Bright and early on Friday, May 1, 2020 at 7:30am 158 or so people gathered in front of their computers to attend Southface’s first virtual Sustainable Atlanta Roundtable. This month’s roundtable was dedicated to a heated topic in Metro Atlanta – development without displacement. As the Atlanta Beltline and other developments have caused property values to rise , affordable housing has become a central issue for mitigating the economic and geographic displacement of Atlanta residents (1, 2, 3). Panelists Nathaniel Smith of the Partnership for Southern Equity, Donell Woodson of the Lupton Center, and Alex Trachtenburg of Southface joined moderator Michael Halicki of Park Pride for a discussion on equitable development in Atlanta.
But first, what does equitable development have to do with sustainability? If we define sustainability as maintaining an ecological balance by avoiding the depletion of natural resources, there are many linkages between environmental sustainability and equitable urban development. The first is urban sprawl. Equitable development can help prevent displacement of low-income residents and in turn prevent further urban sprawl. Increased urban sprawl presupposes car dependence, which leads to a number of environmental issues. Adverse environmental effects of urban sprawl include:
- Carbon emissions, known to increase atmospheric temperatures, otherwise known as climate change or global warming (4)
- Air pollution, directly harming plants and wildlife as well as humans -think increased cases of asthma and asthma hospitalizations, or the less obvious effect of increased infant mortality rates (5, 6, 7, 8)
- Noise pollution, known to adversely affect wildlife as well as humans (9, 10)
- Adverse public health outcomes, such as increased rates of obesity, diabetes, and cardiovascular disease associated with a car dependent lifestyle (11, 12, 13). These adverse public outcomes make our healthcare systems more expensive to maintain, which in turn limits available funding for allocation to sustainable development, cyclically reinforcing environmental injustice.
This is just one linkage between equitable development and sustainable development. There are others. Now that it is clear how equitable development is connected to sustainability, captured here for you are the presentations from Southface’s Sustainable Atlanta Roundtable on Development without Displacement:
Nathaniel Smith of the Partnership for Southern Equity
Donell Woodson of the Lupton Center
Alex Trachtenburg of Southface
Q&A
Q. Nathaniel: Is there a gold standard for development without displacement an if so who’s doing it right? What is the first step or the top policy priority locally and statewide in GA?
A. (Paraphrased) There is no gold standard. Solutions in NY will be different from solutions in the Rust Belt because the communities are structured differently. The 14th St. Bridge Project in Atlanta has been a very encouraging development. Efforts around Climate and Energy with the Equitable & Renewable Cities Initiative being carried out with PSE and the Mayor’s Office of Sustainability is helping build racial equity through sustainable development. We have to undo and redesign the delivery system for affordable housing and development in cities and in regions. Right now the delivery system is driven by profit, is imbalanced, is not driven by the voices of community -and values success through production rather than creating whole, sustained communities. Focus more on people over production and profit is the way forward.
(Two more questions, uncaptured. If you have notes on these additional questions in the Q&A session please send your notes to greenatliens@gmail.com to have them added to this post)
Q. 83.2% of those in the hospital for COVID-19 are black. Recent New York Times article As Georgia Reopens, Virus Study Shows Black Residents May Bear Brunt raised legitimate questions of structural inequality and structural racism in public health. What efforts will you make to turn “lemons into lemonade” and return not to the old normal but to move forward into a more equitable and inclusive now?
A.
Nathaniel: I hope COVID-19 has helped the world understand that no matter how hard you try to avoid it, structural racism will continue to be the great sin of america. If we don’t find ways to undo that sin we will all suffer. It’s not just about COVID-19, it’s also about the 2008 foreclosure crisis, it’s about us sitting in traffic because structural racism won’t allow MARTA to expand into commuter communities. We must continue to push our white allies and advocates to be more bold and courageous in confronting structural racism and inequality and speaking truth to power. Staying on the sidelines makes us complicit. That is the space I am currently trying to create.
Alex: COVID-19 has exposed unjust systems across the globe. Hopefully people are seeing that we’re all inextricably linked. We can all be affected, we can all lose our jobs and our quality of life. How do we look at development in a way that uplifts everyone, that promotes intergenerational wealth within marginalized communities? Hopefully this pandemic will prompt more policy conversations at the local, state, and national level to achieve that.
Donell: Two thoughts: Dr. King’s thought of beloved community, which is not just theoretical but actionable. Let’s all think about place, our geographic location. Name what we love about it. Then start from that point to work our way back to the issues so that we hold our intention – that which we love in our place – and what needs to be righted. Place is where we find common unity or community. Orienting ourselves around place is the launching pad for building community.
What else do you think can be done to achieve more equitable, sustainable development in Atlanta? Let us know in the comments on this blog or our Facebook and Instagram!
Green ATLiens 