531 - Special Session. Revitalization, Relocation, and the Right to the City

Session Submission Type: Invited Session

Description

Who owns the city? Who has the right to the private amenities and public services provided in the nation’s metropolitan areas? Who gets what and why, and who should get what and why? The persistence of racial segregation, concentrated poverty and uneven development generally – the signal features of metropolitan areas in the US – clearly privilege a small minority at a time of surging inequality. Gentrification, and what to do about it, have been at the heart of recent policy debates and will be the focus of this panel.

Housing policy is often the most concrete topic of discussion. Questions are heatedly debated over the merits of relocation versus reinvestment, with most observers calling for both. Lost in much of this debate is the larger context of inequality, brought forcefully by the Occupy movement to the attention of policymakers, scholars, organizers and other observers. In recent years many innovative coalitions have come together to spark progressive responses to the dynamics of uneven development. LAANE in Los Angeles, ONE DC in Washington DC, progressive mayors in New York, Seattle, Minneapolis and other cities, and other forces have joined to create affordable housing via inclusionary zoning rules in previously unaffordable areas, raise the minimum wage to $15 in some communities and accomplish other previously assumed unachievable goals.

This panel brings together a Seattle city council member, a Washington state legislator, a planner, and a sociologist to explore how these changes have emerged and how we can build on these achievements.

Sub Unit

• Special Sessions

Session Organizer

• Gregory D. Squires, George Washington Univ.

Presider

• Gregory D. Squires, George Washington Univ.

Panelists

• Lance Freeman, Columbia University

• Derek S. Hyra, American University

• Pramila Jayapal, Washington State Senator

• Nick Licata, Seattle City Council Member