Just City

A homeless man takes shelter at a bus stop in Miami Beach shortly before Hurricane Irma.  Carlos Barria/Reuters ‘Climate Gentrification’ Will Deepen Urban Inequality RICHARD FLORIDA   JUL 5, 2018 A new study investigates the intersection of climate change and real estate, and finds that higher elevations bring higher values. SHARE TWEET It’s no surprise that  a list of places most at risk from climate change and sea-level rise  reads like a Who’s Who of global cities, since historically, many great cities have developed near oceans, natural harbors, or other bodies of water. Miami ranks first, New York comes second, and Tokyo, London, Shanghai, and Hong Kong all number among the top 20 at-risk cities in terms of total projected losses. Cities in the less developed and more rapidly urbanizing parts of the world, such as Ho Chi Minh City and Mumbai, may experience even more substantial losses as a percentage of their total economic output. Looking ...

A mural in the Chatham neighborhood on the South Side of Chicago. The city is one of the most racially and economically segregated in America.  Stephanie Barto/Flickr In Europe and America, Segregation Continues TANVI MISRA   SEP 22, 2014 A new report outlines drivers and patterns of residential segregation—and why they are so hard to break. SHARE TWEET Chatham , a historically working-class, majority African-American neighborhood on Chicago's South Side, has had its share of  post-recession struggles .  Joyce Sallie has lived there for a year and a half, and says the area has declined in several ways. In the time she's lived there, she has witnessed three shootings. "People be shocked that I still live where I live because it's so bad ... g ang-infested, germ-infested, dirty," says  t he 25-year-old Boston Market employee. "I wouldn't wish my neighborhood on my worst enemy." The Chatham neighborhood on Chicago's South Side....

A demonstration in support of refugees held in Copenhagen this autumn.   Reuters Pictures Denmark Will Strip Refugees of Their Valuables FEARGUS O'SULLIVAN   JAN 26, 2016 Parliament has granted police the right to take possessions from asylum-seekers crossing the border. SHARE TWEET The Danish state is allowed to confiscate the valuables of newly arrived refugees, Denmark’s parliament ruled today. Following a heated debate and vote Tuesday, Danish police will be empowered to strip refugees of any belongings worth over 10,000 Danish crowns ($1,450) on their arrival in the country. Luggage and strip searches will be used to enforce the new rules, to make sure that valuables are surrendered. The law change is being ushered through despite harsh condemnation from the  UN Human Right Council  and  widespread comparisons  between the plan and the treatment of Jews in Nazi-occupied Europe. The plan to legally purloin refugee  belongings i...

Roadworks in Mjølnerparken, a Copenhagen housing project on the Danish government's "ghetto list."   Andrew Kelly/Reuters Why Denmark Is Doubling Down on Its ‘Ghetto List’ FEARGUS O'SULLIVAN   JUL 3, 2018 The Scandinavian country of bike lanes and wind turbines reveals its darker, intolerant streak. SHARE TWEET The Danes are doubling down on their “ghetto list.” Yes, that’s actually what the government calls it. In a series of announced policies that seeks to impose special requirements and even graver punishments for crimes committed in Denmark’s poorest urban areas, the Scandinavian country of bike lanes and wind turbines has revealed its darker, intolerant streak. The proposed policies would subject individuals—mostly immigrants or children of immigrants —to rules that are at turns punitive or paternalistic, based primarily on where they live. The proposed measures,  reported  in Monday’s  New York Times , are draconian. From the age of o...

The National Memorial for Peace and Justice in Montgomery, Alabama.   Brentin Mock It’s Time to Stop Calling it ‘The Great Migration’ BRENTIN MOCK   8:00 AM ET For people of color watching over their shoulder this Independence Day, the fear of police interference harkens back to a historical moment with a much-too-benign label. SHARE TWEET Last week, a white woman, Linda Krakora,  called the police on a 12-year-old black boy  for mowing a lawn too close to her property, just outside of Cleveland. Around the same time, another white woman, Alison Ettel,  called the police on an 8-year-old black girl for selling water  without a permit. In May, a white woman, Sarah Braasch,  called the police on a fellow black Yale student  for napping outside of her dorm. That same week, in Oakland, a white woman, Jennifer Schulte,  called the police on black people barbecuing in a park . A white woman manager of a Starbucks in Philadelphia...

Robert Galbraith/Reuters The Dark Side of the Silicon Gold Rush RICHARD FLORIDA   JUL 3, 2018 Acclaimed urban geographer Richard Walker puts the Bay Area’s tech boom into historical and social context in his new book. SHARE TWEET Pictures of a Gone City  is the culmination of the life’s work of  Richard A. Walker , a professor emeritus of geography at the University of California, Berkeley. A student of the great Marxist geographer David Harvey, Walker brings a profoundly historical approach to his scholarship. His lens spans economics, urban design, politics, and the environment, to name just a few of his interests. Walker’s new book is urban geography for our times. It illuminates the basic crisis and contradiction of the San Francisco Bay Area, which is an example of capitalism at its most innovative and dynamic, and simultaneously the site of severe inequality and failing public policies and infrastructure. Walker has lived and worked in the Bay A...