Elizabeth J. Mueller

Sustainability and vulnerability: integrating equity into plans for central city redevelopment

Cities around the US are promoting redevelopment efforts in central city neighborhoods in order to foster more-sustainable development patterns. In this paper, we argue that such plans must be grounded in an assessment of the current conditions and existing populations in these neighborhoods. We propose a new way to frame plans for existing communities, using the concept of vulnerability to help us connect current conditions and future goals. Through a case study of the planning process for a transit-oriented redevelopment plan for a central neighborhood in Austin, Texas, we illustrate the difference between current approaches and an alternative approach.

Reversing the Tide: Will State and Local Governments House the Poor as Federal Direct Subsidies Decline?

Problem: Most housing programs in the United States do not focus on the most pressing housing needs. In 2003 more than 13 million households spent at least half their incomes on rent or the costs of homeownership, an increase of more than 35% since 1993. The vast majority of these households were poor. Yet housing policy has shifted away from deep-subsidy programs targeted to the poorest households toward providing shallow subsidies to higher-income households. Purpose: This article considers whether, given that the federal government is unlikely to increase funding for low-income housing, state and local governments are likely to increase housing assistance to the lowest-income households in the future, how such assistance could be structured, and how states and localities might be persuaded or compelled to provide this assistance. Methods: We examine the income distribution of households supported by major programs administered by state and local governments and the extent to which these programs target the poor and provide them with sufficient levels of subsidy. We reviewed program data reported to funding agencies and trade associations, census data on housing problems compiled by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, and data from surveys of policies and practices conducted by academic researchers and policy organizations. Results and conclusions: We find that the shift to state and local administration of federal funds has not significantly shifted priorities. We provide evidence that states are not using their discretion go beyond federal requirements, and are not serving income groups below those they are required to serve. Locally funded programs are less likely to target the poor than state or federal programs. Takeaway for practice: Rather than hoping for substantial local housing assistance targeted to the poor, we recommend making more effective use of existing federal resources. Research support: None.

Looking for home after Katrina: Postdisaster housing policy and low-income survivors

In the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, more than a million Gulf Coast residents were forced to flee, nearly 250,000 to Texas. New Orleans lost more than half its population. Four years later, many low-income residents had yet to return. Through qualitative research with low-income survivors relocated to Austin, Texas, and the caseworkers and service providers who worked with them, this article describes the experiences of low-income households. Disaster housing policies were a particularly poor fit for the needs of low-income survivors and, combined with a preexisting shortage of affordable housing in Austin, impeded their recovery.

Cranes, Crops and Conservation: Understanding Human Perceptions of Biodiversity Conservation in South Korea's Civilian Control Zone

South Korea’s Civilian Control Zone (CCZ), a relatively untouched area due to tight military oversight since the end of Korean War, has received considerable attention nationally and internationally for its rich biodiversity. However, the exclusion of local communities from the process of defining problems and goals and of setting priorities for biodiversity conservation has halted a series of biodiversity conservation efforts. Through qualitative research, we explored CCZ farmers’ views of key problems and issues and also the sources of their opposition to the government-initiated conservation approaches. Key findings include the farmers’ concerns about the impact of conservation restrictions on their access to necessary resources needed to farm, wildlife impacts on the value of rice and other agricultural goods they produce, and farmers’ strong distrust of government, the military, and planners, based on their experiences with past conservation processes. The findings regarding farmers’ perceptions should prove useful for the design of future participatory planning processes for biodiversity conservation in the CCZ. This case highlights how conservative measures, perceived to be imposed from above—however scientifically valuable—can be undermined and suggests the value that must be placed on communication among planners and stakeholders.

Integrating equity and environmental goals in local housing policy

In recent years, evidence and awareness of critical relationships among the built environment, energy use, and climate change have increased among planners, architects, and policymakers. In state and local planning and policy circles, discussion has focused on two main strategies: 1) fostering more compact forms of development with improved transit land-use characteristics; and 2) encouraging energy efficient, ‘‘green’’ new construction and retrofits of existing housing. Denser development connected to non-auto transit access promises to reduce transportation-related pollution and congestion. The primary policy tools under discussion have been (comprehensive) land-use planning tied to greater public investment in the public and non-motorized transportation infrastructure. Among architects, landscape architects, and interior designers, attention has focused on ‘‘greening’’ building design, materials, and site design standards, often through use of the US Green Building Council’s Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED), the US Environmental Protection Agency’s Energy Star standards, or the Sustainable Sites Initiative’s (SITES) benchmarks (Windhager et al. 2010). Organizations ranging from the US Conference of Mayors to the American Institute of Architects to the Society of Interior Designers have signed on to ambitious climate change goals put forward by Architecture 2030, aimed at dramatically reducing the fossil-fuel consumption and/or greenhouse gas emissions associated with building construction and operation. The other, perhaps more important, aspect of improving building energy efficiency is related to conservation retrofits to the existing housing stock. In all of these areas, debate has centered on documenting and evaluating both the individual and social costs of regulations relative to the household and social benefits of proposed policy changes. Arguably, both trends – compact development and green building/retrofit – have important implications for local housing policy. Both trends raise tensions that, we argue, must be explicitly addressed for equity and environmental goals to be jointly achieved at the local level. In this short piece, we review the key points of tension and opportunity between equity and environmental goals in local housing policy, and discuss starting points for moving forward. The first trend, the desire for more compact, transit-connected forms of growth, is changing planning priorities and practices regarding desirable locations for

Leaving Poverty through Work: A Review of Current Development Strategies

Jobs are increasingly central to economic development, welfare reform, and urban policy. This emphasis on increasing employment among the poor comes at a time of stagnant wages for people with modest skills and no college education. The current movement to promote work poses a fundamental dilemma: How can the dependent poor obtain jobs that offer sufficient income and benefits to prevent them from becoming the working poor? This article assesses four contrasting policy approaches to move poor inner-city residents out of poverty through work. Although promising examples can be cited across the four strategies-job training, job creation through local economic development, worker mobility/access to jobs, and the federal Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC)-all but the EITC are unable to provide sufficient wages to bring workers above the poverty line.

Book Review: Catalysts for Change: Twenty-first Century Philanthropy and Community Development

Beatley notes, “Many of these protected areas are relatively short distances from major urban centers, notably Los Angeles and San Francisco. These have the potential, with the right shift in our urban mental maps, to become the equivalent of the extended landscapes and regional parks that are common in terrestrial settings” (93). Ultimately, Beatley says we need “a new urban culture that is profoundly aware of its ocean and marine context . . . a new urban sensibility that not only recognizes oceans but makes them the central organizing framework and narrative to our lives on this indisputably blue planet” (xviii). He acknowledges that this will take more than better land use plans and building codes. It will require a citizenry that cares about oceans and the diversity of marine life. He describes numerous ways for cities to promote such a bond, mostly by supporting educational and recreational activities sponsored by partner organizations—including ocean-themed public art, aquaria, outdoor nature programs, whale watching, boating, citizen science programs, and volunteer habitat restoration projects. The goal is to connect people to the marine world and foster “ocean literacy.” As a call for a new planning orientation and urban culture, Blue Urbanism strikes an optimistic and hopeful tone. The aim is to promote a shift in awareness—and also to show that this shift is already happening in many cities around the world. However, the book does not go far beyond its collection of stories about local, small-scale efforts. It is a short book to sketch out a vision for blue urbanism to a general audience. As such, it contains little evaluation or analysis. Still, it is a good introduction, and it is an important vision to elucidate. The world’s oceans are being pushed to the brink of ecological collapse by climate change (which is raising water temperatures and increasing acidity faster than marine life can adapt), nutrient pollution (which is creating anoxic dead zones), overfishing, and other human impacts. So far, the world community has been unable to alter these trends, in large part because change requires doing difficult things like challenging the political power of fossil fuel interests, addressing the inequities between rich and poor nations, and questioning the consumer economy’s imperative for continual, unsustainable growth. The hope of blue urbanism is that, if more of the world’s urban residents can be inspired to feel a stronger connection to the oceans, they will act to reduce their harmful impacts at the local level. Then, perhaps, they will be more open to thinking about the bigger political, economic, and moral issues. Perhaps they will engage politically and push for the big changes—like a fee on carbon-based fuels—that will really work to reduce the terrible risks to the stability of the biosphere that supports human civilization on this small, blue planet.