration status, levels of poverty, status as women, and distinct ethnic identity, are frequently regarded by locals as second class citizens. They are regularly subjected to discrimination, and this is a contributing factor to the proliferation of mistreatment they face both in the households they service and in public life. Discrimination against MDWs is so widespread and embedded into the cultural fabric of Hong Kong that it has been suggested that MDWs face “elite racism”, a type of racism stemming from bodies with official societal influence, such as media organisations, schools, universities, or politicians (Ladegaard, 2013). This can be clearly seen in newspaper reports on incidents of abuse against MDWs. Major, respected, and widely read Hong Kong based newspapers such as the South China Morning Post will often report

on cases of abuse by emphasising the positive qualities of the employer accused, or even convicted, of abuse, such as their devotion to their family, and will often highlight the life stressors the employer was suffering around the timeframe of the abuse (Ladegaard, 2013). Contrarily, the negative traits of the MDW in such cases are often emphasised. For example if their education status is relatively low, they may be characterised as a ‘high-school dropout’, or portrayed as money hungry and ungrateful (Ladegaard, 2013).

Furthermore, it is a commonly espoused belief among Hong Kong locals that Hong Kong is a MDWs ‘paradise’. It is widely believed that they are treated better in Hong Kong than they are in many other countries with large MDW populations, such as Singapore and the Gulf States. There is also a common sentiment that they are lucky to have the opportunity to come work in Hong Kong as a means of escape from the extreme poverty of their home countries, and should be grateful and submissive as a result (Ladegaard, 2013). This characterisation of MDWs as incredibly lucky to be working in Hong Kong legitimises exploitation, and is used to justify both the relatively scant rights that they are afforded, and the insufficient protection of those rights that they do have.

APPROACHES/RECOMMENDATIONS

Of the many issues that MDWs in Hong Kong are faced with, the focus of this report is the issues of abuse and exploitation because they are rampant, and among the greatest challenges that the MDW community has to contend with. Although there is much that needs to be done at a governance and policy level to combat these problems, there are also measures that the community can take to address these challenges. The measures this report recommends centre primarily around

community building, strengthening understanding of legal protections, developing greater financial literacy, and turning to strategic channels of organisation and protest.

Research conducted on the MDW community in Hong Kong has found that gathering and participating in activities that affirm community bonds and cultural, as well as personal, identity is a hugely powerful means of protecting MDW wellbeing. On this point, it is important to note two things. The first is that the vast majority of MDWs do not have much free time with which to gather and socialise - they are legally entitled to one rest day, Sunday, a week, and very few receive more time off than this. Furthermore, one of the most common forms of exploitation MDWs experience is the denial of this rest day, and in such cases gathering and participating in community events becomes at best a rarity, if not an impossibility. The second important thing to note is that the importance of gathering is something the MDW community already understands. MDWs in Hong Kong have the right to gather, form organisations, and host demonstrations of both a political and a recreational nature, a right this community can frequently be seen making excellent use of (Lai, 2010). This becomes visible every Sunday, when the government blocks off several main roads in Central, the city’s financial district, for the recreational use of MDWs. Due to the primarily outdoor, public nature of these gatherings, once a week MDWs become an unmissable part of Hong Kong’s urban landscape. That being said, it would be difficult to overstate the importance of building strong social connections and community ties in Hong Kong for this community’s well being, and this report would be incomplete without an exploration of this. The amount of social capital a MDW possesses, as measured in the form of friendship networks and

attendance of a regular religious service, is associated with decreased likelihood of experiencing underpay, and a higher likelihood of reporting decent working conditions, as measured by access to a private and adequately sized room within their employers house, and fewer hours worked on average per day (Tong and Jiang, 2020). There is certainly a chicken and egg dimension to this - MDWs who are overworked or denied time off are less able to take the time required to socialise and form connections. Nonetheless, friendships and community support certainly play an important role in the protection of MDW rights, and in their ability to find employment with ‘decent’ employers, something MDWs often emphasise as being a priority for them out of a concern for avoiding exploitation (Bell, 2005). One possible reason for this is that MDWs who have been in Hong Kong for longer are more likely to know what their legal protections are and, crucially, what to do if their rights are violated. MDWs are rarely informed of their rights before arriving in Hong Kong, and are often encouraged by recruitment agencies to be compliant and obedient, rather than informed and vocal (Yeung et al, 2020). As a result, new MDWs often arrive in Hong Kong with a very limited understanding of the legal protections available to them. Even in instances where they are aware of a violation of their rights, one common reason for not reporting these violations is a lack of knowledge of how or where to file a complaint (Tong and Jiang, 2020). MDWs who have been in Hong Kong for longer, however, are more likely to have knowledge about their legal protections, and the proper channels to use to access these protections (Tong and Jiang, 2020). Friendship networks and social capital offers newer migrants a way to access knowledge accumulated by MDWs who have been in Hong Kong for longer, and regularly socialising offers MDWs the opportunity to know when

they are being subjected to unacceptable conditions, and can give them the ability to ask for help from friends who may be better equipped to know what the best course of action is. Thus, regularly participating in community gathering and strengthening social networks is a powerful tool for MDWs to be best equipped to protect their rights and safeguard their wellbeing.

There is an additional element to community gathering which may help MDWs feel better able to assert their rights, which is the assertion of cultural and individual identity beyond their migrant worker status. Community gatherings can take many different forms, and MDWs have been known to mobilise to hold carnivals and performances in the city’s public parks and on the streets, where performances showcasing visual art forms such as dance, often along lines traditional to Indonesian and Filipino culture, are held (Lai, 2010). It has been argued that the everyday existence of most MDWs, characterised by isolated work within a local household, denies the heritages, individual interests, and subjectivities that are essential for a strong sense of self and community (Lai, 2010). This has an impact both on the discriminatory practices of employers, and on how MDWs view themselves. Surveys on mental health among MDW women have found that they are disproportionately vulnerable to selfstigma, a form of internalised stigma that individuals may harbour due to living in a society that discriminates against them for an element of their identity, or their minority status (Yeung et al, 2020). This has an obvious negative impact on sense of wellbeing, confidence, resilience, and self esteem, among other factors necessary for MDWs to feel capable of asserting their rights, reporting abuse, and where possible removing themselves from exploitative situations. Staging and participating in community oriented artistic endeavours

strengthens the identity and visibility of MDW communities, and asserts to both local Hong Kongers and MDWs alike that these communities are composed of multifaceted human beings deserving of humane treatment. This may seem like an obvious, or even redundant, assertion, but in the context of a society that has shown itself time and time again to regard MDWs as disposable bodies for labour and service, it is not.

Another tool available to the MDW community to combat exploitation and abuse is developing financial literacy. Approximately 83% of MDWs are in debt (Enrich HK). This is due to several reasons, one large one being the previously discussed illegal overcharging of recruitment agencies, and another significant reason being the obligation to send money back home. MDWs frequently support dependents in their home country. For many, the ability to support dependents is their primary motivation for migrating to Hong Kong. It can be an expectation from relatives for the MDW to send the majority of their salary home, and it can be extremely difficult to resist the pressure of this expectation even when it isn’t realistic, particularly when children, elderly family members, and loved ones are dependent on their income for things like food, housing, and school fees (Zhou, Dai, and Jung, 2019). As a result, MDWs, who are likely already in debt from the migration process, often take out further loans, and as formal banking credit services are not available to them, they borrow from money lenders who make loans with steep interest rates readily available to MDWs (Zhou, Dai, and Jung, 2019). This is a major issue, as having debt and/or insufficient savings drastically increases the likelihood of remaining in an exploitative employment situation. It is also a common reason for remaining in Hong Kong past the intended duration of their stay, something most MDWs are keen to avoid, as most come to

Hong Kong with the intention of working for a limited period of time, saving enough money to achieve certain goals such as putting their children through school, and then returning home. It is important to not regard financial literacy as something that can be taken for granted, particularly in an environment where there are many challenges in place that threaten financial security. Rather, financial literacy should be regarded as a tool that can, and should, be actively learned. One excellent avenue for accessing education on financial literacy is local NGO Enrich HK. Enrich offers workshops to MDWs taught in Bahasa and English, that teach strategies for saving, paying off debt, entrepreneurship skills, and offers a mentorship program to tackle individualised financial problems from a specified and personal angle (Zhou, Dai, and Jung, 2019). The long term benefits of participating in these programs for helping MDWs get and stay out of debt, and achieve goals such a starting a business back home or financing their children’s education, have been studied and found to be significant (Zhou, Dai, and Jung, 2019).

The final suggestion this report puts forward for the MDW community to target the unacceptably high levels of exploitation and abuse that they are subject to is to engage in strategic channels of organisation and protest. Despite this community’s lack of access to many of the protections afforded to citizens and locals, MDWs have historically possessed the right to gather, stage demonstrations, and form organisations to support their interests in Hong Kong (Lai, 2010). While the recent implementation of the National Security Law has made many forms of protest dangerous, or illegal, the right to association for MDWs remains protected under the Hong Kong Employment Ordinance. As discussed above, demonstrations that centre cultural and artistic forms of expression can help

combat discrimination (Lai, 2010). Protest that targets specific desired changes in policy can also be beneficial, and is potentially more effective than general protest. For example, demonstrations and organisations formed to combat the ‘two-week rule’ or ‘the livein rule’ specifically, may be a more effective way of bringing about a concrete reduction in exploitation and abuse than more general demonstrations against discrimination or exploitation as a whole. Additionally, there are many unions and NGOs, such as the Indonesian Migrant Workers Union, the Hong Kong Federation of Asian Domestic Workers Unions, and

Enrich HK, that work to further the cause of MDW wellbeing. MDWs who engage with these organisations display a better understanding of the rights and protections they are entitled to, and are more likely to be involved in activism that has the potential to bring about meaningful change (Lai, 2010). Additionally, the Labour Department meets periodically with Domestic Worker Unions and NGOs, for example during their annual meeting with groups that represent MDW interests to review the minimum wage (ALR Editors, 2022). While this by no means guarantees that the concerns of MDW groups will be sincerely used to inform policy, participation in these organisations should not be overlooked as a way for MDWs to have their voices and concerns heard directly by the government, and this report strongly encourages that MDWs engage with, and participate in, labour unions and NGOs designed to improve living and working conditions for this community.

CONCLUSION

Several suggestions have been put forth in this report that may help the MDW community protect itself against exploitation and abuse. It is important to emphasise that MDW action alone is not the sole solution to these

problems. Serious changes need to happen at the governmental and policy levels to protect the members of this community that is both uniquely vulnerable, and undervalued for its immense contributions to Hong Kong’s society. However, the suggestions put forth in this report hopefully offer MDWs a framework for understanding the tools available to them, and the actions they can take to safeguard their wellbeing, protect their rights, fight for necessary change, and ultimately avoid abuse and exploitation as they work to support themselves and their families in a city that owes them humane treatment, protection, and respect.

REFERENCES

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Cheung, J.T.K., Tsoi, V.W.Y., Wong, K.H.K. and Chung, R.Y. (2019). Abuse and Depression among Filipino Foreign Domestic helpers. A cross-sectional Survey in Hong Kong.

Public Health, 166, pp.121–127. doi:https://doi. org/10.1016/j.puhe.2018.09.020

Churchill, Daniel (2020-2022). ‘Crimmigation’ and the Foreign Domestic Workers in Hong Kong. City University of Hong Kong Law Review, 8, pp.15-48. Available at: https://heinonline.org/HOL/Page?handle=hein.journals/ciunhok8&id=23&collection=journals&index=

Editors, A.L.R. (2022). Unions Ramping Up Pressure for Respecting Rights of Hong Kong’s Foreign Domestic Workers. [online] Asian Labour Review. Available at: https://labourreview.org/unions-ramping-up-pressurefor-respecting-rights-of-hong- kongs-foreign-domestic-workers/ [Accessed 5 Jan. 2023].

Enrich HK (n.d.). Why Are so Many Domestic Workers in debt? [online] enrichhk.org. Available at: https://enrichhk.org/why-are-so-many-domestic-workers- debt#:~:text=According%20to%20our%20research%2C%2083 [Accessed 14 Oct. 2023].

Experian Asia Pacific and Enrich HK (2019). The Value of Care. [online] enrichhk.org. Available at: https://enrichhk.org/sites/default/files/2019-09/Final_The-Value-ofCare_Full-Report.pdf [Accessed 13 Oct. 2023].

Immigration Department (2023). Statistics on the Number of Foreign Domestic Helpers in Hong Kong. [online] Available at: https://data.gov.hk/en-data/dataset/ hk-immd-set4-statistics-fdh [Accessed 21 Oct. 2023].

Ladegaard, H.J. (2013b). Demonising the cultural Other: Legitimising dehumanisation of foreign domestic helpers in the Hong Kong press. Discourse, Context & Media, 2(3), pp.131–140. doi:https://doi.org/10.1016/j. dcm.2013.06.002.

Lai, M. (2010). Dancing to different tunes: Performance and activism among migrant domestic workers in Hong Kong. Women’s Studies International Forum, 33(5), pp.501–511. doi:https://doi.org/10.1016/j. wsif.2010.07.003

Tong, Y. and Jiang, N. (2020). Much Ado About Nothing? Do Foreign Domestic Workers in Hong Kong Benefit From Capital Accumulation? American Behavioral Scientist, 64(6), p.000276422091023. doi:https://doi. org/10.1177/0002764220910236

Yeung, N.C.Y., Kan, K.K.Y., Wong, A.L.Y. and Lau, J.T.F. (2020). Self-stigma, resilience, perceived quality of social relationships, and psychological distress among Filipina domestic helpers in Hong Kong: A mediation model. Stigma and Health. doi:https://doi.org/10.1037/ sah0000246.

Zhou, H., Dai, H. and Jung, N. (2019). Empowering migrant domestic helpers through financial education. International Journal of Social Welfare, 29(2). doi:https://doi. org/10.1111/ijsw.12385

Bridgeport Connecticut United States

Fostering Resilience in the Face of Racial & Urban Trauma: Addressing Mental Health in African-American Bridgeport Communities

Verity Blackburn

INTRODUCTION TO BRIDGEPORT

Bridgeport is Connecticut’s most populous city and is located in Fairfield Countyrecently named ‘The Epicenter of American Inequality’ (Semuels, 2016). Fairfield County borders New York City (NYC) and is thus home to a legion of city commuters, and has experienced a large influx of financiers from NYC, setting up companies in adjacent Fairfield County towns (Semuels, 2016). The wealth brought out of NYC has not been created or experienced evenly across the county; the average income of the top 1% of county residents is $6 million, a staggering 73 times the average income of the bottom 99%, making it the most unequal region in the country (Semuels, 2016). Low tax rates for the very wealthy and increasing tax rates for middle-income residents have enabled this divide. The generation of wealth across Fairfield County has provided no ‘upward pull’ for the city of Bridgeport, or employment opportunities.

Across development indicators, Bridgeport residents fare worse than other Fairfield County residents. To demonstrate the stark disparities; the Bridgeport residents’ median figures for life expectancy, 70.4 years, and household income, $45,000, are dwarfed by comparable figures for Westport residents (a primary commuter town into NYC) of 89.1 years and $181,000 (Semuels, 2016). Health outcomes are similarly greatly reduced in Bridgeport.

Racial Demographics of Fairfield County towns further denote disparity. Darien’s population (another commuter town into NYC) is 87.7% White Non-Hispanic and only 0.786% African-American (Data USA, n.d.). Contrastingly, Bridgeport’s population is 20% White Non-Hispanic, 41% Hispanic, and 32% African-American (Yale New Haven Health Bridgeport Hospital, 2022).

This briefing will address Bridgeport’s African-American communities, including

the West End and East End communities and consider the effect of historical and presentday injustices on these communities’ resiliency and well-being. Bridgeport has had a tumultuous history pre-dating current disparity. Mental health is at the fore, due to a 2022 study which reported that only 48% of Bridgeport residents feel ‘satisfied with their life’ compared to 66% of Connecticutwide responses (Yale New Haven Health Bridgeport Hospital, 2022). Mental health research is compiled here in an accessible manner, and recommendations to strengthen mental health resources, and foster community cohesion, inter-generational support, and nature connection are suggested. The overarching assertion is that improved mental health resource facilitates progression across development indicators such as educational attainment, physical health and reduces rates of incarceration and crime. Co-morbidities tied to mental health are mitigated. Resilience, defined as ‘the process of effectively negotiating, adapting to, or managing significant sources of stress and trauma’ (Windle, 2011), is the characteristic this brief aims to cultivate.

CONNECTION TO THE COMMUNITY

The ‘Epicenter of American Inequality’ does not elicit pride for me and motivates me to mitigate our region’s inequality, as a Fairfield County resident. I recognize that I reside in a town that has grown in wealth while Bridgeport has regressed and that my town hasn’t supported Bridgeport in the ways it could have. I recognize I cannot understand the daily experiences of African-Americans as a White resident.

I can, however, contribute my interest in this topic. My mother is an English teacher in a Bridgeport non-profit association, which provides financial, legal, and educational support for immigrant women. My mother has told me of the difficulties these women

face – in accessing health insurance, legal support, housing, and education for their children. She has told me of the emotional toll and of tearfulness and frustration at a system failing these immigrant women, yet the hope they maintain. As someone acutely aware of a modern-day mental health ‘crisis’, I assumed that the stressors of racial discrimination and lack of access, living amongst discriminatory policies from conception, must exacerbate the mental health challenge immensely. Research has demonstrated this to be true beyond my initial conception. A research question thus arose; how can resilience be fostered by and for Bridgeport’s’ African-American community, to mitigate against the detrimental mental health effects of racial trauma to improve future outcomes?

PREDATING THE CURRENT DAY: INJUSTICES & POLICIES

Bridgeport’s predominantly AfricanAmerican communities have faced historical environmental injustices and racist redlining policies, hindering development. The East End was a designated scrapyard for years (Gute & Taylor, 2006). A 35-foot-tall pile of refuse was amassed yet was met with indifference from government officials (Murphy, n.d.). The infamous ‘Mount Trashmore’ was finally removed after a twoyear-long campaign (Gute & Taylor, 2006). ‘Mount Trashmore’ contained hazardous waste and blocked the communities’ access to the shore and is therefore a clear historical environmental injustice in this predominantly non-white community.

In addition, racist redlining policies across Bridgeport actively created racial disparities between neighbourhoods. Acommon practice in the U.S. beginning in the 1930s, redlining deemed African-Americans as ‘financial risks’ and their areas as ‘ineligible for FHA backing’, excluding African-Americans from

obtaining mortgages (Gazillo, n.d.). Home ownership in Bridgeport’s neighbourhoods has never reached equilibrium since; African-Americans still rent homes in much greater numbers than White residents.

CURRENT HEALTH & WELLBEING AMONG BRIDGEPORTS’ AFRICANAMERICAN COMMUNITY

The aforementioned 2022 Needs Assessment reported that 48% of the Bridgeport AfricanAmerican community is obese (Yale New Haven Health Bridgeport Hospital, 2022). 37% reported not attending an annual dental visit and 25% declared not receiving ‘necessary emotional/social support in 2022’, compared to only 7% of respondents. 20% of African- Americans reported being ‘mostly or completely anxious’ compared with 11% of White respondents. 33% of AfricanAmericans reported feeling ‘depressed or hopeless’, which was consistent among White respondents but rose to 46% among Hispanic respondents (Yale New Haven Health Bridgeport Hospital, 2022).

RELEVANCE TO THE STUDY OF THE URBAN

The mental health of communities is an urban issue. Cities have brought people closer to one another and to core amenities, yet have become sites of increased mental illness, (including anxiety, psychotic, and addictive disorders) due to urban environments exacerbating risk factors (Gruebner, et al., 2017). There are many more stressors in urban environments; urban design can feel oppressive and suffocating, noise and air pollution cause disturbance and lack of green space limits feelings of being able to ‘escape’. With groups of people from different backgrounds, cultures and socio-economic contexts living in such close proximity, disparities have never been more evident.

THE SIGNIFICANCE OF THE MENTAL HEALTH CHALLENGE FOR AFRICAN-AMERICAN COMMUNITIES

Suicide is ‘of growing concern for communities of colour’ causing the U.S. to be ‘losing of generations’ (Pattani, 2021). Studies demonstrate that Black children under 13 commit suicide at ‘twice the rate of White children’, and that suicide rates for Black teenagers increased by 45% between 20122019. (Pattani, 2021). The charity ‘Rethink Mental Illness’ reports that minority ethnic individuals suffer from mental health issues in greater numbers due to the compounding effect of structural inequalities in wealth and living standards and the effects of racial prejudice and bias (Cernik, 2020).

Despite mental health challenges being salient in minority ethnic communities, factors compound to hinder the seeking of psychological support, mitigate how seriously mental health is regarded and diminish the credibility of current mentalhealth reporting.

Firstly, a lack of African-American representation in mental illness adverts and articles has created a belief that mental health issues are ‘reserved for rich, white people’ (Cernik, 2020). This notion prevents help-seeking and worsens existing barriers to accessing support (Cernik, 2020).

Varied forms of stigma further affect selfreporting of mental health difficulties for African-Americans. Within men, many incarcerated due to substance abuse and subsequent actions, have undiagnosed mental health conditions, for which drug abuse was the utilized ‘coping mechanism’. In instances, stereotypes of Black ‘violence’ and racial prejudice have impeded on medical diagnosis (Cernik, 2020).

Stigma for African-American women is particularly salient. The ‘Strong Black

Woman schema (Thomas, et al., 2022) relates to media and popular culture depictions of Black women as ‘rigidly strong (often confrontational and assertive), selfsufficient, and caregivers to all’ (Kelly, et al., 2020). The ‘Strong Black Woman’ notion originated during the enslavement of Black women (Abrams & Belgrave, 2014). Black women had to perform manual labour, defying traditional gender roles of the time, and creating a view that Black women were ‘stronger’ than other women in this period (Collins, 2000) (Harrington, 2010). This notion is still deeply ingrained in popular culture and has led to a decline in reporting of violence among Black female victims. Internalized views that decrease helpseeking include views of seeking help as ‘betraying’ these women’s ‘strong identity’ (Thomas, et al., 2022), views that these women are ‘privileged’ compared to female ancestors who experienced enslavement (Sheffield-Abdullah & Woods-Giscombé, 2021), and views that abuse or hardship is not severe enough to require services (Morrison, et al., 2006). Thus, statistics show African-American women as less affected by mental health issues than other women (Capodilupo, et al., 2010) – which is profoundly false, but is the outcome of these forms of stigma affecting reporting.

Stereotypes and stigma have facilitated a profound neglect of the African-American experience in mental health literature and research. Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is ‘the development of characteristic symptoms following exposure to an extreme traumatic stressor’, involving directly experiencing events resulting in death, serious injury, or a threat to one’s integrity; witnessing such experience; or learning about violent death or harm to a close associate (American Psychiatric Association , 2000). The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders

(DSM) excludes experiences of racial discrimination as possible stressors, yet many African-Americans display symptoms in line with a PTSD diagnosis (Butts, 2002). Emotional responses to discrimination vary from mild to overwhelming and can last for years. Consistent with the prior context about Bridgeport’s West and East Ends, these predominantly African-American communities must certainly be dealing with collective PTSD. These communities are overcoming historical environmental justices and discriminatory policies, ‘experiencing’ and ‘witnessing’ high crime (leading to loss of life and incarceration of loved ones), high prevalence of suicide, and deteriorating physical health. Until the mental health literature expands to include the AfricanAmerican experience, study in this area will continue to be white-washed, and not consistent with the reality of the mental health crisis. Understanding racial PTSD is essential, as literature has demonstrated PTSD to exacerbate crime and heighten the re-offending risk due to complex trauma responses (Ardino, et al., 2013 ).

Currently, Bridgeport schools are implementing ‘Cognitive Behavioral Intervention for Trauma (CBITS)’ into the curriculum, and the local government is promoting ‘Child and Family Traumatic Stress Intervention’ (RYASAP & Bridgeport Child Advocacy Coalition, 2020). Recommendations here will serve to help the most vulnerable residents such as young adults not enrolled in school and those not benefitted by these policies. Bridgeport’s African- American community may not be able to influence mental health discourse and challenge stigmas underlying the poor mental health of their communities but can implement community cohesion strategies and increase available mental health support to foster resiliency.

ACCESSING AND ENHANCING DIRECT MENTAL HEALTH SUPPORT

The ability of vulnerable groups to access existing mental health resources and be knowledgeable of existing support in an accessible manner (ie in multiple languages) is paramount in fostering resiliency.

Multiple subsets of the population can help to increase community awareness of organizations assisting the most vulnerable citizens. Teachers can equip children with information packs of compiled resources; supermarket, convenience and liquor store owners, and church leaders (in what is quite a religious community) can provide cards with contact details and display posters, and volunteers in organisations (ie soup kitchens) can raise the profile of other organizations. Community ‘leaders’, whether in voluntary or leadership positions within Bridgeport, can visit communities of people living in high-density housing, yet doing so in a culturally sensitive manner is key to mitigating the risk of facing resentment. Established organizations possess funding, expertise and diversified programs to assist the most vulnerable citizens and should be utilized, especially in the interim before additional community strategies are fully implemented. Grassroots organizations specifically pioneering racial and urban trauma mitigation, such as LifeBridge, should be promoted.

LifeBridge is unique in its position as an Outpatient Urban Trauma Center, employing the leading trauma models of care, and providing ‘culturally responsive services’ within youth development and behavioural health programs (LifeBridge Community Services , 2023). Other treatment models used within the state are reported as not sufficient in addressing the complex traumas of the African-American community.

Need outpaces capacity in Bridgeports’ non-profit organisations, and so lowcost strategies can increase mental health provision. Creating spaces in state buildings, churches, or in green spaces, for educational sessions on mental health can promote open discussion and reduce stigma around help-seeking. Topics of legal rights and navigating the healthcare system can be integrated into community information sessions. Support groups of similar individuals (ie pregnant mothers, or those formerly incarcerated) can strengthen interpersonal relationships and foster a sense of belonging. While not the single most effective tool, research shows that peer group support, when sustained consistently for six months, brings improvements to overall personal recovery for participants who have experienced a degree of trauma (Lyons, et al., 2021).

Complex trauma research has investigated the idea of collective healing, and how the creation of ‘sanctuaries’ where safety and security are fostered creates a positive ‘group consciousness’ that ‘far outshines’ individual problem-solving. Considering traumatized children, this paper provides reassurance that psychiatric assistance is not always needed, but safety fostered by those who understand the complexities of traumas’ manifestations in behaviours and mannerisms can be sufficient (Bloom, 1995).

Support groups will need to meet at variable times to accommodate varying schedules of temporary work and will need to be led by individuals trained in mental health. The World Health Organization has created a group of modules with PowerPoint presentations and supporting materials on topics ranging from ‘Self-harm and suicide’ to ‘Child and adolescent mental and behavioural disorders’ that could be used to equip ‘community leaders’ or volunteers with necessary tools (World Health Organization, 2023).

PROVISION OF GREATER DAYCARE AND YOUTH PROGRAMS: INTERGENERATIONAL SUPPORT CENTRE

Greater daycare facilities are integral for Bridgeport. In 2018 there were only 15.6 childcare spaces in daycares for every 100 children below the age of three. Additionally, there were only 68 nursery school slots for the 5,470 children aged 3-5 (RYASAP & Bridgeport Child Advocacy Coalition, 2020).

A Harvard review found that children’s earliest experiences ‘shape the architecture of the developing brain’, therefore laying the foundations of sound mental health (Harvard University , 2023). A child’s first five years of life have a profound effect on cognitive and behavioural development, and disruptions to this process predispose children to a decreased capacity for learning, ability to relate to others, and increased risk of mental illness. It has been researched that improving children’s environments at a young age is one of the most pivotal ways societies can address problems of homelessness, incarceration and low highschool educational attainment (Harvard University , 2023).

At the same time, youth unemployment remains a profound issue in Bridgeport. In 2018, 22.2% of those aged 16-19 were unemployed (RYASAP & Bridgeport Child Advocacy Coalition, 2020). Additionally, as of 2022, 24% of Bridgeport residents hadn’t completed High School (Yale New Haven Health Bridgeport Hospital, 2022). A link between youth unemployment and crime exists. Youth unemployment in Bridgeport’s West and East Ends is higher than city-wide rates, aligned with the statistic that 50 of the 196 killings between 2011 and 2021 in all of Bridgeport occurred in the West End and East End (Fry, 2022). Providing unemployed young people with meaningful opportunities to contribute to the community, explore creative outlets and engage in learning voluntarily will increase mental health outcomes.

The second recommendation spans these age groups to foster inter-generational wellbeing. It concerns the creation of a Youth Centre, serving as a daycare facility and youth centre offering educational programs.

For youth not attending school, improving educational attainment in the short-term isn’t achieved through mandating they return to school, as there are hosts of socioeconomic, familial or caring responsibilities and personal factors restricting school attendance. Offering viable substitutions on a part-time basis, allowing young adults to hold jobs and voluntarily contribute to the community externally, can create positive outcomes in the shorter term.

Educational courses on financial literacy, business fundamentals and job-seeking should be integrated in the centre. Mental health support should be readily accessible, and art and media projects encouraged, which have been demonstrated to increase the capacity to cope with stress and trauma, through a study in communities affected by natural disasters (Walton, et al., 2021).

Upon individual research, limited daycare locations open outside of the traditional 9 a.m. – 5 p.m. hours were located in The West and East End areas, something to be resolved considering the nature of schedules in temporary occupations. The centre’s daycare should remain open on weekends and into the evenings, granting flexibility for parents and carers. With children attending the centre, young adults could be granted the opportunity to tutor children on school subjects, and mentor them on topics of anti-bullying and managing emotions (provided young adults are taught the basics of child-counselling, included in the WHO materials, and are deemed safe and reliable to be around young children). These opportunities would provide young adults with work experiences, which would build confidence in young adults and build the

skills to apply for full-time positions. It is the goal that creating meaningful opportunities for young adults here will mitigate crime, substance abuse and the frequent ‘gunplay’ in East End and West End neighbourhoods (Fry, 2022).

Children will benefit, as having older role models is inspiring and motivating for children. They will be adequately cared for, allowing parents and carers to remain employed.

Logistics-wise, it is proposed a Youth Centre could be run from a similar church hall or town building as the community workshops, in both the West and East Ends. Abandoned buildings remain after Bridgeport’s decline in industry; one of the smaller of these buildings would provide an ideal location for a designated centre in future. Crowdfunding, applying for grants and hosting other fundraisers (tied with the recommendations in the following section) could raise funds for project completion. The centre will need a dedicated team of staff to be effective – volunteers can be sourced from nearby towns, with the potential for slight tension here. The older unemployed community may be a target demographic to fulfill the childcare roles, while more specialized and trained older staff may be required to work with the older age groups.

NATURE CONNECTIONS’ CONTRIBUTION TO MENTAL HEALTH

A final core recommendation for the East and West End communities centres around practices of community cohesion and connectedness through nature connection. Accessing and being immersed in the natural environment has consistently been demonstrated to facilitate positive psychological health outcomes, reduce stress levels and mitigate the risk of suffering from mental illnesses. A recent study found that

gardening was ‘significantly associated’ with reduced risk of depression (Jakstis & Fischer, 2021).

It is therefore recommended that Bridgeports’ African-American communities establish community gardens as a means to increase community cohesion, elicit feelings of pride in the community, and as a productive outlet for accumulated urban and racial trauma.

The East End community is already aligned with this ambition, striving to transform the former ‘Mount Trashmore’ site into a hydroponic farm, named ‘Mount Growmore’ (Martinez, 2023). The ambition here is to increase access to fresh produce for East End residents and to unite the community, demonstrating prevailing over past injustice. ‘Mount Growmore’ has lofty ambitions for the farm, yet community gardens do not need to replicate this scale. Empty beds bordering sidewalks and in front of churches and schools can be transformed collectively into beautiful spots for relaxation and nature connection.

The benefits of nature can also be brought to those less able to access the natural environment, including individuals with limited mobility, or those working long hours or night shifts. Owning houseplants and even viewing nature elements in video and photo form can enhance physiological relaxation, and improve emotional regulation (Jo, et al., 2019).

Schemes to bring houseplants to those most deficient in natural exposure, or to send out natural photographs and videos on community social media channels and news outlets are ideas to build community resilience for an often-overlooked population subset.

Strategies further enhancing nature connection can elicit a positive impact in other development areas. For example, establishing a ‘bike share scheme’

(challenges exist in ensuring bikes are retained in the scheme), or creating a ‘bike drive’, promoting donations of bikes across the county, would not only increase nature connection and exercise for residents, but importantly, open the door for increased job opportunities. Currently, African-American Bridgeport residents are ‘three times less likely to have access to a vehicle’ than other Bridgeport residents, at a time when most jobs are located in suburban areas of the city, and surrounding towns (Abraham, 2013). With a bike scheme in place, greater access is fostered, and consequently economic development increased. One strategy thus generates benefit in other areas. Urban spaces accommodate large groups of individuals, and so a single strategy can have a pervasive impact; the economists’ view of ‘economies of scale’ at play.

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