Ep 41: Equity in Cities with Rob Phocas (City of Charlotte) and Jerry Tinianow (City of Denver)
Jul 5, 2019
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Exploring equity in city sustainability efforts with leaders from Charlotte and Denver. Addressing social sustainability, gentrification challenges, and community engagement. Interviews on ESG expectations for businesses and navigating urban planning complexities.
Equity in cities ensures fair access to resources, such as green spaces, benefiting all residents.
Historical urban development shapes current equity challenges, widening income gaps and increasing homelessness rates.
Incorporating equity into climate action and urban planning policies fosters inclusive, sustainable development in cities.
Deep dives
Equity in Cities: Understanding the Importance of Social Sustainability
Addressing equity in cities is crucial as it ensures that all groups have access to resources and opportunities for improving their quality of life. Access to green space serves as an example, highlighting the need to engage residents across all areas to avoid bias and ensure fair distribution of benefits. Many cities neglect equity goals in their sustainability plans, leading to disproportionate impacts on lower-income communities.
Historical Context of Cities Development and Equitable Challenges
Cities have evolved from crowded, impoverished areas to urban renaissance hubs, with gentrification and racial segregation issues. The challenges lie in widening urban income gaps and rising homelessness rates, primarily affecting lower-income communities, exacerbating existing inequalities. Understanding historical urban development shapes the current equity challenges cities face.
Striving for Equitable Urban Development and Sustainability
Cities aim to achieve sustainable development by incorporating equity considerations into their climate action and urban planning policies. Initiatives like creating climate action plans focused on equity and engaging community groups directly facilitate inclusive urban development. Leadership focused on equity and collaboration with residents enable cities to progress sustainably while fostering equity.
Lessons on Promoting Equity: Importance of Awareness and Engagement
Promoting equity requires self-awareness and community awareness to understand diverse perspectives and needs within neighborhoods. Avoiding preconceived notions and engaging through community-initiated activities like gamification, siding local caterers, and transparent conversations facilitate effective engagement. Tailoring engagement methods to individual neighborhoods fosters trust and inclusivity.
Encouraging Equity through Grassroots Engagement and Local Empowerment
Promoting equity involves grassroots engagement and local empowerment by actively involving residents in decision-making processes. Building trust and transparency through early engagement and tailored community initiatives create avenues for equitable urban development. Emphasizing self-awareness, community awareness, and continuous education fosters inclusive, sustainable urban progress.
When we think about sustainability in cities, the first things we envision tend to be sexy mobility systems, smart buildings, and urban forests. Fact is, there's an additional layer to the sustainability cake that's just as important (and tasty): equity. It's not enough for sustainability efforts to increase renewable energy production, make water use more efficient, decrease carbon emissions, etc. We have to ensure that sustainability efforts consider the wishes and feedback of all residents, regardless of income level or neighborhood. Also, they should positively impact all parts of the city. In this episode, we unpack how to be more conscious of equity in sustainability city efforts with the help of two sustainability leaders who have been in the trenches promoting equity in their cities -- Rob Phocas from the City of Charlotte and Jerry Tinianow from the City of Denver. Enjoy!
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SustainabilityDefined is the podcast that seeks to define sustainability, one concept (and bad joke) at a time. Hosted by Jay Siegel and Scott Breen.
Each episode focuses on a single topic that helps push sustainability forward. We explain each topic with the help of an experienced pro, place it within our organizational tree, and help our listeners define what exactly sustainability is, episode by episode.
We have divided our organizational tree into the following seven sectors:
Energy
Cities
Natural Environment
Transportation
Business
Policy
Social
Each episode is categorized under one of our sectors and visually depicted within our organizational tree. The more episodes we complete, the more the tree will visually define what exactly sustainability means.
www.sustainabilitydefined.com
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