Notes on the political presentation

I attended a panel last week on "environmental racism" which I thought was very interesting because of my interests in social justice and public space. There were many definitions that were attached to environmental racism, but I think the one that seemed to make most sense to me was put forth by Mick Dumke of the Chicago Reader, and former colleague at the Chicago Reporter. He pointed out that racism is often described as "prejudice + power" and that environmental racism often has to do with policies that enable poor communities and/or communities of color to be more likely to live in an area of environmental hazard (like a chemical plant) or areas that lack economic resources (like the South and West sides of Chicago where there is a lack of choices for healthy food).

Yes, there might be racism in the power structure, but corporations are often working with the bottom line and will place industry in poor areas because poor areas are often the path of least resistance. Polluters will identify neighborhoods without a strong social organization, neighborhoods who aren't active politically or are politically disenfranchised.

This eventually led me to thinking about my work through the ecological lens of trying to rehab Lathrop Homes instead of demolishing it and starting over. (Reduce, reuse, recycle!) Listening to the panel made me think about the community organizers I am working with and how they are working with Lathrop residents to do rallies and putting pressure on their alderman to preserve affordable housing at Lathrop.

My topic was also informed by a couple of urban planning books I've been trying to read for our final paper including:
Jane Jacobs, The Death and Life of Great American Cities – talks about the use of sidewalks, the need for aged buildings.
Robert Fishman, Urban Utopias in the Twentieth Century – talks about the Garden City, decentralization to relieve the populations from urban slums at the beginning of the 20th c., "green belt" surrounding the city, cooperative socialism