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This video from Grist explains why summer heat can be worse in some neighborhoods within a city due to racist city planning policies dating back decades.
The video examines one of the most extreme examples of this phenomena, the historically black Lower Albina neighborhood in Portland, Oregon.
The video highlights the intersection between racial and environmental justice.
the video also highlights Albina Vision, an organization taking actionable steps to right some of the injustices described.
Prerequisites
The video only briefly introduces the history of racist city planning like racial covenants and redlining. For this video to be most impactful, it may help to have a conversation with students about these terms prior to viewing.
Differentiation & Implementation
This video could be integrated into a social studies, civics, or history course when learning about systemic racism, city planning, racial covenants, redlining, or the impacts of racism on our cities today.
This video could also be used as an example for how people and organizations are working to right historical injustices and inspire students to research other organizations doing similar work in their community.
Students could use the video as inspiration to propose how their city could redesign an urban area or neighborhood to right historical injustice and environmental racism.
Cross-curricular connections could be made with science courses by further discussing the urban heat island effect, how green spaces can cool cities, or how urbanization is contributing to climate change.
