Place Matters

Joining here to help us understand why we are where we are is Dr. Jessica Trounstine, Professor of Political Science at Vanderbilt University. Professor Trounstine studies the process and quality of representation in American democracy, focusing on how formal and informal local political institutions generate inequalities. She has served as a consultant for the U.S. Department of Justice, city governments, and various community organizations; and serves on numerous editorial and foundation boards.

Listen in as we discuss her most recent award-winning book, Segregation by Design: Local Politics and Inequality in American Cities.

Urbanist, author, and scholar Alan Mallach joins us here to talk about neighborhood change. Alan is a senior fellow with the Center for Community Progress in Washington D.C and has worked with, among others, the Brookings Institution, the Federal Reserve, and Rutgers University. He is a leading voice in how poverty and prosperity are connected to the places in which we live.

Listen in as we discuss his most recent book, The Changing American Neighborhood, which explores the role of neighborhoods in American society and the challenges they face today.

We need a renewal of our thinking about what we call poverty. If we want to understand disadvantage better and therefore be better suited to create real solutions, we need to put the center on places, instead of on people.

Joining us to help reframe our thinking, is Dr. Kathryn J. Edin, professor of sociology and public affairs at Princeton University’s School of Public and International Affairs. She specializes in the study of people living on welfare. Her reporting has been cited as essential material for understanding the lived experience of poverty in America. Recently Dr. Edin and her team were contacted by RWJF to research poverty from the lens of place. The result of that work is the book we are talking about, The Injustice of Place.

Listen in for a thoughtful discussion with Dr. Richard Kahlenberg, professorial lecturer at George Washington University's School of Public Policy and Public Administration. Author and editor of 18 books, Dr. Kahlenberg is an authority on housing segregation, teachers’ unions, charter schools, community colleges, and labor organizing. Today we are talking about his book Excluded, which is an examination of how zoning laws are being used to promote opportunity for some and perpetuate disadvantage for others.

We explore the importance of neighborhood equality and the impact of neighborhood segregation. We discuss the benefits of diversity in neighborhoods and the losses associated with neighborhood segregation.

Joining us is Victor Luckerson, the author of a book that tells the origins and wonders of the Greenwood neighborhood in Tulsa, Oklahoma. His book, Built from the Fire, is a must read for anyone interested in understanding the power and importance of our historically Black neighborhoods and in learning how to protect and preserve their place in our cities. Victor is a journalist whose work has appeared in Time magazine, The New Yorker, The New York Times, Wired, and Smithsonian. 

The conversation explores the themes of community support, carrying the torch of change, understanding the shaping of communities, recognizing neighborhoods as living ecosystems, and gratitude.

Listen in as we talk about the neighborhood that refused to be erased.

In this conversation, Andre Perry discusses the causes and impact of home valuation disparities in black neighborhoods. He shares his motivation for this work, rooted in his upbringing and experiences. This discussion explores the importance of investing in people and place, the role of community involvement in development, the value of black women in leadership, and the significance of being part of a movement.

In 2017, the book "The Color of Law" hit the shelves and quickly went viral exposing how racial segregation in our communities is not a matter of personal choice, but a matter of government-enforced and funded mechanisms. As important as the book is, thousands of us asked, “What now? If this is the nature of the problem we face, how in the world do we move toward a more just and equitable future?”

The answer to those pleas is now here! Richard and Leah Rothstein have teamed up to release the must-read follow-up entitled Just Action: How to Challenge Segregation Enacted Under the Color of Law. Listen in as Leah and Shawn discuss the long-term nature of community organizing and the importance of intentional efforts to perpetuate and sustain change.

Listen in as Shawn chats with Dr.Dan Immergluck about the design complexities in cities like Atlanta. Dan is the author of over 100 scholarly articles and 5 books that focus on housing, race, neighborhood change, gentrification, segregation, real estate markets, and urban political economy. Listen in as we talk about his research in one of his recent books, Red Hot City: Housing, Race, and Exclusion in Twenty-First Century Atlanta.

This conversation highlights missed opportunities in Atlanta's development and the need for more equitable approaches. We explore the impact of corporate investment on Atlanta's housing market and the role of federal and local policies in increasing inequity and solving neighborhood problems for equitable and thriving communities.

The Atlanta Beltline is a 22-mile transit greenway that is changing both the physical form of the city and the decisions people make about living there. The vision for this city-transforming project came from a master's thesis project at Georgia Tech in 1999 from a student named Ryan Gravel. Ryan was captivated by how cities could become more human-centered and less car-centric. He has a creative eye to see how we can repurpose existing infrastructure to make neighborhoods places of connection, vibrancy, and social and economic vitality. Do we want the kind of cities we have grown to accept as status quo? What is our vision for the kind of places we want and deserve?

What would it mean to put the lens of place on how we judge the health and effectiveness of our Economic Development efforts? What if it is not just about jobs or services or tax revenue? What if the purpose of Economic Development was to create neighborhoods of vibrant social connectivity, pride in neighborhood identity, and accessible opportunities for people of all income levels to grow personally and professionally while increasing the wealth and well-being of all? In this episode, we are talking about the future of Historic South Atlanta’s economic development by comparing and contrasting some common models of economic development with the place-based mindset FCS brings to the work.