Week 5 (2/5) – Segregation, spatial inequality, and justice (UL)

Why do people live where they do? What are the consequences? Who’s responsible, and what should be done about it? 

Read:

Butler, S. M. & Grabinsky, J. (2015, March 24). Segregation and concentrated poverty in the nation’s capital. Brookings.

Rothstein, R. (2015, March 30). Should we force integration on those who don’t want it?, and other commonplace questions about race relations. Economic Policy Institute.

Dreier, P. (2015, May 7). The revitalization trap. Shelterforce.

Mock, B. (2015, May 25). The failures and merits of place-based initiatives. CityLab.

Sharkey, P. (2014, January). Making our assumptions about integration explicit. The Dream Revisited: Why Integration?

Field journal UL-2: Spend 15 minutes in a public space where you can see and be seen by others. Keep a tally of the people you see, counting them either as “more similar to me than different” or “more different than similar.” Take a picture of the public space and include it in your field journal. Have you more often lived in places where you felt similar to most people around you or where you felt different than most people around you? What are some of the consequences of a society where people live separate from people who are different than them, whether that separation is chosen or the outcome of structural factors?