project case studies URBAN DIFFERENCE + CHANGE FALL 2020 YALE ARCH 4247 + MORGAN STATE ARCH 418
PROFESSOR JUSTIN GARRETT MOORE + DR. SAMIA KIRCHNER TEACHING ASSISTANT LILLY AGUTU
The information provided in this Report illustrates an assignment in a course offered at Morgan State University School of Architecture and Planning and Yale University School of Architecture. We make no warranties, express or implied, regarding the work performed by students participating in this course. The reviewers of the information contained in this Report hold harmless the two Universities against any claims made in the whole or in part of materials developed by students. Efforts were made to ensure a quality product but it is important to recognize that this Report illustrates student learning outcomes conceived primarily for academic purposes.
URBAN DIFFERENCE & CHANGE YALE ARCH 4247 + MORGAN STATE ARCH 418 Faculty: Justin Garrett Moore, AICP, NOMA and Samia Kirchner, Ph.D. Teaching Assistant: Lilly Agutu Our cities and their socioeconomic and built environments continue to exemplify difference. From housing and health to mobility and monuments, cities small and large, north and south—like New Haven and Baltimore—demonstrate intractable disparities. The disparate impacts made apparent by the COVID-19 pandemic and the reinvigorated and global Black Lives Matter movement demanding change are remarkable. Change is another essential indicator of difference in urban environments, such as disinvestment, disaster, or gentrification. Cities must navigate how considerations like climate change and growing income inequality intersect with politics, culture, gender equality and identity, immigration, migration, and technology, among other conditions and forms of disruption. In Urban Difference and Change, we explored some key questions: • How are cities and their environments shaped by difference, including the legacies and derivatives of colonialism and modernism? • How do the structures and systems of difference operate in our spaces, places, and cities? • How might we better understand and find agency in the past, present, and future of urban contexts using an anti-racist and decolonial approach to design and urbanism? • How can frameworks like cultural heritage, environmental conservation, and social equity and inclusion challenge dominant narratives or unjust past and present conditions? The course operated as an online (via Zoom) trans-institutional collaboration between Yale University SoA in New Haven, Connecticut, and Morgan State University SAP in Baltimore, Maryland. This partnership allowed for interaction among students from different backgrounds and fields of study in order to share a learning environment and bring diverse experiences and perspectives to our work. The format of the course included readings, presentations, conversations, and case studies in the first half of the semester. The second half of the semester focused on the development of students’ independent research and design for place-based or issue-based projects or research focused on difference and change in the urban environment. Our collective work from the seminar is compiled, in an unedited and in-process state, in this online publication.
01___PRIVATIZING PUBLIC SPACE 02___REDLINING IN MIAMI 03___NOISE POLUTION 04___JC NICHOLS AND KANSAS CITY SUBURBS 05___PUBLIC HOUSING 06___FOOD FOR THOUGHT 07___URBAN CRISIS RECOVERY 08___URBAN HEAT + PUBLIC HEALTH 09___FLOOD AND THE CITY 10___CONTESTED BOUNDARIES
Privatizing Public Space
NYC and Changes in Public Space Pre and Post COVID-19 Eliot Nagele, Claudia Ansorena, Julia Cochran
Residents playing in opened fire hydrant. West 114th Street, July 8, 1982. Credit: Chester Higgins Jr./The New York Times INTRODUCTION Existing spatial inequalities embedded in American cities have been underscored by the novel coronavirus and subsequent lockdown protocol. The pandemic has elicited a call to action both at national and local scales to make concerted efforts in addressing the social, economic, and political problems plaguing our cities. The need for public space in a city as dense as New York— 28,000 residents per square mile—is highlighted by the private-public partnership that expands the boundaries of what is considered public space.1 Historically, New York City has involved 1 “Densest Incorporated Places of 100,000 or More Population:
the real-estate developer to fund the creation and maintenance of public space through policy, such as Privately-Owned Public Spaces (POPS). What is not always discussed is the relationship between publiclyfunded spaces—through tax-payer money—and their privitized reality of historically prioritizing the car. As the city creates new forms of public space via dedicated pedestrian thoroughfares in response to a heightened need to de-densify during the pandemic, it is important to take inventory of challenges inherent to POPS in order to prevent replication and compound inequalities. 2013.” Population Trends in Incorporated Places: 2000 to 2013, U.S. Census Bureau, March 2015. https://www.census.gov/content/dam/Census/library/publications/2015/demo/p25-1142.pdf
PRIVATELY-OWNED PUBLIC SPACES (POPS)
OPEN STREETS PROGRAM
POPS are spaces dedicated to public use and enjoyment, owned and maintained by private property owners, in exchange for bonus floor area. Between 1961 and 2000 the POPS program allowed developers to build an additional 16 million square feet of private space. In return, over 500 plazas, arcades, and other outdoor and indoor public spaces were created, totaling 80+ acres, a tenth the size of Central Park. Today, most POPS are located in Manhattan’s midtown, upper east side, upper west side, and downtown districts (Map 3).
In May of 2020, NYC began the Open Streets Program, an initiative to open city streets for pedestrian use3. At the start, the goal of this program was to provide more accessible open space to residents who were spending more time indoors due to lockdown. In June, the Open Restaurants program was developed which in part allowed restaurants, with sufficient community support, to develop Open Streets dedicated to outdoor dining4. Throughout the summer, the program grew to also include bike lanes and Cool Streets.
However, two major issues have arisen since the POPS program was put into action. First, although the zoning deals under this program produced an impressive quantity of public space, they failed to yield a similarly impressive quality. Second, a lack of oversight allowed a significant number of owners to illegally privatize their public spaces. The 1961 Zoning Resolution, as originally enacted, bears significant responsibility for this outcome in that it granted valuable floor area bonuses to developers without imposing, in return, meaningful, legal standards governing the design and operation of the provided POPS. The zoning rules for plazas and arcades said nothing, for example, about seating, landscaping, construction materials or orientation to sunlight affecting the quality of the space. Field surveys conducted by the research team in 1998 and 1999 revealed that roughly 50% of all buildings in the program had at least one POPS that lacked sufficient public access. Common violations included: locked gates, attendants refusing access, closed restrooms, absent and inaccessible seating and expansion of commercial space.
In a press release on September 25th Mayor de Blasio announced an unprecedented decision to make both the Open Restaurants and Open Streets: Restaurants permanent year-round establishments,
City officials have since adopted zoning amendments that placed greater demands on POPS, including requirements for seating, landscaping, bike racks, drinking fountains, and identification plaques. Not surprisingly, use and enjoyment of spaces produced under these “heightened” rules increased significantly. During the COVID-19 pandemic however, privatization of these spaces has grown, with the City relaxing its restrictions and allowing adjacent commercial businesses to expand into these spaces—once again for private use2. 2 “Emergency Executive Order No. 128.” The City of New York,
Office of the Mayor, 27 June, 2020. Executive Order. 3 “Open Streets: Mayor de Blasio and Speaker Johnson Name First Streets to be Used for Social Distancing Among Pedestrians and Cyclists.” The City of New York, Office of the Mayor, 1 May, 2020. Press Release. 4 “Open Restaurants Program and the Expansion of Outdoor Seating in Phase 2.” The City of New York, Office of the Mayor, 18 June, 2020. Executive Order.
Top: 101 Barclay Street. Credit: NYC Comptroller Bottom: 1166 6th Ave. Credit: NYC DCP
Map 1. NYC Median Household Income, by Census Tract; NYC Open Data, Census Bureau ACS 2018
Map 2. Open Street Locations; NYC Open Data, Census Bureau ACS 2018 Open Streets are predominantly located in wealthy neighborhoods of the City, with streets designated for Restaurants centralized in lower Manhattan.
Map 3. POPS Locations; NYC Open Data, Census Bureau ACS 2018 POPS are largely located in wealthy neighborhoods of Manhattan
Map 4. Open Streets - South Brooklyn; NYC Open Data, Census Bureau ACS 2018 There is a clear association between Open Streets, Parks, and NYCHA facilities; however, large low income neighborhoods with limited access to open space are excluded from the program.
further cementing the programs as part of the NYC fabric5. To date, no decisions have been made regarding the future of the remaining Open Streets. In its intention, the program provided opportunities for City residents to reclaim aspects of public space. It also provided an opportunity for the City to address historic inequities by locating Open Streets in neighborhoods that lacked accessible open space. Despite these potential benefits, looking at where the program has been implemented paints a different picture. • Of the Open Streets throughout NYC, Manhattan has the most, with 32 miles. Approx. 40% of residents fled Manhattan since the start of lockdown. • Though clear efforts were made to place Open Streets adjacent to NYCHA public housing facilities, large low-income communities throughout the City have been entirely overlooked (Map 4). • Open Streets are concentrated along parks which contradicts the program’s objective to provide open space for residents in the most need. • 70% of the “Open Streets: Restaurants” are located in Manhattan with the majority of those being in the midtown and downtown districts (Map 2). CONCLUSION COVID 19 has highlighted the need for accessible open space in our cities. NYC is not engaging the full potential of public-private programs like POPS and Open Streets to not only sustain economic needs, but to also address those of the city’s varied communites, creating a more equitable environment tied to public parks and spaces. Instead of learning from its history, NYC appears to be replicating known POPS caveats of exclusionary and discriminatory practices in its new Open Streets Program. The most recent decision to make Open Streets: Restaurants a permanent form, while failing to legitimize other Open Streets, prioritizes economic development over equitable access to open space. Though decidedly beneficial, this program favors restaurants that have access to community organizations and benefits higher-earning 5 “Recovery Agenda: Mayor de Blasio Extends Outdoor Dining Season Year-Round.” The City of New York, Office of the Mayor, 25 Sept., 2020. Press Release.
residents, mostly in Manhattan, who have expendable income to dine out. In neighborhoods without the resources to organize these efforts, like South Bronx, the City’s over-policing tactics to ensure safety miss blatant incongruencies. Thus, to the majority of residents in NYC, Open Streets are still non-existent.
PREVIOUS PAGE: NYC residents taking advantage of Open Streets during Summer 2020. Top: Doyers Street, Chinatown, Manhattan. Credit: Gary He/Eater; Middle: Park Avenue, Manhattan. Credit: Noam Galai/Getty Images; Bottom: Grand Concourse, Bronx Credit: David ‘Dee’ Delgato/Gothamist THIS PAGE: Private restaurants have already begun to claim public space and, similar to the history of POPS, signage and both physical and social barriers are being used to exclude. Credit: Eden, Janine and Jim via Flickr cc
REDLINING IN MIAMI
SUFFOCATING BLACK NATION Garrett (Ray) Hicks, Alicia Jones, Sydney Maubert
Image 1: 1990 Miami Redlining
INTRODUCTION Miami is a juxtaposition of two realities: the romanticized tropical, Caribbean city in America versus the reality of a disjointed and fragmented city. In Miami’s reality, segregation still persists today, supported by stagnant legislation and policies founded in the mid 1800s. Significant historic black neighborhoods of Miami are Coconut Grove, Liberty City and Little Haiti.
Today, the formerly thriving black communities are segregated against the sizable white community or white passing community, functioning off of a de facto aristocracy inherited by the generational wealth from the New Deal or their inter-social Cuban relations in the neighborhoods. Redlining is still visible today through legal policies and physical walls constructed in Coconut Grove and Liberty City, still unashamedly standing today. Redlining is compounded by the extinction of affordable housing and climate change.
BRIEF HISTORICAL OVERVIEW The oldest settlement in Miami is Coconut Grove, established by Bahamian immigrants in the mid1800s. Coconut Grove was built off of a land grant issued by the Homestead Act, which offered settlers 160 acres of land in exchange for five years of labor. In the mid 1870s, the opening of the hotel, Peacock Inn, would commission more Bahamians for construction living in Key West. The black community had a thriving economy, black-owned businesses in modern Village West, evidenced by wood vernacular housing remaining today. 1 In the beginning, the relationship between blacks and whites in Coconut Grove was amicable, which was uncommon in the US. Racial tensions began in 1925, when Coconut Grove was annexed from Miami which was commemorated by the construction of a race wall, c. 1930, standing today. 2 The neighborhood became divided between the West and East, ultimately differentiated as East Grove or West Grove. Black communities occupied West Grove, while predominantly white communities occupied the East. West Grove became progressively more marginalized and saw a reduction in resources. This dichotomy still exists today and has effectively limited any improvement or development within West Grove.
Miami geographically in various colors based on their “safety” or racial dispersion, red denoting a “hazardous” area, still greatly resembling today’s racial concentrations.4 The end of WWII, c.1945, would have deleterious effects on the economy; the collapse of the economy would strangulate the black community of capital, population retention, mobility and resources. The second major migration came in the late 1950s and early 1960s, due to the Black displacement caused by the construction of the expressway, devastating Historic Overtown. The large influx in Miami’s Cuban population, due to the Cuban Revolution would reshape the xenophobic model, where white people became the minority and white passing Cubans became the majority. Cuban power relations in the neighborhoods would continue the racist legacies established by white people before them in the 1930s. In the 1980s, Liberty City was the site of race riots.5 Today, it continues to struggle. 4 Shaan Patel. “Past/ Present of Segregated Miami”. Miami- Grid. (April 2019). Retrieved from https://miami-grid. com/2019/04/10/segregated-miami/ 5 “Liberty City: Celebrating Cultural History”. Miami: Greater Miami Convention and Visitors Bureau. Retrieved from https://www.miamiandbeaches.com/neighborhoods/ liberty-city
By the 1930s, Overtown was known as “Negro Central District”, but was notorious for its deplorable living conditions, “overcrowded and unhygienic”. In 1934, a 753-unit public housing apartment complex was under construction, opening in 1937. In 1937, many middle class black families had financial mobility, and moved to the Liberty Square Housing Project. This project was the second Federal housing project built in the U.S. 3 The 1937 HOLC coded 1 Roshan Nebhrajani. “The early Bahamian history of Coconut Grove ”. The New Tropic. (2016). Retrieved from https://thenewtropic.com/bahamians-coconut-grove/ 2 Roshan Nebhrajani. “The early Bahamian history of Coconut Grove ”. The New Tropic. (2016). Retrieved from https:// thenewtropic.com/bahamians-coconut-grove/ 3 Roshan Nebhrajani. “Liberty City: From a middleclass black mecca to forgotten”. The New Tropic. (2017). Retrieved from https://thenewtropic.com/liberty-city-historymoonlight/
Image 2: Overtown: 1930s-1940s
1925
Miami’s Color Line
1933
The New Deal
FDR’s New Deal offered various government programs to aid in economic relief and recovery in response to the Great Depression. Federal funds alloted to Miami were used in several Deal-era building programs to help stimulate the economy. However, local leaders used these investments to expand existing patterns of racial segregation.
1948
Coconut Grove Slum Clearance
Father Theodore Gibson and Elizabeth Virrick established the grassroots interracial committee known as The Coconut Grove Committee for Slum Clearance to improve conditions in the blacks areas of the Grove.
1952
‘Concrete Monsters’
During the postwar period, property owners began constructing new concrete apartments in Miami, known as “Concrete Monsters.” These compact apartments began dominating the build environment in Black Miami. Property owners would frequently charge renters high rates for these overcrowded, inadequately maintained properties.
1980
Haitian Migration
Between the late 1970s and early 1980s about 60,000 Haitians arrived in Miami. This migration significantly impacted residential patterns as Haitian residents began concentrating in the northeast of downtown Miami now known as Little Haiti.
1998
Pottinger Settlement
In 1998, the federal district court in Miami approved a landmark settlement that protects the civil liberties of homeless residents. This court agreement limits the power of Miami police to arrest homeless residents for harmless minor offenses that are considered "life sustaining."
Miami’s black residents are restricted to specific areas in Miami as a result of restrictive covenants, racial violence and exclusionary zoning. Residents in these districts face poor housing conditions, public health issues, rental price gouging, over population, and lack of municipal services.
1937
Liberty Square
Liberty Square was the first public housing development in Florida. The project was built in an effort to relocate blacks from the Central Business District. However, the project faced local resistance from white landowners. As a result, city planners build a concrete “race wall” to divide Liberty Square from it’s white neighbors.
1950
Suburban Expansion
The postwar period saw a significant increase in suburban development. While white residents began to move into suburban areas, black households began pushing past the residential color line onto left behind neighborhoods. This along with several other factors led to the increasing racial transition of Liberty City, Brownsville, and Opa-locka.
1956
Miami Expressway
In 1956, Florida acquired federal funding to build a high-speed, urban expressway within the state’s 1,160-mile interstate network. A great deal of this construction ran through poor and minority neighborhoods in an effort to clear blighted urban areas. In 1956, the Florida State Road Department created plans to route part of Interstate 95 through parts of Overtown to better allow expansion of the Central Business District. Between 1960-1971 Overtown lost an estimated 18,000 residents due to highway construction, code enforcement and urban renewal projects
1993
HOPE VI Program is Started
Congress launched the HOPE VI program in 1993 to demolish and redevelop distressed public housing developments. Between 1993 and 2010, the HOPE VI program demolished over 150,000 units of public housing nationwide and committed almost $6 billion to the redevelopment of over 200 public housing projects. However, HOPE VI redevelopment projects have also led to reductions in the number of available public housing units and resident displacement.
2006
Take Back the Land
2016
Liberty Square Redevelopment
Miami-Dade County announced a $300 million initiative to redevelop the aging Liberty Square and Lincoln Gardens public housing developments"
Rameau started Take Back the Land housing rights campaign as a response to the housing crisis and growing redevelopment pressures on low-income communities. During the housing crisis, when numerous properties were foreclosed on and left vacant, Take Back the Land and other local activists began moving homeless families into these vacant units, matching "homeless people with people-less homes."
Image 3: Liberty Square Housing Project
Image 4: East-west expressway (I-395) looking east in Miami, 1967
Image 5: Storefront in Miami, 1989.
Image 6: Heat Map of Miami, Florida.
ISSUE The small multi-unit apartment buildings that populate Miami, usually charging well below market rate rent, are quickly disappearing. Neighborhoods like Little Haiti, Overtown, West Coconut Grove and Liberty City are starting to see units around the $1000 price point disappear. Working families or seniors living on Social Security checks in apartments in Little Haiti or the Grove are confronted with leaving it and finding a place they can afford.1 These areas are clearly demarcated by legal hurdles, as well as physical 8 ft race walls standing today in Coconut Grove and Liberty City. 2 Image 7: 136 NE 60 St-Little Haiti
Image 8: Little Haiti Apartment Building
Charged by renewed interest in the urban core, major development projects emerge in historically black neighborhoods like Little Haiti. Unfortunately, Little Haiti is the fastest gentrifying neighborhood in South Florida. Since 2016, home values have increased by about 19 percent. Climate change multiplies the burden of poverty, exacerbates health, housing, and employment challenges.3 Black redlined neighborhoods are substantially hotter than other neighborhoods.4 Redlined neighborhoods were more likely to default on their mortgages; this designation precludes renters’ chances from buying or refinancing a home. As a result, community investment declined and property values plummeted in redlined neighborhoods. For decades, redlining and housing segregation prevented African Americans from accumulating wealth through homeownership, proliferating economic disparities across racial lines. 6 “Cheap Apartments Are Disappearing From Little Haiti.” WLRN. (July 2018). Retrieved from https://www.wlrn.org/ news/2018-07-25/cheap-apartments-are-disappearing-from-little-haiti 7 Teresa Joseph. “The Untold History of Liberty City’s Segregation Walls”. NBC. (May 2018). Retrieved from https:// www.nbcmiami.com/news/local/the-untold-history-of-liberty-citys-segregation-walls/2001133/
8 Elizabeth Santiago. “Weathering the Storm: Climate Gentrification in Miami’s Little Haiti.” The Pursuit: Trending Topics from Michigan Public Health. (February 2020). Retrieved from https://sph.umich. edu/pursuit/2020posts/weathering-the-stormclimate-gentrification-in-miami.html Image 9: Tenants say the downstairs ceilings leak when the upstairs neighbors flush their toilets.
9 H. Hochmair, A. Benjamin, D. Gann., J. Fu. “Miami-Dade Urban Tree Canopy Analysis.” Miami- Dade County. Retrieved from https://www.miamidade.gov/neatstreets/ library/canopy-analysis.pdf
Image 10: A 1935 redlining map of Miami, Florida
Image 11: 2010 Census Map Miami, Florida
Division between West Grove & East Grove Connection Points
Image 12: Division between West Grove & East Grove and connection points
Physical Wall Coconut Grove Color Line
Image 13: Location of existing physical wall
Image 14: Portion of existing physical wall
Image 15: Remnants of the Liberty City Wall
In 1946, the Miami Housing Authority approved a low-income housing project for black residents on Charles Terrace, west of Douglas Road. However, the project faced considerable resistance from white residents concerned about their “safety” and adamant about maintaining existing racial boundaries. In response, city planners built a concrete ‘race wall’ to divide the communities. Three years later, A Federal Supreme Court ruling made it illegal to segregate black residential districts. But despite this ruling, the wall was still built. The wall stayed intact until 1970 when it finally became an inconvenience for white residents. In that year, Carver Middle School became racially integrated and the city demolished the western end of the wall to allow a one-lane road from Kumquat Avenue to the school. White parents had demanded southern access to Carver Middle school because they felt the route through West Grove was unsafe. 1
1 Kirk Nielsen. “The Wall.” Miami New Times. (February 1998). Retrieved from https://www.miaminewtimes.com/news/thewall-6360290
Image 16: Liberty City Housing Development July 1, 2019
POSSIBILITIES • Provide canopies in Black neighborhoods • Create more connected infrastructure such as public transportation • Establish education revitalization programs • Revert back to shotgun houses, with Dade County Pine, cheaper construction
• Create sites that will generate income: Lyric Theatre, Cultural Center, Restaurants • Support Black owned, and family owned businesses
REDLINING IN MIAMI
Garrett (Ray) Hicks, Alicia Jones, Sydney Maubert
NOISE POLLUTION
The effects on the community Marshay McCain, Madeleine Reid, and Malek Wells
Nighttime of noise pollution
Brett Israel, Media relations| July 25, and Brett Israel. “Noise Pollution Loudest in Black Neighborhoods, Segregated Cities.” Berkeley News. UC Berkeley , July 31, 2017. https://news.berkeley.edu/2017/07/25/noise-pollution-loudest-in-black-neighborhoods-segregat-
INTRODUCTION Noise pollution is an unwanted or harmful sound that affects the health of humans and other organisms. Decibels are the units we measure sound. Quiet sounds range from 1535 decibels, while louder sounds can reach dangerous decibels—anything beyond 85 is harmful to the human ears. Noise pollution affects everyone within a harmful distance and is caused by numerous things such as subway trains, thunder and even loud concerts.
Health Impacts Commonly: Stress and high blood pressure,depression,headaches, and heart attacks. CONTEXT Segregated cities have higher noise pollution compared to less segregated cities. BIPOC neighborhoods are typically louder. Making them the leading victims of noise pollution. Why?
Political power is unequal - so white neighborhoods can control land use and block unwanted projects like highways and industry.1 Segregated cities also have longer distances to drive.2 How Does This Tie Back To Architecture? We as architects have our own responsibilities to make sure the health of those who stay inside are intact and safe. When designing any building there should be a certain amount of care and research put into the surrounding neighborhood. After all, the building is being made for the people who are going to be living there in that community. While designing the building we should look for sound proof windows and walls that have a resistance to the harmful sounds outside. ISSUES Health Impacts Commonly: Stress and high blood pressure and loss of sleep. Other health impacts: Respiratory agitation, Racing Pulse, and Headaches Casey , Joan, Peter James, and Rachel Morello-Frosch. “Urban Noise Pollution Is Worst in Poor and Minority Neighborhoods and Segregated Cities.” The Conversation, June 9, 2020. https://theconversation.com/ urban-noise-pollution-is-worst-in-poor-andminority-neighborhoods-and-segregated-cities-81888. 2 Brett Israel, Media relations| July 25, and Brett Israel. “Noise Pollution Loudest in Black Neighborhoods, Segregated Cities.” Berkeley News. UC Berkeley , July 31, 2017. https://news.berkeley.edu/2017/07/25/ noise-pollution-loudest-in-black-neighborhoods-segregated-cities/. 1
In extreme cases: gastritis,colitis and heart attacks Noise pollution affects all that experience it from young children to the elderly. Even when people sleep they are still being exposed to the noise surrounding them. So in condensed populated places with loud traffic even the people asleep are still being harmed. Interruption in sleep can cause someone to be unsatisfied with their nightly rest. These locations with a constant source of noise are more prone to minor car accidents. This may be a result of drivers who are sleep deprived or who experience constant headaches or who are drowsy from sleeping pills. Noise pollution is especially harmful to children. Loud noises put our bodies into a fight or flight state, even when asleep. The longer the body is exposed to such traumatic experiences the worse the trauma becomes. How can one expect growing children to mature when their body is in constant battle with its environment? Kids who attend school in louder neighborhoods score lower on exams and are more likely to have behavioral problems.3 Black neighborhoods have higher noise pollu3 Casey
, Joan, Peter James, and Rachel Morello-Frosch. “Urban Noise Pollution Is Worst in Poor and Minority Neighborhoods and Segregated Cities.” The Conversation, June 9, 2020. https://theconversation.com/ urban-noise-pollution-is-worst-in-poor-andminority-neighborhoods-and-segregated-cities-81888.
tion compared to white neighborhoods, because the white neighborhoods typically have the political power to divert undesirable land uses to black neighborhoods. This use of power is seen in other environmental racism issues like the placement of power plants and toxic waste sites. Noise pollution is also tied to wealth, because acoustic paneling and new construction protect against noise. CONCLUSION Noise is a tangible pollution with immediate effects, yet it is an understudied and underfunded urban health issue. It is directly tied to other environmental health issues such as air pollution. Noise is disproportionately louder in black, asian, and latinx neighborhoods, due to the segregation of cities and land use. The Noise control act has not been funded since 1981.4 UC Berkeley’s study mapping noise pollution was the first national study of its kind. This study was conducted recently in 2017. This study also cited funding shortages that made some conclusions speculative rather than rooted in comprehensive data. As designers we should advocate for spatial features that reduce noise pollution such as decreased traffic, vegetation, and acoustic insulation in buildings. As citizens we should Brett Israel, Media relations| July 25, and Brett Israel. “Noise Pollution Loudest in Black Neighborhoods, Segregated Cities.” Berkeley News. UC Berkeley , July 31, 2017. https://news.berkeley.edu/2017/07/25/ noise-pollution-loudest-in-black-neighborhoods-segregated-cities/.
4
The top picture is a map of high traffic areas in Baltimore Maryland. The middle picture is a map of high traffic areas in New York.
Dwyer, Colin. “How Noisy Is Your Neighborhood? Now There’s A Map For That.” NPR. NPR, March 23, 2017. https://www.npr.org/ sections/thetwo-way/2017/03/23/521227214/how-noisy-is-yourneighborhood-now-theres-a-map-for-that.
The last picture displays a way people have to implement into their house for noise cancellation
Bhunia, Priyankar, Mohit Sagar, Samaya Dharmaraj, and Alita Sharon. “NTU Researchers Develop Technology to Reduce Noise Pollution through Open Windows.” OpenGov, April 29, 2018. https://opengovasia.com/ntu-researchers-develop-technology-to-reduce-noise-pollution-through-open-windows/.
POLICY ISSUES In 1981 congress cut funding for the Noise Control Act of 1972. Since then the states have not been funding it either.1 Is Noise Pollution understudied? Sad to say but noise pollution is in fact understudied. Perhaps due to the fact many think it is subjective and only a few actually show their concern on the matter. With that in mind the search for a solution has become underfunded with a lack of proper concern. The study Berkeley did in 2017 is the first of its kind and stated underfunding as a barrier to reach strong conclusions.2 Casey , Joan, Peter James, and Rachel Morello-Frosch. “Urban Noise Pollution Is Worst in Poor and Minority Neighborhoods and Segregated Cities.” The Conversation, June 9, 2020. https://theconversation.com/ urban-noise-pollution-is-worst-in-poor-andminority-neighborhoods-and-segregated-cities-81888. 2 Brett Israel, Media relations| July 25, and Brett Israel. “Noise Pollution Loudest in Black Neighborhoods, Segregated Cities.” Berkeley News. UC Berkeley , July 31, 2017. https://news.berkeley.edu/2017/07/25/ 1
OUTCOMES - SOLUTIONS There are many ways to reduce noise pollution and the damage it does on the residents that live nearby. Buffer areas near the roads could be increased to provide more distance between the road and nearby residents. Roads could even be designed to go into tunnels and cuttings to reduce noise. Even car companies and tire stores could push for more low noise tiers for people to buy. The houses that cannot be given an increased buffer area could have installed noise barriers and silent facades. These are just a few examples of what can be done to help improve people’s resistance to this issue. To address noise pollution as an individual, one can contact the government, who should enforce quiet hours. Another option is to talk to the neighborhood association. If one can afford to, adding acoustic panels like foam to your walls would block noise from outside.3 However, it should not be up to the individual to solve neighborhood noise pollution. Architects and urban planners and politicians should be responsible for creating healthy noise levels.
noise-pollution-loudest-in-black-neighborhoods-segregated-cities/. Teague, Dr. Timothy. “Dealing with Noise Pollution in Your Neighborhood.” Hearing Consultants, December 10, 2019. https:// hearingconsultants.com/dealing-with-noisepollution-in-your-neighborhood/.
3 These photos show some of the effects of noise pollution over time. Booth, Stephanie. “Loud Noises Aren’t Just Annoying, They’re Bad for Your Health.” Healthline , June 14, 2018. https:// www.healthline.com/health-news/loud-noises-bad-for-your-
These images display a map of 24 hour documentation of noises in the US. We compared the east coast states and the West coast states.
“National Transportation Noise Map.� ArcGIS Web Application. Accessed September 30, 2020. https://maps.bts.dot.gov/arcgis/ apps/webappviewer/index.html?id=a303ff5924c9474790464cc0e9d5c9fb.
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Segregated cities have higher noise pollution
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Segregated cities have to endure loud traffic of major highways. Local governments have not been funding noise pollution. No funding causes the government to place highways and freeways in low income areas
Some areas that have funding introduced greenary as a sound barrier
J. C. Nichols and the Kansas City Suburbs Exclusion and Restriction by Design
Hannah Mayer Baydoun, Mereese Peltier, Kyle Coxe
Above. Aerial view of Nichols’ development. Attribution: Stevens, Sara. J.C. Nichols and the Country Club District: Suburban Aesthetics and Property Values. 14 Mar. 2019, pendergastkc.org/article/jc-nichols-and-country-club-district-suburban-aesthetics-and-property-values.
INTRODUCTION In 1903, Jesse Clyde Nichols began his residential development career in with a small subdivision in Kansas City.1 He, “advocated for a suburban model of urban form... [and] linked the practice of urban development to its theory,” particularly aimed at the middle class.2 Nichols’ Country Club District in Kansas City became a model for developers to follow in other cities to “supplant the gridiron model,” and in doing so, 1 Worley, William S. J. C. Nichols and the Shaping of Kansas City: Innovation in Planned Residential Communities. University of Missouri Press, 1993, p. 63. 2 Stevens, Sara. J.C. Nichols and the Country Club District: Suburban Aesthetics and Property Values. 14 Mar. 2019, pendergastkc.org/article/jc-nichols-and-country-club-district-suburban-aesthetics-and-property-values.
“enabled private, market-led city planning.”3 Nichols’ success with the Country Club district led to retention, increase in property values, and widespread implementation of deed restrictions of which the effectiveness other developers recognized and emulated.4 5 CONTEXT Nichols began his career at the beginning of the 20th century. During this time, city planning and landscape architecture were blossoming as integral professions in city development, and zoning and deed restrictions began to have profound, lasting effects on the urban environment.6 In Kansas City 3 Stevens. 4 Stevens. 5 Stevens. 6 Stevens.
at this time, “the wealthy whites built substantial homes on the high ground along Cherry and Locust streets between Ninth and Fourteenth streets. As the white sections grew... land values rose, which forced rents higher than blacks could pay. The white landlords of black rental housing sold to other whites who wanted to build their own houses.”7 This “invasion and succession” in Kansas City’s residential areas created mass-scale shifts and segregated neighborhood demographics.
property value.15 Deviating from other developers of his time, he hired landscape architects to create a sense of this ideal landscape and paved curvilinear roads to not only control speed but display “readiness for the family car.”16 Nichols filled small open green spaces with fountains and sculptures, creating a landscapes like those he’d experienced on trips to Europe to establish “quality and financial stability.”17 Lack of city land ownership and oversight emboldened him to continue his efforts on more unincorporated land southwest of Kansas City’s center.18
ISSUES OUTCOMES Nichols developed the Country Club District and many other suburbs in Kansas City as his ideal solution to residential living. He did this by “protecting” his developments. “Nichols...actively helped construct the racialized landscape of Kansas City by putting racially restrictive clauses into the deed restrictions on all the properties he sold.”8 Nichols’ restrictions included clauses such as the orientation of houses on lots relative to the street, house costs must be “a minimum of $5,000 and be set back not less than forty feet from the front lot line. Utility easements...were reserved at the back of the lots. No sale to or occupancy by blacks was allowed.”9 To enforce the deed restrictions, Nichols was influential in developing organizations to make the suburb self-sustaining through routine maintenance and upkeep and uphold perpetually restrictive construction clauses. These organizations are what we now call the Home Owners’ Association, and new homeowners in Nichols’ developments were automatically members.10 Nichols created his “Improvement Association,” a predecessor to the Home Owners’ Association, as a “stopgap measure” until the city annexed the suburb.11 Nichols’ deeds frequently remained for 25 years “with the option to renew.” Nichols also ensured clauses like “run with the land” in his deeds to denote perpetual restrictions. One source claims the “Country Club District...was probably ‘the first district in the United States where self-perpetuating restrictions were used.’”12 Nichols used sales tactics such as signs claiming, “1,000 Acres Restricted for Those Who Want Protection.” He also spoke to other developers encouraging the use of deed restrictions would prevent blight and unwanted billboards from tarnishing a neighborhood’s image.13
Nichols’ model “insulated buyers from a volatile real estate market.”19 Such deed restrictions were later advocated as “standards to follow” by the Federal Housing Administration and harnessed by other developers due to their effectiveness in property value retention.20 “These protections not only 15 Stevens. 16 Stevens. 17 Stevens. 18 Stevens. 19 Stevens. 20 Stevens.
DESIGN Nichols created his suburbs “turn-key style” by establishing “roads and sidewalks, buried water and sewer lines, and subdivided land into lots.”14 He believed a picturesque design of the suburbs was a major selling point and helped stabilize 7 Worley, 44-45. 8 Stevens. 9 Worley, 128. 10 Stevens. 11 Worley, 165-166. 12 Worley, 129. 13 Worley, 83. 14 Stevens.
Above. In addition to the curvilinear street design and spacious plots, Nichols’ provided buried utilities such and sewage and water lines to provide “turn-key” developments. Attribution: Stevens, Sara. J.C. Nichols and the Country Club District: Suburban Aesthetics and Property Values. 14 Mar. 2019, pendergastkc.org/ article/jc-nichols-and-country-club-district-suburban-aesthetics-and-property-values.
contributed to segregation in housing, perpetuating racial injustice, but they also offered the developer the obvious incentive of greater profit. Over the decades, Nichols’s subdivisions have held their value, and scholars agree that comprehensive site planning and deed restrictions explain a significant part of their high value today. In doing so, Nichols’s innovations have helped make permanent the deep setbacks and cul-de-sac urbanism that defines suburbia.”21 United States courts even favored on the side of J. C. Nichols’ restrictions. In 1918, evidence of the Missouri Supreme Court held fast in prohibiting the “sale, lease, or rental of the property...to a black person” while California courts allowed restrictions to prevent the occupancy of minority groups around the same period.22 Nichols had a lasting influence on developers during his time. Developments of interest include Ridgewood in Springfield, Ohio, River Oaks in Houston, Texas, and Palos Verdes Estates in California, all believed to have been influenced by Nichols’ work.23 CONCLUSION “Considering Nichols’ explicit linking of aesthetics and market economics, the aesthetics of suburbia depended as much on cultural constructions of the picturesque as they did on managing the risks of the market.”24 Only until recently, constructs of Nichols’ name, specifically a fountain and parkway memorialized to him, remained prominent public landmarks in Kansas City. The fountain and parkway were renamed “Dream Fountain” and “Martin Luther King Jr. Parkway,” a local Kansas City news source reported on June 30, 2020 at the initiative of Christopher Goode, a local business owner and Board of Parks and Recreation Commissioner.25 26 Nichols’ development of suburbia at the beginning of the 20th century has proven lasting influence in the US, both positive in increased property values, yet equally negative in executing his intent through a racist agenda that segregates US cities today. Recent census demographics and real estate values in areas of these restrictive suburbs prove the duality of the Nichols’ motives. Changing memorials named after Nichols is one matter, however, undoing years of perpetual private-market suburban segregation and exclusion is another.
21 Stevens. 22 Worley, 145. 23 Worley, 175-176. 24 Stevens. 25 Mahoney, Micheal. “Kansas City Parks Board Swiftly Votes to Remove J.C. Nichols Name from Fountain, Parkway.” KMBC, KMBC, 30 June 2020, www.kmbc.com/article/kansas-cityparks-board-swiftly-votes-to-remove-jc-nichols-name-from-fountain-parkway/33014877. 26 Goode, Christopher E. Memorandum to Director, Terry Rynard, Fellow Commissioners & KCMO Park Staff. 4 June 2020, kcparks.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/06/unitymemo.pdf.
Top. Photo depicting the automobile readiness and picturesque sculptures Nichols’ envisioned. Bottom. Artists Fair at the Country Club Plaza, September 1935. This was the commercial center in close proximity to Nichols’ “protected” neighborhoods. Attribution: Stevens, Sara. J.C. Nichols and the Country Club District: Suburban Aesthetics and Property Values. 14 Mar. 2019, pendergastkc.org/article/jc-nichols-and-country-club-district-suburban-aesthetics-and-property-values. Middle. Nichols’ selling tactic was to display a sense of “protection” for home buyers from fears like property value loss due to blight and otherness, specifically race. Attribution: “1000 Acres Restricted Sign.” The State Historical Society of Missouri, digital. shsmo.org/digital/collection/imc/id/18233/rec/9.
Above. Nichols’ suburban experiment grew from 1,000 acres to 1,500 acres swiftly during the 1910s-1920s. The land he bought was unincorporated tracts previously owned by farmers. His buying path extended rapidly during this time in the southwest area of Kansas City. Attribution: J. C. Nichols Company. “The Country Club District.” The Kansas City Public Library, kchistory.org/islandora/object/ kchistory%3A106897?solr_nav%5Bid%5D=d4fe47e130b74c1a6920&solr_nav%5Bpage%5D=0&solr_nav%5Boffset%5D=0.
Above. Sanborn map of the Winter Park neighborhood on Kansas City’s West Side, 1909-1938. Right. Nichol’s sought to supplant the gridiron model of suburban development. Using landscape architects, a previously under utilized profession at this time in suburban development, Nichols believed the key to property value retention was through a picturesque design of the neighborhood. Here, the large plots of land and curvilinear street design depicts Nichols’ vision became a reality. This idyllic suburban reality came with conditions, however, in a strategy to maintain long-term appeal. Deed restrictions prevented particular races entry to the neighborhood and established strict design and improvement constraints on owner’s that lived in these areas. Attribution: Stevens, Sara. J.C. Nichols and the Country Club District: Suburban Aesthetics and Property Values. 14 Mar. 2019, pendergastkc.org/article/jc-nichols-and-country-club-district-suburban-aesthetics-and-property-values.
All. Deed Restrictions. Attribution: Monchow, Helen Corbin. The Use of Deed Restrictions in Subdivision Development. The Institute for Research in Land Economics and Public Utilities, 1928, pp. 28.
Monchow, 31.
Monchow, 47.
Monchow, 51.
Monchow, 57.
Monchow, 60.
Monchow, 61.
Monchow, 64.
J. C. Nichols and the Kansas City Suburbs Hannah Mayer Baydoun, Mereese Peltier, Kyle Coxe
J. C. Nichols’ suburban developments and influence in Kansas City in the early years of the 20th century established a precedent for suburbs in the United States today as we know them. He influenced many other residential developers in his time that extended his methods throughout the United States.
Nichols’ envisioned a picturesqu maintain property value over time deed restrictions and enforcement formation of community organizat Home Owners’ Association. Nichols’ home cost, home lot line placeme notoriously, banning non-white race
class c ‘definitely declining’
class d ‘hazardous’
Mappig Inequality
1924
Troost Avenue
federal government's Home Owners' Loan Corporation (HOLC) mapping for “mortgage security”
1921 1932
Kansas City, KS
1908
350k
1940
1922
400k 320k
1926
7.3 m 3.5 m
94k
496k
Racial Covenants
deed restrictions based on race which segregated kansas city; J.C. Nichols promoted this method
1946
1927
1925
1924
1924
1912
210k
10 794k
1.8 m
1934
Country Club District
1923
266k 74k
subdivision created by J.C. Nichols
1.8 m 356k 600k
18
230k 175k 1.2 m
1941
KS
MO
Troost Avenue
Source Image Attributions: Google Maps Mapping Inequality: Redlining in New Deal America https://dsl.richmond.edu/panorama/redlining/#loc=12/ 39.073/-94.652&city=greater-kansas-city-mo The Racial Dot Map: One Dot Per Person for the Entire U.S. http://racialdotmap.demographics.coopercenter.org/ Zillow.com
24
ue, idyllic suburbia, that would e. He accomplished this through t of said restrictions through the tions that developed into today’s deed restrictions included minimum ent, design constraints, and, most es from entry into these suburbs.
The racist agenda of these deed restrictions has perpetuated throughout the 20th century and it’s effects are seen today in racial divide in our cities. Moreover, property values in deed restricted areas, with their “local protection” and enforcement by Home Owners’ Associations has secured a future of racial disparity. This story has been repeated throughout many suburbs and developments in the U.S. and persists today.
Major Historic Markers 1905
1st development in Bismark Place in Kansas City, MO
1914-15
Outbreak of WWI
1926
Early signs of Great Depression
1939-45
WW2
1950
J.C. Nichols passes
2010 Census Block Data
07k
1 Dot = 1 Person 35k
White
42k
80k
Black 15k
Asian Hispanic Other Race / Native American / Multi-racial
50k
Mapping Inequality
46k
A “Best” B “Still Desirable”
4k
C “Definitely Declining”
Kansas City, MO
D “Hazardous”
PUBLIC HOUSING
From War Time to the Present Bingyu He, Yuyi Zhou, Nahim Brumant
Wartime House Production
Race/Ethnicity Percentage by County, San Francisco, 1980-2010
INTRODUCTION Our team is interested in the public housing programs in the United States. We started from The Color of Law, the book by Richard Rothstein. The book illustrated the government policies in history which created racial/ethnical segregation. In the mid-twentieth century, public housing was mostly for working- and lower-middle-class white families. It was not heavily subsidized, and tenants paid the full cost of operations with their rent. Public housing’s original purpose was to give shelter not to those too poor to afford it but to those who could afford decent housing but couldn’t find it because none was available. When construction of civilian public housing resumed, it con-
tinued to promote segregation. Local governments, with federal support, were responsible for its racial character. Segregation violated constitutional rights whether it was federal, state, or local government that insisted upon it. The examples that follow—from the Northeast, Midwest, and Pacific Coast—reflect a racial design that prevailed throughout the country during the war and its aftermath. In the post-war period, federal, state, and local governments purposely created segregation in every metropolitan area of the nation. The purposeful use of public housing by federal and local governments to herd African Americans into urban ghettos had as big an influence as any in the creation of our de jure system of segregation.
POST THE GREAT DEPRESSION Federally funded housing came into being in the United States as a part of President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s New Deal. Title II, Section 202 of the National Industrial Recovery Act, passed June 16, 1933, directed the Public Works Administration to develop a program for the construction, reconstruction, alteration, or repair of low-cost housing and slum clearance projects. WAR ERA AND POSTWAR PERIOD During World War II, construction of homes dramatically decreased as all efforts were directed towards the War. When the veterans returned from overseas, they came ready to start a new life, often with families, and did so with the funding resources of the G.I. Bill to get a new mortgage. However, there was not enough housing to accommodate demand. Efforts moved to focus exclusively on veterans housing, specifically a subsidy on materials for housing construction. However, in the wake of the 1946 elections, President Truman believed there was insufficient public support to continue materials subsidies. The Veterans’ Emergency Housing Program ended on January 1947 by an executive order from President Truman. 1960’S -1970’S Section 235 of the Housing Act of 1968 encouraged white flight from the inner city by selling suburban properties to whites and inner-city properties to blacks, thus creating neighborhoods that were racially isolated from other neighborhoods. Public housing units were often built in predominantly poor and black areas, reinforcing racial and economic differences and stereotypes between neighborhoods. IN RICHMOND From 1940 to 1945, the influx of war workers resulted in Richmond’s population exploding from 24,000 to more than 100,000. Richmond’s black population soared from 270 to 14,000. Twenty projects with 24,000 units (for both races) built in Richmond during this period barely met the need. For white workers, the federal government created a “war guest” program in which it leased spare rooms from Richmond’s white families so workers could move in as tenants. The government also issued low-interest loans for white homeowners to remodel and subdivide their residences.
Consistent with this policy, the federal government recruited one of the nation’s leading mass production developers, David Bohannon, to create Rollingwood, a new Richmond suburb. Federal officials approved bank loans to finance construction, requiring that none of Rollingwood’s 700 houses be sold to an African American. The government also specified that each Rollingwood property must have an extra bedroom with a separate entrance to accommodate an additional white war worker. By 1947, when Richmond’s black population had increased to 26,000, half still lived in temporary war housing. As the government financed whites to abandon these apartments for permanent homes in suburbs like Rollingwood, vacancies in white projects were made available to African Americans. Gradually black families became almost the only tenants of Richmond public housing. By 1950, the city’s ghetto had expanded with more than three-fourths of Richmond’s black population living in war projects. ISSUES A lack of maintenance; Expectation of crime; Disapproval of housing as a handout; Reduction of property values; Concentration of poverty; Racial Segregation *Rothstein, Richard. The Color of Law: a Forgotten History of How Our Government Segregated America. Liveright Publishing Corporation, a Division of W.W. Norton & Company, 2018.
Public Works Authority Housing Division
Housing shortage: Street cars used for dwellings.
These houses are produced on outdoor assembly lines, beside which pre-cut lumber is stacked ready for use. Plumbing system is installed in large pre assembled units. *War Time Housing. www.moma.org/calendar/exhibitions/3034.
Rooms rent only for white people.
Two children in the backyard of a three room house with no bath, electricity or gas. *War Time Housing. www.moma.org/calendar/exhibitions/3034.
2014-2024 New York Ten-year Housing Plan De Blasio’s Expanded Housing Plan
The Housing Plan Mayor de Blasio 10-year goal of preserving or building 200,000 units of affordable housing in 2014-2024 New York Ten-year Housing Plan. However, due to the success of this project it has been extended to 2026, the mayor has also is increased the goal to 300,000 units. The original Housing New York Plan called for 60 percent of units (120,000) to be preservation—meaning existing apartments that are refinanced or renovated to maintain affordability—and 40 percent (80,000) to be new construction. Those ratios will apply to the expansion. So, the new target is 180,000 preservation, 120,000 new construction. The project made provisions that allowed 25 percent of the units created or preserved under the plan would go to families with very low or extremely low income, 19.5 percent will be set aside for moderate- and middle-income households and 55 percent for low income households. * University Neighborhood Housing ProgramCommunity Resource Guide (CRG) by UNHP, May 24, 2017
Numbers on Policies Key Policies and Programs a. Identify opportunities for affordable housing in all five boroughs The City will work with communities to identify areas that can support new development or provide opportunities for preservation. These developments will leverage investments to meet the neighborhood’s infrastructure and service needs. b.Implement a Mandatory Inclusionary Housing Program In rezonings that substantially increase potential housing capacity in strong markets, the City will require a portion of the new housing developed to be permanently affordable to low- or moderate-income households in order to ensure diverse and inclusive communities. To ensure the effectiveness of mandatory inclusionary zoning in transitioning neighborhoods, the City will provide flexible options for meeting the requirements. c.Harness affordable housing investments to generate quality jobs The construction and preservation of 200,000 units of housing is projected to create 194,000 construction jobs and nearly 7,100 permanent jobs. The City will work with communities and local stakeholders to ensure that these are quality jobs, targeted toward local hiring and integrated with the City’s broader workforce development initiatives.
Hunter’s Point South
Housing Plan Apartment Urban Planning
Vladeck Houses is a public housing development built and maintained by the New York City Housing Authority on the Lower East Side of Manhattan. Vladeck located on the corner of Madison and Jackson street was com-prisedof two sections. Section one was compiled of twenty, six-story buildings, while section II has four six story buildings. Baruch Charney Vladeck Houses I (named after the developers) occupied approximately 13 acres and has 1,523 units, and the units were able to accommodate over 2,800 people. The project began on Sep-tember 10th, 1939 and was later completed by November 20th 1940. Baruch Charney Vladeck II Houses consists of four, six-story buildings while occupying 2.23 acres. There are 238 apartments units and homed approximately 445 people. This complex is situated between Madison and Cherry street. This complex began construction on September 10, 1939, and was finished by October 25, 1940.
* Ferre-Sadurni, Luis. “The Rise and Fall of New York Public Housing: An Oral History” nytimes. 09 July. 2018.Web. 09 Oct. 2020. nyc-architecture. Web. 09 Oct.2020
Riis Houses
Apartment Overview
The Riis Houses (named after Jacob Riis) are a public housing project managed by the New York City Housing Authority. This housing complex is situated directly in the lower East side of Manhattan. The project is located between Avenue D and the Franklin D. Roosevelt Drive. Its spans over two superblocks from 6th Street to 13th Street. The project consists of thirteen buildings, between six and 14 stories each, and has a capacity of 1,768 apart-ment units. The buildings’ site was once the home of some of the most infamous of the tenement communities that Jacob Riis himself documented, eventually inspiring the housing movement that spurred Mayor Fiorello LaGuardia to create the New York City Housing Authority in 1934.
* Ferre-Sadurni, Luis. “The Rise and Fall of New York Public Housing: An Oral History” nytimes. 09 July. 2018.Web. 09 Oct. 2020. nyc-architecture. Web. 09 Oct.2020
MAJOR TAKEAWAYS Public House responds to rapidly rising house prices a. Newly built houses on public land New York City currently has 43,000 acres of municipal land, much of which has been developed by government operations, but there is still potential room for housing development, such as redevelopment of parking lots and updated designs for libraries and schools. In order to meet housing needs, New York City’s 2007 plan proposes to expand land sharing among government agencies by partnering with various companies. To build up 1,100 new housing units on municipal parking lots, these agencies replaced above-ground parking with underground parking, and started a partnership that makes government land sharing feasible. Meanwhile, New York City is exploring new uses for older buildings by redeveloping abandoned warehouses, schools, renovating closed hospitals, office buildings, and redesigning buildings to satisfy the needs of residents. All of these actions preserve their original characters and meet the city’s growing housing needs.
b. Public House above transport facilities Freeway and rail facilities are vital to the life of an entire city, but all too often, they hinder communication and development between communities. New York City plans to work with communities to unlock the potential of the land and address the housing shortage by building housing above railroad plants, rail lines and highways, connecting long-divided neighborhoods, covering open railroad tracks and eliminating noise from railroad plants to provide a comfortable environment for residents. Because these areas are already accessible by market standards, housing over these transportation facilities is well located and can be integrated with cultural centers and public spaces to create a community environment that enhances the vitality and diversity of the area.
Rent vs. Household Income, 2001-15
Percentage of households used for housing,2001-15
Rent vs. Older Renters Household, 2001-15
b. Redevelop brownfield to tap their potential To accelerate the management of brownfields, in the 2007 New York City Plan, the Government of New York proposed the establishment of the Office of Brownfield Planning and Development Management to centralize brownfield management stakeholders, who were already scattered across multiple departments, into the new office to implement brownfield restoration. Possibility of Improve Conventional Land Use
Urban Planning upon Public Housing solves the conflict between land supply and demand a. Enhancing land use efficiency and optimizing land use structure Since the 1950s, New York’s secondary industry and the number of employed people began to decline. With the rapid rise of the tertiary industry, as represented by the financial securities and metropolitan insurance industry, the rows of skyscrapers provide the necessary space for the expansion of the tertiary industry.In 2014, land use intensification in New York is rather high, 4.1% of the commercial land created nearly 4 million job opportunities.
The Office also provides “customer service” to communities and developers interested in redeveloping brownfields, helping them through the complex process of restoring brownfields. For projects that do not join the state, a municipal brownfield cleanup program will be established. The municipality has also invested $15 million in public and private operating funds to provide below-market interest rates to developers to reduce the cost of remediating brownfield contamination. New York’s 2015 city plan, One New York, addressed the goal of “cleaning up contaminated land, addressing the high percentage of exposed brownfields in low-income public communities, and converting land to safe and beneficial use”. A target of 750 additional brownfield sites was set for the period 2014-2019. To encourage private investment in brownfield development, the Government of New York has encouraged the New York State Legislature to pass legislation to stabilize tax credits provided by the State Brownfield Cleanup Program (State BCP), which provides a pathway for tax credits of affordable housing and industrial development projects to reduce the cost of brownfield cleanup.
* Infomation Resource: Laura Kusisto, “After Foreclosure, Fewer Buy Homes,” The Wall Street Journal, April 21, 2015, Richard Fry and Anna Brown, “In a Recovering Market, Homeownership Rates Are Down Sharply for Blacks, Young Adults,” Pew Research Center (2016), * Diagram Resource: American Families Face a Growing Rent Burden: High housing costs threaten financial security and put homeownership out of reach for many https://www.pewtrusts.org/en/research-and-analysis/reports/2018/04/american-families-face-a-growing-rent-burden
Laurie Goodman, Jun Zhu, and Bing Bai, “Overly Tight Credit Killed 1.1 Million Mortgages in 2015,” Urban Institute (2016) U.S. Census Bureau, “Quarterly Residential Vacancies and Homeownership, Third Quarter 2016.
CONCLUSION-DESIGN STRATEGIES Different design solutions for different cities While we should admire New York City’s attempt to provide dignified housing for low-income residents, architectural history shows us that public housing can’t follow a one-size-fits-all model. The Designing New York report is conscious of this fact, encouraging site-specific, resident-specific projects. Even if the Frost Street Apartments are great for Brooklyn, they shouldn’t be plopped down anywhere in the world. The lessons we learn from these projects’ attention to residential needs, however, should be broadly applied.
Structural innovation can overcome a difficult site for the benefit of residents In a city as built-out as New York, many new affordable housing projects occupy odd parcels of city land. Frost Street Apartments in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, for example, sits adjacent to the Brooklyn-Queens Expressway, a six-lane highway. In order to mitigate noise disturbance in the apartments, Curtis + Ginsberg Architects employed “high-performance windows and a heavy masonry and concrete structure.”
The Table Top Apartment by Kwong Von Glinow Design Office meet all the standards and requirement mentioned Above
Table Top Apartments- Plan Table Top Apartments- Elevation
In 2017, Kwong Von Glinow Design Office was awarded the 1st Prize in the New York Affordable Housing Challenge competition. Their project aimed to be both flexible to accommodate the various lot sizes of New York City and adaptable to various unit combinations to provide diversity.
The use of three different table top shapes, which are deliberately misaligned when stacked, create apertures in the slab between units. The resulting vertical courtyard space forms a realm that serves as space for public circulation, bringing in light and air. The spatial juxtapositions of The Table Top Apartments generate a new way of living in affordable housing that is dense, diverse, open, and light.
Design with the neighborhood in mind by integrating absent services When low-income neighborhoods lack supermarkets with healthy options and venues for physical activity (like parks and gyms), consciously-designed public housing can fill in some of these gaps to improve the health of building residents. At Arbor House in the Morrisania neighborhood of the Bronx, wide stairwells are designed with natural light to encourage use; likewise, an on-site hydroponic rooftop garden meets residents’ produce needs.
Don’t make affordable housing “look” like affordable housing Too often, the divisions between public housing and market-rate housing are made clear by visually differentiated structures. When affordable housing is marked with pejorative architecture, residents can become stigmatized or ostracized from the broader neighborhood. Les Bluestone, an advocate of innovative affordable housing and co-founder of Blue Sea Development Company says, “The best role that design can play is to not define buildings as affordable housing. Anything that we can do to get away from that helps the community.”
Table Top Apartments- Structure The Table Top Apartments emerges from the use of a few simple modular elements which aggregate to create a new mode of living between the inhabitants, their neighbors, and the public. The concept of the module is taken from a table top with four legs where the table top or slab is shaped as either a circle, square or rectangle, and the table legs or columns serve as the building’s structure and space for vertical services. The post-and-slab table top units stack and aggregate, creating different combinations of unit-types to emphasize the project’s assertion that diversity paired with density makes for a healthy and sustainable living environment. A simple storefront glazing system mediates between the interior of the units and the exterior, while private spaces and bathrooms are enclosed in wood cabinets. * Information Resource: Kwong Von Glinow Office http://www.kwongvonglinow.com/
Table Top Apartments- Renderings
PUBLIC HOUSING
From War Time to the Present Bingyu He, Yuyi Zhou, Nahim Brumant
FOOD FOR THOUGHT
How the United States Can Give the Right of Food Nutrition and Sustainability Back to the People David Owe, Ingrid Pelletier
(Source: craftedincarhartt.com) Image shows an urban farm run by the Urban Growers Collective with a local volunteer helping in on of the collective’s 8 farms.
INTRODUCTION The current global pandemic, COVID-19, has once again brought into the light an issue the world has already been facing for some time now which is food insecurity. Due to the current global crisis it is projected that 54 million people will face hunger in America which is about 16 percent of the population. The term “food security” does not justify the issue at hand as its definition pertains to a current state of being whereas the lack of access to healthy food is a problem many communities in America have faced, spanning back to the 1950s and earlier. The food retail industry is capital intensive and in the neighborhoods where it is needed the most grocery
owners often are not willing to invest because it isn’t profitable enough for them. With several retail owners voicing their concerns that these food deserts, which are strategically devised, have higher rates of theft and crime which can lead to loss of return on investment. Food security as a term does not encompass the people and the environment (long term solutions) when trying to tackle that long term solutions to America’s food crisis is the idea of ‘food sovereignty’ which can attempt to propose . First defined by the La Via Campesina at the 1996 World Food Summit as, “the peoples’, countries’, or state unions’ right to define their agricultural and food policy ‘’ and then further expanded as:
“Food sovereignty is the right of peoples’ to healthy and culturally appropriate food produced through ecologically sound and sustainable methods, and their right to define their own food and agriculture systems.” (US Food Sovereignty Alliance) This definition rather than food security which focuses on access and quantity, food sovereignty allows the people to have a voice, the local community to have control over food distribution, and for the environment to be considered. CONTEXT The discussion of food security in America can be dated back to the 1930s during the worst economic period in its history, the Great Depression. Many Americans suffered from hunger which introduced a relief measure known as the New Deal. The food stamps which allowed people to buy items from grocery stores were signed into law in 1961 and are now known today as the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (otherwise known as, S.N.A.P.). Throughout the decades, this federally funded relief program has mitigated the food security issue serving 40 million people as of 2018 with an average monthly benefit of $127, yet, there is still an ever growing food crisis. Although the hunger faced from the 1930’s to 1940’s can be attributed to the Great Depression, it does not explain the current food deserts and impoverished urban areas in the U.S. today. The uprise of the automobile industry, expansion of interstate highways and housing shortage in the urban areas all marked a shift of white people and businesses to suburban areas, leaving a chasm in the urban cities. Supermarkets doubled from 14,000 to 33,000, but most were located outside the cities. This drastic change caused an increase in poverty which led to social disadvantages among a concentrated demographic. Chicago is one of many urban cities to have a concentrated demographic with lack of access to quality food and is facing an increase in food insecurity during the 2020 global pandemic which has caused more job losses among low-income households.
cago has a large swath of food deserts, which are, “large geographic areas with no or distant grocery stores” (Gallagher 6) these areas are centered mainly in the South Side of the city where it is mostly low-income, minority residents. The question is what is further aggravating the food deserts which cause food insecurity and what is happening to those most affected by it? In order for a city to have food sovereignty there must be availability, access, utilization, and stability. Many U.S. cities and towns do not have one or a few of these requirements. The main issues for the continued presence of food deserts is a privatized ownership of grocery stores and government intervention. Grocery stores in America are privately owned and so the focus is mainly on profit. Many grocery chains avoid establishing themselves in food deserts because many times they do not get a return on investment… along with little economic gain the government also does not offer any tax benefits and banks oftentimes will not grant loans.
(Source: United States Department of Agriculture) Food stamps from the 1930’s created by the New Deal to target the Great Depression.
ISSUES Stemming from food insecurity in America and more specifically, Chicago, are a vast array of issues. Chi-
(Source: original diagram) This diagram shows a collage of the places where food is available in food deserts. Options include fast food, corner stores, and dollar stores which only sell highly processed foods.
Another issue that arises is when stores like Whole Foods or Trader Joes build in a low-income area centered in a food desert the new store will raise land value and force out those who lived there before to even worse food deserts thus exacerbating the problem. Programs like SNAP have been proven to be the government’s most viable tool to help with food insecurity but over the past decade the program has seen multiple budget cuts. The current administration’s 2021 budget plans to see another cut which would affect around 5.3 million households (CBS news). When there are few to no grocery stores, citizens must rely on corner stores, fast food chains, and dollar stores in order to obtain food and these options do not provide enough variety and most of the food is highly processed with little to no nutritional value. When a community has little nutritional options for food there arises numerous health problems like diabetes, heart diseases, and other conditions which lead to lowered immunity and in the case of the 2020 COVID-19 pandemic can make it much easier for residents with these diet related diseases to get the virus and create a worse case leading oftentime to death or other long term side effects. Food deserts, usually centered around areas of poverty, are a domino effect which ends up harming, even killing those who reside within these areas. When a basic necessity of healthy food is taken away or made difficult to obtain it leads to more and more problems that take longer and longer to fix. OUTCOMES In a study done on food insecurity in Chicago from 2007-2014 it was found that among the 2.7 million citizens of the city around 507,307 lived in a “low-access” area otherwise known as a “food desert”. Within the 507,307 people 31.2% were below the line of poverty, 45% were children, 15% were white, 77.2% were black, 2% were asian, and 22% were hispanic (Kolak). The majority were concentrated on the south side of Chicago which showcases that these food insecurities were disproportionately affecting minorities (specifically Black people) and those below the line of poverty. This happened due to an un-equitable system which we have lined out previously that involved
suburbanization, unfair governmental initiatives, and a capitalistic focused food supply system. Though Chicago has a history of food insecurity, measures have been made to improve the food deserts through grassroots efforts by local citizens and some governmental involvement. One of the most successful programs has been the Black-led and owned non-profit, Urban Growers Collective started by Laurell Sims and Erika Allen in 2017. Their goal has been to, “bring the benefits of healthy, locally grown produce and other foods to Chicago’s communities while supporting the growth of Chicago’s urban farmers.” and to, “aim to address the inequities and structural racism that exist in the food system and in communities of color.” they have done so through operating 8 urban farms (predominately on the south side), a mobile market, educational opportunities, job opportunities (especially to minorities, youth, and the recently incarcerated), access to fresh organic produce year round, and disaster relief. Their efforts have seen an increase in access to healthy and affordable food and hit on every point of creating food sovereignty in the city. Food socereignty includes 6 pillas which are; focuses on food for people, values food providers, localizes the food system, put the control of the system locally, builds knowledge and skills, and works wih nature. The Urban Growers Collective hits each point on this list and has proven to be a successful way of bringing healthy, affordable food back to these communities. The most important aspect is that it is a sustainable and year-round solution. Many things like farmers markets which are sometimes only seasonal or food banks which can see more heavy donations during a certain time of year are not sustainable solutions whereas the Growers Collective has created a system that can be used the entire year. Of course the Urban Growers Collective is a non-profit and relies on private donations and volunteer work so it can be hard to keep the organization running without a steady flow of income. CONCLUSION Chicago over the years has seen an improvement in food security but the west and south side of the city are still faced with food deserts which disproportionately affect racial minorities and socioeconomically disadvantaged. Looking further past Chicago the entirety of the United States faces a food security
(Source: Health and Place: Urban foodscape trends: Disparities in healthy food access in Chicago, 2007–2014) This map showcases the areas of Chicago affected by food insecurity. Most of the food deserts are centered around the south and west sides of the city.
(Source: Food Environment Atlas, U.S. Department of Agriculture, Economic Research Service) Map shows the relation between poverty, car free households, and rates of diabetes which are all connected to the locations of food deserts.
crisis. Solutions like new grocery stores, food stamps, farmers markets, and non-profit organizations can be a start to solving the problem but in order to eliminate food insecurity it will take a massive overhaul of the economic and governmental systems which are creating this disparity. To make things even more difficult the globe is facing a global pandemic which has caused deepening economic hardships, especially concentrated in food deserts. Hope can be seen in programs like the Urban Growers Collective which this year (from March to September) delivered 1 million pounds of healthy, organic food to those affected by the pandemic in Chicago. Programs like this are laying down measures in order to create a sustainable, local, community run food system which benefits the many rather than the few.
(Source: Google Maps/Original Diagram) This map shows the arrangement of grocery stores in Chicago, the concentration of them are wider placed when viewing the south side of the city.
(Source: Kristen Norman / Chicago Tribune) Image of Erika Allen who is the co-founder and CEO of the Urban Growers Collective which aims to “approach is to demonstrate the development of community-based food systems and to support communities in developing systems of their own where food is grown, prepared, and distributed within the community itself�.
(Source: Alex Ruppenthal / Chicago Tonight) Image of a press event held in recognition of the Urban Growers Collective after a mile stone of serving 10,000 customers in the south Chicago neighborhoods.
(Source: Armando L. Sanchez / Chicago Tribune) a volunteer works in one of the UGC’s many hoop houses which allow for year long production of food.
(Source: spontaneousinterventions.org) An interior image of the “Fresh Moves” mobile market. The mobile market goes out to food deserts to provide residents with access to organic, healthy food.
NO CAR AND SUPERMARKET STORE WITHIN A MILE
LEGEND > 10 percent 5.1 - 10 percent
NO CAR AND SUPERMARKET STO WITHIN A MILE
2.5 - 10 percent < 2.5 percent
Processed foods and canned items can be found in abundance typically sold by corner delis.
About 23.5 million people live in food deserts. Nearly half of them are also low-income.
Neighborhoods with Whole Foods or Trader Joes cause displacement as homes values rise when they are in close proximity to these stores. One study showed that home values sh can appreciate up to 10%.
Quality of food individual has access to
Quality of food individual has a
ORE
access to
LEGEND > 10 percent 5.1 - 10 percent
NO CAR AND SUPERMARKET STORE WITHIN A MILE
LEGEND > 10 percent 5.1 - 10 percent
2.5 - 10 percent
2.5 - 10 percent
< 2.5 percent
< 2.5 percent
Many people living in food deserts get meals from fast-food restaurants.
Milk price is significantly lower at supermarkets than at limited service stores.
Often filled with convenience and liquor stores selling with empty calories and simple carbs.
Quality of food individual has access to
Urban Crisis Recovery
Flawed Systems of Resilience in New Orleans Alex Whittaker, Courtney Carrington
Aerial View of Downtown New Orleans Source: @barracokevin on Instagram INTRODUCTION Resilience. Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s a word that is seized upon by politicians, urban planners, and scholars alike as a coveted attribute of todayâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s cities. It is often framed as the strength of social and economic systems in distressed communities, or the durability of physical infrastructure through design. On the worldâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s current trajectory, climate-related disasters and global pandemics threaten to challenge these systems with greater frequency. As certain neighborhoods and populations in the city are already disadvantaged, they will undoubtedly suffer the greatest harm and receive the least compensation in the wake of crises. Resilience is measured as if it is a universal preparedness for disaster, but making
our cities more resilient requires a different form of proactive planning, one that addresses the root problems endemic to specific communities. We examine the example of New Orleans, a city that is still not fully recovered from one of the most destructive hurricanes in U.S. history and now experiencing the effects of the coronavirus pandemic. In this study, one can see how the policies of urban resilience are not applied universally, and why disparities across racial, economic, and spatial lines must be considered in the application of policy and practice. CONTEXT In the summer of 2005, Hurricane Katrina made landfall in Louisiana and inflicted lasting damage on the city
of New Orleans. The physical infrastructure of levees surrounding the city failed to hold back the floodwaters, and were critiqued as an engineering failure. At a certain point, 80% of the city was flooded.1 It is no coincidence that majority-black neighborhoods suffered the most substantial damage and experienced the highest decrease in population following Katrina, and it is inextricably tied to the history of segregation and difference in New Orleans.
Horowitz, author of “Katrina: A History, 1915-2015,” said in an interview, “flood vulnerability doesn’t change, but vulnerability to punitive social policies does.”6 The elevation of poor black communities in New Orleans continues to keep them vulnerable to flooding, but investment in more equitable social policies can have greater effects than that of a higher floodwall.
New Orleans was constructed in a natural floodplain on the bank of the Mississippi River, in a setting where dry land was a commodity. There were existing natural ridges above sea level that were seized by white settlers when the city first came into being.2 Those areas of white privilege remain to this day, and poor people of color have formed communities mainly in the lower, more flood-prone areas of the city. Some areas are almost 10 feet below sea level.3 This explains why areas like the Lower Ninth Ward were sites of the most intense flooding during Katrina.
Design proposals for better levees, floodwalls, and pumps have a limited affect on the survival of communities during disasters, and often neglect the poor and marginalized. In a similar way, the imaginative designs of the “new normal” for the world’s cities during and after the pandemic prioritize the lives of the city’s elite. Historically, the design of “better” and “safer” cities has been utilized to segregate and suppress people of color and the poor.
ISSUES
DESIGN
6 Simerman, John. “New Orleans’ Lower 9th Ward Is Still Reeling from Hurricane Katrina’s Damage 15 Years Later.”
Due to the situation of New Orleans, parts of the city continue to sink, forming what many refer to as “the bowl effect.” Continuous pumping of rainwater and levee construction exacerbate the issue.4 Here flood-preventative measures render the city susceptible to more damaging flooding if these systems fail. This poses a threat especially to the black communities of New Orleans. Many of the recovery policies post-Katrina and subsequent programs to build resilience in New Orleans have been criticized for their discriminatory application. For example, the Road Home policy for recovery was inherently racist. “Compensation would be based not on the actual cost of rebuilding, but on the appraised value of a property.” 5This meant that poorer communities that experienced more damage received less money for repair. Resilience aims to create cities that will literally weather any storm, but the approach is flawed in the case of New Orleans, where the physical frameworks of resilience create just as many problems as they solve. Andy 1 Esri, Katie Nodjimbadem. “These Maps Show the Severe Impact of Hurricane Katrina on New Orleans.” 2 Seicshnaydre, Collins, Hill, and Ciardullo. “Rigging the Real Estate Market: Segregation, Inequality, and Disaster Risk.” 3 Esri, Katie Nodjimbadem. “These Maps Show the Severe Impact of Hurricane Katrina on New Orleans.” 4 Campanella, Richard. “How Humans Sank New Orleans.” 5 Rivlin, Gary. “Why New Orleans’s Black Residents Are Still Underwater After Katrina.”
Image 1- Using parks and werlands to alleviate flooding Image 2- Lower 9th ward under water
OUTCOMES Today many of the black communities in New Orleans are still recovering from the hurricane and the policies in its aftermath. As of 2015, there were 100,000 less black people living in New Orleans than at the time of Katrina. There have been an increase in home values post-Katrina, especially in areas of higher elevation, and it is has led to further black displacement. “Rents increased 50% from pre-Katrina amounts, a 2015 Housing NOLA report said.” 7 Aligning with the nationwide trend, black people in New Orleans are now disproportionately affected by the coronavirus pandemic. According to a study conducted by the New Orleans Data Center, as of June 5th, the death gap across racial lines is even more extreme than previously thought, with black people accounting for 88 percent of deaths compared to whites comprising 9 percent of deaths (the population is 60 percent black and 35 percent white).8 This statistic is excluding deaths in long-term care (LTC) facilities.* One cannot understand the effects of the pandemic on the black populations in New Orleans without confronting the long-term affects of Katrina in these communities. CONCLUSION Crises are viewed as opportunities for more imaginative planning and governance. They may be spun to support the next new wave of thinking about urbanity, like a push for more resilient cities. However, the recovery of cities following crises, whether that be a hurricane or a pandemic, usually reinforce spatial dynamics of racialized planning. “The rebuilding of post-Katrina New Orleans could have reversed residential patterns of racial segregation given the sheer magnitude of the destruction and the billions in recovery dollars that followed. Unfortunately, many policy decisions made during the recovery repeated or amplified existing patterns of separation and inequality.”9 The social and economic recovery of a city like New Orleans depends not on making communities more resilient, but rather, practices more equitable.
7 Santana, Rebecca. “Katrina to COVID: New Orleans’ Black Community Pounded Again.” 8 “Detailed Data Sheds New Light on Racial Disparities in COVID-19 Deaths.” The Data Center. 9 Seicshnaydre, Collins, Hill, and Ciardullo. “Rigging the Real Estate Market: Segregation, Inequality, and Disaster Risk.”
Map 1- Elevation map showing the parts of New Orleans that are under sea level Map 2- Shows where people live by race Map3- Shows the percentage of African Americns that populate the blocks of New Orleans
Map depicting Poverty in New Orleans by Section. *As shown on the map the highest level of poverty is found in neighborhoods with more African American residents
Map depicting COVID-19 cases. * By looking at the map, it shows that there are also more cases of COVID-19 in areas where they are under sea-level and have more Non-white residents
Mardi Gras 2020 Mardi Gras 2020
Mardi Gras 2020 Mardi Gras 2020
After a storm 2020 After a storm in 2020
Picture taken from a news video in 2020 during a flood from a rain storm Picture taken from a news video In 2020 during a flood from a rain storm
Man having to flee from his home due to storm water. Picture taken from the news in 2020.
A women in a boat with her dog after having to evacuate their home. Picture taken from the news in 2020
Clean up after pumping the water out oof their homes. Picture taken from the 2020 news.
One of New Orleans water pumping stations. *Theyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ve spent millions on trying to find a remedy for this problem but New Orleans still suffers.
URBAN HEAT AND PUBLIC HEALTH
Lasting effects of redlining and cities’ proposals to mitigate them Zhanna Kitbalyan, Griffin Sanderoff, Andrew Spiller
Fig. 1. Deviations from city average summer temperatures in redlined neighborhoods in Richmond, VA. “How Decades of Racist Housing Policy Left Neighborhoods Sweltering,” The New York Times, 2020. INTRODUCTION
ISSUES
Urban planners across the world are familiar with John Snow’s map of cholera cases in 1854 London. (fig. 2.) Through mapping, Snow linked the spread of the disease to a single water pump, highlighting the connection between health, infrastructure, and the urban environment. In contemporary United States, this connection is ever so obvious and exacerbated by the history of racist urban policies. Predominantly African-American and low-income neighborhoods have historically been more susceptible to and affected by epidemics, natural disasters, and pollution. We looked at the rising problem of urban heat in formerly redlined neighborhoods and its effects on the residents’ health.
An article published in 2020 studied 108 major cities across the US and revealed that 94% of cases show a pattern of formerly redlined neighborhoods having higher land surface temperatures by as much as 12.8°F.1 (fig. 1,3.) Sparkle Veronica Taylor, a resident of the Gilpin neighborhood in Richmond (formerly redlined, currently 96.2% Black with medium household income of $9.9k),2 told the New York Times Jeremy S. Hoffman,Vivek Shandas, Nicholas Pendleton, “The Effects of Historical Housing Policies on Resident Exposure to Intra-Urban Heat: A Study of 108 US Urban Areas,” Climate, vol. 8, iss. 12, Jan. 2020. https://www.mdpi.com/2225-1154/8/1/12/htm 2 “Gilpin, Richmond, Virginia (Neighborhood),” Statistical Atlas. https://statisticalatlas.com/neighborhood/Virginia/Richmond/ 1
that she and her two young children often walk to a richer neighborhood for half an hour in the grueling summer heat, just so they can play in a significantly cooler, greener park: “The heat gets really intense, I’m just zapped of energy by the end of the day, but once we get to that park, I’m struck by how green the space is. I feel calmer, better able to breathe. Walking through different neighborhoods, there’s a stark difference between places that have lots of greenery and places that don’t.”3 The increased urban heat of formerly redlined neighborhoods is not just uncomfortable - summer evening temperatures in many cities present significant health risks. There are 12,000 heat-related deaths in the US annually, and warmer zip codes have higher rates of heat-related ambulance calls and emergency room visits.4,5 (fig. 4.5.)
areas were targeted by city planners for major roads, highways, and large-scale public housing in the 1950s. These projects were built using a lot of heatabsorbing impervious surfaces, such as asphalt and concrete, which “gain heat during the day and, as the evening cools ambient temperatures, the retained heat is released back into the neighborhoods.”7 (fig. 7,8.) Again, the location of these projects is not coincidental - the planners were motivated by federal economic incentives, affordability of land, as well as the fact that those projects helped further segregate the city or uproot Black communities. tive/2020/08/24/climate/racism-redlining-cities-global-warming. html 7 Jeremy S. Hoffman,Vivek Shandas, Nicholas Pendleton, “The Effects of Historical Housing Policies on Resident Exposure to Intra-Urban Heat: A Study of 108 US Urban Areas,” Climate, vol. 8, iss. 12, Jan. 2020. https://www.mdpi.com/2225-1154/8/1/12/htm
CONTEXT While there is a clear correlation between redlining and the range of temperatures in cities, the exact causes of increased urban heat in those neighborhoods span a wide range of racist practices and policies of urban renewal. First, the primary cause of increased temperatures is the lack of tree canopy in redlined areas. The disparity in urban greenery between neighborhoods is not accidental: “Neighborhoods with white homeowners had more clout to lobby city governments for treelined sidewalks and parks. In Black neighborhoods, homeownership declined and landlords rarely invested in green space.”6 (fig. 6.) Second, redlined Gilpin/Overview 3 Sparkle Veronica Taylor, quoted in “How Decades of Racist Housing Policy Left Neighborhoods Sweltering” by Brad Plumer and Nadja Popovich, The New York Times, Aug. 24, 2020. https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2020/08/24/climate/racism-redlining-cities-global-warming.html 4 Drew Shindell, Yuqiang Zhang, Melissa Scott, Muye Ru, Krista Stark, and Kristie L. Ebi, “The Effects of Heat Exposure on Human Mortality Throughout the United States,” GeoHealth, vol. 3, Mar. 2020. https://doi.org/10.1029/ 2019GH000234 5 Liz Mebane, Jeremy S. Hoffman, “What does the “URBAN HEAT ISLAND EFFECT” mean to Richmond?,” Science Museum of Virginia blog, Aug. 27, 2018. https://www.smv.org/learn/blog/post/ what-urban-heat-island-effect 6 Brad Plumer, Nadja Popovich, “How Decades of Racist Housing Policy Left Neighborhoods Sweltering” by The New York Times, Aug. 24, 2020. https://www.nytimes.com/interac-
Fig. 2. John Snow, cholera cases in London, “On the Mode of Communication of Cholera,” 1854.
Fig. 3. Peak deviations from city average summer temperatures. “How Decades of Racist Housing Policy Left Neighborhoods Sweltering,” The New York Times, 2020.
Fig. 4. Urban Heat Islands in Richmond Zip Codes, “What does the “URBAN HEAT ISLAND EFFECT” mean to Richmond?,” Science Museum of Virginia blog, 2018.
Fig. 5. Heat-Related Illnesses Per 10,000 People, “What does the “URBAN HEAT ISLAND EFFECT” mean to Richmond?,” Science Museum of Virginia blog, 2018.
Fig. 6. National-scale averages of percent tree canopy by HOLC security rating (Green, “Best,” A; Blue, “Still Desirable,” B; Yellow, “Definitely Declining,” C; Red, “Hazardous,” D.) Hoffman et al, “The Effects of Historical Housing Policies on Resident Exposure to Intra-Urban Heat: A Study of 108 US Urban Areas,” Climate, Jan. 2020.
Fig. 7. National-scale averages of underlying percent developed impervious surface by HOLC security rating (Green, “Best,” A; Blue, “Still Desirable,” B; Yellow, “Definitely Declining,” C; Red, “Hazardous,” D.) Hoffman et al, “The Effects of Historical Housing Policies on Resident Exposure to Intra-Urban Heat: A Study of 108 US Urban Areas,” Climate, Jan. 2020.
Fig. 8. Adolph B. Rice Studio, Construction of Interstate 95, downtown Richmond, March 28, 1958, Library of Virginia.
RESPONSE POLICIES Most strategies focus on reducing heat storage. Much of this can be done by changing the reflectivity or albedo of surfaces, reducing their absorptive properties. It is also attained through shading surfaces, whether that be architectural elements or organic ones such as trees. Of course it is also important to use materials that are able to prevent storing excess heat. Alternatively strategies such as evaporation or transpiration can be used.8 Cool Roof - A roof with materials to reduce reflectivity and provide shading. New coats of Paint are common ways of doing this. Cool pavements - Including highly reflective aggregate particles in concrete combined with lighter color or clear binders. Coatings can be applied to the pavement too in order to increase reflectivity. Green roofs - Planting vegetation provides shade on the roof, preventing heat storage. This also has the added effect of transpiring water from the plants and soil, decreasing sensible heat. Cities such as Washington D.C. have launched a Heat Emergency Plan - Focusing on providing direct information about heat throughout the city and alerting citizens of safe zones where they can find relief.9 But this problem is short sighted and doesn’t address the fundamental issues that the cities are facing. New York City has had a program established in 2009 encouraging building owners to paint their rooftops white.10 This included creating a group Commonly used Strategies to reduce excess heat. Planting Healthy Air (pp. 1-136, Rep.). (2016). Arlington, VA: The Nature Conservancy. https://thought-leadership-production.s3.amazonaws.com/2016/10/28/17/17/50/0615788b-8eaf-4b4f-a02a8819c68278ef/20160825_PHA_Report_FINAL.pdf 9 Heat emergency response measures. Planting Healthy Air (pp. 1-136, Rep.). (2016). Arlington, VA: The Nature Conservancy. https://thought-leadership-production.s3.amazonaws. com/2016/10/28/17/17/50/0615788b-8eaf-4b4f-a02a8819c68278ef/20160825_PHA_Report_FINAL.pdf 10 Built environment heat mitigation and adaptation measures. Planting Healthy Air (pp. 1-136, Rep.). (2016). Arlington, VA: The Nature Conservancy. https://thought-leadership-production. s3.amazonaws.com/2016/10/28/17/17/50/0615788b-8eaf-4b4fa02a-8819c68278ef/20160825_PHA_Report_FINAL.pdf 8
of volunteers which would ultimately be expanded into a job training initiative. For buildings that meet the requirements and are eligible, there are nocost installations offered to non-profits, affordable housing, community centers, schools, hospitals, and museums. There are also other options to offset the cost for building owners.11 Los Angeles is a city where the problem of heat islands is particularly acute. In recent years droughts have become increasingly common with the El Nino doing less to replenish the nearby reservoirs as time has gone forward. Temperatures have also spiked, increasing the ozone content in the air, leading to increased smog which in turn traps more heat within the city. However, this problem is already being addressed through cutting emissions, with 63% of Californians now living in areas that meet federal health standards for ozone as compared with 24% in 1990 according to the state Air Resources board. However, even these efforts are largely inadequate, with the goal to meet federally mandated levels intended to be met by 2032.12 Los Angeles has instead enacted a change through policy: The Cool Roof Ordinance which was established in 2014 and included in an update of its Green Building Code.13 This change would require residential roofing material to meet a minimum “aged solar reflectance” and “thermal emittance”. There are also incentives within the program providing rebates to families.14 The effects of this have already become measurable with over 2,200 rebates paid since 2010, saving Building Participation Guide. NYC CoolRoofs. (n.d.). Retrieved October 01, 2020, from https://www1.nyc.gov/nycbusiness/article/nyc-coolroofs 12 Los Angeles Planting Healthy Air (pp. 1-136, Rep.). (2016). Arlington, VA: The Nature Conservancy. https://thought-leadership-production.s3.amazonaws. com/2016/10/28/17/17/50/0615788b-8eaf-4b4f-a02a8819c68278ef/20160825_PHA_Report_FINAL.pdf 13 Built environment heat mitigation and adaptation measures. Planting Healthy Air (pp. 1-136, Rep.). (2016). Arlington, VA: The Nature Conservancy. https://thought-leadership-production. s3.amazonaws.com/2016/10/28/17/17/50/0615788b-8eaf-4b4fa02a-8819c68278ef/20160825_PHA_Report_FINAL.pdf 14 Los Angeles. Planting Healthy Air (pp. 1-136, Rep.). (2016). Arlington, VA: The Nature Conservancy. https://thought-leadership-production.s3.amazonaws. com/2016/10/28/17/17/50/0615788b-8eaf-4b4f-a02a8819c68278ef/20160825_PHA_Report_FINAL.pdf 11
Heat and Income in Los Angeles. https://www.npr.org/2019/09/03/754044732/as-rising-heatbakes-u-s-cities-the-poor-often-feel-it-most
roughly 1.5GW h/yr. Over 18,000 permitted roofs have been installed since this ordinance was put into effect, saving over 3.6 GW h/yr.15 The effects have also been felt within the market, causing manufacturers to adjust their product offerings. Los Angeles also has another program specifically for addressing the issue on streets: Million Trees LA. A cooperative effort between the City of Los Angeles, community groups, businesses, and individuals to plant trees along the streets for free throughout LA.16 In addition to addressing urban heat islands, this program is multifaceted, providing beauty to homes and increasing value, filtering pollution, and shading yards to prevent evaporation, especially during droughts. Temperature mitigation by trees, illustration by Mackinzie Jones. https://thought-leadership-production.
15
Cool Roof Results. https://www.epa.gov/sites/production/ files/2018-09/documents/4-heat-island-webcast-cool-fixespart-2-2018-09-12.pdf 16 Why Trees? Our Story. (n.d.). Retrieved October 01, 2020, from https://www.cityplants.org/our-story/
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The images here are from a Jakobs Rope Systems construction in which the system sponsors a living wall. Green facades are one of the best ways to combat the urban heat island effect. Green facades are â&#x20AC;&#x153;where climbing plants or cascading groundcovers are trained to cover specially designed supporting structures.â&#x20AC;? Highlighted above are some detail moment connections, where the chrome sheen of the structure meets the green and brown of the plants. https://www.archdaily.com/catalog/us/products/12673/green-facades-jakob?ad_source=neufert&ad_medium=gallery&ad_name=close-gallery
Above are the six main ways the green facades fight the urban heat island effect and save users energy/money. Up to 30% of cooling energy usage can be saving just from the shade and cooling that green walls provide. Also, varying levels of lighting can be created due to the shading effects of green facades. They also can act as a sound barrier as well as protection from more extreme weather. Ideally, one could even use a green facade to aid the cooling of air in a ventilation system, but one could always benefit from using the living wall to hide a less attractice part of a building. https://www.archdaily.com/catalog/us/products/21319/six-ways-a-greening-improves-architecture-jakob?ad_name=related-products-bottom
Here we have an example of a living wall on the interior of a bar space.
This is an example of a green facade as part of a vertical circulation system.
Another example of an interior green facade, looked upon as part of an atrium space.
This green wall is almost designed as a mosaic; It functions here as both shade and art. https://www.archdaily.com/catalog/us/products/21233/living-wall-sempergreenwall-sempergreen?ad_source=neufert&ad_medium=gallery&ad_name=close-gallery
URBAN HEAT AND PUBLIC HEALTH Zhanna Kitbalyan, Griffin Sanderoff, Andrew Spiller
During the urban renewal practices of the 1950s, predominantly Black neighborhoods were targeted for construction of major roads , highways, and large-scale public housing projects, which emit large amounts of heat in summer evenings. These neighborhoods also lack tree canopies to provide cooling and shading.
Over 100 major cities in th US show a pattern of form redlined neighborhoods ha higher land surface tempe by as much as 12.8°F
The increa serious h During a hea increase in t the ris
he merly aving eratures
ased temperatures pose a health risk to the residents. at wave, every one degree temperature can increase sk of dying by 2.5 percent.
As concerns about the public health impact of urban heat grow, cities are implementing policies that would incentivize heatmitigating urban interventions.
As technological and design solutions to the problem of urban heat are becoming popular, it is important to remember the communities most affected by the issue and center their needs in the conversation.
Flood and the City
From the perspective of Environmental Injustice Hamdi Alotaibi, Vicky Achnani
Image Caption
INTRODUCTION Flooding is one of the major natural hazards which disrupt the prosperity, safety and amenity of human settlements. The term flood refers to a flow of water over areas which are habitually dry. It covers a range of types of event, many of which can also include other sources of damage such as wind. Source of floodwater can arise from the sea (in the form of storm surge or coastal degradation), from glacial melt, snowmelt or rainfall (which can develop into riverine or flash flooding as the volume of water exceeds the water courses) and from ground infiltration. Flooding can also occur as the result of failure of man-made water containment systems such as
dams, reservoirs and pumping systems.1 It might be benign for some agencies that rely of water, and can store access water or benefit from the transportation of nutrients and silts and at the same time can be lethal to other systems that are not prepared for it or cannot cope up with sudden access amount of water. In many ways these natural forces are not exerted equally to all, and the state of vulnerabilty and exposure to hazard is determined on the basis of race, ethnicity, socio- economic status, age, health, location, politcial conditions and the society. 1 1. Abhas K Jha , Robin Bloch, Jessica Lamond , Cities and Flooding - A Guide to Intergrated Urban Flood Risk Management for the 21st Century.
CONTEXT Flood is one of the significant problems and threats in the United States. Flooding refers to abnormal levels of groundwater levels due to high rainfall and is mainly caused by excess rainfall and poor drainage in an area. In the United States, floods have become of the most significant issues that lead to losses. Flood losses have increased in the United States over the past century to more than US$7.96 BILLION per year for the last three decades. Flooding is the second water-related hazard in the United States. Various cities are prone to flooding in the United States, causing massive damages. Among many cities that are prone to flood the focus of our study is Metropolitan areas of Miami City. The city experiences several floods annually, which have led to massive damages that have caused many and displacement of people (Rossi, 2018). Flooding has been known to cause very high levels of damage in the city. It leads to the destruction of infrastructures while blocking the roads to various destinations, hence hindering economic strength.2
infrastructure, emergency response information, and post-disaster assistance. Additionally, such studies indicate that socially vulnerable groups experience the more adverse consequences of flood disasters in terms of morbidity and mortality. which may reflect both their increased exposure to flooding during actual flood events and their reduced access to protective resources.1 3 Collins, Grineski and Chakraborty (2018), Environmental injustice and flood risk: A conceptual model and case comparison of metropolitan Miami and Houston, USA. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/ articles/PMC5849275/ Traditional environmental justice relationship Risks / benefits are divisible (e.g. major stationary air pollution source) Risks / benefits are not divisible (e.g. flood- prone coastline)
2 Rossi, J. (2018). 15 American Cities With the Most Homes in Danger of Flooding. Retrieved from https://www.cheatsheet.com/culture/american-citieshomes-danger-flooding.html/ ISSUES Studies of disaster events associated with flood hazards, as well as a range of hazard types reveal that disadvantaged social groups are at increased risk to experiencing debilitating damage, uncompensated loss, and long-term suffering. Key characteristics explaining variations in natural disaster impacts are context-dependent, but often include social class, race, ethnicity, gender, age, disability and health status, and immigration and citizenship status. Vulnerability studies reveal that socially marginalized people have reduced capacities for self-protection in terms of mitigating flood hazards at home sites preevent, evacuating in response to flooding, returning home or to employment following flood-induced livelihood disruption; and accessing social protection resources to reduce the impacts of flooding such as flood insurance, pre-flood hazard mitigation
Line diagram suggecting state of vulnerabilty
Proposal by Baca Architects: Flood risk management at neighbourhood level
Proposal by Baca Architects: Flood risk management at Unit level
Proposal by Baca Architects: Flood risk management at Town level
Proposal by Baca Architects: Flood risk management at City level
Flood and the Cities Hamdi Alotaibi, Vicky Achnani
CONTESTED BOUNDARIES-A CITY OF CITIES
Investigating the urban relationship between Yale and New Haven Brandon Jones and Dominiq Oti
Fig 1: This 1965 plan created by Yale President Kingman Brewster and New Haven Richard C Lee depicts a definite east-west segment leading from the Trumbull Street I-91 interchange, and two alternatives for the north-south segment connecting to Route 34. - Also know as the inner circumferential inner route.
INTRODUCTION Apparent to those who are either part of Yale university or a citizen of New Haven understand the ambivalent relationship between the institution and the city. The result of a prestigious school in New Haven has caused divide and contention throughout the city that has manifested economically, and within the physical urban context. Urban renewal is considered a significant period in the city’s history, where neighbourhoods like Dixwell were neglected from economic development that predominantly occurred downtown. 1 Some proposals conducted by Yale and the city were halted in its tracks. Although despite the ending of Urban Renewal, the procedure of neglect amidst urban and institutional benefit created a fracture within the New 1 Developing Dixwell to Connect and Buffer the Yale Campus. (2016, September 20). Retrieved from New Haven Urbanism: https://newhavenurbanism.wordpress.com/developing-dixwell/
Haven society.2 The long-lasting effects has created a city of two urban development conditions or lack of. CONTEXT Urban renewal – a strategy well-known across the United States of America associated with improving cities and districts by massive urban developments and initiatives. In New Haven the representative responsible for executing this was Richard Lee, Mayor of New Haven in 1953. Prior to his time as Mayor, he joined the ranks at Yale University to manage its wartime new digest. Shortly after, he was the head of the public relations bureau. This basis helped him in being one of New Haven’s most influential Mayors. Lee’s relationship with A.Whitney Griswold, President of Yale University (1951-63) enhanced city efforts in renewal .3 The city and Yale worked on several joint 2 Stannard, E. (2018, October 13). Top 50: 300-year relationship molded New Haven and Yale. Retrieved from New Haven Register: https://www. nhregister.com/news/article/Top-50-300-year-relationship-molded-NewHaven-13303757.php
3 Stannard, E. (2018, October 13). Top 50: 300-year relationship
Comparably, throughout the late 20th century Yale had continued to do what it had to expand beyond its old campus - to purchase nearby property and convert nearby buildings into academic uses and in a number of cases accumulate multiple properties for comprehensive redevelopment. â&#x20AC;&#x153;the University [was able to] overcome its handicaps of publicity and predictability, in part by employing many of the strategies of successful commercial developers, including secrecy, subterfuge, and stonewalling,â&#x20AC;? as Marinn F. Carlson explains in A Tale of Two Blocks: Institutional Land Assembly in New Haven, 1911-1928 (New Haven Colony Historical Society, 1998).
Fig 2: Yale Planning precincts
projects. In some cases, Yale was the developer. Interestingly in many instances, the University provided Lee staff with expertise in such fields as Law, city planning, and architecture. Kingman Brewster then succeeded Whitney. In the mid-20th century, New Haven was going through an industrial decline having had a large foothold in the arms industry (Winchester Company, Dixwell NH) producing weapons for the nation as well as for the British government.4 As this was a major source of employment in the city the political climate had a causal effect on its citizens. From the Great depression (1929), World war II and then the Korean War, supposedly provided the factory with a steady stream of government contracts for military equipment but the was financial deficit that adjacent working-class neighbourhoods felt. molded New Haven and Yale. Retrieved from New Haven Register: https:// www.nhregister.com/news/article/Top-50-300-year-relationship-moldedNew-Haven-13303757.php 4 Developing Dixwell to Connect and Buffer the Yale Campus. (2016, September 20). Retrieved from New Haven Urbanism: https://newhavenurbanism.wordpress.com/developing-dixwell/
Fig 3: Aerial view of Elm Haven Public Housing and High-Rise Extension c. 1960
ISSUES AND OUTCOMES Academic, research, administrative, recreational and residential used found homes along prospect hill and the university still opted to involve itself in commercial projects in New Haven. For example, in the 1980’s Yale provided $12.5 million in funding towards the $86.6 million mixed use, mixed income redevelopment of the Ninth Square grid attempting to displace poverty and crime, creating a buffer zone protecting them from poorer areas around the Hill district and around Union station.1 The highway loop around downtown was a failed proposal which would’ve ensured a central loop around campus. But with the Urban renewal coming to an end in 1968, Yale implemented other strategies for expanding while also insulating itself from increasing violent conditions in surrounding neighbourhoods like Dixwell. Urban renewal had little beneficial impact in places like Dixwell. The population in New Haven took a downturn due to relocations in the 1960’s. Violence and crime ensued due to the industrial wage loss and miss management of Housing Authority of New Haven. In the 1980’s, the Dixwell Elm Haven projects had become a prime site for cocaine selling and violent neighbourhood drug gangs. 2 It appears that the movement against urban renewal emerged not only in the streets of American cities, but also in the halls of American universities. As a rebuttal to the immense development of New Haven in the 1950s and 1960s, students at the Yale school of Art and Architecture, considerably in the Department of City Planning, amassed an extensive critique of their expanding university’s role in the top-down reconstruction of New Haven. In the mist of impacted communities, the students found a parallel to their own frustrations as students.3
1 Developing Dixwell to Connect and Buffer the Yale Campus. (2016, September 20). Retrieved from New Haven Urbanism: https://newhavenurbanism.wordpress.com/developing-dixwell/ 2 Developing Dixwell to Connect and Buffer the Yale Campus. (2016, September 20). Retrieved from New Haven Urbanism: https://newhavenurbanism.wordpress.com/developing-dixwell/ 3 Montagna, J. A. (1979, June 3). Remarkable City: Industrial New Haven and the Nation, 1800-1900. Retrieved from Yale New Haven Teachers Institute: https://teachersinstitute.yale.edu/curriculum/ units/1979/3/79.03.06.x.html
Strides towards envisioning a more relevant design pedagogy that deemphasized the role of the professional and lent greater power to grassroots, disrupted Yale president Kingman Brewster Jr., who sought to protect expertise and the bureaucratic process he views as essential to liberalism. Essentially, two sides of the same coin existed at Yale there were those in administration that advocated and helped steer urban development to benefit Yale and the body of Yale that acted against what Urban Renewal did to the citizens of New Haven. “Today, no one questions Yale’s choice to construct the new colleges at that very intersection. But that might not have been the case in generations past, when the contrast between a downtrodden neighborhood and student residences boasting grand pianos and stately courtyards would have been jarring. Though Yale has not been the only driver of transformation in this area over the past two decades, it has played a major role in shaping the neighborhood.” -Isabelle Taft, Journalist Fig 4: In reference to the building of the new colleges
CONCLUSION The proximity of the university to these dilapidated areas creates an obligation to these dilapidated neighbourhoods not only in New Haven but in many other Anchor Institutions in the United States. Many eds and meds cities have Urban Based universities with expansion plans that thwart urban renewal and create a divide between both the university and the surrounding community. As far as the expansion planning for the University, there should be incorporation in the building typology that creates an opportunity for the surrounding community to benefit from the expansion of the Anchor Institutions. Sources: Developing Dixwell to Connect and Buffer the Yale Campus. (2016, September 20). Retrieved from New Haven Urbanism: https://newhavenurbanism.wordpress.com/developing-dixwell/ Montagna, J. A. (1979, June 3). Remarkable City: Industrial New Haven and the Nation, 1800-1900. Retrieved from Yale New Haven Teachers Institute: https://teachersinstitute.yale.edu/curriculum/ units/1979/3/79.03.06.x.html Stannard, E. (2018, October 13). Top 50: 300-year relationship molded New Haven and Yale. Retrieved from New Haven Register: https:// www.nhregister.com/news/article/Top-50-300-year-relationship-moldedNew-Haven-13303757.php The Ring Road . (2012, October 1). Retrieved from Connecticut Roads : https://kurumi.com/roads/ct/ringroad.html
Fig 5: A map showing a dominance of property owned by Yale in the context of the city.
CONTESTED BOUNDARIES- A CITY OF CITIES Brandon Jones and Dominiq Oti
POVERTY AND AFFLUENCE