tarantulas veiled chameleons bearded
dragons corn snakes mice rats ferrets
ducklings you name it we took in cats
rescued from the aftermath of Hurricane
Katrina quails that my friend’s parents
do not allow them to keep and dogs save
for medical experimentation the only
time I would see my father cry was when
a duckling would fall victim to a birth
defect or a swooping owl looking for
prey oops this duckling was born with
its feet facing upwards so we fed it by
hand until it passed away a few days
after it emerged from the egg recently I
so missed the feeling of holding
something small that I got a long-haired
Syrian hamster matcha in my senior year
of high school I brought in my chicken
puff saved from a slaughterhouse in for
show-and-tell I wanted to show my
classmates the sheer Wonder and the
chickens small eyes as she scanned her
new environment our classroom everyone
was enjoying puffs explorations
including my professor until puff
squawked and released warm feces onto
the floor I didn’t mind though I had
seen worse my family had dealt with it
all from bunnies with botfly infections
two dogs that had been run over by cars
anyone in any condition was welcome in
our house I recently realized that it
was my parents insistence on radical
inclusion on welcoming in the ill
injured and unwanted creatures that has
prompted my own interest in urban
planning and housing affordability our
home was a place we could use to house
to heal to protect and to snuggle these
creatures that could not find shelter
elsewhere these process
seemed to make sense from an efficiency
perspective if you have an available
space might as well fill it up with
those who will utilize it so I wonder
why do humans push away difference why
do people want to ban others from
entering the US based on their religion
why do residents feel uncomfortable
living near public housing developments
why do universities create lists of
individuals banned from campus but
neglect to support undocumented students
why has the concept of home becomes
something to protect and to exclude one
one example of this exclusion manifests
in defensive architecture or the
practice of physically designing space
so that it is no longer inhabitable
examples in courtyards and plazas across
the world include pointed spikes on
ground materials or park benches that
are impossible to sleep on this is an
attempt to control who uses which spaces
at which times especially discouraging
people experiencing homelessness from
lingering in public areas but would you
blame someone without a park bench for
taking refuge would you blame someone
without a bed for taking refuge on a
park bench even the concept of public
space has never been truly public the
ancient Greek Agora and Athens the
prototype for public interaction areas
was only available to free white male
citizens I think that this mindset both
in ancient Athens and now stems largely
from fear social critics ranging from
criminology scholar marie lee to
documentary and michael moore discuss
the rise of the fear of violent crime in
the US and the if it bleeds it leads
mindset prevalent in North American
media news sources aside
in actuality violent crime peaked in
1991 and fell in the following decade
while it has increased recently in some
cities the homicide level in Chicago is
still much lower than it was 25 years
ago this graph depicts the decrease in
the national homicide rate since 1995
but proponents of a narrative that
elevates these numbers appeal to a fear
of black men a fear of immigrants a fear
of people experiencing homelessness the
same fear that fuels exclusion and
homogeneity according to political
science professors Alton heindl
communities with larger black
populations in still greater fear in
white citizens when the formerly
depressed Northeast Corridor if H Street
in DC was redeveloped the new businesses
newcomers to the area reported black men
that they assumed to be completing drug
deals turns out they were merely
standing on street corners walking
through their neighborhood just as they
had before new waves of gentrification
entered residents and fear can even use
the built environment to physically
exclude difference from their
neighborhoods today more than 10 million
housing communities in the US are in
gated communities where AB gate or fence
physically obstructs outsiders various
euphemisms for marketing gated
communities include landscape resort
community master planned community or
secluded intimate neighborhood realtor’s
mark these communities and market them
their privacy and security definitely
not their sense of place or
opportunities for interaction
capitalism’s drive for profit
accumulation fuels commercialization of
lock boxes and security systems as
homeowners invest in privacy rather than
the essential social capital for social
cohesion in the local example of Durham
North Carolina you can see a racial
divide of difference that
IFS spatially across the city several
factors are at play here historically
black neighborhoods that were literally
zoned for black homes because of their
poor drainage and whiter more wealthy
areas around Duke University Latino
populations are also clustered but there
is not a single Latino representative on
the durham city council in my hometown
of Baltimore Maryland systemic racism is
responsible for the red lining and
highway construction that has divided
the city by race and the lead paint that
disproportionately affects those
neighborhoods that are majority black
Baltimore’s Seoul metro line does not
stop in wealthy white neighborhoods
because of suburban Knights stigma
surrounding public transit and the fear
of inundation by inner city dwellers
when Freddie gray was killed in 2015 he
was arrested in the same neighborhood
that he grew up in trapped by lack of
social mobility stemming from poor
spatial mobility spatial disparities
affect quality of life the median income
for black families in Baltimore is not
even half that of whites and this will
not change unless facial disparities can
diminish and people can share the jobs
schools and health care that booth
for starters we can reclaim strange
streets from automobiles and make them
for people again one of my urban
planning role models Alex Washburn who
you des heard speak has left his office
as the chief urban designer of New York
City and set up an open house in his
home in Red Hook Brooklyn he invites
people to come to his home and discuss
Hurricane sandy recovery and the influx
of capital from the new neighborhood
IKEA store social bonds created through
engagement build community and I don’t
think we can do this with big fences
around our houses better block a group
that empowers communities to transform
their car centered spaces creates bike
lanes trees outdoor seating areas and
open businesses so that instead of
wanting to cross the street in fear of
another resident people want to linger
in public spaces better blocks model
encourages the social interaction that
drive social cohesion and they’re not
the only group that thinks this way
Daniel Aldrich another UNC alum and
current director of the Center for
resilient study is at Northeastern
University asserts that social not
merely physical infrastructure just as
you heard from alex Washburn drives
resilience if communities can’t talk to
other diverse minds we won’t be able to
share the resources that are essential
for success one example of the value of
social capital exists in yanami Sanriku
a japanese coastal town that was
destroyed after the 2011 tsunami and
earthquake in the wake of mass
destruction as Minami Sanriku residents
to not know whose land was whose they
started crafting together building a
community art space and creating a
mascot octopus kun as a symbol for unity
they ended up selling the brand and a
toy and gaining enough revenue to
rebuild their homes according to Harvard
Law Professor Gerald E froob there is no
legal definition of
munity it is instead an informal
phenomenon that must be intentionally
pursued I’m not trying to suggest that
everyone to leave their doors unlocked
all the time we still need to be aware
of our surroundings but small pushes
towards connection might or might start
to dissolve the individualism found on
suburban curvilinear streets be like the
residents of octopus kisan raghu make an
octopus kun for your neighborhood walk
on the street and talk to you you see
work in a community garden make dinner
for the family next door that just moved
in if your town allows it consider
raising ducks might be a great
conversation starter with the neighbors
thank you [Applause]