 Hello everyone, and thank you for joining us today for this week's lecture in planning series presentation. Our speaker today is Professor Anisha Batchway, Associate Professor of Society and Regional Planning at the Georgia Institute of Technology. My name is Joe Henigans, I'm a PhD student here in Columbia's Urban Planning Program and I'll be moderating the session. And I'll start with a few brief logistical announcements and we'll then introduce our speaker. So during the talk, I'd like to remind the audience members to please mute your microphones. We'll be recording today's lecture so anyone in the audience who wishes to not be recorded should turn off their video input. The chat box should be used only for discussion regarding the session. And if you have technical questions that apply only to you, please message me or my co-host Marine Abhikanam privately. We encourage all of you to type questions into the chat box during the presentation. And after the presentation, we'll have time for Q&A. We'll start the Q&A around two or two fifteen so that we have enough time for everyone's questions. And I'll be coordinating the Q&A with attention to diversity and inclusion. So if you have already had a chance to ask a question, please allow others to do so before asking another one. In the last questions, there's two options. Participants can either use the raise your hand feature and I'll call on you to unmute and ask your question directly. Or you can also type your questions in the chat box and I can read them out. So with that I'm delighted to introduce today's speaker. Today is an associate professor of city and regional planning at the Georgia Institute of Technology and an adjunct professor in Emory University School of Public Health. An expert in health and the built environment as well as community engagement. She holds graduate degrees in both urban planning and public health. Dr. Bhatwe directs the Healthy Places Lab is a member of the Physical Activity Research Center, directs the built environment and public health clearinghouse and leads data dashboards for evidence based planning and practice. We publish numerous books, articles, reports, blogs and videos. Dr. Bhatwe is also associate dean for academic programs collaborating with faculty in the Georgia Tech community to develop world-class academic programs for Georgia Tech professional education. She serves at the voice for students enrolled in the divisions programs and is oversight of all academic offers. Dr. Bhatwe has earned many distinctions including an NSF advanced women of excellence faculty award has very good word teaching fellowship Georgia Tech Georgia power professor of excellence award. A Rockefeller pen fellowship from the University of Pennsylvania School of Nursing, and a nominator change trigger by the Obama White House's Council on women and girls. So, Professor Bachelet's talk today is entitled activating two decades of built environment public health scholarship through an equity and COVID-19 lens. We also consider the reactivation of connection between planning and public health that has taken place in the past couple of decades, and the way that this work has been unevenly applied, excluding low income and black indigenous people of color communities from healthy urban form and equal opportunities to realize improved health outcomes. So I'm sure it will be an insightful talk on the intersection of health and planning in our current crisis context. And so Professor Bachelet, if you're ready, I will pass things over to you now. Thank you so much, Joseph. Are you, you're able to hear me it says I'm talking so yes. I'm not seeing. Yes, sorry, we're, we're, okay. Great, lots of thumbs up. Fantastic. Well, thank you, Joseph and the Columbia planning program and students for the opportunity to share just a few ideas with you on what we know about the built environment and public health, particularly from the last decade two decades. Why planning in the pandemic is a new catalyst for transforming how we plan healthy places, and perhaps most importantly who can hopefully benefit from them. So our recommendation on how youth advocacy can help us realize the creation of healthy places for all populations, not only those who can buy into them. So let's jump in. Awesome. Let's start with just a few key definitions in Merriam Webster's collegiate dictionary the first definition for environment is straightforward it's the circumstances objects or conditions by which one is surrounded. And the definition that you have on the screen as perhaps the most compelling. It is that the complex of physical chemical and biotic factors is climate soil and other living things that act upon an organism or an ecological community, and ultimately determine its form and survival. From a human health perspective the environment includes all the external or non genetic factors physical nutritional social behavioral and others that act on humans. And this, I'm sorry, I've lost my place and this the built environment consists of those settings designed created and maintained by human efforts. Buildings neighborhoods food stores public plazas playgrounds roadways and more, even seemingly natural settings, such as parks are often part of the built environment because they have been cited designed and constructed by people. The built environment depends on supporting infrastructure systems for such necessities as energy, food, water, housing, and transportation so these systems are also a considered part of the built environment. As frequently cited. Sorry to interrupt but I think we are not the slides haven't been advanced advancing. So you should be on defining healthy places still. We see the title slide still. Okay. See about that. Still title slide. Yep, still title side. Okay. That's all right, I'm gonna. Okay, let's get us back to where we need to be. I'm glad you told me now rather than five slides in. There's never a good time to interrupt sorry, but there's always better. How about now title slide and then slide to yep, we see slide to perfect. Thank you. Very good. So I'm going to assume that you listen to what I said and you can capture what is on the slide. Now that we're on the right slide. Looking at health, a frequently cited definition of health comes from the 1948 Constitution of the World Health Organization. And it reads that health is a state of complete physical mental and social well being and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity. Broad definition goes well beyond a narrowly biomedical view to include many dimensions of comfort, happiness and well being. However, some some persons who have adapted to the to their disabilities such as a chronic disease or mobility limitation. So let's get back to this definition because they consider themselves to be healthy. So let's just agree to use this as a centering for our conversation today understanding that it has a few limitations. You should see pictures now. Yes, Joe. Yep, we do. So both the public health profession and design profession took modern form during the 19th century in response to rapid population growth industrialization and urbanization and the resulting problems of the urban environment. Modern public health took form largely during the age of industrialization with the rapid growth of cities in the 17th and 18th centuries. The urban environment wrote one historian fostered the spread of diseases with crowded, dark, unventilated housing, unpaved streets mired and horse manure and littered with refuse inadequate or non existing water supplies, privy vaults, unemptied from one year to the next stagnant pools of water. You get the point here right lot not a pleasant environment. Another important impetuous to public health action was the workplace, a unique and often exceedingly dangerous built environment, although the air, water and soil near industrial sites could become badly contaminated contaminated in ways that would be familiar to modern environmental individuals. Some of the most dire conditions were found within the actual factories. Now some of this is probably a quite familiar to those on the call. We know that epidemics of cholera typhoid yellow fever and diphtheria occurred with regularity in this period. Normal farmers, scientists and engineers, physicians and public officials responded to these conditions in various ways with interventions focused on the built environment chief among them. So, for example, the regular outbreaks of cholera and other diarrheal diseases and the 18th and 19th centuries, highlight the need for water systems with clean source water treatment including filtration and distribution through pipes. Similarly, sewage management became a necessity, especially after the provision of piped water and the use of toilets created large volumes of contaminated liquid waste. This is highlighted best by the work of the physician john snow. You may know that he was a founding member of the London Epidemiological Society. Snow gained a mortality in the history of public health for what was essentially an environmental study. During the during an 1854 outbreak of cholera in London, he observed a far higher incidence of disease among people who live near or drink from the Broad Street pump than among people who with other sources of water or who chose not to pull from that pump that pump apparently had lots of effervescence that some people traveled far to be able to consume. Snow eventually persuaded local authorities to remove the pump handle and the epidemic in that part of the city soon abated. I'm happy to talk more about john snow if there are questions there and some of the other context that surrounds the work he did. On the city planning side of water and wastewater one response to chaotic urban growth was the recognition of the need for sanitary engineering. And that is, you know, for water, sewage and waste management in cities. The concept of an urban sewage system requiring a water supply and engineered network of pipes and carefully designed street surfaces to achieve Jane drainage, required a few things, the coordinated reconstruction of urban places on a city wide scale. And the engineering approach the analysis of complex systems, the forecasting of future needs, the parallel planning of utilities land use transportation and commerce was a natural precursor to multifaceted if not comprehensive city plans. In 1893 Chicago World's Fair, put the big plans and grand building ingenuity on display. This is where Daniel Burnham later clipped make no little plans. They have no magic to stir men's blood. They have no plans, aim high in hope and work. Remember that our sons and grandsons are going to do things that would stagger us, let your watch word be order and your beacon beauty. Now I exaggerate in the sons and grandsons. Yesterday was International Women's Day. And I just want to pause here to highlight that he focuses on men, sons and grandsons to the exclusion to the intentional exclusion of women, daughters and granddaughters. And I highlight this one date the day after International Women's Day. We also know that the city beautiful movement driven was driven less by engineering necessity or social reform, and was consequently derided as, you know, planning without social purpose. It was a movement dedicated to a white city. And when I read this as a planning student. I thought white city because everything was painted white. Well, if you look at the picture everything was a white. White city aesthetic that would win the order over the emerging national culture and this national culture that was emerging at that time was one of disorder and filth. So if you go back to the, you know, your planning theory and history from the late 1800s. It was really a challenging time for the US and urban development. And approaching the city as a canvas on which good form could be brushed the city beautiful movement helped set the stage for planning to really disregard marginalized low income and non white communities and we've been really working hard to get back to not just recognizing but supporting these communities so let's fast forward to Jane Jacobs 70 years since city beautiful. What we see here is, you know, opposing such excess was Jane Jacobs the writer and urbanist, who's classic death and life of great American cities written in 1961 was really an eloquent plea, an eloquent plea for grounding city life and and the observation of and respect for ordinary people's daily rhythms of living ordinary people, not the, the, the, the massive big city beautiful but ordinary people. The tension between the grand scheme anchored in the elite fairy city, and a more granular populace approach was to become a recurring motif in planning, and one that echoes in public health as well. And so, in, in 2001, sprawl watch was the first publication that published an article that really helped to reconnect the disciplines and in this publication, led by Dick Jackson, Jackson, who some of you may know, and my good friend Chris kateski who unfortunately passed away last May, they, they say the following and I'm going to read it because the words here are really important. So, they say when people consider factors adversely affecting their health, they generally focus on influences such as poor diet or the need for more exercise and and we can see this and kind of the initial oh you know I'm not feeling well well have you been eating okay and have you know have been exercising. Rarely do they consider less traditional factors such as housing characteristics land use patterns transportation choices or architectural or urban design decisions as potential health hazards, however, when these factors are ignored or poorly executed. The ecosystems the ecosystems and our communities collapse people suffer to suffer the consequences. And then let me just skip down and note that, you know, we often fail to make the connection between these all too common facets of everyday life, and how unhealthy we are. And the last quote here, the challenge facing those who with responsibility for assuring the health and quality of life of Americans is clear. The challenge is clear. We must integrate our concepts of public health issues with urban planning issues, urban planners, engineers and architects must begin to see that they have a critical role in public health. Similarly, public health professionals need to appreciate that the built environment influences public health as much as any vaccine coven perhaps is a little different or water quality, and we're going to talk a bit about vaccines and coven as well. This is the beginning, the beginning or the re beginning of this reconnection between public health and planning and I kind of think of this as like this is when we were proselytizing that you know there's a connection everyone see the connection praise the Lord right this was the really part of the connection or reconnection between planning and public health this is when Dick Jackson Howie from Ken and others were really just going around and just trying to get people to pay attention to this connection. A later article five years later, also from the CDC the first one was published by CDC leaders this one was published by the CDC. There's notes that there are synergies again this is the proselytizing that there is something happening here in this connection. And this synergy is in three areas, the creation of green space to promote physical activity social integration and better mental health, prevention of infectious diseases through community infrastructure such as drinking water and sewage and protection of persons from hazardous industrial exposures and injury risks risks through land use and zoning ordinances and so they note that during the middle of the 20th century. The disciplines drifted apart to a certain extent because of their success and limiting health and safety risks caused by inappropriate mixing of land uses. Imagine how intensely our fields are going to be working together much more now because of the significant risk that the world has faced as a result of what we see with coven. So let me just give you a few just quick highlights so we know with the current state. We're living longer. And so here's some population population pyramid that shows change over time. We're also moving to urban areas in the early 2000s ideas about connections of the built environment to public health for gaining traction in both the urban planning and public health. And then there's the historical analysis pedagogy and professional practice, linking health and the built environment has increased exponentially since the early 2000s. We see this impact on length of life but we also see this transition from suburban and well from rural to urban communities and there are some nuances and where people are residing and choosing to reside now, especially as a result of coven and happy to talk about those ideas as well. Also in the current state of health and built environment we continue to experience social unrest. Notably, more so from this summer, where when George Floyd was killed on May 25 spotlighting racial injustice and the cast system. Let me repeat that the cast system that black and brown people in particular in America and around the world exist in this even extends apparently to royalty from the UK, and I won't go into further comment on that. We see global climate change is impacting environmental and health human health outcomes and so climate change is a main area of current concern and has been for some time now. We also see health disparities accompanying these concerns with the chart on the left, showing the number of deaths per 100,000 population by race and this is of whites versus blacks on the right. So I want you to go back to some of this data. In the early 1900s. This chart shows the top diseases that they were primarily communicable or infectious. It has shifted over the last 120 years with the leading causes of death in the US today, primarily being non communicable yet persistent emerging and reemerging infectious diseases such as flu HIV AIDS and coven 19 continue to be a challenge despite the predictions of some optimists in the early days of antibiotics that infections would soon be conquered. This is a poignant reminder of the power of infections, especially with the coven 19 pandemic that's led me to present all of you from the sanitize zoom box, rather than with you in New York. Human share the planet with microbes and will always confront infections, but chronic diseases including heart disease, cancer and stroke have overtaken infectious diseases is leading causes of death and suffering. Injuries especially in relation to motor vehicle crashes are recognized as a major public health burden, ailments such as diabetes depression arthritis and asthma take a huge toll. I don't want to talk about suicide and so if folks want to ask questions about suicide and that and racial kind of prevalence I'm happy to talk through that as well. So risk factors such as sedentary lifestyles and obesity product. These are products of a complex web of genetic behavioral and environmental factors. These are all key targets of public health interventions. These developments have all contributed to the increasing public health focus on the built environment. And so this just gives you another view of some of the data on the leading causes of death with a really powerful kind of just image of where we are now, or as of January 1. With COVID we know that we've now passed over 500,000 deaths as a result of COVID. This is another view this has taken March 5 of 2020. This was actually the first day that I started my associate dean role. And, you know, we saw this and we thought you know this isn't really going to make its way in a significant way to impact us in the US. But if we look at where we are today, or as of February 23. How do we become bright red. I mean we know how we became bright red. And we have a few things that we can do to turn this around. This is kind of a mash up of some recommendations from a number of people, but hopefully it's catchy enough that you'll remember and share with others. So the four W's for COVID-19 pandemic response wash your hands, where you're double mask and I have a nice double mask here so where you're double mask. One cloth cloth and one, you know paper. Watch your distance and wait your turn for the vaccine. But what's not on the slide is follow CDC guidelines follows follow the science, I follow the science you follow the science. Let me ask what is common about these positions that you see on the slide we see essential workers who were noted as those folks who needed to continue. You know showing up to make sure that the economy would continue and I can't see the chat but if you'd like to in the chat, maybe just take a note like what is common. About these positions we have energy workers childcare workers, water and wastewater water treatment plant and other workers agriculture and food production. Critical retail so our grocery stores hardware stores mechanics, the critical trades of construction electricians plumbers transportation nonprofit and social service organizations. We also offer that these are workers who did not have the luxury to not show up. They had to go in and tend the shop. They could not work from their homes. They could not protect themselves from the exposure to COVID-19. The populations and these positions most at risk are low income and black and brown communities, low income and black and brown communities and we see this in the data on who is dying the most. So, let me give us perhaps just a broader lens to understand these features the built environment that have increased risk of infection, and then some potential long term implications of COVID-19 for the built environment. So we know, you know, at least based on synthesis of pure viewed literature and host of other data sets that there are four key things that are significant features of the built environment that increase the COVID-19 infection risk. Prouting, not density. Prouting, not density. Poverty and racism. Poor air circulation and air pollution. But some of the potential long term implications of COVID-19 for the built environment would be infection safe buildings, we can talk through what that means, working from home. We can envision streets and public spaces and green spaces. How can we reuse these spaces in a way that really allows for improved engagement during this COVID period. Change in modes of transportation. And this may not be a positive implication, but as an implication, and then movement from cities to excerpts. And again, we can talk through some of this. I want to give you now a little bit of a charge. And I apologize for in advance for perhaps a little bit of discomfort in in what I share in the last maybe 10 or so slides 15 slides. Because I really want us to embrace the privilege that we have, whether you are a Columbia student, a Georgia Tech student faculty or staff because I see a few you on thank you for joining. Or the privilege that you can get online and you have the time to join the lecture. This is privilege. And with privilege comes responsibility. And so I'm asking you to, to be a little uncomfortable, but to press through the discomfort as we move into at least this this charge that I'm hoping to leave with you. So what you'll learn planning school, specifically in planning theory is that planning is about collective decision making planning is about collective decision making. What this means is that planning is intended to understand and include the collective, not some but the collective in the decisions that are made and thus the outcomes that are realized. So the collective is, and how the planner includes them is dependent on many variables. He among those variables is the time period. The time period you find yourself in from the early rational planning period where our motivation was to establish planning as a science this is where the sons and grandsons and men were the focus that was the who at that period. And so we move forward to the 1960s and 70s where we have advocacy planning and communicative planning fueled largely by the civil rights movement. And so when we think about planning planning is about collective decision making. Right slide great. And in this time in the coven 19 period planning is especially about collective decision making. So I want you to ask yourself and feel free to use the chat again. Who has been at the table, or in those new meetings perhaps deciding on issues as it relates to coven 19 how our cities would function who is going to school and who's not going to school. Who is at the table making these decisions. What is expected of those who get to the table. What do you expect of those who are making these decisions for the collective. What are the actual decision makers. And have we really seen collective decisions during the pandemic. So yes we've seen collective decisions by those who hold power, but who holds the power. According to sherry arnstein in her 1969 ladder citizen participation article and this was in the Journal of the American Planning Association. Those who hold power are those who join in determining how information is shared goals and policies are set tax resources are allocated programs are operated and benefits like contracts and patronage are parceled These are those who share in the benefits of the affluent society. These are the people who hold power. What I am suggesting by stating that planning in the pandemic is about power and that people with power avoid increased risk from being exposed to the virus and dying from it. Let me say that again. What I am suggesting by saying that planning in the pandemic is about power and the people with power avoid increased risk from being exposed to the virus and dying from it. What you see in this graph what you see in this graph is not a normal distribution. We know that COVID-19 is transmitted through the air. Every human breathes air you were breathing air right now. So why do we see this disparity in deaths. This is not intentionally targeting as the chart shows black and Pakistani or other ethnicities rather COVID-19 lives in a system that routinely puts black and brown populations at an increased risk for death from the virus, because we are the most exposed. Think about that list of essential workers and those who could not work from home. The pandemic put a spotlight on not just health disparities, but also the continual injustices, plaguing communities, and specifically those in the lowest cast around the world. Yes, the lowest cast as Isabelle Wilkerson skillfully talks about in her in her recent book. These again are notably black and brown people. The economic forum notes five socioeconomic inequities highlighted by coronavirus access to green space, health care access and outcomes, the digital divide for youth learning, the digital divide for youth learning, and for parents being able to work in a virtual environment. Think about the, think about the, the abilities that you have now working in this virtual environment that people who are not in this space all the time just don't have the luxury of honing those skills. This is part of that significant gap that's widening and then the last thing is accessibility and disability services just as important. These are reinforced because of the system environment and policies that determine the quality and quantity of green space in communities, housing affordability, employment type and wage levels, health care, access and insurance coverage, Wi Fi availability communities. Some communities don't even have Wi Fi and support for people with functional or physical accessibility challenges, among others. Our recent National Academies of Sciences and Engineering report and they some report titled communities in action pathways to health equity states that system level changes you keep hearing me say system, right. System level changes are needed to reduce poverty, eliminate structural racism, improve income inequality, increase educational opportunity and fix the laws and policies that perpetuate structural inequities. This can be done by addressing policies systems and the environment, or those items found at the base of the health impact pyramid. And at the base of the health impact pyramid you see socioeconomic factors and changing the context. So the healthy choice is the easy choice. So the healthy choice is the affordable choice. So the healthy choice is the beautiful choice. This is where policy system and the environment change can occur, often with support from advocacy efforts. Let me give you one more example. So another way to think about this is the iceberg example. If you have been in a public health or planning lecture I'm sure this has come up before so bear with me. So like the health impact pyramid. The bottom of the pyramid essentially mirrors the iceberg that bottom of the pyramid is large it's a solid foundation, much like the base of this iceberg. This represents systemic structure the policy systems and environment that may manifest in our use of active transportation, or single occupancy vehicles as you see in the pictures to the right. The choices presented to be physically active and to be proximal or adjacent to other people versus isolated and sedentary in your cars. These patterns of behavior are patterns. They are repeated and lead to the events that are easier to see or target health relationship and thriving or heart disease cancer or stroke. And these are those things that are easier to see so so realize. So as we try to realize a different outcome or the event at the top of the iceberg, you have to really work to change the behavior. You have to change work to change the patterns of behavior. But in order to change the patterns of behavior, you must change the system in which the behavior occurs, otherwise you're just wasting money and time. You have to change the systemic structure, you are wasting money and time, and it's, it's just a false effort. And so this idea is in line with the upstream and downstream model noted here, you can consider that the social determinants of health that are on the right side of the screen are some of our upstream and midstream factors these include education and access. Access and quality, economic stability, social and community context, neighborhood and built environment and healthcare access and quality. These are the factors that lead to the health outcomes or those events that we have noted before. So plan four, and with all communities in the pandemic, and therefore, and thereafter, we must work as practicing planners to redistribute power to those with the least power in the system. We must work to redistribute power to those with the least power in the system, redistribute power in an equitable, not equal, but an equitable way. What I mean by this is that some communities will get more investments in economic development, because they need it more than other communities. And some communities will realize increased investment in safe and affordable housing, hopefully with protections against displacement, because they need it more. And some communities will have their schools rebuilt and in a purposeful communities approach, because they need it more than other communities. And minority youth are great vessels to equip with these skills of advocating what and where the need is and communities, they know these communities. They absolutely do. We have examples where youth have been empowered to plan and advocate for change, yielding significant dividends. Let me tell you about a few. Yay, or the youth engagement and action for health program is this example. It is a youth advocacy training program designed to teach advocacy for improving physical activity and nutrition assets in communities focusing on policy systems and environmental changes. It originated in San Diego with their health department and has expanded across the country with support from the physical activity research center and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. And it was, yeah, has proven to create positive individual change in youth, adults and decision makers, and produce positive policy systems and environmental change policy systems and environmental change. The program focuses on three core elements, learning about advocacy and health, conducting neighborhood assessments and completing an advocacy project, which the youth present to a decision maker in the community. I'm happy to share more on the curriculum. If you'd like to please go to www.yeah.gottec.edu the link is on the bottom of the slide. And there's a full set of resources if you're interested in learning more if you want to implement this in your community. If you want to share it with, you know, with with others, please, please feel free to use this resource and have and see how it may be useful for you. I'm not going to give you the full kind of quantitative outcomes. And what we saw in what the students realized as a result of participating in the yeah program but I do want to give you just a very high level perspective on what the youth who participated with what they realized. We worked with 19 clubs in Hawaii, California, Florida, Georgia, Virginia, DC and Maine. These clubs included boys and girls clubs, big brothers and big sisters programs, YMCA's. I was going to break out in the YMCA dance. Girls and after school programs we had a total of 264 students across five racial and ethnic groups, African American, Native American, Latinx Asian American Pacific Islander and Native Hawaiian. And we had about 5050 boys girls. We advocated for a range of projects, including clean water fountains at their school dance classes for PE instead of the one basketball in the gym park improvements and food demos in the cafeteria to promote nutrition. We had many positive outcomes, but most notable was that over the course of the program, and the advocacy work, each of the clubs completed on average youth increase their belief that leaders in their school or community would listen to them. And the belief that they have a say, they have a say in their community, and many of them saw actual change in the community. I want to tell you a quick story. And you'll see pictures. Actually, I bet these kids on my slide. Yep. So if you look at the top left, you'll see my kids from Lahoe, Hawaii. You can tell us why because we have delays. So those kids were in a boys and girls club. They were near their downtown and they worked really well in partnership with the city planning office with the get fit kawaii organization and the boys and girls club. And they said, you know what, the thing that really is concerning to us is our park. How many of you have seen Moana. Is that the movie Moana the Disney movie about the Hawaiian girl with the chicken that's always pecking around. So in Lahoe, there are chickens everywhere. And those chickens have tore up these this park for these kids. And the kids said, look, we need our park, we have like a rock wall that has a, you know, do not trespass, you know, yellow line across it every step you take you fall in a chicken hole. We don't have any concerns about our park and we don't have anywhere else nearby where we can go and relax and be physically active or just loiter, right. And one quick note, parks are for loitering. Mitchell Silver, your New York City Parks Commissioner has noted that parks are for loitering. And so they didn't have a place to loiter to sit back and relax to play basketball or to climb the rock wall and they said, this is what we need. So we talked with an evidence based presentation to their county council and the mayor and county council members are actually in this picture. And at the end of that presentation, county council awarded them $80,000 to do a park plan. And with that 80,000 in the park plan the park renovation is moving forward today. Yes, these kids have the power to create change in their communities. If only we would support them and believe in them to do these things to be able to see these changes. So as a practicing planner, as a student, you may find yourself as the only black indigenous Latinx Pacific Islander Asian American Native American or white person in the room. Yes, there will be times when you're the only white person in the room and you should be in those faces, but please know that you are not alone. You may go forth alone, but you stand as 10,000. You are entrusted in that space with the power of 10,000 you are empowered to ask questions and work for the health and well being of marginalized communities. My yay kids learn that they had power. They mastered it for their projects and transformed their schools and communities in many, many ways. And again, happy to share more examples. You too can plan in this pandemic with a focus on sharing power on redistributing power on giving voice to the voiceless on giving a seat at the table to those who are new to the community. So let me focus on sharing power on redistributing power on giving voice to the voiceless on giving a seat at the table to those who are not even able to get into the room to do so. You must be brave. You must be the light. And so let me just close with this. What is your vision for a healthy, equitable and sustainable community and world. What is your vision. What are you doing to see the light. What are you doing to be the light. How will you, you work to ensure that the communities, most in need, receive what they need. What is your time to be well to share in the benefits of the affluent society. Don't wait for someone else to do it. Don't just post it on Facebook, don't just make a tick tock. Take the step to realize change, take the step to share power with those without so they can realize the benefits of the affluent society, and we move out of the current cast system that we find ourselves in. And so with that, I yield the mic, Joe, and happy to take questions and to have a really fantastic conversation with this audience. Thank you so much. Thank you, Professor. That was really inspiring and engaging talk so yeah we have about 25 minutes or so maybe a little less than that for questions. So just as I said at the beginning there's there's two options you can either use the raise your hand feature, calling you to unmute and ask your question directly or if you're more comfortable you can also just type in the chat box and and I can read out loud. So does anyone have questions. I can read. Yeah. Thank you so much Professor about Ray for your very inspiring and passionate presentation. I guess my question is kind of overall, as someone who studied public health and planning for years. Was it all surprised by the US response to covert 19 and the impact on the minor the communities of minority. Or was it something that was kind of in the pipeline expected to happen, whether due to covert 19 or some other disaster that was going to strike, or highlight the systemic racism in the system. Thank you so much, Maureen. Very good question. March 5. I didn't know what to expect. I remember sitting in a leadership meeting. And we were talking about COVID what so my associate Dean hat is worn in our college of professional education and we have about 16,000 adult learners who learn online whether it be through our online master's programs or our professional education offerings. And at that time, those students, either they were online because of the online masters or they were in our building with a constant buzz and movement of people how do we continue operation with coven. What is it how do we protect against it we had no clue. And the thought of how is this going to impact minority communities. I thought it would hit us harder, but I, I didn't have the imagination to know how hard it would hit. And, you know, perhaps the two most concerning areas, you know, one is the digital divide for parents and kids. So in Southwest Atlanta. Some of those communities, like I said, don't have access to Wi Fi. So like, like mobile Wi Fi trucks had to go in to give access to kids in those communities so they go to school. And the parents who are driving buses and operating the function of the society. What happens when we return and now we're in a digital first framework for everything. When we're paying for our food with our phone, like some of us do with our Apple Pay. Just getting over that digital barrier like we're practicing it, but there's so many people who are not, and are going to be further left behind. And so, you know, I just, when we think about public health, there is. There's a, there's a spot where your right to do what you want ends, and my right to live begins. And we have to think beyond the individual notion of what I want to what we need to survive as a public as a community so we didn't have any idea, Maureen. But now we know, and now that we know we have to do better to, you know, help those most in need. Thank you for your question. Sort of going off that there's a question in the chat from Abby, who asks, with the inequities laid bare under the cloud of COVID is there a sense that we're on the cusp of a substantial transformation towards a more equitable system. Do you see any prospects for hope? I do. I'm often the person who, you know, who says the glass is half full, even though it's just a third of the way full, right. If you don't believe that something positive can happen, it's not going to happen. Right. We, if we can't see it and believe it and think about it, we can't make it happen. And even if it's gray outside, we have to push through the darkness and that's that change Abby is not something that that only I do, but it's something that we all do. Right. We have to work where we find ourselves. We have to work in the spaces that we're gifted to be in. I can't do the work of a senator. I can't do the work of a public health practitioner because that's not where I work. I work at Georgia Tech. I serve the institution. I'm working to make sure that our faculty and students can come back safely in the summer and in the fall. You know, and I'm doing that on a team of people who are committed to the collective benefit of our students. That's where I'm working. I work at Georgia Tech in the city planning program and teach students to think about issues of equity and disparities. They go into all of their other classes, they ask, who's missing, what voices are we not hearing, who are we not reading, and, and what's what's left out of this conversation. And so that's where I work and I have to believe, Abby, I have to believe that I am investing my energy as Maureen noted I'm very enthusiastic I'm an extrovert if you can't tell. I'm investing my energy into the future for my children for your for your daughter, Abby, I'm investing in her. So she has a better wall to live in because if I don't do it. If you don't do it, if Joseph doesn't do it, it's not going to happen. Thank you that was inspiring professor thanks. Carolyn, do you have a question. Yes. And so first thanks so much for this as others have said very inspiring talk. My background actually was in public health before I came to planning so it's been really exciting for me to see this material on a screen again. So I'm curious as we think about the new knowledge that these fields have been developing on factors in our environment that are associated with our health and think about the fact that marginalized communities disproportionately have been reinvested in so that they're not able to develop you know these green spaces or equitable access to other built environment factors. How do we think about reinvesting in those communities in a way where residents will actually be able to benefit from those investments because oftentimes of course what we're seeing in the US and in cities is gentrification where parks or bike lanes or other things that ostensibly would be linked to health where those are getting put in it actually is triggering rising speculation and housing costs and adversely affecting the community. So curious for any insight that you have on how to navigate that tension and ensure that communities are able to benefit. That's a hard question. And perhaps that's the most important question for us to answer. And I think you know the answer is simple and yet it's yet it's the most complex, because the solution is that we take a policy systems and environmental approach. This means that we have to make sure that there are policies in place to protect affordability of units. And it's not just that we have like tech funding available, but that those small and medium sized affordable housing developments that are typically owned by, you know, a mom and dad or, you know, a small, you know, LLC, that they have the tools they need to maintain affordability that they are not enticed so much by the private market to sell and then those, those last bastions of affordability are lost to affordability that there are policies in place for perhaps a tax allocation district so the, the, there's a land trust that can make that can decrease the overall cost right that's that's increasing in the housing. And that land isn't really being taxed from $600 a year to $3,500 a year, right as we see developments like the high line the belt line and a whole host of lines that come through as the water fronts for these communities, and they displace people to think about what are those policies that we have to put in place that are protective for communities to stay and not be displaced we want the beautification that comes from gentrification but not the displacement. Right, so what are the policies that we need to make sure people can stay. And we have to ask that question before we, you know, put the shovel in the ground that has to be in place beforehand. Otherwise, we're going to continue to see displacement so it's we have to think about what are those policies that will allow for the people who need to be in these spaces. Once they're transformed, who've been here for the last 50 years to allow them to stay and enjoy the, the beautiful environment so they can now walk to the grocery store. Living in the next county over because they couldn't afford the house anymore. Thank you. Thank you. Other questions. I have one but if anyone else wants to hop on. Okay, maybe all people are thinking. I couldn't help but like think when I when you showed the slide about the implications for the built environment of COVID. Like it was sort of an obvious connection to the slides you've shown earlier about about the negative health impacts of sprawl and other things a lot of those of those impacts that you projected for the bullet environment after coven like are the same things that had that we know cause negative health impacts so I guess I'm just sort of wondering about what like what is sort of the scholarship right or right now or what are policymakers thinking about sort of how to mitigate that or is there like a risk that COVID is actually going to decrease health outcomes and all these other measures to because of the built environment. So I, so I think you're thinking about the implications of COVID-19 on the built environment where I talked about infections safe buildings working from home, change in modes or perhaps it's around crowding, not density the features of the built environment that increase the risk. Yeah, I guess of the of those like the idea of more automobile use more potentially moving to the excerpts, you know, more working from home where you don't leave the house like those would all seem to be. Yes. Yeah. And so Joe just to make sure I answer your question is the question, what what's on the horizon as it relates to policy systems and environment for these five implications of COVID-19. Yeah, I guess just I'm curious whether people have thought about how to sort of mitigate the negative health impacts that some of these things like, like moving to the sprawling areas or shifting to cars might have on sort of long term health. Yes, yes. Where do I start so there are lots of innovations that have resulted from this pressure pot that we have been in because of COVID we see innovations and how HVAC systems are monitored and treated we see innovations and how classrooms are cleaned with the different fogging machines we see innovations and how streets are being utilized with streets being opened to people and closed to cars, not just, you know, in C. So I see a host of innovations that we realized in the built environment because of COVID that will continue and eventually make its way into new practice and policy. I have a daughter who's in Boston and on a, on a ride lift ride from the airport. One day, the lift driver said you know it's horrible that you know these Boston planners are making these streets narrower and taking away lanes and, you know, forcing people to walk. And, but then later on in the conversation he said but you know man it's so cool to be able to go to the next to the river near near Harvard and walk on a Sunday and ride a bike and that's where my kid learned to ride a bike. So, so I think we're going to see more of these innovations that we are practicing now during COVID, kind of really focused in future policy and planning practice and best practices that that will continue. And as it relates to transportation, you know, public transit has had it really bad before COVID and it's and it's challenging if you have a partial public transit system. So if you're in New York City or other place where you have a fantastic transit system, I think that's where the behavior change has to occur where you have the universal mask wearing where you have considerations around density and frequency of trains. And so I don't think these things will go away. I think we're just going to treat them differently to make sure that we can protect the public health I think about China, Beijing, for example. They're using their trains and everyone's wearing a mask, and they don't have the mortality numbers we do. And so we can, we can return to business, but we have to return to business as a country it can't be that I returned to business and act as an individual. And so I don't see public transit breaking down unless we don't innovate. I don't see cities dying, unless we don't innovate. Think about show all the people who are working from home and these offices are empty. You're gonna have a lot more people live in downtown. That is prime real estate. Right. And so there's going to be a significant innovation in what the landscape are of our cities. Look like as a result of COVID but are we going to be brave enough to make the right choice and innovate in a way that allows for again the most marginalized to realize the gains equitably that they need. Could I ask a question. So, one of my yeah teachers is on Dr Brian. I'm so happy to see her on with us today. I wonder, perhaps if Dr Brian and I didn't prep her for this. I wonder if she would be willing to share one or two things about her kids in the yeah club maybe what they did for their project and any, anything that's resulted from that. Welcome. Thank you Dr Blashway for having me. I think yeah, we never thought about it at the time has definitely prepared us for COVID in that the students learn skills that they needed to be able to advocate for the environment. For their health, things that are so necessary and important during these times that they are able to advocate and say you know, this is what I need. I need healthy food in a time where you know parents are losing jobs and there is food insecurity students are able to say you know what I know the benefits of a healthy meal. Through yeah they were able to to figure these things out and they're able to say you know what I know I need to seek out a healthy meal through the food bank myself for family for other students and just being able to now they recognize that the parks are closed. And how else can we get that physical activity that is so important that we realize during our assessments that we're so important. They are spending more time in the neighborhood, they are more aware of aspects of the neighborhood and the community that need to be improved so that we can be healthier. And so it was almost it was just it's foresight that they were able to gather these skills while we're doing yeah, and they're now being able to put those those things into practice now and even if not in actual action but in thought, so they know how to move forward with the skills they are doing during that program. So I think yeah it was fantastic and it's working well for them during COVID, albeit you know the seriousness of COVID. Thank you so much Dr Brian I really appreciate you feeling being willing to respond to a question and and for your reflection. Thank you. You're welcome. Well, if there's unless anyone wants to pop in with one last question I think we can draw this to close. I want to thank you again very much Dr much for taking the time to speak with us on behalf of Columbia G step and they're been playing department in particular. We really appreciate that you were able to join us, even in this sanitized box as you said. And so, thanks everyone for attending and please make sure to join us next week as well for our lips talk at the same time with Michael Sneedle on opportunity zones in Baltimore. Thank you to everyone. And thank you especially Dr. Thank you so much Joe. Have a great everyone. Wash your hands, wait your turn, watch your distance, and do the other W that I'm not remembering right now. Bye bye.