Analyze

CITIZEN SCIENCE

Epistemic negotiation

Stakeholders (indigenous groups, activist, scientist, scholars, etc)

I am an environmental engineer with a profound interest on providing urban sustainability through the use of biotechnology. I currently research about air pollution in public health and its environmental factors related. My interest is focused on how to adopt greenery as air pollution mitigation strategy in developing cities of south America.
While making this briefly research about NOLA, I observed how air pollution has been historically related to a environmental injustice issue. An example of this is a 1960s study documenting asthma incidence among black communities due its near location to dumps, where subterranean burning happened commonly. This depicts the “southern pattern” in New Orleans, where African American were forced to reside in undesired areas subjected to frequent flooding, unhealthy air and noise levels, as well as unsanitary water and sewerage conditions. Morse (2008) describes Katrina as a turn point, where America’s attention on the enduring legacy of racial segregation and poverty were refocused. Local government remarked the necessity of green restoration in flooding areas, where most of segregated population lived in. Communities and foundations are also working together to sustain the urban landscape mainly for flood control. Therefore, I got interest on know how urban reforestation in NOLA was adopted as a tool for climate change adaptation but also in knowing how it acts as a pathway to reach environmental justice.

The incredible amount of awful potholes in Newark called for this report. This report lists all of the streets and the dates that they will be paved in Newark, and it is one fat list. Newark roads are awful. Bad roads=poor infrastructure= weak resilience. If there is a disaster, someone who lives in a poor area may hit a pothole and be completely stranded and die, as a result of the poor infrastructure of our roads in Newark. I once hit a pothole in Newark and the bang from my wheel hitting the edge of the hole was loud and drastic enough for me to worry about a flat tire. I didn't get a flat, fortunately, but my tire frame was bent. 

The article focuses on rebuilding more resilliently, 

"At the forefront of this work is NJIT’s Center for Resilient Design, housed at the university’s College of Architecture and Design. Established immediately post-Sandy, the Center conducts research and serves as a clearinghouse for expertise, ready-to-build designs, case studies and best practices. The Center is accessed by state and local leaders, business owners and residents living in areas especially vulnerable to flooding and storms."

The article focuses on rebuilding more resilliently, 

"At the forefront of this work is NJIT’s Center for Resilient Design, housed at the university’s College of Architecture and Design. Established immediately post-Sandy, the Center conducts research and serves as a clearinghouse for expertise, ready-to-build designs, case studies and best practices. The Center is accessed by state and local leaders, business owners and residents living in areas especially vulnerable to flooding and storms."

"

“Today I announced $5 billion in funds to rebuild New Jersey and New York and here at NJIT tonight are the most remarkable design minds in the world,” said Donovan. “I spoke to President Obama for an hour about this design competition and he said this is exactly what the nation needs -- designers collaborating with government officials and residents affected by the storm. That’s the best way to rebuild and it’s our goal at HUD.”

Earlier in the day, the 10 design teams presented as many as five ideas to a jury assembled by Rebuild by Design, a Hurricane Sandy Rebuilding Task Force allied with HUD. The teams had three months to research their design ideas.  Early next month, the jury will select one idea -- the best idea -- from each team. The teams will focus on refining those ideas and the competition will continue into 2014, when HUD will decide which team or teams to fund.   "

"James Giresi, one of the students, said that Theodore’s class gave him the opportunity to get hands-on, real-life experience.  His team visited the Jersey shore several times, studying the ecology of the lowlands and the highlands, as well as the demographics of the residents living along the coast. After they gathered their research, they shared their findings with Theodore and the Dutch experts on her team"

The article describes infrastructure as something that needs to be built with a focus on people as well as the environment. This can improve transportation (reduced air pollution in Newark), create a more sustained access to power and energy, increase economic mobility, make communities more resilient, improve health, etc. This company has done work on sustainability projects in regards to infrastructure in Newark, which demonstrates their engagement with sustainable and resilient infrastructure. 

Nearly half of Newark's school's are contaminated with dangerous levels of lead. Or so they were two years ago when this article was published. This relates to infrastructure because we are poisoning poor, primarily black and hispanic communities, whom already have low resilience. Because they live in empowerished neighborhouds, their children go to lower income schools, and when they drink the water provided there, they put themselves at risk of cancer, infertillity, and other results of lead poisoning. If Newark's infrastructure was more balanced between white and black communities, there would not be impoverished areas that have poisonous drinking water at schools, as the water standard in the schools would have been raised to that of higher income communities.