May 14, 2020

Gentrification + Pandemic:  An Exploration of Community Inclusion + Equity in the Changing Public Realm

By Ariana Cantu (website)
Lecturer, University of Washington

Coauthor: Mackenzie Waller

The author will give this presentation at the Pandemic Urbanism Symposium in a session titled “Politics, Engagement & Activism,” from 10:15 – 11:15 AM on May 29, 2020.

How can social work and built environment practitioners work collaboratively to address gentrification + pandemic as they impact neighborhood change? We will share lessons learned on preliminary investigations of this question through a interdisciplinary course from Spring 2020 that brought together students from social welfare, community-centered integrative practice, architecture, urban planning, and landscape architecture to examine the wicked problem of gentrification + pandemic in the present moment in our City/County. Highlighting interdisciplinary projects that did a preliminary virtual investigation of neighborhood change at five sites throughout Seattle/King County, we start to consider how to incorporate a diverse array of policies and programming that support equitable, long-term neighborhood change, driven by community.