By Suzanna Caflisch In January, tens of thousands of teachers mobilized across the city of Los Angeles for a six-day strike to protest low wages and a lack of support for students in public schools across the district. United Teachers of Los Angeles (UTLA), a teachers union boasting a membership of 30,000, organized the walkout and ultimately negotiated a settlement … [Read more...] about PUBLIC EDUCATION IN THE U.S. AND BRAZIL: 9 REFLECTIONS AND LESSONS FROM THE L.A. TEACHERS STRIKE
DECOLONIAL PLANNING IN NORTH AMERICA
By Annette Koh Decolonizing planning requires that we take a long look at how planning’s project of making things better is and has always been subjective and rooted in exploitation. Our concepts of the public good and collective improvement are anchored in the history of colonial dispossession. In North America, European ideas about property and land rights allowed for … [Read more...] about DECOLONIAL PLANNING IN NORTH AMERICA
‘CREATIVE PLACEMAKING’ IN SAN FRANCISCO AND SEATTLE: DEMOCRATIC AND/OR INCLUSIVE?
By Vinita Goyal Creative Placemaking as a panacea for economic revival and neighborhood reinvigoration has blossomed in the last decade or so, since the earlier seeds of art and artists coalescing in the urban realm were planted. We no longer celebrate the glitzy boulevards of Haussmann’s Paris or even more recent institutional settings of a Lincoln Center for the … [Read more...] about ‘CREATIVE PLACEMAKING’ IN SAN FRANCISCO AND SEATTLE: DEMOCRATIC AND/OR INCLUSIVE?
WHAT ARE WIMBYs? WHO DO THEY REPRESENT AND WHY ARE THEY IN THE CROSSHAIRS?
By Dick Platkin WIMBY stands for “Wall Street in My Backyard.” In Los Angeles, journalist Jill Stewart and former Los Angeles County Supervisor and City Councilmember, Zev Yaroslavsky have popularized this term. In a word, WIMBYs are the dedicated foot soldiers of the real estate sector. They not only repeat its talking points, but also wrap them in a thin veneer of … [Read more...] about WHAT ARE WIMBYs? WHO DO THEY REPRESENT AND WHY ARE THEY IN THE CROSSHAIRS?
REVIEW OF “CITY POEMS & AMERICAN URBAN CRISIS: 1945 TO THE PRESENT” BY NATE MICKELSON
By Maya Amichai Nate Mickelson’s book “City Poems & American Urban Crisis” (Bloomsbury Academic, 2019) is based on the author’s PhD dissertation at the City University of New York. It is a refreshing text which uses poetry about the city as an entry point to engage the imagination in understanding cities and also imagining what they could be. It highlights the … [Read more...] about REVIEW OF “CITY POEMS & AMERICAN URBAN CRISIS: 1945 TO THE PRESENT” BY NATE MICKELSON