"Greening the Ghetto"

I wanted to share this TED Talk that I came across over the weekend. Majora Carter shares the story of her activism work in the South Bronx and demonstrates how powerful sustainable planning can be in attempting to correct environmental injustices.

This talk reminded me a lot of the Planner's Triangle that Campbell discusses in his "Green Cities, Growing Cities, Just Cities?" article, where as planners, we must address the conflict of three competing interests: Economic Development, Social Justice/Equity, and Environmental Protection. I found Carter's story to be an inspiring example of what planning can accomplish when a balance of the three is found. Certainly, her work really brought to life a lot of issues of public heath and environmental equity for me and it's amazing to see how sustainability and planning can go hand in hand to enormously improve urban spaces for the people who live in them.