3 Positions

Inquiry: Infrastructural development/gentrification has often formed racial geographic divides by displacing minority communities (enforcing segregation). How can reparations for these actions be made, and how can cities develop impoverished areas in future without harming or excluding low-income minority residents, particularly in College Park’s Lakeland District?

Image courtesy of The Lakeland Community Heritage Project.

Urban renewal projects should focus on infusing neighborhoods with resources for current residents (through, for instance, funding low-income housing) rather than pushing them aside. This requires careful communication and deliberation with all members of the community.

Audience: This position appeals to members of impacted communities: in the past, communication with low-income residents was nonexistent. Transparency and discussion with community members would make it much more likely that new developments are equitable. Giving current residents a political and economic boost would increase their self-respect rather than driving a message of White control.

For more information, see:

Essoka, Jonathan D. “The Gentrifying Effects of Brownfields Redevelopment.” Western Journal of Black Studies, vol. 34, no. 3, Fall 2010, pp. 299–315.

Robinson, Davida L., et al. “Watching Neighborhoods Vanish: The Intertwining of Gentrification, Race, Class, and Policy.” Journal of Poverty, vol. 24, no. 5/6, Aug. 2020, pp. 473–92. EBSCOhost, https://doi.org/10.1080/10875549.2020.1728008.

Wells, Katy. “State-Led Gentrification and Self-Respect.” Political Studies, vol. 70, no. 3, Aug. 2022, pp. 819–36. EBSCOhost, https://doi.org/10.1177/0032321721989168.

Lakeland School circa 1915. Image courtesy of The Lakeland Community Heritage Project.

Image courtesy of The Lakeland Community Heritage Project and The Diamondback.

Reparations for malicious urban development - and promotion of cognizant/equitable developments in the future - require new civil rights laws and systems. Otherwise, developers will continue to work with only profit in mind, pushing out “undesirable” residents.

Audience: True systemic change to acknowledge and address the racism built into the infrastructure around us would help anyone displaced by urban renewal/gentrification projects. This approach would likely be supported by lawyers and policy-makers who seek to make change through restriction and policy change. This would hold independent developers accountable to equity concerns over profit, which may cause pushback. Additionally, low-income minority residents in previously displaced communities or areas undergoing development would likely support more restrictions, but may be mistrustful of a government which mistreated them in the past, or frustrated by slow revitalization.

For more information, see:

Archer, Deborah N. “‘White Men’s Roads Through Black Men’s Homes’*: Advancing Racial Equity Through Highway Reconstruction.” Vanderbilt Law Review, vol. 73, no. 5, Oct. 2020, pp. 1259–330.

Hernandez, Mario. “‘We Are without God Now’: Benign Neglect and Planned Destruction of Brooklyn’s Bushwick Neighborhood.” Journal of Urban History, vol. 49, no. 2, Mar. 2023, pp. 411–29. EBSCOhost, https://doi.org/10.1177/00961442211008852.

Lakeland school. Image courtesy of The Lakeland Community Heritage Project.

In order to address past instances of predatory development and prevent it in the future, cities should make the issue known, work with members of targeted communities to preserve their history (emphasizing the importance of equitable renewal), and carefully deliberate on the human impacts of new development projects. College Park is taking steps towards this, but should bring the debate to the forefront of conversation, as many ongoing projects are still directed to affluent residents and students of the University of Maryland.

Audience: Lakeland residents would likely be on board with this combination of solutions: communication is essential, and Lakeland residents are also very concerned with preserving the memory of what their community once was. They would also be glad to know new developments – even those outside of Lakeland – are being carefully discussed. This may prompt ire from some of the parties involved in funding the Greater College Park Initiative, as they are forced to consider the well-being of residents who may not bring in as much money.

For more information, see:

Bernard, Diane. “A University Town Explores Reparations for a Black Community Uprooted by Urban Renewal.” The Washington Post, WP Company, 2 Nov. 2021, https://www.washingtonpost.com/history/2021/11/02/college-park-reparations-urban-renewal/.

“History of Lakeland.” Lakeland Community Heritage Project, 26 Sept. 2019, https://lakelandchp.com/history/.

Triece, Mary E. “Whitewashing City Spaces.” Journal of Communication Inquiry, vol. 41, no. 3, July 2017, pp. 250–67. EBSCOhost, https://doi.org/10.1177/0196859917690693.