This series of interviews with New Yorkers of color seeks to both explore these issues and to capture personal narratives of individual experiences related to community equity and sustainability.

Name: Shantay Armstrong
Neighborhood: Flatbush, Brooklyn
What do you do: Parent Coach @ Harlem Children’s Zone; Writer

My Green
What the heck does sustainability mean? I’m not sure actually, I think being able to live healthy and happy. Yes I do care if that’s what it means.

Would you consider yourself “green”? Yes, we have compost in our apt. and recycle and care about the earth because we and the earth are reflections of one another; when one lives, the other lives.

What do you do with your plastic bags? Save them – use them for garbage bags.

Do you recycle? Yes because I love my Mother Earth and am against useless waste.

Why would anyone want to have a garden? To grow one’s own organic fruits and veggies, to be satisfied by touching Mother Nature and giving back to land, to receive the blessings of the land, to become more grounded, to profit by selling organic foods that help other’s thrive.
Are bike lanes important to you? Why or why not? I think bike lanes are a good idea but I don’t particularly need them since I don’t ride a bike or drive

My Community
What makes your hood dope? Its full of Caribbean Americans and fresh produce and Caribbean food.

What makes it wack? Poverty, fast food, cops

What would your ideal open space include/consist of/look like? I love Prospect Park, but I’d love

to live by open plains or a farm

What does your community look like? Mostly apartment buildings being gentrified, bodegas, 2 main avenues with stores and supermarkets and grocery stores

Do you consider your community gentrified? Yes, and its in

the process of being gentrified. Gentrification began in Flatbush about 8 years ago. Growing up here it was all Black people, now it’s very diverse, stores have closed down, rents are changing, stored carry (some) different items, white people walk their dogs, but Caribbean Americans still account for maybe about half of the population. It’s changing.

Who are the gentrifiers? What are the signs of gentrification? Class, race, white families, mixed race families, young people, dogs being walked.

Does gentrification matter to you? Yes, I can’t stand gentrification. It’s disrespectful and a micro form of colonization.

Come back on May 2 for the next installation!

If you would like to be profiled in “Diversity in the City”, send an email to: mopierre@hunter.cuny.edu.

This series of interviews with New Yorkers of color seeks to both explore these issues and to capture personal narratives of individual experiences related to community equity and sustainability.

Name: Qa’id Jacobs

Neighborhood: Bedford Stuyvesant

Occupation: Visual Communications Specialist

 

My Hood

Why do you live there? My initial decision to live in Bedstuy was based on a combination of economics and demographics: it was an inexpensive neighborhood populated with black people of all strata. This is the environment where I am most comfortable.

What makes your hood dope?

• The access to African-based culture of the semi- affluent.
• Food and products made by and directed towards West Indian black people.
• Access to parks.
• Activities in the summer time.
• Local and small businesses owned by residents of the area.

What makes it wack?

• The increase in white and non-black residents who don’t make overt gestures of recognition of the power and history of black culture in the area.
• The increasing costs of living in the neighborhood.
• The aggressive and racist police activity.
• The poor amount of car parking.
• The clearly defined lines of division between the “good” and “bad” parts/streets of the neighborhood.

My Food

Does your neighborhood have a supermarket in walking distance? Yes; there is a small and limited supermarket within easy walking distance, and a much better one that is right on the edge of being too far away to walk to.

If so, does it have fresh produce? Yes, they both have fresh produce.

If not, how do you get fresh produce? Since the produce can often be overpriced or in bad shape, I sometimes patronize the “green grocer” or Asian-owned veg/fruit stores.

How many bodegas are in walking distance from where you live?

• In terms of the walking distance to the small supermarket, there are between 6 and 8.
• In terms of the walking distance to the large, better supermarket, there are between 15 and 20.

How many fast food restaurants are in walking distance from where you live? More than there are supermarkets, less than there are bodegas.

How many liquor stores are in walking distance from where you live? Two that I know of. There may be more, but I don’t visit them.

My Community
Do you consider your community gentrified? Yes, because the population is shifting towards more non-black residents and the prices for everything are getting higher.

If so, Who are the gentrifiers? All non-black people, and all people of considerable means that can pay inflated prices to things.

What are the signs of gentrification? Stores that cater to the gentrifiers; more non-blacks seen walking in the streets and playing in the parks; bike lanes.

Does gentrification matter to you? It does because I’ve always like to consider my neighborhood a sanctuary where I don’t have to wrestle with the social challenges that come from living in a racist society that privileges white men above all else. But now that white men and women are occupying my neighborhood, there is no place where I can obtain that refuge. I’ve also seen a tendency for gentrifiers to come into a neighborhood, change it (with their considerable wealth) rapidly and selfishly for their own immediate needs but then to abandon the neighborhood as they move through their social classes (and out into the burbs or whatever), thereby leaving unsupported infrastructure in the neighborhood to blight or waste resources.

My Green

What the heck does sustainability mean? To me sustainability describes an approach to action that takes the finite amount of natural, human, and cultural resources into account. I do care about sustainability because it has immediate and future impacts on our community and world.

Would you consider yourself  ”green”? No, not totally. A lot of my practices are not considerate of resource consumption and I don’t implement many alternative methods that actually have an effect.

Do you recycle? Why or why not? I do recycle when it’s an option for me (at home mostly – and only rarely while out in restaurants or stores, etc.). I think the original reason why I recycle is because we did so in high school and it stuck with me ever since. However, I’m aware of the fact that it doesn’t have a very large impact on use of resources and waste.

Do you compost? Why or why not? No, partly because of the lack of composting facility in-home and partly because of the fear of the work involved with maintaining one.

Come back on April 11  for the next installation!

If you would like to be profiled in “Diversity in the City”, send an email to: mopierre@hunter.cuny.edu.

This series of interviews with New Yorkers of color seeks to both explore these issues and to capture personal narratives of individual experiences related to community equity and sustainability.

Name: Wendy Lopez

Neighborhood: Bronx Park East

Occupation: Nutrition student

My Hood

Why do you live there? I live where I live because I was raised there, the entire community knows my family, and it’s home for us.

What makes your hood dope? There’s a wide range of diverse cultures from all over the world that aren’t isolated into different circles. We all interact, share, and learn from one another.

What makes it wack? There’s not many recreational activities, there’s a lack of access to affordable and healthy food, and the commute to other parts of NYC is super long.

Do you feel safe there? Yes and no. Yes because I know the area and the people very well, and no because as a woman, it’s not safe to be anywhere late at night, and that’s a huge issue for me when I go out late nights and have to take the long train ride back home and walk down the dark path.

Do you ride a bike? No because in the Bronx, there are no lanes designed for bike riding, and it’s also super hilly, which is not ideal for riding bikes

My Food

Does your neighborhood have a supermarket in walking distance? Yes

If so, does it have fresh produce? No

If not, how do you get fresh produce? Taking a long ass trek to the city

How many bodegas are in walking distance from where you live? 6

Does your bodega offer fresh produce? No

Do you even like fresh produce?! YES!

How many fast food restaurants are in walking distance from where you live? 10

How many liquor stores are in walking distance from where you live? 3

My Community

What does your community look like? Colorful, loud, happy, with not much jobs or money, closed in, and sometimes dark.

What would your ideal open space include/consist of/look like? Lots of trees, walking paths, biking paths, construction built for children and daily activities for all community members.

Do you consider your community gentrified? No because there isn’t a new wave of people coming in raising the property value of things.

Does gentrification matter to you? It does because with gentrification comes the ousting of community members that have been living in their homes all their lives. It involves being forced to leave a whole history and culture behind because you can no longer afford to pay the increased rent and cost of local living because of the new settlers.

My Green

What does sustainability mean to you? Sustainability is the ability to provide for yourself and those around you in a way that is fulfilling, non-wasteful, and effective when thinking short and long term.

Would you consider yourself “green”? Yes because I make conscious and active efforts to not only green up my body, but also green up our Earth. How so? Well, by eating and promoting local organic foods, I am not only maintaining a body in tune with the Earth, I am also reducing carbon foot print, promoting local economy, among the many other great things that come with awesome nutrition.

Do you recycle? Yes I do in hopes that it really does help reduce waste on Earth, but to be honest with you, I’m not sure how strict my building is with being on top of it.

Do you compost? Why or why not? No, my apartment is really small and I don’t feel like squishing it in there.

Why would anyone want to have a garden? To grow their own food (sustainability remember?), to teach others how to grow their own food, because it’s fun seeing the development of plants and trees, and because the food tastes better from one’s garden because you really put love into growing your own stuff.

Come back on March 28 for the next installation!

If you would like to be profiled in “Diversity in the City”, send an email to: mopierre@hunter.cuny.edu.

This series of interviews with New Yorkers of color seeks to both explore these issues and to capture personal narratives of individual experiences related to community equity and sustainability.

Name: Stephanie Matthews

Neighborhood: Flatbush (Prospect-Lefferts Gardens)

Occupation: I work for an ad agency in Manhattan running online campaigns for a pharmaceutical brand. I’m also a visual artist (painting/collage)

My Hood

What makes your hood dope? There seems to be a real sense of community and cultural diversity. People say hi to each other, kids seem to feel safe playing outside. About a week ago I saw a man get arrested on my block and several of the neighbors looked on to make sure nothing foul happened between him and the police. I love that the mom and pop shops still exist and “Ali’s Roti” is a block away from my house. There’s also a dope Black-owned & operated wine shop called 65 Fen that’s literally on my block.

What makes it wack? Honestly the only really wack things about my neighborhood are the lack of fresh food and housing neglect. The managers of my building don’t seem to care a great deal about the building or the people living in it. We don’t have a landlord, there is no superintendent present in the building and repairs are slow to happen. Some of the tenants have claimed that the building is at risk of collapsing because of a crack across the entire facade of the building… to my knowledge, the city ordered that it be repaired over a year ago but nothing’s been done to fix it.

My Food

Does your neighborhood have a supermarket in walking distance? Yes, we have an Associated, a Western Beef and a few produce stands.

If so, does it have fresh produce? Not really… unfortunately the places that sell produce tend to smell like chemicals so the only thing I really buy from them is plantains or canned food.

So, how do you get fresh produce? I usually have to shop in the city after work or go to farmer’s markets.

How many bodegas are in walking distance from where you live? Tons

Does your bodega offer fresh produce? No

Do you even like fresh produce? Hell yes

How many fast food restaurants are in walking distance from where you live? Let’s see, there’s two Popeye’s, a Wendy’s, a few chicken shacks… I’d guess about 5

How many liquor stores are in walking distance from where you live? I’d guess about 5-7

My Community

What does your community look like? Largely African, West Indian

Do you consider your community gentrified? It’s starting to be.

Who are the gentrifiers? What are the signs of gentrification? I could be considered a gentrifier. Fancy new cafes are popping up, a new bodega just opened that sells organic and ‘natural’ products, there are now bike racks by the park.

Does gentrification matter to you?  Why or why not? Yes, it matters to me… even though a lot of folks talk about gentrification in terms of the neighborhoods changing (and I do believe it’s important to preserve the neighborhoods), at the end of the day it’s really about the people. I’m not a native New Yorker but I’ve grown up very aware of a loss of culture, loss of land, and traditions. I think it’s extremely important that people are not displaced and that folks don’t lose what really matters to them, however they define that.

My Green

What does sustainability mean to you? I define sustainability by thinking about what is not sustainable. Something that’s unsustainable is something that cannot last because resources will eventually deplete, knowledge will be lost, etc. Sustainability means building a foundation now so that life and well-being can exist in the future.

Do you recycle? Yes, because I was raised to and I think it’s necessary. I don’t feel like it’s really encouraged in New York. [For example], the recycling bin in the back of my building (which has 45 apartment units), I would only consider big enough for a family of 5. Either they do picks ups very infrequently or people aren’t recycling.

Do you have a garden? No, but I did at my old apartment in Crown Heights. We had tomatoes and arugula growing in the backyard and the neighbors had a bunny farm.

Why would anyone want to have a garden anyway? So that they can have fresh, readily available food to eat that’s free of chemicals. Also, I think it’s important to know where food comes from and to know how to grow your own food.

Come back on March 14 for the next installation!

If you would like to be profiled in “Diversity in the City”, send an email to: mopierre@hunter.cuny.edu.

This series of interviews with New Yorkers of color seeks to both explore these issues and to capture personal narratives of individual experiences related to community equity and sustainability.

Name: Sandra Elia Martinez

Neighborhood: Spanish Harlem (El Barrio)

Occupation: Case Planner at NYC Mission Society

My Hood

Why do you live here?  I have lived in Spanish Harlem my whole life.

What makes your hood so dope? Besides it being the infamous El Barrio, the diversity of people, culture and history of Spanish Harlem are all contributing factors on what makes it so dope. Spanish Harlem is home to many prominent Latin artists, poets, and writers. It has a rich mix of immigrants, but is home to many Nuyoricans, who consider Spanish Harlem their very own little Puerto Rico. Spanish Harlem is one of the few neighborhoods left in Manhattan left that take you on a cultural rollercoaster. Every building, corner, mom and pop restaurant to the elders playing dominos in front of the Bodega, has a story behind it that contributes to the history of Spanish Harlem.

What makes it wack? It’s hard to say what makes my neighborhood “wack,” because I would live here forever, if it was not for the rent increasing minute by minute. However, I would have to say that the gang activity and the occasional gun fires donate to my neighborhood being “wack.”

Do you feel safe here? I do feel safe in my neighborhood. While others may have there reservations about my Spanish Harlem, I embrace the good and the bad. I feel safe, because I grew up in the neighborhood and know most of the people who live there. In addition, growing up in Spanish Harlem I quickly figured out what my safe boundaries were and weren’t.

My Food

How many times of week do you cook? Well I have to cook every day, because I’m a vegan and my neighborhood is not very vegan friendly.

Does your Neighborhood have a supermarket in walking distance? Yes, there are two supermarkets located three blocks from my apartment.

If so, does it offer fresh produce? The supermarkets do not have the greatest amount of fresh produce. Organic fresh produce are not offered at all; for organic produce I would have to go to Union Square  and shop at Whole Foods or wait for the farmers market.

How many bodegas are in walking distance? If it’s one thing that Spanish Harlem as a lot of his Bodegas. There are about 5 Bodegas in walking distance from my apartment.

Does your bodega offer fresh produce? No

How many fast food restaurants are in walking distance from where I live? About 5 in walking distance.

How many liquor store are in walking distance from where you live? There are two liquor stores in walking distance.

My Community

Do you consider your community gentrified? Yes! My neighborhood is becoming  gentrified. There are many high rise luxury condos and apartment buildings being developed for the wealthy.

Who are the gentrifiers? What are the signs of gentrification? Spanish Harlem is becoming extremely gentrified and it’s very disheartening. It’s even being referred to as SPAHA to attract more affluent people, while removing the negative connotation that’s comes from calling its original name Spanish Harlem. Spanish Harlem is home to many tenement buildings, not reaching more then 6-8 floors, (besides the few Project buildings spread out throughout the neighborhood). However, lately it is becoming home to many high rise luxury buildings. Not only, are these building owners asking an unreasonable amount of money for rent in an already low and fixed income neighborhood, but these high rise buildings are taking away the authenticity from Spanish Harlem. In addition, many mom and pop restaurants and local bodegas have been forced to close because of commercialism. Currently, big name cooperation’s are investing in Spanish Harlem because of the presence of major Real estate developers. Many people have been forced to move out, because of the increase in rent, and watch their once beloved Spanish Harlem, turn into the commercialized SPAHA.

Does gentrification matter to you? Gentrification in East Harlem is a very hot topic issue for me. I feel as if one of my favorite places is being destroyed right in front my eyes. I have worked with a local organization in the past called Community Voices Heard, which is an org that is continuously fighting to improve and sustain public housing in New York City. Last year I accompanied the organization to Washington D.C where we held a protest and attempted to speak to Congressman Charles B. Rangel about the need for affordable and sustainable housing for not only Spanish Harlem, but New York City in general.

While, I understand that change is inevitable, it should not come at a cost where people are being displaced from their homes and can’t afford their rent. People may argue that before Spanish Harlem was El barrio it was also home to the Irish, Polish, and Italian. While this is true, however, it has always been an affordable place where new found immigrants can come together to share their experiences and build a strong sense of community. Therefore, while others see gentrification as change that is simply occurring, I see it as the displacement of families and the cultural evacuation of Spanish Harlem.

My Green

What the does sustainability mean to you? Sustainability means to me that our actions and decisions today do not affect the opportunities for us in the future. I do care for sustainability because the way we treat our ecological systems affects all of us today and our future generations. We all live on this earth, and have to work together to preserve its beauty. We have to learn how to use our resources wisely and work to create a greener environment.

Would you consider yourself “green”? I do consider myself “Greenish,” I always remind myself to recycle, unplug electronic devices when not in use and buy from the farmers market as much as I can.

Do you compost? Why or why not? No, don’t have the equipment to compost.

Come back on February 28th for the next installation!

If you would like to be profiled in “Diversity in the City”, send an email to: mopierre@hunter.cuny.edu.

Weeksville Heritage Center Grounds

It’s hard to imagine any inch of New York City that hasn’t been scrutinized, glorified, surveyed, bought, and sold. But only 42 years ago, in 1968, Pratt Institute Professor Jim Hurley discovered three buildings in Brooklyn completely off the grid. He was in a helicopter, preparing for his urban studies course when he spotted three ancient houses along a forgotten alley. It looked like a little farm airlifted from Middle America. Instead, it was an improbably intact remnant of Weeksville, the country’s first community of free, black Americans.

Four decades after that discovery and nine years in the making, those three 120-year-old houses are being preserved in a remarkable $32 million museum, community center, and green space which will open next summer. Located in the Crown Heights neighborhood of Brooklyn, the site occupies what was once Hunterfly Road, a 320 year-old Dutch and Indian trading route. The project to preserve it and the houses above is an amalgam of work from architects, landscape architects, historians, city planners, and the museum’s staff.

Each of the three houses has been restored to reflect a different period in Weeksville’s history: mid-1800s, 1900s, and the Depression era, 1930s. The center hosts concerts in the yard behind the houses and local children grow organic vegetables in the lot’s small garden. It doesn’t fill much space now, but by the time the project’s finished, Weeksville will take up nearly an entire city block.

But preservation wasn’t the only goal. New York City regulators wanted the new Weeksville to be current — to give the area green space and a cultural, artistic hub. “The Design Commission had a very strong directive that it wanted to see a very modern building that did not have the same architectural language as the original houses; they didn’t want a blurring of history,” says Sara Caples of Caples Jefferson Architects.

Instead, Caples Jefferson infused the center’s state-of-the-art construction with West African patterns and colors. For example, silkscreened frits on the center’s windows, which improve the building’s energy efficiency, were printed in a Congolese pattern. The entranceway’s 15-foot-high ceiling and wooden sculptures are cloaked in African colors, such as deep purple and chocolate brown. The center will evoke Africa, not make a caricature of it — no masks or dashikis. “We got some early sketches that were too ridiculous,” Pam Green, the director of Weeksville, recalls with a laugh. “They looked like huts.”

For the center’s signage, the firm created a new font based on a newspaper once printed in Weeksville. The periodical had printed the alphabet to help the community learn to read. Caples Jefferson resurrected the style and dubbed it “Freedman’s Torchlight.”

Perhaps the project’s most compelling design decision is to build the new center low enough that the original houses

Weeksville Kitchen Garden

can still be seen — only about two stories tall. The structure will be certified LEED Gold. Geothermal wells will provide the heating and cooling, and the walls will be made of ipe, a renewable wood from Brazil, and slate. Glass hallways will connect flexible theater and exhibition space, a research center, and library. Also, there’s room for educational workshops, symposiums, concerts, and cultural events. “Weeksville serves more than 10,000 visitors each year, and anticipates that the expansion will more than triple its attendance over time,” explains Commissioner Kate Levin of the the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs.

Outside, Elizabeth Kennedy Landscape Architects designed a space that harks back to a more natural, untouched Brooklyn. There will be a pastoral lawn, an interpretive landscape that reflects the area’s agricultural history before the newer city grid superseded Hunterfly Road. It will be angled along the older border, surrounded by wetlands. Weeksville’s parking lot sits across the street from the main campus, like an island off the mainland. Throngs of schoolchildren jumping off their yellow buses, among others, will find they have to cross a small bridge to reach the campus. Down below, under plexiglass, they’ll see the foundations to several of the area’s original houses, which were discovered there and left intact.

“You don’t really recreate everything; it’s interpretive,” explains Elizabeth Kennedy. “You don’t hand it to people — you give them enough to imagine what it was like.”

Weeksville’s staff talks a lot about freedom, and how that notion dictated the center’s new design. “We can’t separate the new buildings from the old in terms of what we’re trying to convey,” Green insists. “Promoting creativity, self-sufficiency and freedom.”

The original article and all related comments are available at Fastco Design.

Images courtesy of Weeksville.

Learn more about Weeksville at their website.

From a sustainability stand point, bike lane infrastructure in any city would seem like an obvious  positive. Bikes are an environmentally sound way to get around, they decrease the number of cars on the road and the offer health benefits to riders. Bike lanes make cycling a safe and viable transportation alternative for city residents. Win, win right? Wrong.

Recently, the New York Times posted an article about the battle that has been happening in the city over Mayor Bloomberg’s efforts to make NYC more bicycle friendly. “New York has added 250 miles of bicycle-only lanes in the past four years”. The new and planned bike lanes have been met with fury by a myriad of different groups in the city. Last year in Williamsburg, a bike lane down Bedford Avenue was removed because of growing tension between Hasidim and cyclists. In November of this year, a Manhattan community board held a special hearing for residents to voice their concerns over a proposed lane on Columbus Avenue on the Upper West Side. And just a couple of weeks ago, due to neighborhood opposition, the city began removing a lane along Father Capodanno Boulevard on Staten Island.

Opposition for the city’s bike lane plans mostly come from drivers, concerned about narrowed lanes, increased traffic, and lost parking. For others, it’s cultural-bike lanes represent a change, an evolution to the cities landscape -and it’s happening way too quickly. Not touched upon in the article, but critical nonetheless, is the potential gentrifying affect of bicycle lanes. Many low income neighborhoods, lack bike lanes. And they often only appear after neighborhoods become gentrified. Additionally, bike lanes can be an impetus to gentrification in a neighborhood.

According to the Times article, New Yorkers have not been polled on their attitudes towards bike lanes. Currently, there is one being sponsored by the City Council focusing on Prospect Park West in Brooklyn. Could the intense bike lane plans of the city be another top-down order with no broad scale citizen support? Or is this approach a necessary evil to make the city more sustainable?  Who wins and who loses?

Image of 9th Avenue Bike Lane, Manhattan

The First Annual Black Farmers and Urban Gardeners Conference will take place next Saturday, November 19-21^st at Brooklyn College in Brooklyn, New York. The focus of the conference is to “forge food, farming and policy solutions for the Black Community.” According to the website, issues to be addressed are food insecurity in Black neighborhoods, malnourishment, childhood obesity and the crisis of Black farming. The Keynote speaker for the event will be Will Allen, founder of Growing Power, a nonprofit organization in Milwaukee support people “and the environments in which they live, by helping to provide equal access to healthy, high-quality, safe and affordable food for people in all communities.”

Saturday workshops on the program include: “Designing Linkages between Upstate Farmers and Downstate Food Desert Communities”, “Undoing Racism in the Food System: Lessons from the Detroit Struggle” and “Urban Farming as a Framework for Holistic Community Development. ”

Free childcare will be provided!

Note: the Black Farmers and Urban Gardeners Conference is open to ALL people. No matter your race, if you’re interested in issues of inequality and injustice in our food system and agriculture, please come and engage!

Photo:  Will Allen, Founder of “Growing Power”

Jalal picking the season's last tomatoes!

MPL: What is the Freedom Food Alliance?

JS: Currently, it’s an alliance between grassroots community organizations such as the Malcolm X Grassroots Movement (MXGM), Common Vision Council, WESPAC and Mothers on the Move (MOM); rural farmers from Vermont and upstate New York through the Food Security Roundtable and rural farmers from Vermont and western Massachusetts through Community Food Security; community gardeners in New York; and political prisoner Herman Bell. It seeks to give Black and Latino communities access to healthy food. It stems from work Herman Bell was doing in the late 1980s with Victory Gardens which was a project that connected farmers in Maine with community based organizations in the Bronx, Brooklyn, and parts of New Jersey to distribute food for free.

The long term goal is to build a food institution, created, supported, run by and for Black and Brown communities. The short term goal is building relationships with farmers through gleaning trips. Gleaning is the process where farmers let people harvest the left over crops that they don’t sell. This practice started during slavery where slaves would take the left over crop from their master for their own need or to sell for a small profit. We are organizig gleaning trips not for profit, but because this is the quickest way to get people fresh, healthy food in the absence of our own farmland.

MPL: In what ways will the Freedom Food alliance address food access in the city?

JS: By building food institutions that will allow Black communities to be a part of the production and distribution of their own food, and educating other folks on how to be self sufficient. Other organizations that work on getting people acces to food are set up like charities or service providers. We are not trying to be a charity service, we want to help organize folks so we all know how to grow our own food and be self-sufficient.

MPL: Why is it important to connect Black communities with Black farmers?

"The Good Food Movement is Now a Revolution"

JS: The industrial food system creates a consumer culture in Black communities and makes us reliant on corporations which don’t have our best interests in mind, and probably never will. It’s important for Black communities to have direct control over all of the systems that affect them, including food access. Connecting with farmers is the best way to ensure that you’ll have direct access to your food source. Having relationships with black farmers does that, but it also supports a dying breed.

In the 1930s, Black farmers were 14% of the farming population, currently, they’re only 1%. The government hasn’t supported Black farmers the way they’ve supported other farmers. Therefore, Black farmers need the support of Black communities in urban areas and the communities need the farmers in order to get direct acces to healthy food. Lastly, having a relationship with Black farmers breaks down the stigma our community has towards farming. Myself and other Black food justice activists believe a connection has made made between farming and slavery and sharecropping. We’ve identified this aversion to farming as a symptom of post-tramatic slave syndrome. So connecting to Black farmers is important for the healing of our communities and for us to be self-determined.

For more information on food and farming policies in the Black community, check out the First Annual “Black Farmers and Urban Gardeners Conference“, November 19-21st at Brooklyn College!

This general mission is even more imperative when one takes into account that in 2030, 60% of the global population will live in an urban environment, most of them from developing countries.  With this in mind, “Our Cities, Ourselves” proposed a ten point criteria called “The 10 Principles for Transport in Urban Life”, to act as baseline targets future transportation systems.  With these principles in mind, ten architects were tasked with redesigning the transportation systems of the ten cities, mainly focusing on how to increase pedestrian walkways, create biking amenities, develop rapid bus transit systems, and encourage intensification and diversification of urban centers.  While urban planners could’ve also been tasked for these proposals, architects were asked with the thought that their creativity and imagination would provide deeper inspiration than the practicality and realism of planners.

The “Our Cities, Ourselves” exhibit opened our eyes to the incredible advances being made by 21st century technology for sustainable transport. The New York City proposal made a huge push for people-powered transport. This alternative allows for the convenience of door-to-door travel while using less space and resources. People powered transport also has public health benefits and lessens the amount of cars on the road emitting pollution into the environment. The “Our Cities, Ourselves” exhibit not only looks at the small differences we can make in our lives but the big differences countries can make for their cities. Changes such as making walkways and bike paths more pleasant and attractive for more people to enjoy, increases the vitality of city life and promotes better health. Sustainable transit, will not be warmly welcomed unless there are attractive and lively places that encourages people to utilize them. This goes to show that rethinking the way we move in cities can create a more livable space and create a symbiotic relationship between the built environment and the natural one.

The exhibit presents various projects that have a range of feasibility: from the low impact plans, such as making a pedestrian plaza in Mexico City, to high impact plans, such as creating a long, elevated pedestrian walkway through parts of Guangzhou, China.  As the largest city in Argentina, Buenos Aires has a well-developed public transit system. However with a .8% population growth rate, the use of cars and the traffic that comes with it is on the rise. The Buenos Aires proposal developed by PALO Arquitectura Urbana focuses on the remnants of an industrial port in La Boca. The port, now abandoned, has become an eyesore, occupied by squatters and housing an 8 story highway viaduct. The proposed plan would transform the port into a waterfront promenade that includes bike and pedestrian lanes and enjoyable greenways leading to existing cafes and bars. Public spaces on each sides of the Rio de La Plata would link to a BRT and water taxis. The old freight line would be transformed into a pedestrian walkway and filled with housing and retail shops.

The Ahmedabad region is the largest inland industrial center in Western India. It has seen tremendous economic growth in the last decade, which has meant that the middle class has expanded, and the cities number of automobiles has exploded. Traditionally the streets were mixed use with bicycles and rickshaws dominating the narrow streets of Ahmedabad. The influx of cars has made the roads in the Jamalpur district of the city particularly dangerous as they lack the infrastructure to accommodate the car traffic, which has resulted in unsafe streets for pedestrians. Noise and exhaust pollution have become a serious problem for residents.

The HCP Design and Project Management Pvt. Ltd. (HCPDPM) plan for Ahmedabad is one of the strongest and most practical of the architectural renderings presented in the Our Cities Our Selves exhibition at AIA. Utilizing a vacant lot in Jamalpur, and reconfiguring the bus transportation with a Bus Rapid Transit system, their vision to create a more pedestrian friendly streetscape emulates planning techniques that have proven successful in Copenhagen and New York City. By creating pedestrian islands to increase green space and pedestrian safety, and making a mixed use civic space in the underutilized vacant lot, the plan accommodates the needs of cyclists and pedestrians and increase the quality of life for the fast growing population of Ahmedabad.
Changing an underused and blighted area of the city into a vibrant public waterfront space will be an asset to the community and the city at large. The Buenos Aires plan was one of the more realistic ones of the exhibit. While several of the other plans, would require destroying and rebuilding, this one, renews an antique infrastructure and transforms it. Ultimately, many of the projects may not be realized in the near future.  For example, the Jakarta proposal is visionary in terms of the way it plans to maximize use of every available area around Manggarai, the bus transit station which the proposal targets.  However, one look at the future renders of the project suggests that the amount of money and resources needed may not be available.  Despite this, these proposals provide desirable goals that get us thinking about how an increasingly urban world can also be increasingly sustainable.  And while they may not all be realistic,  these proposals stimulate discussion as to what we can do to improve our transit system so that they are more efficient and let us lead more sustainable and better lives.