Episode 37: Acknowledge History, Shift Power, Embrace Accountability

This episode features four passionate speakers about how to navigate forward from the challenges of 2020. We’re joined by Calvin Gladney, CEO of Smart Growth America; Adonia Lugo, PhD, interim chair of the urban sustainability program at Antioch University Los Angeles and a core organizer for The Untokening; Roberto Requejo, Program Director at Elevated Chicago; and Dr. Joshua Schank, Chief Innovation Officer at the LA Metro Office of Extraordinary Innovation. This episode is a recording of the October 12 closing keynote from the Rail~Volution 2020 virtual conference.

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The podcast focuses on the challenges of building equitable, transit-oriented communities, especially coming out of 2020. The speakers, each from different perspectives, urge listeners to rethink assumptions – about the cultural values black and brown communities attach to built forms (Adonia Lugo); about innovation and equity in mobility (Joshua Schank); and about metrics that are accountable to community (Roberto Requejo). The title of the podcast quotes Requejo and refers to Just Power, a Chicago coalition working to reimagine civic power.

Emerging from 2020 doesn’t mean returning to “normal.” It means making “equitable development the expectation rather than the exception” and showing how equitable transit-oriented development (ETOD) saves money when it’s well done (Roberto Requejo). It means moving forward with equity issues that are finally getting traction, such as authentic community engagement, bus priority and slow streets (Joshua Schank).  It means seeing connections across different social movements – perhaps especially the climate movement – and recognizing that “relationships are the original infrastructure”(Adonia Lugo).

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