Can cities build new parks in park-poor neighborhoods without displacing low-income residents? These projects aspire to provide green space in neighborhoods that historically have little to no access to parks, but they can also lead to increased housing and living costs -- green gentrification. Some might even wonder whether such investments are a good idea, if they threaten to displace the very people they were intended to serve. Think of the iconic High Line in New York City or the 606 in Chicago, where abandoned rail tracks were transformed into linear elevated parks that are now flanked by multi-million-dollar condominiums. Can we improve upon or create new green spaces and still protect the existing communities?
Our guest, UCLA professor Jon Christensen [http://christensenlab.net/] has been studying the threat of green gentrification around the country — and how cities, agencies, nonprofits, and residents are responding with anti-displacement strategies applied where public spaces are added to historically disenfranchised neighborhoods.
Jon Christensen teaches and conducts multidisciplinary research at UCLA focusing on equity and the environment, strategic environmental communication, and journalism, media, and storytelling. He is an adjunct assistant professor in the Institute of the Environment and Sustainability and the Luskin Center for Innovation [https://www.ioes.ucla.edu/person/jon-christensen/]. He is also a producer of KCET’s award-winning “Earth Focus” documentary series. And he serves on the board of directors of the Liberty Hill Foundation in Los Angeles.
More Info
https://www.latimes.com/opinion/story/2021-02-21/los-angeles-river-master-plan-gateway-cities-frank-gehry-gentrification-equitable-development
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-02-20/reviving-the-l-a-river-without-green-gentrification
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Hosted by Jessica Aldridge
Engineer: Blake Quake Beats
Executive Producer: Jack Eidt
Show Created by Mark and JP Morris
Music: Javier Kadry
Episode 119
Photo courtesy Anacostia Riverwalk Trail Washington DC
