Lisa Feldstein
Lisa Feldstein seeks to use land use as a tool for social and economic justice.
Contributed 17 posts
Lisa Feldstein is a Doctoral Candidate at the Department of City and Regional Planning at UC Berkeley. She is a 2012 Robert & Patricia Switzer Foundation Fellow, a 2012 Fellow at the Institute for the Study of Societal Issues, the 2010 recipient of The Robert A. Catlin/David W. Long Memorial Scholarship, and the 2009 recipient of the Friesen Fellowship for Leadership in Undergraduate Education. Lisa is formerly the Senior Policy Director with the Public Health Law Program, in which capacity she directed the organization's Land Use and Health Program. The project engages advocates in the land-use decision-making process throughout California, develops tools for training advocates about the relationship between the built environment and public health, and provides technical assistance for creating and implementing land use policies that support healthier communities. Lisa has worked on affordable housing and land use issues, with a focus on low-income communities, for nearly two decades. She works as an independent consultant providing technical assistance to local governments and nonprofits on a broad range of housing, community development, and land use-related issues. Prior to her work as a consultant, she was a loan officer with the Low-Income Housing Fund (Now the Low-Income Investment Fund). She also spent five years with the San Francisco Mayor's Office of Housing. Ms. Feldstein also served as a San Francisco Planning Commissioner from 2002-2004, where she was a strong advocate for community-based planning that incorporated such beneficial built components as open space and grocery stores. Ms. Feldstein graduated Magna Cum Laude from the University of Massachusetts at Boston with a B.A. in American Studies (Urban Focus), and earned her J.D. from the Boalt Hall School of Law at the University of California at Berkeley. She lives in San Francisco with her husband and their daughter. When not studying, writing, volunteering, or hanging out with her family, she loves to bake and to read fiction. A New York City native, Lisa loves cities.
What Makes a 'Farmers' Market?'
What constitutes a farmers' market, rather than an outdoor or public market?
Planning Education: Made in China?
A high school field trip in China that is hard to imagine in the United States.
The Conundrum of local food and/vs. sustainability
Most plants grown for food require significant amounts of water - water that Los Angeles doesn't have. How does one identify the point at which local isn't sustainable?
Come Here And Take A Lesson From The Lovely Lemon Tree
<p> Urban agriculture is a hot topic in sustainability, food, and planning circles. From roof and deck gardens to community gardens to urban farms, urban agriculture has captured the imaginations of activists of many stripes as well as gardeners and eaters. When I mention that my academic work focuses on food access in urban areas, the most common response I get is “oh, you mean like urban ag?” As this interest in urban agriculture grows, some are asking whether food sovereignty – the ability for a population to produce enough food to feed itself – is a feasible goal for American cities. </p>
If I'm eating chowdah I must be in Boston
<p> <span style="white-space: pre" class="Apple-tab-span"> </span>One of the ways we identify places is by foods for which those places are known. Baltimore – crab. Maine – lobster. Cincinnati – chili. San Francisco – sourdough bread. Vienna – pastry. Even for a city to which you’ve never been, chances are that in your mind that city has some food association. </p>