A few things to know this week: August 14, 2020
Happy Friday, friends! Every week we collect some of the best things that members of our Verdunity team read, watched, or listened to over the course of the week—plus anything new from us.
This week on the Go Cultivate! podcast:
Safeguarding small business during the pandemic – with Kennedy Smith
Kennedy Smith of the Institute for Local Self-Reliance on strategies city leaders can use right now and post-pandemic to help local businesses survive.
This week’s things to know:
This article is a great primer on the negative impacts planning can have on a city. Big infrastructure projects are an example of 'cataclysmic investment,' with a big impact on the slow growth of neighborhoods in their way. In Phoenix's case, it led to a halt in investment because of future plans, even ones that took 20 years to implement. –Tim
Portland just passed the best low-density zoning reform in US history (Sightline Institute)
Why yes, in fact, there was big zoning-related news this week! “Abundant housing” advocates cheered the Portland, OR, decision to legalize up to four homes on almost any lot. The new rules, approved by Portland’s city council, also remove parking mandates form three-quarters of the city’s residential land, and “offer a ‘deeper affordability’ option: four to six homes on any lot if at least half are available to low-income Portlanders at regulated, affordable prices.” – Jordan
Podcast: To Be Truly Sustainable, Cities Must Be Truly Equitable (Talking Headways)
I’m incredibly inspired by the work and words of Julian Agyeman, and this interview (on one of my favorite podcasts) is an excellent introduction to his thinking. "Equity, dignity, and social justice don't arise through planning for environmental sustainability," he says. But centering equity, dignity, and social justice does often produce environmental sustainability as a beautiful side effect. The “just sustainabilities” discussion is just one piece of this interview; he also speaks eloquently about what it means to belong in a place. Give it a listen! – Jordan
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In the midst of the pandemic, there has been a major supply shortage of… bicycles. This North Texas example of a possible shift from car-centric mobility to more human-powered options spotlights the disappearance of the once-ubiquitous Lime Bikes and the dramatic increase in demand for bikes. Hopefully the increase in demand ultimately results in city leaders putting more emphasis on pedestrian-serving infrastructure in the broadest sense. – Ryan
The Role of Police in Gentrification (The Appeal)
Brenden Beck, assistant professor of sociology at the University of Colorado Denver, makes a useful contribution to the discussion around police deployment and inequality in cities. “Gentrification is hardly the only force restructuring American cities. Neighborhoods are more likely to experience durable poverty, white flight, or persistent segregation than reinvestment and new middle-class neighbors. Each of these metropolitan contexts will influence policing in a different way. What the academic research summarized here reveals is that gentrification seems to coincide with a particular intensification in policing. [The police killings of Breonna Taylor, Eric Garner, Saheed Vassell, and Alex Nieto] are reminders that the struggles for affordable housing and against hyper-policing are intertwined.” – Jordan
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