Equitable Landscapes
Addressing Systemic and structural racism is necessary to comprehensively understand urban ecological and evolutionary dynamics, conserve biodiversity, improve human health and well-being, and promote justice in nature and society“
-The ecological and evolutionary consequences of systemic racism in urban environments
Prioritizes anti-racist, grassroots environmental justice centered around urban design activism, the strengthening of community and care for local wildlife - setting the stage for global environment change. The discriminatory practice of redlining has put black and brown bodies directly in the path of environmental harm, residents are subjected to unsafe temperatures due to urban heat island effect and severe air pollution caused by the close proximity to major highways and industrial facilities. In addition, there is a direct correlation between neighborhood wealth and the diversity, health and prosperity of the native plant and animal species. The work explores the connections between systemic oppression, lack of biodiversity and environmental injustice in black & brown communities, proposing collaborative eco-architectural + urban rewilding expressions.
Mapping Environmental Injustice in Detroit
*Land acknowledgement: Detroit occupies the contemporary and ancestral homelands of three Anishinaabe nations of the Council of Three Fires: the Ojibwe, Ottawa, and Potawatomi.
Mapping overlay excercises to determined the locations of marginalized communities of color at risk for urban heat island, air pollution and historically opressive processes such as redlining. Equitable landscapes will take a systematic design approach to addressing individual community environmental justice needs and its methodology can be applied to cities outside of Detroit.
*Land acknowledgement: Detroit occupies the contemporary and ancestral homelands of three Anishinaabe nations of the Council of Three Fires: the Ojibwe, Ottawa, and Potawatomi.
Mapping overlay excercises to determined the locations of marginalized communities of color at risk for urban heat island, air pollution and historically opressive processes such as redlining. Equitable landscapes will take a systematic design approach to addressing individual community environmental justice needs and its methodology can be applied to cities outside of Detroit.
Detroit Baseline Map
+90% Black neighborhoods (2019)
Historically redlined neighborhoods
High risk CO2 / Air Pollution
Urban Heat Island (high risk)
Detroit neighborhood zones facing extreme environmental trauma and harm (resultant from mapping overlays)
the link between
systemic racism & loss of biodiversity
“Neighborhood wealth is directly correlated with biodiversity (plant diversity in particular)”
“Low-income neighborhoods have reduced tree and vegetation cover and increased impervious surface cover, which contributes to higher surface temperatures in cities worldwide.”
“Heat is unevenly distributed within a city, where temperatures are typically greater in lower income compared to higher income neighborhoods”
“Air pollution sources are often co-located near low-income neighborhoods and, consequently, low-income residents often have a higher risk and vulnerabilities to air pollutants.”
https://science.sciencemag.org/content/369/6510/eaay4497
“Systemic racism in environmental policy excludes communities from ecocultural relations with urban ecosystems, urban planning processes, and urban ecological restoration.”
-The ecological and evolutionary consequences of systemic racism in urban environments