table of contents

Editors:
Cordova , Washington

All materials copyright editor(s).

PLANNING ISSUES IN CHICANO COMMUNITIES:

AN ENVIRONMENTAL AND ECONOMIC JUSTICE APPROACH

Community and Regional Planning 470 and 570

Spring Semester 1996

Professor Teresa Córdova

TTH 2:00-3:15

Purpose of the Course:

* Explore development issues facing the New Mexico region

* Enhance Chicana/o students' awareness of these issues

* Develop projects related to development issues

* Establish pipeline for professionals in planning

Course Description:

We will use this course as an opportunity to apply planning

concepts and techniques to issues facing Chicanos and Chicanas in

New Mexico generally and Albuquerque specifically. We will study

other Chicano communities for the insights gained from a

comparative approach. We are emphasizing Albuquerque and New

Mexico because so many of you are from New Mexico and this is a

state university. In addition, the proximity allows for a close

vantage point and allows us to draw upon local experts.

Nonetheless, what we do in this class will be applicable to other

communities, so those of you who will take your education back to

your communities outside of New Mexico will benefit.

With rapid rates of growth in both Albuquerque and New Mexico,

there are a number of policy and planning issues that arise. In

particular, who will benefit and who will pay from "growth?" Do

rapid rates of growth exacerbate or decrease economic, social, and

cultural inequalities? In a state that has a long history of

colonization and exploitation, many are concerned that current

development patterns are a continuation of an historical pattern

that has severely detrimental impacts on Chicano communities. Is

this the case? We will explore these questions by examining a

number of topics including infrastructure (eg. sewage, roads

utilities etc.), land use policies and the role of zoning policies

(eg. the desirability of infill development as the solution to

sprawl, the increased conversion of agricultural land for large

development projects), municipal services (eg. trash pickup,

medical, police etc.), tax incentive policies (eg. "corporate

welfare" vs small scale/local development), transportation

policies that impact neighborhoods and access to employment (eg.

political show casing vs long term transportation planning), water

use (eg. extensive permitting to high water use industries while

consumers receive monthly monitoring and higher water costs) and a

multitude of current planning issues.

At the same time, these policies are accompanied by

disproportionate "dumping" of hazardous facilities in Raza, Native,

and African American neighborhoods (environmental racism), the

criminalization of our youth, the selective enforcement that

targets our communities (and Native Americans'), continued labor

force segmentation (eg. UNM), and further objectification and

commodification of our cultures. These issues point to the

significance of race in impacting the formations of class relations

in New Mexico at a time when the "selling of New Mexico" is

significantly altering the social, economic, demographic, and

cultural landscape of the state. Our futures in this region are at

stake, which many of you have expressed as you witness changes in

your own communities. Many of you, for example, are from Northern

New Mexico and have steadily witnessed the erosion of livelihoods,

resources, and sustainability - not to mention, cultural lifestyle.

All of these issues are further complicated by the changes

in the world economy and the internationalization of economic

processes. Research has shown that the changing economy in the

U.S., for example, has meant exacerbated inequality for Latinos

(see Morales and Bonilla listed below). Issues like NAFTA and

other trade policy agreements (GATT) are relevant issues for us to

understand. They affect us, but they certainly affect our brothers

and sisters in Mexico. The primary engine of the global economy is

the information industry which is revolutionizing the way that

business is conducted and the way that people communicate - to say

the least. We have here in the Albuquerque region, one of the most

"productive" plants of the number one manufacturer of micro chips

in the world - Intel Corporation. Probably most of you use

computers with the Intel chip. The 286, 386, 486, and pentium

chips are Intel productions.

Our local economic development policies have fed the profits

of this corporation through multi billion dollar tax abatement

packages, training dollars, reduced costs for infrastructure, and

ample access to seriously threatened resources, ie. water. This is

done with the presumption that growth is good for Albuquerque and

the benefits of the few thousand jobs will trickle down to

everyone. Will it? The Intel case is a good one for examining

questions of local economic development policies as they relate to

the continuing role of global corporations in local communities.

How do we confront issues of community control when we are faced

with global actors and "outsiders" who are rapidly "selling the

state" for profit and what some people consider greed. We have

already seen the impact of changing demographics on gubernatorial

politics, the result of which was a rapid state budget crisis.

The history of New Mexico has also been a history of

resistance. This is no less true today. Beyond the exploration of

the issues, our primary concern in this class will be to ask, "What

can we do about it?" My own assumption in offering this class, is

that the process of planning offers tools that we can use to build

our strategies to tackle these issues. In addition, this region is

rich with grassroots activists who are confronting these issues.

They will provide us with ample grist for us to consider as we come

to individual and group answers to the question of what we can do.

Most importantly, we will be asking, how do we take our education

back to our communities? How can we confront the issues that are

so urgent where our future is literally at stake?

There is an important organization here in Albuquerque that

has been in the forefront of posing many questions relating to the

appropriateness of current growth policies. In their, "Take Back

New Mexico" campaign, the SouthWest Organizing Project (SWOP) has

raised questions for many New Mexicans about issues of

environmental and economic justice. In particular, they have

challenged the Intel giveaways. We will read about the perspective

of SWOP and use this case to explore the global/local connection,

current growth policies in the region, disproportionate access to

goods and services, water use, and industrial recruitment as the

state's and city's primary economic development policy. We will be

reading SWOP's own publication of Intel Inside New Mexico.

We will also be interested in community development

strategies, particularly those that are truly community driven.

The case of the Dudley Street Initiative in the Roxbury

neighborhood of Boston will provide us with a case study of

successful community based planning and development. This case is

depicted in the book Streets of Hope. (There is also a video being

produced, though it may not be ready before the class is over.)

Here in Albuquerque, we have an excellent example of community

based strategic planning via the work done by myself, Claudia

Isaac, and Ric Richardson (professors here in planning) with

members of the Pocket of Poverty Alliance. This alliance includes

several neighborhood organizations and associations in some of the

long standing communities such as Barelas, San José, Martineztown,

Sawmill, and South Broadway. We will also introduce case examples

of planners working with communities including the work of Ken

Reardon and the students at the University of Illinois in the

communities of East St. Louis. In this regard, we will always

emphasize issues of how professionals interact with communities.

There is a strong national movement and a growing local one,

of community development corporations (CDCs) as vehicles for

tackling community development issues such as housing and

neighborhood change. We will introduce many case studies and

discuss the issues of CDC strategies and effectiveness. We will

discuss the question of how you do community based planning in a

way that is truly community driven.

We will use the special volume of Colloqui: The Cornell

Journal of Planning and Urban Issues to hear the voices of planners

discuss questions of urban strategies in an era of global change.

Our final book is Fighting Sprawl and City Hall: Resistance to

Urban Growth in the Southwest. I am hoping that this book will

provide us a good vehicle to discuss the issues I have raised here.

The book is about Tucson and Albuquerque.

You will note that the primary emphasis of the course is

urban. This has to do with our location in Albuquerque and the

opportunity to explore these issues firsthand. Yet I know many of

you have rural issues you want to explore. The majority of the

class will have rural relevance. In any case, I would like to make

sure that you have the opportunity to explore your own particular

interests. This will happen through the course requirements.

Course Requirements

There are three books and one journal that is required

reading. Begin by reading Streets of Hope. I have also attached an

extensive list of recommended readings divided into several

categories: Chicano Studies, Local Communities in a Global

Context, Planning and Community Development, Community Action for

Community Development, Environmental and Economic Justice, and

Studies of the Southwest. Books are available at Full Circle Book

Store on Silver and Yale (next to EJ's). Streets of Hope is

available from the UNM Bookstore. I will collect $5 from each of

you to purchase, directly from Cornell, the Colloqui journal.

Class attendance is required.

There will be a series of individual and group projects

throughout the semester. The specifics of these assignments will

be determined by all of us, depending on our interests and needs.

I will make a number of recommendations and we will use a planning

process to settle upon our projects. For example, I will recommend

at least two ideas: one, that we break into small groups by topics

and each group explore the issues related to that topic and

complete a presentation of that topic either via a paper, or

through multi-media mechanisms. This would require extensive

interviews, document gathering, bibliographic searches, and study

of the topic; OR that we pick one topic or policy issue as a

class and each group would explore facets of that topic. eg. we

might want to examine the question of infill development and pursue

an analysis of how that would impact the South Valley (a

predominantly Chicano area that is already experiencing the early

signs of gentrification). We could use the analysis of this topic

to consider the range of issues such as transportation,

infrastructure, small business development, land use, design, etc.

In any event, class requirements will involve small group

projects that will connect to a larger class project. The act of

doing this will, in and of itself, contribute to our understanding

of planning processes.

We may want to also have a take home exam. As many of you

already know, I give some great take-homes (!) that require much

work but are generally analytically rewarding exercises. We will

discuss this in class for a group decision and how a take home exam

would serve our purposes for this class.

The other learning tool that I use for class requirements is

the annotated bibliography. Again, this is also a rewarding

experience but we can discuss how much it would serve our purposes

here. I have provided you with an extensive recommended list of

readings which could serve as the basis for a bibliography. You

will note from this list, however, there is actually very little on

issues specific to Chicano neighborhoods. Perhaps the graduate

students, for their additional work, could work on the bibliography

to see if they, as a group, could expand the citations (adding

articles and reports) related to Chicano communities, specifically.

Thus, you will see that course requirements require your

attentiveness and commitment to the issues of the class. I'm not

so worried about this since many of these issues are near and dear

to your hearts. My hope is that through this class, I can

contribute to your pursuit of your future in New Mexico.

Class Meetings:

We will meet every Tuesday and Thursday from 2:00 - 3:15. We

are going to find that this time will go very quickly. In reality,

we will only begin to explore the many issues that concern us.

Small groups will meet regularly adding to the amount of time you

will have to discuss these issues. Please do your best to attend

class. Many of us will be attending the annual conference of the

National Association for Chicana and Chicano Studies (NACCS) being

held in Chicago the third Thursday-Saturday of March. For those of

you who have never been to this conference, you may want to

consider trying to go. I, myself, always go and will not be in

class on that Thursday after Spring break.

My office hours are 12-2 on Thursdays at planning. I will be

adding additional hours at El Centro (I'll let you know), and have

office hours at Women Studies (2137 Mesa Vista Hall) on Wednesdays

12:00-2:00. I am also available by appointment.

Class will include lectures by me, numerous guest speakers

including members of SWOP, city and county planners, members of

Tonantzin Land Institute, the Atrisco Land Rights Council, other

planning professors, and many others. We will also, on occasion,

show relevant videos.

Because we will draw so heavily on guest speakers, I am

hesitant to set the syllabus so precisely that we don't allow for

schedules. Thus, I am including an outline for the course with

weeks for each section of the outlines, rather than day by day with

particular topic. This provides us structure and still allows for

some flexibility for use to make adjustments as we feel necessary.

Outline:

Part One - Setting the Context

Weeks 1-3: January 16, 18, 23, 25, 30, February 1

I. Growth Politics in New Mexico and the Albuquerque Region

II. The Environmental and Economic Justice Movement

III. History of Chicanos in this Region

IV. Local Built Environment in a Global Context

V. Theories and Methodologies of Planning

VI. Municipal and State Planning Processes

Part Two - Analytical Tools of Planning

Weeks Four and Five: February 6, 8, 13, 15

VII. Economic Analysis

VIII Policy Analysis

IX. Land Use and the Law

X. Needs Assessments and Strategic Planning

Part Three - Tackling the Issues

Weeks Six - Thirteen: February 19 - April 18 (Spring Break, Week

of March 11)

XI. Economic Development

XII. Infrastructure

XIII Natural Resources

XIV. Housing

XV. Youth

XVI. Health

Part Four - Community Action

Weeks Fourteen and Fifteen: April 23 - May 2

XVII Community Based Organizations

XVIII Community Based Planning

Part Five - Conclusion

Week Sixteen: May 7 and May 9

XIX. Conclusion

Required Readings:

Colloqui: Cornell Journal of Planning and Urban Issues. Special

Volume: Planning Beyond Los Angeles. Spring 1993.

Logan, Michael F. Fighting Sprawl and City Hall: Resistance to

Urban Growth in the Southwest. Tucson: University of Arizona

Press, 1995.

Medoff, Peter and Holly Sklar. Streets of Hope. Boston: South End

Press, 1994.

SouthWest Organizing Project, Intel Inside New Mexico: A Case

Study of Environmental and Economic Justice. Albuquerque:

SouthWest Organizing Project, 1995.

Recommended Readings:

CHICANO STUDIES

Acuña, Rodolfo. Anything but Mexican: Chicanos in 1980's and 90's

Los Angeles. Verso, 1995.

Acuña, Rodolfo. Occupied America: A History of Chicanos. Third

Edition. New York: Harper and Row Publishers, 1988.

Acuña, Rodolfo. A Community Under Siege: A Chronicle of Chicanos

East of the Los Angeles River: 1945-1975. Los Angeles: Chicano

Studies Research Center Publications, University of California Los

Angeles, 1984.

Barrera, Mario. Race and Class in the Southwest: A Theory of

Racial Inequality. Notre Dame: University of Notre Dame Press,

1979.

Camarillo, Albert. Chicanos in a Changing Society.

Chavez, John R. The Lost Land: The Chicano Image of the

Southwest. Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press, 1984.

Morales, Rebecca and Frank Bonilla, eds. Latinos in a Changing U.S.

Society. Newberry,CA: Sage Publications, 1993.

Romo, Ricardo. History of a Barrio: East Los Angeles. Austin:

University of Texas Press, 1983.

Sanchez, George I. Forgotten People: A Study of New Mexicans.

Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press, 1940, 1995.

SouthWest Organizing Project. 500 Years of Chicano History in

pictures. Albuquerque: SouthWest Organizing Project, 1991.

LOCAL COMMUNITIES IN A GLOBAL CONTEXT

Bluestone, Barry and Bennett Harrison. The Deindustrialization of

America: Plant Closings, Community Abandonment, and the

Dismantling of Basic Industry. New York: Basic Books, 1982.

Brecher, Jeremy and Tim Costello. Global Village or Global

Pillage. Boston: South End Press, 1995.

Castells, Manuel. The Informational City: Information

Technology, Economic Restructuring and the Urban-Regional

Process, Basil Blackwell Press, 1989.

Epstein, Gerald, Julie Graham, and Jessica Nembhard eds.

Creating a New World Economy. Temple University Press, 1994.

Fisher, Robert and Joseph Kling eds. Mobilizing the Community:

Local Politics in the Era of the Global City. Newbury Park: Sage

Publications, 1993.

Logan, John R. and Todd Swanstrom. Beyond the City Limits:

Urban Policy and Economic Restructuring in Comparative

Perspective. Philadelphia: Temple University Press, 1990.

Ong, Paul, Edna Bonacich, and Lucie Cheng eds. The New Asian

Immigration in Los Angeles and Global Restructuring.

Philadelphia: Temple University Press, 1994.

Sassen, Saskia. The Global City: New York, London, Tokyo.

Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1991.

Sassen, Saskia. The Mobility of Labor and Capital. Cambridge:

Cambridge University Press, 1988.

Smith, Michael Peter and Joe R. Feagin. The Capitalist City. New

York: Basil Blackwell, 1987.

PLANNING AND COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT

Adams, Carolyn. et. al. eds. Philadelphia: Neighborhoods,

Division and Conflict in a Postindustrial City. Temple University

Press, 1991.

American Planning Association. The Practice of Local Government

Planning. Second Edition. Washington, D.C.: International City

Management Association, 1988.

American Planning Association. The Practice of State and

Regional Planning. Washington, D.C.: International City

Management Association, 1986.

Blair, John P. Local Economic Development. Newberry Park: Sage

Publications, 1995.

Christenson, James A. and Jerry W. Robinson, Jr. eds. Community

Development in Perspective. Ames, Iowa: Iowa State University

Press, 1989.

Cross, Malcolm and Michael Keith, eds. Race, the City, and the

State. Routledge Press, 1993.

Dandekar, Hemalata C. ed. The Planner's Use of Information:

Techniques for Collection, Organization, and Communication.

Washington: Planners Press, American Planning Association, 1988.

Darden, Joe T., Richard Child Hill, Irene Thomas, and Richard

Thomas. Detroit: Race and Uneven Development. Philadelphia,

Temple University Press, 1987.

Duensing, Edward E. Information Sources in Urban and Regional

Planning. New Brunswick: CUPR, Rutgers University, 1994.

Friedmann, John. Planning in the Public Domain: From Knowledge

to Action. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1987.

Gale, Dennis. Washington, D.C.: Inner City Revitalization and

Minority Suburbanization, Philadelphia: Temple University Press,

1987.

Goldsmith, William and Edward J. Blakely. Separate Societies:

Poverty and Inequality in U.S. Cities. Philadelphia: Temple

University Press, 1992.

Jennings, James. Race, Politics, and Economic Development,

Routledge Press, 1993.

Krumholz and Pierre Clavel eds. Reinventing Cities: Equity

Planners Tell Their Stories. Philadelphia: Temple University

Press, 1995.

Mier, Robert. Social Justice and Local Development Policy.

Newbury Park: Sage, 1993.

Parzen, Jula Ann and Michael Hall Kieschinck. Credit Where It's

Due: Development Banking for Communities. Philadelphia: Temple

University Press, 1992.

Perry, David ed. Building the Public City: The Politics,

Governance, and Finance of Public Infrastructure. Thousand Oaks,

CA: Sage, 1995.

Sargent, Frederic O., Paul Lusk, José Rivera and María Varela.

Rural Environmental Planning for Sustainable Communities.

Washington, D.C.: Island Press, 1991.

Shelton, Beth Ann, Nestor P. Rodriguez, Joe R. Feagin, Robert

Bullard, and Robert D. Thomas. Houston: Growth and Decline in a

Sunbelt Boomtown. Temple University Press, 1989.

Swanstrom, Todd. The Crisis of Growth Politics: Cleveland,

Lucincish, and The challenge of Urban Populism. Philadelphia:

Temple University Press, 1985.

Squires, Gregory, Larry Bennett, Kathleen McCourt, and Philip

Nyden. Chicago: Race, Class and the Response to Urban Decline.

Philadelphia: Temple University Press, 1987.

COMMUNITY ACTION FOR COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT

Betten and Austin. Roots of Community Organizing. Temple

University Press.

Bradford, Bonnie and Margaret A. Gwynne, eds. Down to Earth:

Community Perspective on Health, Development, and the

Environment. West Hartford, Connecticut: Kumarian Press, 1995.

King, Mel. Chain of Change: Struggles for Black Community

Development. Boston: South End Press,1995.

Korten, David C. Getting to the 21st Century: Voluntary Action

and the Global Agenda. West Hartford, Connecticut: Kumarian

Press, 1990.

Lean, Mary, ed. Bread, Bricks, and Belief. West Hartford,

Connecticut: Kumarian Press, 1995.

Mast, Robert. Detroit Lives. Temple University Press, 1994.

Simmons, Louise B. Organizing in Hard Times: Labor and

Neighborhoods in Hartford. Boston: South End Press, 1994.

Stoecker, Randy. Defending Community: The Struggle for

Alternative Redevelopment in Cedar-Riverside. Temple University

Press, 1993.

Squires, Gregory ed. From Redlining to Reinvestment: Community

Responses to Urban Disinvestment. Temple University Press, 1992.

Wiewel, Wim and Phil Nyden. Challenging Uneven Development.

Rutgers University Press, 1990.

ENVIRONMENTAL AND ECONOMIC JUSTICE

Bryan, Bunyan and Mohai, Paul. Race and the Incidence of

Environmental Hazards. Boulder, CO: Westview Press: 1992.

Bullard, Robert. Dumping in Dixie: Race, Class, and

Environmental Quality. Boulder, CO: Westview Press, 1990.

Bullard, Robert, ed. Confronting Environmental Racism: Voices

from the Grassroots. Boston: Southend Press, 1993.

Bullard, Robert, ed. Unequal Protection. San Francisco: Sierra

Club Books, 1994.

Córdova, Teresa, José T. Bravo, Jeanne Gauna, and Richard Moore.

"Grassroots Responses to Global Restructuring: The Environmental

and Economic Justice Movement in the Southwest." forthcoming.

Environmental Health Coalition. Toxic-Free Neighborhood

Community Planning Guide, Environmental Health Coalition,

January 1993.

Moore, Richard. "Toxics, Race and Class: The Poisoning of

Communities." Albuquerque: The SouthWest Organizing Project.

Ong, Paul M. and Evelyn Blumenberg. "An Unnatural Trade-Off:

Latinos and Environmental Justice." in Morales, Rebecca and Frank

Bonilla, eds. Latinos in a Changing U.S. Society. Newberry,CA:

Sage Publications, 1993.

Southwest Network for Environmental and Economic Justice.

"Border Justice Hearings." May 1994.

Southwest Network for Environmental and Economic Justice.

"Statement on the North American Free Trade Agreement." October

12, 1993.

SouthWest Organizing Project. Voces Unidas.

SouthWest Organizing Project. "Report on the Interfaith Hearings

on Toxic Poisoning in Communities of Color." September 1993.

SouthWest Organizing Project. "Letter to Group of Ten." 1990.

United Church of Christ Commission for Racial Justice. Toxic

Waste and Race in the United States, a National Report on the

Racial and Socio-Economic Characteristics of Communities with

Hazardous Waste Sites. New York: United Church of Christ, 1987.

United Church of Christ Commission for Racial Justice. The First

National People of Color Environmental Leadership Summit:

Proceedings. New York: United Church of Christ, 1992.

U.S. General Accounting Office. Siting of Hazardous Waste

Landfills and Their Correlation with Racial and Economic Status

of Surrounding Communities. 1983.

STUDIES OF THE SOUTHWEST

Bernard, Richard M. and Bradley R. Rice eds. Sunbelt Cities:

Politics and Growth Since World War II. Austin, University of

Texas Press, 1983.

deBuys, William. Enchantment and Exploitation: The Life and

Hard Times of a New Mexico Mountain Range. Albuquerque:

University of New Mexico Press, 1985.

Fox, Steve. Toxic Work: Women Workers at GTE Lenkurt.

Philadelphia: Temple University Press, 1991.

Rosenbaum, Robert J. Mexicano Resistance in the Southwest: "The

Sacred Right of Self-Preservation." Austin: University of Texas

Press, 1981.Proposed Catalog Entry:

URBN 4810: Environmental Justice in Urban Environments, 3Hrs.

Prerequisites: URBN 4030 or URBN 4140 or consent of college.

This course examines the treatment of all groups in the US with

respect to benefits and burdens from the development,

implementation and enforcement of environmental laws, regulations

and processes. Particular emphasis is given to the problems of

the disproportionate siting of hazardous waste treatment,

storage, disposal, and recycling facilities in poor ad minority

neighborhoods.

Class Contact Hours: 3 semester hours/week

Additional planned staff: None

Restrictions on granting credit: Department evaluation

Recommended Texts:

1. Cable, Sherry and Charles Cable. Environmental Problems.

New York, NY: St. Martin Press, 1995.

2. Hofrichter, Richard. Toxic Struggles. Philadelphia, PA:

New Society Publishers, 1995.

3. Szasz, Andrew. Ecopopulism. Minneapolis, MN: Univ. of MI

Press, 1994.

4. Sale, Kirkpatrick. The Green Revolution: The American

Environmental Movement, 1962-1992. New York, NY: Hill and Wanf,

1993.

Reference Material:

1. EPA Journal

2. EPA, Environmental Justice 1995 Annual Report.

3. EPA, Environmental Equity: Reducing Risks For All

Communities. Vol. I,II, June 1992.

4. EPA, Superfund Emergency Response Actions, June 1988.

5. EPA, Environmental Justice Strategy: Executive Order 12898,

April, 1995.

6. Louisiana Environmentalist, Schafer, Kristin. et. al

7. What Works: Local Solutions to Toxic Pollution, Wash. DC The

Environmental Exchange, 1993

Special Fees: N/A

Special Equipment: N/A

Objective: To provide students with an understanding of the

environmental justice movement as an urban social movement,

grounded in urban populism, political philosophy and social

justice.

Justification and Explanation: This course is designed to give

planning students an ecological context within which to examine

the social and ethical dimension of land use policies and how

planners continue to support racial inequalities through policy

and practice.

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table of contents

All materials copyright editor(s).

URBN 4800

Environmental Justice Movement

Robert O. Washington Spring 1996

286-7102 office MW 11:00-12:30

245-8245 home

I. Course Description

There is a new social movement afoot in this country. It is

a coalition of grassroots and social activists and civil rights

advocates joined together to find ways to translate the tactics

learned during the civil rights movement into strategies for

solving environmental problems in African-American, Hispanic,

Asian, American Indian and poor White communities. The catalyst

for this alliance is the unwanted and uninvited location of toxic

waste dumps and landfills and the uncontrolled emission of

pollution from waste incinerators and chemical plants in areas

predominated by minorities and poor people. The disproportionate

location of these environmental hazards in poor and minority

neighborhoods has raised health concerns about excessive toxic

exposure and have been couched under such banners as

environmental equity, environmental justice and environmental

racism. The fledging movement has five principal aims:

1. To prevent the proliferation of such unwanted locations in

minority and poor areas where residents are disenfranchised by

the lack of economic power and political influence,

2. To force states and federal government to regulate and manage

more effectively existing hazardous sites,

3. To enforce immediate cleanups of abandoned dump sites,

4. To coerce EPA to perform competent and reliable risk

assessments in communities exposed to toxic pollution and wastes,

and

5. To cultivate a more sensitive climate of public opinion

conducive to passing and enforcing laws and other remedies that

will enable victims to receive equitable compensation for medical

costs and punitive damages for illness and diseases resulting

from exposure to toxic substances.

This course will specifically examine these five goals,

drawing upon concepts of urban populism, philosophy, and social

justice, as interpreted within the frame work of political

philosophy. The class will be conducted as an applied research

practicum in which students will examine the environmental

justice movement within the context of environmental

contamination in Louisiana, in general, and the impact of toxins

and pollutants upon residents living along the Mississippi River

specifically.

II. Prerequisites

This course is designed as a graduate level course.

Students taking this course should have completed URBN 4030.

Upper level undergraduates should have a strong background in the

social sciences in order to take full advantage of the course.

III. Course work and requirements

Students will be organized into "interest clusters" to

examine various aspects of contamination and collective responses

to it. Each cluster will prepare a major paper, the outline of

which will be discussed in class. A substantial portion of the

paper must be developed by Mid-Semester and will serve as the

basis for the mid-semester grade. Each student will be assigned

a particular section of the group paper.

The final exam will be the basis for the other half of your

grade and will be based upon the quality of the paper of the

respective interest clusters and an in-class exam.

IV. Office hours.

Regular office hours will be Tuesdays 3:00-5:00pm. Students

may make arrangements for other appointments and may feel free to

contact me at home.

V. Required Texts.

1. Cable, Sherry and Charles Cable. Environmental Problems.

New York: St. Martin Press, 1995.

2. Hofrichter, Richard. Toxic Struggles. Philadelphia, PA:

New Society Publishers, 1995.

3. Szasz, Andrew. Ecopopulism. Minneapolis, MN: Univ. of MI.

Press, 1994.

4. Sale, Kirkpatrick. The Green Revolution: The American

Environmental Movement, 1962-1992. New York, NY: Hill and Wang,

1993.

Other readings will be on reserve in the library.

VI. Class Schedule and Assignments

Weeks 1&2: January: 17,22,24: Perspectives on Environmental

Justice

a. Definition of Environmental Justice

b. Politics on Environmental Justice

c. Economics of Environmental Justice

Readings

1. Bullard and Wright, Environmental Justice for All: Community

Perspectives on Health and Research Needs, in Toxicology and

Industrial Health.

2. Lee, Toxic Wastes and Race in the United States (Reserve)

3. Hofrichter, pp 1-57

4. "Environmental Equity: Evaluating TDSF Siting Over the Past

Two Decades" (Reserve)

5. Doug W. Bando, "Environmentalism: The Triumph of Politics"

The Freeman, Sept 1993 (Reserve)

6. Cable & Cable, Chapter 8,9.

7. R.O. Washington. "Environmental Equity: Dilemmas and

Challenges for Public Health Policy and Social Work for the

1990s" Health and Social Policy, Vol 6,2, 1994. (Reserve)

Weeks 3&4: January 29,31,February 5,8: Planning Issues and

Social Justice

a. 20 years of Hazardous Waste Legislation

b. Concept of Social Justice

c. Rawlsian Concept of "Just Savings"

d. The Distributive Paradigm

e. Planners and Land Use Policies: Land Use and the Poor

Readings

1. R.O. Washington. Toward a Theory of Social Planning. 1995,

Chapter III (Reserve).

2. Young, Iris. Justice and the Politics of Difference, pp 15-67.

3. Harper and Stein. "A Classic Liberal (Libertarian) Approach

to Planning Theory in Hendler, (ed) Planning Ethics, 1995,

Chapter 1.

4. Shean McConell. "Rawlsian Planning Theory" in Hendler,

Chapter,2.

5. June Manning Thomas. "Planning History and the Black Urban

Experience," JPER,F'94.

6. Klugel et al (eds). Social Justice and Political Change.

Chapter 2 (Reserve)

7. Szasz, Chapter 7

Weeks 5&6: February 12,14, Social Movements and Social Justice

a. History of Social Movements in US

b. Populism and Powerlessness

c. Social Movements and Ideology

Readings:

1. Boyte and Riessman. The New Populism, Chapters 1,3,14

(Reserve)

2. Szasz, p1-69.

3. James Jennings. "The Politics of Black Empowerment in Urban

America" in Kling & Posner (ed) Dilemmas of Activism, 1990,

Chapter 5 (Reserve)

4. Lawrence Goodwin. Democratic Promise: The Populist Movement

in America. Introduction. (Reserve)

5. Crowfoot et al "Organizing for Social Justice" in Siedman

(ed) Handbook of Social Intervention.

February 17-21: Mardi Gras Break.

Weeks 7&8: February 26,28, March 4,6: Environmental Justice in

Louisiana

a. The Environmental Justice Group, LA Dept. of Environmental

Quality.

b. Social Well-being along the Industrial Corridor

c. Environmental Groups and Community Organizations in LA

d. Superfund sites in LA

e. Agriculture Street Landfill Site.

Readings

1. Handouts

2. Note: There will be several speakers invited to the class

during this two week period.

March 4-8 Mid Semester Exam Period

Weeks 9&10: March 11, 13, 18, 20: Point-Counter point

a. Benefits and burdens

b. The concept of "environmental overkill"

c. Contradictions in research data

d. Problems of miscommunication

Readings

1. Sexton, et al., "Environmental Justice: The Central Role of

Research in Establishing a Credible Scientific Foundations for

informed Decision-Making," Toxicology and Industrial Health, Vol.

9,no.5, 1993.

2. Dixy Lee Ray, Environmental Overkill, Regency Gateway,

Washington DC, 1993-preface, pp.135-196 (Reserve)

3. Michael R. Edelstein, "The Psychological Basis for the

'NIMBY" Response" Proceedings of The Tenth National Environmental

Health Conference, June 1989, DHHS?PHS.

Weeks 11&12: March 25, 27

a. Interest cluster meets with instructor.

Spring Break, April 1-7

Weeks 13-14: April 8,10,15,17

a. Interest cluster meets with instructor

Weeks 15 & 16: April 22,24,29, May 1

a. Interest cluster meets with instructor.

May 6: Final Exam.

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