tag:theconversation.com,2011:/ca-fr/topics/oakland-75385/articlesOakland – La Conversation2023-09-20T12:47:01Ztag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2133302023-09-20T12:47:01Z2023-09-20T12:47:01ZAmericans do talk about peace − just not the same way people do in other countries<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/549141/original/file-20230919-29-46yjz8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Children wave peace doves at a concert for peace in Bogota, Colombia, in August 2022. </span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/choir-made-up-of-more-than-10000-children-wave-peace-doves-news-photo/1419832116?adppopup=true">Chepa Beltran/Long Visual Press/Universal Images Group via Getty Images </a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Americans don’t talk much about peace. But <a href="https://doi.org/10.1017/lsi.2022.94">it turns out</a> they care about it a lot – they just don’t talk about it the way people who have experienced war or civil conflict do. </p>
<p>When public opinion polls in the U.S. ask people about peace, it’s either in the context of <a href="https://www.thearda.com/data-archive?fid=GSSPANEL2">religion</a> or <a href="https://news.gallup.com/poll/245705/americans-higher-hopes-prosperity-peace-2019.aspx">world peace</a>.</p>
<p>Instead of using the word peace, Americans are more likely to say that they care deeply about safety and security and issues like <a href="https://www.pewresearch.org/politics/2023/02/06/economy-remains-the-publics-top-policy-priority-covid-19-concerns-decline-again/">terrorism, crime, illegal drugs and immigration</a>. </p>
<p>But they still care about the same things people in places that have faced war are focused on. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/549142/original/file-20230919-15-3xgj0l.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="People wear face masks and hold large yellow and white peace signs on a city street." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/549142/original/file-20230919-15-3xgj0l.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/549142/original/file-20230919-15-3xgj0l.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/549142/original/file-20230919-15-3xgj0l.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/549142/original/file-20230919-15-3xgj0l.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/549142/original/file-20230919-15-3xgj0l.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/549142/original/file-20230919-15-3xgj0l.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/549142/original/file-20230919-15-3xgj0l.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">Protestors hold peace signs in support of Black Lives Matter in July 2020 in Oakland, Calif.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/protesters-hold-peace-signs-in-support-of-black-lives-news-photo/1258684586?adppopup=true">Natasha Moustache/Getty Images</a></span>
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<h2>What is peace?</h2>
<p><a href="https://sps.columbia.edu/faculty-staff/peter-dixon-phd">We are</a> <a href="https://www.scu.edu/cas/political-science/faculty--staff/fiorella-vera-adrianzen/">social scientists</a> who are part of a <a href="https://www.everydaypeaceindicators.org/team">network of peace and conflict</a> <a href="https://www.scu.edu/cas/political-science/faculty--staff/naomi-levy/">researchers </a> and <a href="https://possibilitylab.berkeley.edu/">community-engaged</a> <a href="https://gspp.berkeley.edu/research-and-impact/faculty/amy-e-lerman">scholars</a> at several universities. We and our other colleagues have spent a lot of time talking with different communities that have experienced war, including in <a href="https://doi.org/10.1093/jhuman/huac030">Colombia</a>, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/17502977.2020.1812893">Afghanistan</a> and <a href="https://www.everydaypeaceindicators.org/_files/ugd/849039_a2d4c66b63cc4e67815a6b736cc42cd5.pdf">Bosnia and Herzegovina</a>, about what <a href="https://theconversation.com/how-photography-can-build-peace-and-justice-in-war-torn-communities-166143">peace looks like</a> to them.</p>
<p>Peace is hard to define. In the dictionary, it’s equated with tranquility or the absence of war. We see it as broader. Peace is the ability for people to live in harmony with themselves and with each other. In practice, however, that can mean <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/0263395715622967">many different things</a> to different people. </p>
<p><a href="https://global.oup.com/academic/product/everyday-peace-9780197563397?cc=us&lang=en&">We know</a> that <a href="https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/reclaiming-everyday-peace/BEB6532292D692933AABC68EFFF9ACB3">people who directly experience conflict</a> and violence tend to have very broad, but also nuanced, definitions of peace. </p>
<p>In Colombia, for example, many communities told us they felt at peace when they had the infrastructure necessary to supply basic needs, like clean water, or when they could actively participate in regular social gatherings. In Bosnia, residents highlighted the ability to use public spaces, including rebuilt ruins from the war, as well as the presence of more day-to-day amenities like streetlights and parking.</p>
<p>But until a recent project in Oakland, California, we weren’t thinking about our work in America as also being about peace. </p>
<p>Since 2021, we’ve been working with six community organizations in Oakland to understand how people define and experience safety and well-being in their everyday lives. As it turns out, these concepts helped us get at how Americans, who have not experienced war like the people in other regions we’ve worked with, might also understand peace.</p>
<h2>Re-imagining safety</h2>
<p>Our research’s focus on safety was inspired by a number of <a href="https://www.nlc.org/post/2021/02/16/nlc-assembles-task-force-of-local-leaders-to-reimagine-public-safety-in-communities-across-the-u-s/">cities and towns</a>, like <a href="https://www.columbus.gov/reimaginesafety/">Columbus, Ohio</a>, and <a href="https://www.austintexas.gov/publicsafety">Austin, Texas</a>, that have launched projects to reform how public safety is conceived of and protected following the widespread <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2020/07/03/us/george-floyd-protests-crowd-size.html">Black Lives Matter protests</a> in 2020. </p>
<p>Oakland has undergone a similar process of asking residents to help their local government <a href="https://www.oaklandca.gov/topics/reimagining-public-safety">rethink what safety</a> means. And, like <a href="https://theconversation.com/why-voters-rejected-plans-to-replace-the-minneapolis-police-department-and-whats-next-for-policing-reform-171183">other cities</a>, Oakland residents have had an intense <a href="https://www.sfchronicle.com/crime/article/The-Oakland-Police-Department-claims-it-is-16386039.php">debate over the police department</a> and how the government should reform its approach to crime. </p>
<p>We spoke to over 500 residents across parts of Oakland that have been especially hard hit by crime and violence and who live in areas that have historically been both overpoliced and underserved with public resources. </p>
<p>We asked questions like, “What does safety or the lack of safety look like here,” and “What are some signs that the community is doing well or not doing well?”</p>
<p>These conversations covered a lot of ground – ground that was similar to other conversations we’ve had about peace with people who live in conflict zones or countries with long histories of war.</p>
<p>Some Oakland residents spoke about how kids are desensitized to gunshots and violence or are arrested or kicked out of their homes. We heard that these kids and teenagers ultimately lose sight of how their lives – and the lives of others – have value.</p>
<p>High school students also reflected on the prevalence of guns, shootings and gangs in their lives. As one told us, “I want to go back” to a more innocent time, when “I didn’t know nothing about any of this.”</p>
<p>But just as we know that violence and security are only two aspects of people’s understandings of peace, the same is true of safety. The police – and even crime – are just two aspects of how communities think about safety in their everyday lives. They also think about economic opportunities, public space and social connections.</p>
<p>We heard about how, when kids have basic life skills and job skills training, or have mentors and role models, this can give them choices that are alternatives to criminal activity and help them invest back in their communities.</p>
<p>We heard about block parties and <a href="https://www.townnights.org/">town nights</a>, which inspire people of different races and ethnicities to look out for each other and build trust with their neighbors. “By us, for us,” as one resident put it.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/549145/original/file-20230919-25-r870wu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="The back of a man flashing two peace signs with his hands is seen on a city street, with many other people walking past him." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/549145/original/file-20230919-25-r870wu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/549145/original/file-20230919-25-r870wu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=380&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/549145/original/file-20230919-25-r870wu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=380&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/549145/original/file-20230919-25-r870wu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=380&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/549145/original/file-20230919-25-r870wu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=478&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/549145/original/file-20230919-25-r870wu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=478&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/549145/original/file-20230919-25-r870wu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=478&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A man flashes the peace sign as protesters march during an Occupy Oakland protest in November 2011 in Oakland, Calif.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/man-flashes-the-peace-sign-as-thousands-of-protestors-march-news-photo/131201340?adppopup=true">Justin Sullivan/Getty Images</a></span>
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<h2>From safety to peace</h2>
<p>The United Nations marks the annual <a href="https://www.un.org/en/observances/international-day-peace">International Day of Peace</a> on Sept. 21, 2023. </p>
<p>In general, the U.S. does not widely recognize or celebrate global holidays like these, including <a href="https://medium.com/age-of-awareness/america-started-international-womens-day-so-why-don-t-we-celebrate-it-50b10ec7829e">International Women’s Day</a> or <a href="https://www.npr.org/2022/04/30/1095729592/what-is-may-day-history">International Labor Day </a>. </p>
<p>But, like peace, safety is about far more than reducing violence. It’s being able to trust that police <a href="https://law.yale.edu/yls-today/news/whats-next-policing">have communities’ interests in mind</a> and knowing that residents will receive fair treatment in the courts. </p>
<p>It’s also being able to breathe clean air and access work and educational opportunities. It’s about being able to openly share past trauma, feel loved and connected, and so much more.</p>
<p>This all has important implications for what Americans want – and what they actually get – from their local governments. When policymakers define safety as the absence of violence and benchmark it primarily against metrics like <a href="https://theconversation.com/republicans-say-crime-is-on-the-rise-what-is-the-crime-rate-and-what-does-it-mean-192900">crime statistics</a>, they limit the kinds of policies that cities and their residents can look to. </p>
<p>Typically, the main policy responses in the U.S. to crime and violence have centered on policing and incarceration.</p>
<p>In contrast, our conversations across Oakland suggest that communities are already using different frameworks and language to assess safety. These in turn offer up a more holistic set of potential interventions. What, we might ask, would city leaders focus on if they were evaluating the success of public safety reforms by whether children are playing outside in the park, or whether people know the names of their neighbors?</p>
<p>Building safety in the U.S. is more akin to building peace internationally than many Americans may think. As we celebrate world peace, we think people should remember that these conversations matter here at home, too.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/213330/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Peter Dixon received funding for this project from Santa Clara University. He is a Board Member of Everyday Peace Indicators. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Amy E Lerman received funding for this project from the California Community Foundation / California 100 Initiative.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Fiorella Vera-Adrianzen received funding for this project from California Community Foundation / California 100 Initiative through Santa Clara University. She is a research associate at Everyday Peace Indicators.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Naomi Levy received funding for this project from the California Community Foundation / California 100 Initiative. She is a member of the Everyday Peace Indicators Board of Directors. </span></em></p>While Americans tend not to use the word “peace,” and instead opt for terms like “safety and security,” their desires and fears are not so different from what people in war-torn places express.Peter Dixon, Associate Professor of Practice, Negotiation and Conflict Resolution, Columbia UniversityAmy E Lerman, Professor of Political Science & Public Policy and Executive Director, Possibility Lab, University of California, BerkeleyFiorella Vera-Adrianzén, Political science lecturer, Santa Clara UniversityNaomi Levy, Associate Professor of Political Science, Santa Clara UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2077792023-06-29T12:17:01Z2023-06-29T12:17:01ZDisasters like bridge collapses put transportation agencies’ emergency plans to the test<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/584441/original/file-20240326-18-k42fw1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=7%2C7%2C5150%2C3193&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">A container ship collided with the Francis Scott Key Bridge in Baltimore on March 26, 2024, collapsing a section of the bridge. </span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://newsroom.ap.org/detail/MarylandBridgeCollapse/3ab19a4aa7274ec49065520bb79aa9ea/photo">AP Photo/Steve Ruark</a></span></figcaption></figure><p><em>A container ship <a href="https://apnews.com/article/baltimore-bridge-collapse-53169b379820032f832de4016c655d1b">rammed into the Francis Scott Key Bridge in Baltimore</a> around 1:30 a.m. on March 26, 2024, causing a portion of the bridge to collapse into Baltimore Harbor. Officials called the event a mass casualty and were searching for people in the waters of the busy port.</em> </p>
<p><em>This event occurred less than a year after <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/transportation/2023/06/11/bridge-collapse-philadelphia-interstate-95/">a portion of Interstate 95 collapsed</a> in north Philadelphia during a truck fire. That disaster was initially expected to snarl traffic for months, but a <a href="https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2023/06/23/i-95-bridge-reopening-friday/70349844007/">temporary six-lane roadway</a> was constructed in 12 days to serve motorists while a permanent overpass was rebuilt.</em></p>
<p><em>U.S. cities often face similar challenges when <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/memphis-cracked-i-40-bridge-creates-headache-traffic-shipping-n1267187">routine wear and tear</a>, <a href="https://abc7news.com/loma-prieta-quake-earthquake-when-was-magnitude/5605965/">natural disasters</a> or major accidents damage roads and bridges. Transportation engineer <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=RxdHmbMAAAAJ&hl=en">Lee D. Han</a> explains how planners, transit agencies and city governments anticipate and manage these disruptions.</em></p>
<h2>How do agencies plan for disruptions like this?</h2>
<p>Planning is a central mission for state and metropolitan transportation agencies. </p>
<p>Traditional long-term planning focuses on anticipating and preparing for growing and shifting transportation demand patterns. These changes are driven by regional and national economic and population trends. </p>
<p>Shorter-term planning is about ensuring mobility and safety during service disruptions. These events can include construction, major scheduled events like <a href="https://www.wkrn.com/news/local-news/bonnaroo-traffic-tdot-prepares-for-traffic-in-manchester/">music festivals</a>, traffic incidents such as crashes and hazardous material spills, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1061/(ASCE)0733-9488(2007)133:1(3)">emergency evacuations</a>, and events like the bridge collapse in Baltimore.</p>
<p>Agencies have limited resources, so they typically set priorities based on how likely a given scenario is, its potential adverse effects and the countermeasures that officials have available. </p>
<p>For bridges, the <a href="https://highways.dot.gov/">Federal Highway Administration</a> sets standards and requires states to carry out periodic inspections. In addition, agencies develop a detouring plan for each bridge in case of a structural failure or service disruption. In Baltimore, Key Bridge traffic will be <a href="https://www.cbsnews.com/baltimore/news/travel-around-francis-scott-key-bridge-collapse-baltimore-traffic/">routed through two tunnels</a> that pass under the harbor, but trucks carrying hazardous materials will have to take longer detours.</p>
<p>Major bridges, such as those at Mississippi River crossings, are crucial to the nation’s economy and security. They require significant planning, commitment and coordination between multiple agencies. There usually are multiple contingency plans in place to deal with immediate traffic control, incident response and field operations during longer-term bridge repair or reconstruction projects. </p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/cEk9FhzgEO0?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">The Francis Scott Key Bridge carries more than 30,000 vehicles daily past the Port of Baltimore, which serves many container ships daily.</span></figcaption>
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<h2>What are some major challenges of rerouting traffic?</h2>
<p>Bridges are potential choke points in highway networks. When a bridge fails, traffic immediately stops and begins to flow elsewhere, even without a formal detouring plan. Transportation agencies need to build or find excess capacity before a bridge fails, so that the disrupted traffic has alternative routes. </p>
<p>This is usually manageable in major urban areas that have many parallel routes and bridges and built-in redundancy in their road networks. But for rural areas, failure of a major bridge can mean extra hours or even days of travel. </p>
<p>When traffic has to be rerouted off an interstate highway, it can cause safety and access problems. If large trucks are diverted to local streets that were not designed for such vehicles, they may get stuck on railroad tracks or in spaces too small for them to turn around. Heavy trucks can damage roads and bridges with low weight limits, and tall trucks may be too large to fit through low-clearance underpasses.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/584443/original/file-20240326-30-m7kk1a.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A highway at night, jammed with traffic on one side, the other side empty." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/584443/original/file-20240326-30-m7kk1a.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/584443/original/file-20240326-30-m7kk1a.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=389&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/584443/original/file-20240326-30-m7kk1a.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=389&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/584443/original/file-20240326-30-m7kk1a.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=389&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/584443/original/file-20240326-30-m7kk1a.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=488&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/584443/original/file-20240326-30-m7kk1a.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=488&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/584443/original/file-20240326-30-m7kk1a.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=488&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Traffic is jammed on I-10 westbound amid evacuations ahead of Hurricane Delta on Oct. 8, 2020, in Lake Charles, Louisiana.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/traffic-is-jammed-on-i-10-westbound-amid-evacuations-ahead-news-photo/1279252464">Mario Tama/Getty Images</a></span>
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<p>Successful rerouting requires a lot of coordination between agencies and jurisdictions. They may have to adjust road signal timing to deal with extra cars and changed traffic patterns. Local drivers may need to be directed away from these alternative routes to prevent major congestion. </p>
<p>It’s also important to communicate with navigation apps like <a href="https://www.google.com/maps/about/#!/">Google Maps</a> and <a href="https://www.waze.com/apps/">Waze</a>, which every driver has access to. Route choices that speed up individual trips may cause serious congestion if everyone decides to take the same alternate route and it doesn’t have enough capacity to handle the extra traffic.</p>
<h2>Can these events permanently change commuting and traffic patterns?</h2>
<p>In some cases, yes. Some repairs take months, such as the 2022 crack in the <a href="https://www.ualrpublicradio.org/local-regional-news/2022-02-21/how-authorities-missed-the-flaw-that-nearly-brought-down-the-i-40-bridge">I-40 Hernando De Soto Bridge</a> across the Mississippi River in Memphis, Tennessee. Others can stretch over years, such as the 2007 collapse of the <a href="https://www.lrl.mn.gov/guides/guides?issue=bridges">I-35W bridge</a> in Minneapolis. Some structures are rebuilt elsewhere, like the <a href="https://highways.dot.gov/public-roads/marchapril-1998/replacing-oaklands-cypress-freeway">I-880 Cypress Street viaduct</a> in Oakland, California, which collapsed during the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake. </p>
<p>While traffic is disrupted, motorists change their commute patterns or may even switch to other modes, such as buses or commuter rail. But after repairs are completed, even if some commuters don’t return to their old routes, new traffic soon will take advantage of the restored capacity. In the end, it’s hard to tell just by looking at usage whether commuters have changed their travel patterns permanently.</p>
<h2>Will money from the 2021 infrastructure bill reduce the risk of these kinds of events?</h2>
<p>Unfortunately, things do fall apart. U.S. infrastructure has been <a href="https://infrastructurereportcard.org/">deteriorating for decades</a>. The American Road & Transportation Builders Association has estimated that <a href="https://artbabridgereport.org/">1 in 3 U.S. bridges need repair</a>. </p>
<p>At the current rate, we are unlikely to catch up to a state of good repair any time soon. But strategic investments like the 2021 infrastructure bill can likely help repair and address critical deterioration concerns for some high-risk bridges, roads, dams and other structures. </p>
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<figcaption><span class="caption">This time-lapse video shows crews working around the clock to build a temporary roadway at the site of a collapsed overpass on Interstate 95 in north Philadelphia.</span></figcaption>
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<h2>Can public transit fill part of the gap?</h2>
<p>Public transit may be able to fill the gap in several ways when key roadway links are destroyed or damaged.</p>
<p>Fixed-route rail transit services, such as Washington, D.C.’s Metro and commuter rail services in Chicago, typically have exclusive rights of way, which let them travel at higher speed than buses on surface streets. They also have high capacity that can be increased by adding more cars to each train or running trains more frequently. </p>
<p>If those systems’ routes are not disrupted due to something like a bridge collapse, they may be able to operate above their normal loads. Drivers can shift to transit as long as their trip origins and destinations are conveniently located near transit stations.</p>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"1772554130365550738"}"></div></p>
<p>Bus transit services don’t usually have exclusive rights of way or means to add extra carrying capacity per vehicle. But they have more flexibility to extend the service areas that they cover and connect otherwise non-walkable locales.</p>
<p>Coordinating use of various transit services and creatively adjusting bus lines could address some local travel needs, such as daily commutes and school and shopping trips. But local public transit services struggle to fill longer-distance gaps that extend beyond their service areas.</p>
<p>In major urban areas like Philadelphia that have large populations and have invested a lot in their transit systems, public transit could carry as much as 25% of daily commute trips. But for disruptions outside of major cities, such as a bridge collapse on an interstate highway in a rural area, public transit probably won’t have much of a role.</p>
<p>It’s also important to note that public transit services are for moving people. Freight shipments, which rely on trucks and other specialized vehicles, also need to get through or around disrupted zones. This often requires large commercial trucks either to use nearby local streets that weren’t designed for such big, heavy vehicles, or to make long-distance detours. That increases delays, pollution, safety risks and transportation costs that will eventually be passed on to consumers.</p>
<p><em>This is an update of an article originally published on June 29, 2023.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/207779/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Lee D. Han receives funding from the National Science Foundation and the Department of Transportation. </span></em></p>Transportation agencies plan for events like major bridge or highway collapses, but these events can disrupt traffic for months and affect residential neighborhoods as well as motorists.Lee D. Han, Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of TennesseeLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2022302023-06-06T12:29:50Z2023-06-06T12:29:50ZA community can gentrify without losing its identity – examples from Pittsburgh, Boston and Newark of what works<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/526633/original/file-20230516-23757-xm3dyf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=26%2C16%2C3567%2C2549&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">A street mural by Manuel Acevedo at Halsey Place in Newark, N.J.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.fourcornerspublicarts.org/projects#/the-gantalism-dedication-2019/ ">Anthony Alvarez</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/">CC BY-NC-ND</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>How can neighborhoods gentrify without erasing their heart and voice?</p>
<p>It’s an important question to ask now, I’d suggest, since many communities across the U.S. are at risk of losing their historical identities as new people and businesses move in, displacing residents and affecting the fabric of the community. This <a href="https://www.pps.org/article/gentrification">process is known as gentrification</a>, and while a neighborhood “upgrade” can bring new vitality, diversity and opportunity, that is a win only if existing residents and businesses are not forced or priced out.</p>
<p>How to have the positive effects without the negatives isn’t obvious. President Joe Biden’s 2023 budget proposes a US$195 million increase in the Community Development Block Grant program that targets development in 100 <a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/omb/briefing-room/2022/03/30/president-bidens-fy-2023-budget-advances-equity/">underserved communities</a>. By creating infrastructure that attracts new development, some of these projects will likely support gentrification.</p>
<p>I’m an <a href="https://sasn.rutgers.edu/about-us/faculty-staff/anthony-alvarez">educator</a>, arts administrator and public policy fellow who has worked with Fortune 500 companies and exhibited my own photography nationally. I teach fine arts classes at Rutgers in Newark, New Jersey, where I was raised.</p>
<p>As an artist, I believe that it is important to preserve diverse communities with unique characteristics. Public art is one way to highlight and honor our shared spaces <a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/j.0309-1317.2003.00492.x">even as we reshape them</a>. Art can help present the values that communities want to project and protect as a way of maintaining and creating great places to live.</p>
<h2>Defining spaces</h2>
<p>What makes a great place to live? </p>
<p>Or, as urban planner <a href="https://doi.org/10.1353/artv.2017.0009">Maria Rosario Jackson</a> – now serving as chair of the National Endowment for the Arts – asks: What makes “a just place where people can thrive”? </p>
<p>The answer is, many elements working together. Accessible transportation, diverse housing stock, good schools and jobs, to name a few. Places and spaces in which visitors and residents can convene and connect, be entertained, engage creatively, and find experiences that expand and challenge imaginations. </p>
<p>Public art projects are at the center of many revitalization projects, and they are crucial to the fabric and vitality of their communities. Consider as just one example <a href="https://undergroundinkblock.com/about-2">Underground at Ink Block</a> in Boston, a project that transformed an ordinary underpass into a place where neighbors come together to honor shared histories and play, connect and create community surrounded by outstanding street art. </p>
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<p>Successful projects like this one don’t just happen. Rather, urban planners and community leaders rely on proven techniques that bring them together with community members to practice what urban planners call placemaking, creative placemaking and placekeeping.</p>
<h2>First came placemaking</h2>
<p>Placemaking entered into the urban planning vocabulary in a <a href="https://www.arts.gov/about/publications/creative-placemaking">2010 white paper</a> by Ann Markusen and Anne Gadwa for The Mayors’ Institute on City Design. </p>
<p>More recently, the Project for Public Spaces published a <a href="https://uploads-ssl.webflow.com/5810e16fbe876cec6bcbd86e/6335ddc88fbf7f29ec537d49_2022%20placemaking%20booklet.pdf">Primer on Placemaking</a> in 2022 titled “What if we build our cities around places?”</p>
<p>The paper argues that successful cities need destinations: strong communities with distinct identities to help attract new residents, businesses and investment. </p>
<p>Walkable, safe, comfortable and dynamic public spaces and buildings are key components to the creation of spaces where “people want to live, work, play and learn,” as Michigan State University <a href="https://www.canr.msu.edu/news/lpis_mark_wyckoff_authors_article_on_four_different_types_of_placemaking">urban planner Mark Wyckoff argues</a>.</p>
<p>Placemaking began as an economic development strategy focusing on “<a href="https://www.brookings.edu/research/why-we-need-to-invest-in-transformative-placemaking/">economic districts</a>,” but recent shifts also call for thoughtful and <a href="https://www.brookings.edu/about-the-bass-center/">sensitive social impact</a> focusing on what residents and commuters want, like cultural activities, accessible parks, and healthy and sustainable food sold at farmers markets.</p>
<h2>Harnessing creativity</h2>
<p>Creative placemaking connects traditional economic placemaking with arts and cultural strategies. Markusen and Gadwa explain that creative placemaking involves partnering with the community to re-imagine a neighborhood while maintaining its social and cultural character. </p>
<p>Movements such as <a href="https://www.tate.org.uk/art/art-terms/s/socially-engaged-practice">Socially Engaged Art</a> allow artists and community to come together in a public space that encourages conversation around a common goal. Rick Lowe’s <a href="https://projectrowhouses.org/">Project Row Houses</a> in Houston and the <a href="https://www.theastergates.com/project-items/dorchester-art-and-housing-collaborative-dahc">Dorchester Art and Housing Collaborative</a>’s Theaster Gates in Chicago are just two of many examples of this blurring of the lines between art, activism and economic development.</p>
<h2>Placekeeping</h2>
<p>More recently, the idea of placekeeping expands on these earlier concepts by recognizing that having communities at the table when revitalization projects are being planned is key to growing urban environments that have a good chance of keeping displacement at bay. Placekeeping emphasizes learning what is important to the fabric of the community and how to weave that into revitalization projects.</p>
<p>A former mayor of Oakland, California, Libby Schaaf, said <a href="https://www.cnu.org/publicsquare/2019/11/12/toward-placekeeping-how-design-dialogue-can-make-cities-better-everyone">in 2019</a>: “Placekeeping is about engaging the residents who already live in a space and allowing them to preserve the stories and culture of where they live.” </p>
<p>Oakland was one of the participants of Bloomberg Philanthropies’ <a href="https://www.bloomberg.org/press/bloomberg-philanthropies-launches-asphalt-art-initiative-providing-cities-how-to-guidance-to-transform-streets-and-public-spaces-with-artwork/">Asphalt Art Initiative</a>. This <a href="https://asphaltart.bloomberg.org/projects/">64-city program</a> has the goal of assisting “cities looking to use art and design to improve street safety, revitalize public spaces, and engage their communities.” </p>
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<p>Here in Newark, New Jersey, <a href="https://www.audible.com/about">Audible</a>, an audiobook and podcasting subsidiary of Amazon, has led a dynamic partnership with local leaders, elected officials, stakeholders, residents and artists called the <a href="https://www.archpaper.com/2022/06/newark-artist-collaboration-honors-the-citys-history-and-residents-through-13-just-unveiled-art-installations/">Newark Arts Collaboration</a>. The installation takes the form of 13 murals reflecting the vibrancy and histories of the city’s neighborhoods and the people within them. </p>
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<h2>Avoiding gentrification</h2>
<p>The best way of knowing what a community values is to ask the people who live there. </p>
<p><a href="https://nlihc.org/resource/gentrification-and-neighborhood-revitalization-whats-difference">Community benefits agreements</a> are contracts that bring community groups and stakeholders to a shared planning table. These agreements provide negotiated, binding contracts that help leverage tools such as <a href="https://www.ura.org/pages/lower-hill-lerta-greater-hill-district-neighborhood-reinvestment-fund">tax assistance programs and reinvestment funds</a> with concrete community investment plans. </p>
<p>For example, in Pittsburgh, community benefits agreements provided an opportunity for the community and developers to co-shape major revitalization projects beginning with the <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v9qqXHa3Gs0&list=PL45AA4AF0740EF212&index=1">PPG arena 2008</a> and expanding with the renovation of <a href="https://www.cbsnews.com/pittsburgh/news/hill-district-ura-concert-venue-lower-hill-district/">the historic New Granda Theater in 2023</a>.</p>
<p>Any anti-gentrification effort begins with an inclusive process. Under Mayor Michelle Wu, the city of Boston <a href="https://www.boston.gov/departments/arts-and-culture/allston-brighton-arts-culture-and-placekeeping">provides another example</a> of placekeeping by promising to learn “what exists, what is treasured and what contributes to the unique characteristics of Allston-Brighton,” a quickly developing neighborhood within the city.</p>
<p>Embracing the heart of the community, honoring its artistic expression, and creating access for the community was key in the development of <a href="https://www.evartscollective.com/frogtown-artwalk">Frogtown Arts Walk</a> in Los Angeles. And keeping this regeneration equitable is center to Newark’s <a href="https://newarkarts.org/newark-creates/">cultural plan</a>. </p>
<p>To quote Newark Mayor Ras Baraka: “Newark should be the place to be for artists. And, I want Newarkers to benefit from their presence.”</p>
<p><em>This story was updated to correct the number of Asphalt Initiative grants.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/202230/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Anthony Alvarez does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Art can help anchor places even as they are reshaped.Anthony Alvarez, Lecturer of Arts, Culture & Media, Rutgers University - NewarkLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1767782022-03-14T12:22:36Z2022-03-14T12:22:36ZAffordable housing in the US is increasingly scarce, making renters ask: Where do we go?<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/451075/original/file-20220309-1737-4p8f7j.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Community organizers speak in a vacant house in West Oakland, Calif., that they occupied in 2019 and 2020 to bring attention to affordable housing.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://media.gettyimages.com/photos/moms-4-housing-founder-dominique-walker-and-others-talk-in-the-dining-picture-id1199390012?s=2048x2048">Jane Tyska/Digital First Media/East Bay Times via Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>The United States is facing an expanding gap between how much workers earn and how much they have to pay for housing. </p>
<p>Workers have faced <a href="https://hbr.org/2017/10/why-wages-arent-growing-in-america">stagnant wages</a> for the past 40 years. Yet the cost of rent has steadily increased during that time, with <a href="https://www.redfin.com/news/redfin-rental-report-december-2021/">sharp increases of 14% to 40% </a> over the past two years. </p>
<p>Now, more than ever, workers are feeling the stress of the affordable housing crisis. </p>
<p>While I was conducting research in economically hard-hit communities from Appalachia to Oakland, California, for my recent <a href="https://www.politybooks.com/bookdetail?book_slug=living-on-the-edge-when-hard-times-become-a-way-of-life--9781509548231">book, published in November 2021</a>, nearly every person I met was experiencing the painful reality of being caught between <a href="https://www.cbpp.org/blog/rents-have-risen-more-than-incomes-in-nearly-every-state-since-2001">virtually stagnant wages and rising housing costs</a>. </p>
<p><a href="https://cmpascale.org/">As a sociologist,</a> I had expected that low-wage workers would struggle with the cost of housing. I did not expect to meet people who worked two jobs and lived with roommates and still struggled to pay their bills. </p>
<p>For perspective, a person making US$14 an hour would have to work 89 hours a week to cover the rent on a “modest” one-bedroom rental, estimated to cost $1,615 per month, according to a <a href="https://nlihc.org/sites/default/files/oor/2021/Out-of-Reach_2021.pdf">2021 study by the National Low-Income Housing Coalition</a>. </p>
<p>Millions of workers earn less than $14 an hour. Among U.S. employees, the average hourly earnings, adjusted for inflation, were only <a href="https://www.statista.com/statistics/216259/monthly-real-average-hourly-earnings-for-all-employees-in-the-us/#:%7E:text=In%20January%202022%2C%20the%20average,data%20have%20been%20seasonally%20adjusted">$11.22 in 2022</a>. </p>
<p>In January 2022, median rents in the U.S. reached their highest level yet. <a href="https://www.realtor.com/research/january-2022-rent/">The average median cost</a> of one-bedroom units in the 50 largest metro areas rose from $1,386 in 2020 to $1,652 in 2022.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/451084/original/file-20220309-15-8rxxu0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A man is shown outside of a moving truck, next to a row of new attached houses." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/451084/original/file-20220309-15-8rxxu0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/451084/original/file-20220309-15-8rxxu0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=360&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/451084/original/file-20220309-15-8rxxu0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=360&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/451084/original/file-20220309-15-8rxxu0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=360&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/451084/original/file-20220309-15-8rxxu0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=453&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/451084/original/file-20220309-15-8rxxu0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=453&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/451084/original/file-20220309-15-8rxxu0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=453&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">New affordable housing units in Irvine, Calif., are shown on Jan. 26, 2022.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://media.gettyimages.com/photos/residents-start-to-move-into-sage-park-irvines-new-affordable-housing-picture-id1238006154?s=2048x2048">Mindy Schauer/Digital First Media/Orange County Register via Getty Images</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>‘Now I’m having to scrounge’</h2>
<p>I interviewed PL (a pseudonym) for my recent book. He is <a href="https://www.jchs.harvard.edu/calendar/americas-rental-housing-2022">among the 44 million</a> people in the U.S. who rent their homes.</p>
<p>PL is a longtime Oakland, California, resident, who works full time in a professional career. Despite employment stability, his financial circumstances are worsening.</p>
<p>“Rent is raised dramatically from year to year. I work in a nonprofit organization, so I don’t get a raise every year,” PL told me during an interview in 2018. His monthly rent increased by $250 over the previous three years. Yet his salary remained static. </p>
<p>“That $250 was going toward the grocery bills, the gas bills. Now I’m having to scrounge,” PL said. </p>
<p>PL is not alone.</p>
<p>Households that spend more than 30% of their income on rent are referred to as “cost burdened,” according to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. In 2019, <a href="https://www.habitat.org/costofhome/2020-state-nations-housing-report-lack-affordable-housing">37.1 million households</a>, or 30.2% of all U.S. households, fit this category. The <a href="https://theconversation.com/affordable-housing-in-pandemic-times-what-works-and-what-doesnt-177699">situation has worsened</a> since the pandemic.</p>
<p>The financial burden of the increasing cost of rent falls hardest on the <a href="https://www.ssa.gov/cgi-bin/netcomp.cgi?year=2019">half of workers in the U.S. who earn less than $35,000</a> each year. After paying rent, about 80% of renter households with incomes under $30,000 have between <a href="https://www.jchs.harvard.edu/calendar/americas-rental-housing-2022">$360 and $490 left to cover all other</a> expenses, including food, health care, transportation and child care. </p>
<h2>Where can you live?</h2>
<p>Oakland has been described by gentrification experts as the new center of the nationwide <a href="https://www.mercurynews.com/2020/03/03/we-are-fed-up-new-surge-of-housing-activism-spurs-change-in-oakland/">affordable housing crisis</a>. </p>
<p>A growing tech industry in San Francisco, a lack of affordable housing, weak rent control laws and a predominance of low-wage service industry jobs contribute to the shortage of affordable housing in Oakland. </p>
<p>Vanessa Torres is one of the more than 15,000 people who live in a low-income neighborhood in Oakland known as “the Deep East.” When I spoke with Torres in 2020, the worry in her voice was clear.</p>
<p>“This is the ‘hood. If low-income Latinos can’t afford it anymore, well where do we go? If we can no longer afford to live in low-income communities that are considered dangerous, that are considered poor, then where do we see ourselves?” Torres said. </p>
<p>In 2019, <a href="https://www.zumper.com/rent-research/oakland-ca/downtown-oakland">the midpoint</a> for monthly rent for a one-bedroom apartment in Oakland was $2,300. </p>
<p>Torres would need to earn almost $50 per hour, approximately $96,000 a year, to be able to afford $2,300 a month in rent, according to the <a href="https://www.sfgate.com/expensive-san-francisco/article/San-Francisco-rent-wages-median-Oakland-Alameda-12879211.php">nonprofit California Housing Partnership Corp.</a>. Torres earns roughly $50,000 a year as an educator. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/451149/original/file-20220309-15-1my4t3g.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A man walks past a building with graffiti, in front of tents and boxes." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/451149/original/file-20220309-15-1my4t3g.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/451149/original/file-20220309-15-1my4t3g.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=357&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/451149/original/file-20220309-15-1my4t3g.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=357&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/451149/original/file-20220309-15-1my4t3g.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=357&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/451149/original/file-20220309-15-1my4t3g.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=449&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/451149/original/file-20220309-15-1my4t3g.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=449&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/451149/original/file-20220309-15-1my4t3g.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=449&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">California has one of the highest homeless rates in the country. Here, a man walks past tents in Los Angeles on April 26, 2021.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://media.gettyimages.com/photos/man-walks-past-tents-housing-the-homeless-on-the-streets-in-the-skid-picture-id1232545986?s=2048x2048">Frederic J. Brown/AFP via Getty Images</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Still seeking solutions</h2>
<p>Elected officials across the country have tried to address the affordable housing crisis through proposals to raise the <a href="https://edlabor.house.gov/imo/media/doc/2021-01-26%20Raise%20the%20Wage%20Act%20Fact%20Sheet.pdf">minimum wage</a> and to mandate more meaningful <a href="https://www.multihousingnews.com/a-deep-dive-into-growing-rent-control-laws-proposals/">rent control</a>. They have also proposed greater government investment in <a href="https://joebiden.com/housing/">affordable housing</a>, and pursued <a href="https://inclusionaryhousing.org/inclusionary-housing-explained/what-is-inclusionary-housing/#:%7E:text=Inclusionary%20housing%20programs%20are%20local,units%20to%20lower%2Dincome%20residents.">partnerships with developers</a>. As yet, none of these efforts has been successful to any significant extent. </p>
<p>Countries with more government control over the economy have taken a different approach to affordable housing. For example, <a href="https://static1.squarespace.com/static/5a99206bee17593d9ef5cceb/t/5f609207aed573278ae41bc4/1600164570274/NBO+%E2%80%93+Housing+Nordic_Housing+models+in+the+Nordic+Region.pdf">Nordic countries</a> treat the development of low- and medium-cost housing as a public utility. This <a href="https://pubs.aeaweb.org/doi/pdfplus/10.1257/jep.32.1.59">reduces and stabilizes</a> housing prices by removing the cost of land, construction, finance and management from the speculative market. They have succeeded in producing quality housing that is subsidized and permanently price restricted. </p>
<p>Known as <a href="https://static1.squarespace.com/static/5a99206bee17593d9ef5cceb/t/5f609207aed573278ae41bc4/1600164570274/NBO+%E2%80%93+Housing+Nordic_Housing+models+in+the+Nordic+Region.pdf">social housing</a> in Denmark, this strategy has produced 20% of the total available housing there. </p>
<p>Given the affordable housing problems in the U.S., taking stock of other options could provide some inspiration.</p>
<p>For PL, the Oakland renter feeling the squeeze of rising rents, as well as for many other full-time workers, the future doesn’t look any better. PL, who is in his mid-50s, told me he doesn’t see a way to retire. He would need to leave his community in order to retire, but he can’t imagine where he would go. The East Bay is his home. </p>
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<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Celine-Marie Pascale does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>It’s getting much harder in the US to find an affordable home, even for people who work multiple jobs.Celine-Marie Pascale, Professor of Sociology, American UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1512482020-12-14T13:21:54Z2020-12-14T13:21:54ZWhy getting back to ‘normal’ doesn’t have to involve police in schools<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/372607/original/file-20201202-24-w02ua4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C0%2C5463%2C3645&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Roughly half of public schools have a police presence.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/los-angeles-school-police-officer-henry-anderson-center-on-news-photo/496418636?adppopup=true">Irfan Khan/Los Angeles Times via Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Since COVID-19 forced many of America’s schools to teach kids remotely, parents and elected officials have been rightly concerned about when things will get back to normal.</p>
<p>But there are certain aspects of education where a return to a prepandemic “normal” may not be in the best interests of America’s students.</p>
<p>I believe that stationing large numbers of police officers inside public schools is one reality ripe for reform. I say this not only as a <a href="https://www.stanlitow.com/about">scholar of the politics of education</a>, but as former deputy chancellor of New York City’s public schools. I served right before New York City’s mayor at the time – Rudolph Giuliani – moved to have the <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/1998/09/16/nyregion/new-era-as-police-prepare-to-run-school-security.html">police department take over school security</a> for the city’s school system.</p>
<p>A look back at that decision – and its consequences – can help inform the ongoing discussion about whether or how police belong in America’s schools.</p>
<h2>Police takeover</h2>
<p>Upon becoming mayor in 1994, Giuliani moved forward with the extraordinary step of shifting the responsibility for school discipline <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/1998/09/16/nyregion/new-era-as-police-prepare-to-run-school-security.html">to the New York City Police Department</a>, which he ultimately got the <a href="https://www.edweek.org/leadership/n-y-c-mayor-gains-control-over-schools/2002/06">then-independent</a> Board of Education to <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/1998/09/16/nyregion/new-era-as-police-prepare-to-run-school-security.html">approve in 1998</a>.</p>
<p>Giuliani wanted schools to have a <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/1993/11/09/nyregion/giuliani-sees-role-for-police-in-the-schools.html">more visible police presence</a>, even though there was evidence that <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/1990/02/13/nyregion/violence-is-scarce-in-schools-police-find.html?searchResultPosition=8">violence in the city’s schools was rare</a>.</p>
<p>As the city’s deputy schools chancellor in the early 1990s, I opposed this move, as did <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/1998/09/16/nyregion/new-era-as-police-prepare-to-run-school-security.html">then-Chancellor of Schools Ramón Cortines</a>, and his successor, <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/1998/09/16/nyregion/new-era-as-police-prepare-to-run-school-security.html">Rudy Crew</a>. We all expressed concerns that it would not make schools safer, but would negatively affect the entire school climate and impede educational progress. </p>
<p>At the time, when the Division of School Safety reported to me, it had roughly <a href="https://www.cdfny.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2019/10/CDF-NY-Report-History-of-Policing-in-NYC-Public-Schools.pdf">2,900 school safety officers</a> – none of whom were police officers – and a budget of about <a href="https://www.cdfny.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2019/10/CDF-NY-Report-History-of-Policing-in-NYC-Public-Schools.pdf">US$72 million</a>. By 2020 under New York City’s police force, staffing for school safety officers roughly doubled in size, growing to <a href="https://www.politico.com/states/new-york/albany/story/2020/07/02/school-safety-agents-will-stay-under-nypd-this-year-despite-citys-claims-of-1b-cut-1296868">5,511</a>.</p>
<p>And some budget reports now document spending growing to over <a href="https://www.cdfny.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2019/09/NYPD-School-Safety-Budget-Explainer.pdf">$400 million</a>. But the massive spike in staffing and spending is part of a larger social justice problem known as the “<a href="http://www.justicepolicy.org/news/8775">school-to-prison pipeline</a>,” in which exposure to the justice system takes place as a result of even minor infractions at school.</p>
<h2>Disparities in discipline</h2>
<p>Nationally, Black boys get suspended once or more during the school year at more than <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/2332858419844613">three times the rate</a> that white boys do. In one state, Indiana, Black students’ probability of being suspended or expelled in a school year is <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/2332858419844613">roughly 16% higher</a> than it is for white students.</p>
<p><a href="https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1808307116">Research</a> has shown that Black students are “more likely to be seen as problematic and more likely to be punished than white students are for the same offense.”</p>
<p>In the 2018 school year, <a href="https://www.aclu.org/sites/default/files/field_document/030419-acluschooldisciplinereport.pdf">roughly half of U.S. schools</a> had some law enforcement officials stationed in them. This is evidence that many U.S. school systems have been following a more visible form of school discipline with closer and deeper connections to policing and law enforcement than in the past.</p>
<h2>Alternatives to police</h2>
<p>I believe there is a different way.</p>
<p>School districts such as <a href="https://edsource.org/2020/oakland-school-board-unanimously-agrees-to-eliminate-its-police-force/634544">Oakland</a>, California, and <a href="https://coloradosun.com/2020/06/11/denver-public-schools-police/">Denver</a>, Colorado, have moved to eliminate or phase out police presence in schools.</p>
<p>There are plans to use the savings, at least in the case of Oakland, toward more counselors, social workers and workers who focus on <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/0044118X12473125">restorative justice</a>, which involves practices such as peer mediation, restitution and community service instead of punitive measures, such as suspension or expulsion.</p>
<p>The results of pilot studies in both Oakland and Denver were quite positive. In Oakland, <a href="https://www.ousd.org/cms/lib07/CA01001176/Centricity/Domain/134/OUSD-RJ%20Report%20revised%20Final.pdf">graduation rates increased 60%</a> in schools that implemented restorative justice practices, and <a href="https://www.ousd.org/cms/lib07/CA01001176/Centricity/Domain/134/OUSD-RJ%20Report%20revised%20Final.pdf">suspensions fell by 56%</a>.</p>
<p>The incoming administration – through the U.S. Department of Education – has an opportunity to focus attention and resources away from having more police in schools. Instead, the administration of President-elect Joe Biden can provide funding incentives that would encourage school districts to increase school safety and school success, by investing more heavily in counselors and other forms of student support.</p>
<p>As I see it, by doing so, America’s schools will be safe, but also <a href="https://www.civilrightsproject.ucla.edu/resources/projects/center-for-civil-rights-remedies/school-to-prison-folder/federal-reports/the-high-cost-of-harsh-discipline-and-its-disparate-impact">more students will graduate</a> and fewer young people will be fed into the school-to-prison pipeline.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/151248/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Stanley S. Litow does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>A former deputy chancellor of New York City schools explains why the police don’t need to patrol the nation’s public schools.Stanley S. Litow, Visting Professor of the Pratice, Public Policy, Duke UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1224332019-08-28T11:48:22Z2019-08-28T11:48:22ZWhy would anyone want to sit on a plane for over 18 hours? An economist takes the world’s longest flight<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/289512/original/file-20190826-8889-j6yaz5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">A customer waits for the world's longest flight from Singapore to Newark.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://www.apimages.com/metadata/Index/Singapore-Flight-New-York/bafca6aa739745bbbf2197235dc678b7/1/0">AP Photo/Wong Maye-E</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Recently <a href="https://www.qantasnewsroom.com.au/media-releases/qantas-to-operate-project-sunrise-research-flights-direct-new-york-london-to-australia/">Qantas announced</a> plans to conduct test flights from New York and London to Sydney and two other Australian cities. </p>
<p>If commercialized, these routes would become the longest in the world at about 19 hours. Qantas said it will conduct test flights <a href="https://www.wsj.com/articles/qantas-wires-up-people-for-19-hour-endurance-flight-11566471393">with only employees</a> on board to ensure the flights are safe and comfortable enough for paying customers. </p>
<p>I heard this news after finishing a round-trip on what is currently the world’s <a href="https://www.travelandleisure.com/airlines-airports/longest-flights-in-the-world">longest flight</a>, the 18 hours and 45 minutes Singapore Airlines schedules to get from <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/ericrosen/2018/10/11/worlds-new-longest-flight-from-singapore-to-newark-launches-today/#6a42a6a12aca">Newark, New Jersey, to Singapore</a>, a route that began last October. The return trip is slightly quicker. Fortunately for me, there were favorable winds so each way took about 30 minutes less than scheduled.</p>
<p>Being aloft twice for the better part of a day gave me plenty of time to ponder the origins and <a href="http://businessmacroeconomics.com/">economics</a> of long-distance flights – with plenty of time to spare for binge watching.</p>
<h2>Talk about a long flight</h2>
<p>Pilots and airlines have been pushing the boundaries of flight times since the earliest days of air travel. In fact, 19 hours is rather quick for the industry’s trailblazers.</p>
<p>The <a href="https://www.wired.com/2009/06/dayintech-0609/">first plane to make it across the Pacific</a> took off from Oakland, California, in 1928. It took the aircraft, dubbed the “Southern Cross,” <a href="https://www.thisdayinaviation.com/tag/southern-cross/">three long flights</a> to get to its final destination in Australia: 27 and a half hours to Hawaii, 34 and a half hours to Fiji and a final 21 and a half hours to Brisbane. In all, the pilot and his crew covered about 7,000 miles in 10 days – all without losing any luggage.</p>
<p>A few years later, in 1931, two daredevils in search of a US$25,000 prize <a href="https://www.wired.com/2010/10/1005first-nonstop-transpacific-flight">flew from Tokyo to the state of Washington</a> in the first nonstop flight over the Pacific Ocean. To save weight and fuel, the pilots even threw out their landing gear after takeoff. When they reached the U.S., they crash landed – but survived to claim the prize. The flight took 41 hours and covered more than 5,500 miles.</p>
<p>These super-long flights, of course, were taken by daredevil pilots with no passengers. And they were very dangerous. One of the most famous aviation failures involved <a href="https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2019/07/19/amelia-earhart-found-disappearance-theories/1475518001/">Amelia Earhart</a>, who disappeared in 1937 while attempting to cross part of the Pacific on a world circling flight.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/289516/original/file-20190826-8856-1rxgxj3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/289516/original/file-20190826-8856-1rxgxj3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=449&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/289516/original/file-20190826-8856-1rxgxj3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=449&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/289516/original/file-20190826-8856-1rxgxj3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=449&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/289516/original/file-20190826-8856-1rxgxj3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=565&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/289516/original/file-20190826-8856-1rxgxj3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=565&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/289516/original/file-20190826-8856-1rxgxj3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=565&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The first trans-Pacific flight included three layovers, with legs as long as 34.5 hours.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Kingsford_Smith#/media/File:StateLibQld_1_139254_Landing_the_aircraft,_Southern_Cross_in_Brisbane,_Queensland,_ca._1928.jpg">John Oxley Library</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Six days and 60 hours</h2>
<p>The <a href="https://www.clipperflyingboats.com/transpacific-airline-service">first service</a> to ferry paying customers across the Pacific was created by Pan Am in October 1936. </p>
<p>The trip started from San Francisco and ended in Manila, capital of the Philippines. It took six days and about 60 hours of flying time. The plane flew during the day and made stops in Hawaii, Midway, Wake and Guam at night. The longest leg, from San Francisco to Hawaii, <a href="https://airandspace.si.edu/exhibitions/hawaii-by-air/online/pan-am-clippers/pan-am-spans-the-pacific.cfm">took 18 and a half hours</a>. </p>
<p>Pam Am’s planes, called the “Clippers,” <a href="https://www.clipperflyingboats.com/">didn’t need airports</a>. They were specially designed to <a href="https://airandspace.si.edu/exhibitions/hawaii-by-air/online/pan-am-clippers/pan-am-spans-the-pacific.cfm">take off and land in the water</a>. The planes <a href="https://airandspace.si.edu/exhibitions/hawaii-by-air/online/pan-am-clippers/what-was-it-like-to-fly.cfm">were also quite luxurious</a> and even had separate areas for eating and sleeping.</p>
<p>But all that luxury while spanning the globe was quite expensive. </p>
<p>The one-way fare from San Francisco to Manila <a href="https://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/article/China-Clipper-s-flight-made-history-75-years-ago-3165474.php">was $950</a>, or $17,400 in <a href="https://www.bls.gov/data/inflation_calculator.htm">today’s dollars</a>.</p>
<p>Fortunately, the cost of flying these long routes – in terms of both money and time – has come down dramatically. These days you can fly direct from San Francisco to Manila in business class for around $3,000, including the return flight. The trip to Manila takes just 14 hours.</p>
<p>Today’s flights are also a lot safer. The concern for many passengers is not crashing but instead <a href="https://www.popsci.com/are-long-airplane-flights-bad-for-your-health/">health risks like deep vein thrombosis</a>, a type of blood clot. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/289517/original/file-20190826-8880-1gukbch.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/289517/original/file-20190826-8880-1gukbch.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=486&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/289517/original/file-20190826-8880-1gukbch.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=486&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/289517/original/file-20190826-8880-1gukbch.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=486&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/289517/original/file-20190826-8880-1gukbch.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=611&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/289517/original/file-20190826-8880-1gukbch.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=611&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/289517/original/file-20190826-8880-1gukbch.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=611&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Amelia Earhart disappeared while attempting to circumnavigate the globe.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://www.apimages.com/metadata/Index/Watchf-AP-A-APHS245875-Amelia-Earhart/e473225ce73d48db80cefd8f7c091c00/6/1">AP Photo</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Saving time, money and bags</h2>
<p>Still, even if things have improved, I think most of us agree that <a href="https://www.cleveland.com/pdworld/2008/02/flying_isnt_fun_anymore.html">flying is not fun</a>. Airlines <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/danielreed/2018/04/26/airline-customer-satisfaction-scores-fell-in-2018-even-as-more-people-flew-on-them-than-ever-before/#3e9ae4ca2ddc">regularly rank near the bottom</a> among industries in customer satisfaction surveys. </p>
<p>So why would we want to increase the amount of time spent 30,000 feet above the ground in a metal tube with wings? </p>
<p>For one thing, it means less total travel time. For example, my flight to Singapore would have taken three and a half hours longer with a layover in Hong Kong. </p>
<p>But if you’re someone who might prefer a break during a long flight halfway around the world, a more practical benefit is that removing the connection also reduces the chance <a href="https://pp.bme.hu/tr/article/view/1870">your luggage is lost</a>, since bags are handled fewer times. Almost half of all bags delayed in 2017 <a href="https://www.sita.aero/resources/type/surveys-reports/baggage-report-2018">were a result</a> of baggage handlers missing connections.</p>
<p>Flying a full plane load of passengers directly also saves airlines money – which often translates into lower prices for consumers too. An extra layover at a major airport <a href="https://www.fraport.com/en/misc/binaer/business-and-partner/airlines-cargo/airport-charges/infographic--airport-charges-at-frankfurt-airport/_jcr_content.file/fraport_entgelte_eng.pdf">can be expensive</a>, with fees for landing, takeoff, parking, noise abatement and security. Airports also charge extra for <a href="https://www.fraport.com/en/misc/binaer/business-and-partner/airlines-cargo/airport-charges/list-of-service-charges/_jcr_content.file/list-of-service-charges---july-2019.pdf">optional services</a> like cleaning, towing and providing electricity to a plane while it is parked at the gate. </p>
<h2>Expect more ultra-long flights</h2>
<p>One thing that was interesting about the Qantas announcement is all the research it plans to do during its test flights – scheduled for October through December – on the passengers themselves. </p>
<p>Scientists and medical experts will monitor sleep patterns, food and beverage consumption, lighting, physical movement and in-flight entertainment to assess their impact on health and well-being – and prevent any blood clots in the legs.</p>
<p>Using this data, Qantas hopes to make ultra-long flying a more pleasant experience. After all, the main reason to take a single 19-hour flight is to arrive faster and feeling better than taking multiple flights to the same destination.</p>
<p>Whether you love or hate flying, expect longer flights in the future as more efficient planes allow airlines to go ever farther. Given we seem to be <a href="https://theconversation.com/despite-hectic-multitasking-lives-were-wired-to-binge-on-tv-24158">wired for binge watching</a>, I don’t think this trend is so bad. </p>
<p>I could have actually used a longer flight. My effort to binge the second season of “Star Trek: Discovery” was abruptly interrupted as we descended back into Newark, with just 10 minutes left in the final episode.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/122433/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Jay L. Zagorsky does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>The day and a half it takes to get from New York to Singapore and back offers plenty of time to ponder the economics of ultra-long-haul flights – and wonder why we’d want to make it any longer.Jay L. Zagorsky, Senior Lecturer, Boston UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.