Can Cities "Remix" America?

Carl Anthony suggests that emerging land use policies (such as high speed rail) could threaten to exacerbate trends towards racial segregation, unless there is broader participation from people of color in planning processes.

1 minute read

March 10, 2010, 8:00 AM PST

By Michael Dudley


As a part of a special issue of Yes! Magazine on the racial and ethnic transformation of the United States (called "America: The Remix"), Carl Anthony of Breakthrough Communities explains how planning for climate change can improve opportunities for racial integration:

"[C]limate change presents an opportunity to make over our communities in terms of land use, transportation, and racial and social justice...There is a risk, however, that such policies may resegregate our metropolitan regions in new ways...Land-use changes already underway threaten to transform American metropolitan regions into a pattern typical of developing countries: The rich live in the core cities, while the poor live on the periphery.

But if African Americans and other communities of color participate in the planning process, society could overcome the legacy of racism, and healthy, socially just, multiracial communities could flourish."

Tuesday, March 9, 2010 in Yes! Magazine

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