SHARE
Former industrial and manufacturing hubs like Dayton, Ohio, and Gary, Indiana—known as legacy cities—need not choose between economic growth and equity, as growth is most durable when it benefits everyone, according to a new Policy Focus Report and accompanying Policy Brief published by the Lincoln Institute of Land Policy in partnership with the Greater Ohio Policy Center. Legacy cities can promote long-term growth while addressing racial and economic inequities laid bare by COVID-19 using strategies mapped out in Equitably Developing Smaller Legacy Cities: Investing in Residents from South Bend to Worcester. Using case studies of successful initiatives, the report guides practitioners through equitable investment in both physical projects and people.
Legacy cities experienced declining manufacturing economies and population loss in the 20th century, and they are now at various points on a path to revitalization. The report focuses on small to mid-size legacy cities with populations of 30,000 to 200,000 residents. Though they share many characteristics with their larger counterparts, these cities face unique challenges and require tailored approaches to revitalization.
Promising policies and strategies have emerged—as outlined in the 2017 Policy Focus Report Revitalizing America’s Smaller Legacy Cities and in the digital library of the Lincoln Institute’s Legacy Cities Initiative—and some legacy cities have seen populations grow or stabilize. As the new report shows, durable revitalization requires explicit efforts to address stark social and economic inequities.
“Leaders in America’s smaller legacy cities are uniquely positioned to test, refine, and innovate equitable development practices,” authors Erica Spaid Patras, Alison Goebel, and Lindsey Elam of the Greater Ohio Policy Center write in the report. “A robust commitment to equity is a powerful tool that can lead to a brighter future for these communities.”
Drawing on years of experience conducting research, advocacy, and outreach on behalf of Ohio’s 20 legacy cities, the authors begin the report with an explanation of how greater equity can both improve everyone’s access to opportunity and support the economic prospects of cities. For example, by providing better job training for longtime residents, a city can increase disposable income and encourage businesses to hire locally and ultimately stay in the city. Reducing entrenched poverty and increasing citizen engagement can improve a community’s long-term financial health.
The authors outline seven strategies, illustrated with a diverse set of case studies, that can lay the groundwork for a city’s equitable development agenda. Strategies are tailored to the unique challenges of these small to mid-size legacy cities and also draw on their unique opportunities—such as a lack of market pressures that allows leaders more time to get plans right.
“The strategies outlined in Equitably Developing America’s Smaller Legacy Cities will be vital in rebuilding more racially and economically equitable legacy cities,” Akilah Watkins, president and CEO of the Center for Community Progress, said. “Every municipal leader in the country should engage with this guide and be bold in their efforts to revitalize their communities in a post-COVID era.”
The recommendations can be implemented at any time, regardless of a city’s market strength, and include strategies suitable for implementation at the local level by government officials; leaders of nonprofits, foundations, or community development organizations; community outreach staff at hospital systems, universities, or financial institutions; and other practitioners. Some strategies build on existing programs—e.g., integrating racial equity analyses into routine local government decision-making—while others stand alone—e.g., programs that build the leadership pipeline and civic capacity of underrepresented groups.
“This report demonstrates a keen understanding of legacy cities, and the policy recommendations are robust and easily understandable,” said Jason Segedy, Director of Planning and Urban Development for the city of Akron, Ohio.
“The strategies address today’s pandemic climate as well as long-standing economic decline,” the authors write. “Most of these strategies are cost-effective and prioritize investing time and human capital to build collaborations rather than just spending on new construction projects.”
Strategies fall into two categories: 1) those that seek to strengthen relationships and build trust and 2) those that reduce disparities in life outcomes for residents and improve economic prospects citywide.
Strategies to Build an Equitable Development Ecosystem
Strategies That Reduce Disparities and Increase Civic Capacity
The report is available for download on the Lincoln Institute’s website.
SHARE
Phoenix es la quinta ciudad más grande y la metrópolis con mayor índice de crecimiento de los Estados Unidos. Kate Gallego es la segunda alcaldesa mujer electa en la historia de Phoenix; y, con sus 39 años, es la alcaldesa de una ciudad importante más joven del país. Según ella, orientar este crecimiento implica priorizar la diversidad económica, las inversiones en infraestructura y la sustentabilidad. Cuando estaba en el ayuntamiento de Phoenix, dirigió la campaña para aprobar un plan de transporte en toda la ciudad que se prolonga hasta 2050. Cuando este se aprobó, en 2015, fue el acuerdo más grande del país de un gobierno local sobre infraestructura de transporte. Antes de dedicarse a la política, Gallego trabajó en desarrollo económico para Salt River Project, un servicio público de agua y electricidad sin fines de lucro que atiende a más de dos millones de personas en el centro de Arizona. Poco después de haber sido electa por segunda vez, la alcaldesa Gallego habló con Anthony Flint, nuestro miembro sénior. Fue la primera de una serie de entrevistas por el 75.º aniversario con alcaldes de ciudades que tienen una importancia especial para el Instituto Lincoln. A continuación, se presenta la transcripción editada de la conversación.
Anthony Flint: La felicito por la reelección. ¿Cuáles cree que son los temas que más motivaron al electorado en estos tiempos turbulentos?
Kate Gallego: El electorado buscaba candidatos que pudieran liderar en función de datos reales y tomar decisiones basadas en la ciencia. Yo llego a este puesto con un historial en desarrollo económico y un título de grado en medioambiente. El profesor de química nos decía que cuantos más cursos de química hiciéramos, más lejos estaríamos de avanzar en política electoral. Pero creo que el 2020 puede haber sido un año distinto: la ciencia fue importante para el electorado . . . El electorado de Arizona quería dirigentes que se tomaran la COVID-19 en serio, al igual que otros desafíos como el cambio climático y la recuperación económica.
Particularmente para el sector más joven, el cambio climático era un asunto muy importante. Me postulé cuando la comunidad sufría el verano más caluroso que se hubiera registrado. Puede que en algunas comunidades el cambio climático sea un tema del futuro, pero en Phoenix es un problema al que nos enfrentamos ahora. Las distintas generaciones lo describen de distintas formas. Mi papá me dice: si puedes hacer algo para aliviar el calor que sentimos durante el verano aquí, seguro saldrás reelecta. Es otra visión, pero creo que el resultado es el mismo.
AF: ¿Cómo afectó la pandemia a las labores de planeamiento urbano? ¿Surgieron oportunidades imprevistas?
KG: La pandemia realmente cambió el modo en que la gente interactúa con su comunidad. Aumentaron los paseos en bicicleta y a pie. Lo que la gente nos dice es que antes no se daba cuenta de cuánto disfrutaba esa forma de moverse en la comunidad, y pretende mantener algunos de esos cambios de conducta . . . Estamos evaluando cómo podemos crear más espacios públicos. ¿Podemos expandir la gastronomía al aire libre y permitir a la gente interactuar más entre sí?
El Dr. Anthony Fauci nos dijo que cuanto más tiempo pasemos al aire libre mejor combatiremos la COVID-19. Pero hay otros beneficios muy buenos. Soy la alcaldesa de la ciudad con mayor superficie de parques en todo el país, y este fue un año récord en que se disfrutaron esos parques . . . Puedes estar en el medio de Phoenix haciendo senderismo, y hay días en los que no ves a nadie más. Este año, esos servicios y el enfoque en la planificación en función de los parques mejoraron mucho.
Además, seguimos invirtiendo en el sistema de transporte. Decidimos acelerar la inversión en transporte; esa decisión se debatió mucho, y creo que nos permitirá avanzar hacia una forma más urbana. En realidad, notamos un aumento en la demanda por vivir en la ciudad. En el centro tenemos más grúas que nunca, y a menudo vemos solicitudes para edificios más altos que los que hemos visto hasta ahora. Comprendo que se está dando un diálogo intenso a nivel nacional acerca de si la gente querrá estar en un entorno suburbano, pero hoy en el centro de nuestra ciudad el mercado apunta hacia otro lado.
La COVID-19 también nos hizo observar algunos desafíos clave de nuestra comunidad, como viviendas asequibles, la brecha digital y la seguridad alimentaria, y también hicimos inversiones importantes en esos sentidos.
AF: Quizás mucha gente piense que Phoenix tiene mucho espacio para viviendas unifamiliares, que una casa con un patiecito y una entrada para automóviles es relativamente asequible. Sin embargo, la ciudad tiene un problema importante de sinhogarismo. ¿Cómo se llegó a eso?
KG: Phoenix compite por la mano de obra con ciudades como San Francisco y San Diego, y otras con costos de vivienda mucho más elevados que los nuestros. Pero las viviendas asequibles han sido un verdadero desafío para nuestra comunidad. Phoenix presentó el mayor índice de crecimiento del país. Si bien los ingresos aumentaron bastante, no se actualizaron a la par de los grandes aumentos en costos hipotecarios y de alquiler que sufrió la comunidad. Es bueno que la gente esté entusiasmada con nuestra ciudad y quiera ser parte de ella, pero ha sido muy difícil para el mercado inmobiliario.
El concejo acaba de aprobar un plan de viviendas asequibles que incluye un objetivo de crear o conservar 50.000 unidades durante la próxima década. Estamos analizando varias políticas como herramientas, y, si queremos obtener las unidades necesarias, las viviendas multifamiliares tendrán que conformar una gran parte de la solución. Es posible que esto también nos acerque a una forma de desarrollo más urbana.
AF: Quienes se opusieron a la reciente expansión del metro ligero argumentaron que sería demasiado costosa, pero también parecía haber cierta respuesta cultural negativa hacia ese tipo de urbanización. ¿Qué pasó con eso?
KG: En repetidas ocasiones, el electorado votó a favor del sistema de metro ligero. La última vez fue una propuesta de plebiscito [para prohibir el metro ligero] en 2019, poco después de que fui electa. Esto fracasó en todos los distritos del concejo: fracasó en el distrito más demócrata y también en el más republicano de la ciudad. El electorado transmitió un mensaje rotundo: desea esa forma de desarrollo más urbana y la oportunidad que trae el sistema de metro ligero. Hubo inversiones importantes en recursos de atención médica y viviendas asequibles junto al metro ligero. Además, algunos distritos escolares pueden invertir más en aulas y salarios docentes porque no deben pagar el transporte de tantos estudiantes. Fue muy gratificante ver el impacto del metro ligero en la ciudad, cuando las empresas vienen a nuestra comunidad. Suelen pedir ubicaciones junto al metro ligero porque saben que es un servicio que el personal valora. Entonces lo considero un éxito, pero sé que seguiremos hablando sobre cómo y dónde queremos crecer en Phoenix.
AF: No podemos hablar de Phoenix y Arizona sin hablar de agua. ¿En qué estado se encuentran las conversaciones sobre innovación, tecnología y conservación para administrar ese recurso?
KG: Hablando de la ambición del electorado, este aprobó un plan para que la ciudad de Phoenix establezca el objetivo de ser la ciudad desértica más sustentable. La conservación del agua siempre fue un valor aquí, y lo seguirá siendo. La ciudad ya reutiliza casi toda el agua residual en cosechas, humedales y producción energética. Desarrollamos programas sólidos para depositar y reconvertir agua, eficiencia y conservación, y muchos de ellos sirvieron como modelo para otras comunidades.
Estamos planificando a futuro. Muchas partes de la ciudad dependen del río Colorado, y ese sistema fluvial sufre sequías, y quizás se enfrente a mayores desafíos en el futuro. Entonces, intentamos planificar a futuro e invertir en infraestructura para responder a eso, pero también consideramos el ecosistema de bosques y otras soluciones para asegurarnos de que podamos seguir entregando agua y dar prioridad al problema del cambio climático. También tuvimos suerte con bonos verdes y de sustentabilidad, que la ciudad emitió hace poco. Era hora de invertir en la infraestructura, y . . . las asociaciones con The Nature Conservancy y otras organizaciones nos ayudaron a analizar cómo gestionar el agua de modo que se aproveche el ecosistema natural, ya sea por filtración de agua pluvial o la manera en que diseñamos las soluciones del pavimento. Así, hemos tenido buenas innovaciones. La comunidad incluye muchas empresas que están a la vanguardia del uso del agua, tal como se esperaría de una ciudad desértica, y espero que Phoenix se ponga al frente y ayude a otras comunidades a abordar dificultades relacionadas con el agua.
AF: Por último, si nos da el gusto: el fundador creó la Fundación Lincoln en 1946 en Phoenix, donde participaba en acciones filantrópicas locales. ¿Nos daría su opinión sobre el modo en que se entrelazan las historias de Phoenix, la familia Lincoln y esta organización?
KG: Por supuesto. La familia Lincoln tuvo un impacto inmenso en Phoenix y nuestra economía. Uno de los puntos de mayor crecimiento en lo que respecta al empleo es la atención médica, y la red HonorHealth debe su legado a John C. Lincoln. El Centro Médico John C. Lincoln invirtió y nos ayudó en muchos aspectos, desde la COVID-19 hasta todas las dificultades que tiene una ciudad que crece rápido.
Quiero destacar a un miembro en particular de la familia: Joan Lincoln, una de las primeras mujeres a cargo de una ciudad de Arizona [fue alcaldesa de Paradise Valley entre 1984 y 1986; Joan era la esposa de David C. Lincoln, director del Instituto Lincoln por mucho tiempo, y madre de Kathryn Lincoln, la directora actual]. Cuando decidí postularme como alcaldesa, ninguna de las 15 ciudades más grandes del país tenía una alcaldesa mujer; muchas ciudades importantes, como Nueva York y Los Ángeles, nunca habían tenido una. Pero en Arizona es algo común. No soy la primera alcaldesa [mujer] de Phoenix, y soy una de las muchas alcaldesas [mujeres] que hay en el valle. Cuando Joan allanó el camino, no era así. Fue una pionera increíble de verdad, y logró que fuera más posible y más común que hubiera candidatas como yo. Agradezco su liderazgo.
Anthony Flint es miembro sénior del Instituto Lincoln de Políticas de Suelo y editor colaborador de Land Lines.
Fotografía: Kate Gallego. Crédito: Kate Gallego/Twitter.
Contenido relacionado
Land Matters Podcast: Reflections on a Changing Desert Southwest from Phoenix Mayor Kate Gallego
SHARE
Residents of the Duwamish Valley, a section of Seattle perched just south of downtown, face an array of environmental challenges, health disparities, and racial inequities. Saddled with a legacy of pollution from the heavy industry and highways nearby, they now face increasing flood risks due to climate change and concerns about displacement and affordability. The riverside neighborhoods of South Park and Georgetown have historically relied on community organizing to attempt to address these problems. But in recent years, the city of Seattle has taken a more active role in advancing environmental justice and equitable development in the Duwamish Valley by creating a cross-departmental Duwamish Valley Program, implementing the Duwamish Valley Action Plan, and collaborating with local activists and residents in new ways. Now, partners from the city and the community are exploring the feasibility of creating one of the nation’s first resilience districts.
Resilience districts have been implemented in New Orleans, Louisiana; Portland, Oregon; and other cities around the world. Although they sometimes go by other names, the basic concept is the same, as described by the city of Seattle: “a geographic strategy . . . focused on adapting to flood risk and other climate change impacts as a key first step towards adapting to a changing climate, while taking a comprehensive approach that fosters community resilience.”
Seattle’s approach specifically aims to coordinate investments in infrastructure related to affordable housing, parks, and climate change adaptation; prioritize the partcipation and decision-making of local residents and businesses, with a focus on building power and wealth for people of color and individuals with low incomes; and foster health and equity by identifying sustainable funding sources and equitable investment mechanisms, including value capture. The district will initially be managed by various city departments but will ultimately be led by the Duwamish Valley communities, who will establish partnerships with agencies, philanthropy, and private entities.
The vision for a resilience district, which had previously been discussed internally by city staff and community partners, turned into a concrete plan through partners’ participation in Connect Capital, a program run by the Center for Community Investment that helps place-based teams establish shared priorities and create pipelines of investable projects. Participants in the two-year process included representatives from Seattle Public Utilities (SPU); the city’s Office of Sustainability & Environment (OSE), Office of Planning & Community Development (OPCD), and Office of Economic Development (OED); the Seattle Foundation; the Duwamish River Cleanup Coalition (DRCC), a group of community, tribal, environmental, and small business groups impacted by pollution and remediation along the lower Duwamish River; and other stakeholders.
With planning now underway, city representatives are learning from models around the globe—from Brazil to New Zealand—that offer insights into how to equitably finance related projects, collaborate across sectors, and adapt to sea level rise. Funding from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF), granted at the end of 2020, will enable the project’s partners to take important next steps related to planning and piloting key elements of the resilience district.
“The community has been leading and working on these issues for decades, so it is really exciting to now see this work recognized and given support on the national level in ways that match the creativity and bold solutions being put forward by them,” Alberto J. Rodríguez, Duwamish Valley advisor at OSE and project colead, said. “This approach will allow us to collaborate in transformational ways.”
“This grant will make it possible for community groups, industrial businesses, public sector agencies, utilities, the port, and the county to continue to work together to address environmental hazards and build a more resilient community,” said Omar Carrillo Tinajero, associate director of innovation and learning at the Center for Community Investment. “Even in this difficult time, this work recognizes the importance of taking action to create a more equitable, smarter climate future.”
Project Background
Seventy percent of the residents of the Duwamish Valley’s two primary neighborhoods, South Park and Georgetown, identify as people of color. The environmental hazards they face include industrial pollution in the lower Duwamish River, which was declared a Superfund site in 2001; air pollution from State Highways 99 and 509 and Interstate 5, which all cut through the area; a lack of green space; and other challenges. During a community-run mapping exercise, residents identified noise pollution, vacant lots, a lack of healthy stores, and litter as additional “unhealthy” features. These factors have combined to create an average life expectancy eight years shorter in this zip code than in the city of Seattle and King County overall, and a full 13 years shorter than in more affluent, less diverse neighborhoods in Seattle. Further, by 2104, the routine flooding in this low-lying area is expected to become a daily occurrence.
While the city has made efforts to address these problems, some of these actions have raised concerns among residents about displacement. SPU’s plans to invest $100 million in stormwater management infrastructure in the area and Seattle Parks & Recreation’s plans to improve and add parks, for example, have prompted increasing worries about displacement of current residents in a city with few affordable housing options. A 2015 analysis by Governing revealed that of seven U.S. Census tracts in Seattle that had experienced gentrification since 2000, five were in Georgetown and South Park, with median home values increasing an average of 47 percent between 2000 and 2013.
“We cannot be talking about a water treatment facility that is going to bring open space without thinking of displacement,” Paulina López, executive director of DRCC, said. Collaboration is critical, she said: “Our public utility doesn’t build affordable housing, but it should still be collaborating with the Office of Housing and other departments on its infrastructure investments.”
Since forming the Duwamish Valley Program in 2016, the city has commited to furthering social justice in policy and development, aiming to coordinate priorities across 18 city departments and strengthen relationships with community partners. Participating in Connect Capital helped the team shift from a focus on discrete projects and “symptoms” to a more proactive systems mindset, according to Rodríguez.
Throughout this partnership development and capacity building work, anti-displacement has repeatedly emerged as the top priority for residents. Departments such as OPCD and the Office of Housing are taking steps to address these concerns, including providing funding for capacity-building to the Duwamish Valley Affordable Housing Coalition (DVAHC), which was formed in 2017 to preserve existing affordability, develop a multipurpose community building, provide repairs, and acquire lots to build additional housing. The city is also buying land for affordable housing and providing $910,000 to Habitat for Humanity to build 13 two-bedroom, two-bath homes in South Park, which will be sold for $210,000 for a family with an annual income averaging $45,000 (in February 2021, the median list price of homes in this neighborhood was $525,000).
“We are working to shift to a culture of pairing community development with concrete anti-displacement actions,” said David W. Goldberg, strategic advisor with OPCD and project colead. “It looks like in the next few years the neighborhood will get both a park and new affordable housing.”
Planning: Local and International Models & Inspirations
The partners are thinking of the resilience district timeline in three stages, says Goldberg: “norming, forming, and performing.” At each of these stages, representatives from the community, philanthropy, and city will play evolving roles. During the “norming” stage, the city and community are organizing listening sessions and researching precedents. In the second stage, the city plans to develop regulatory options for enabling legislation and amendments to development standards. By the third phase, the community would hold the largest role and begin to cogovern the district, with the city playing a financing and legislative role.
With the funding from RWJF, the Duwamish Valley Program will focus on “norming” and “forming” by researching promising practices for three aspects of the district: cross-sector collaboration, sustainable funding sources and equitable investment mechanisms, and adaptation to sea level rise. The partners have already identified models in places as far-flung as San Juan, Puerto Rico, São Paulo, Brazil, and Christchurch, New Zealand, that are using strategies that could be adapted in the Duwamish Valley.
“We have built this concept from the needs of the community,” Rodríguez said. “As a result, we cannot find one model elsewhere that perfectly aligns with our work, but we have found bits and pieces that embody key aspects of the work that we want and plan to do.”
Cross-Sector Collaboration in San Juan
In communities along Caño Martin Peña, a tidal channel on the San Juan Bay National Estuary, residents face challenges familiar to the Duwamish Valley, including displacement pressures, flooding, and environmental hazards stemming from poor water infrastructure. In the early 2000s, the Puerto Rico Planning Board designated the area a special planning district and formed a public corporation to oversee the implementation of a development and land use plan. The corporation works with a nonprofit coalition to ensure widespread community involvement and participatory community planning as well as with the Caño Martin Peña Community Land Trust to prevent further displacement.
As envisioned, the resilience district will be a similar type of collaboration. To establish capacity for this type of collaboration, build relationships between the many partners in the Duwamish Valley, and address community skepticism about the approach, the city is convening listening sessions and plans to hire a facilitator and provide stipends to residents offering their expertise.
“Cross-sector collaboration is so important,” López said. “There are not a lot of opportunities for funders, governments, and community-based organizations to be sittng in the same Zoom room, thinking creatively about how to address the impacts of environmental injustices and climate change. This is a great opportunity to develop good strategies and be meaningful in the way that these strategies can be implemented.”
Sustainable Funding Sources & Equitable Investment Mechanisms in São Paulo
Funding mechanisms such as land value capture—which allows the public sector to recover and reinvest land value increases that result from public investment and government actions—could help fund affordable housing, green space, and other community priorities in the Duwamish Valley. The approach of São Paulo, recently highlighted in Land Lines, has resonated in Seattle. Since the early 2000s, São Paulo has used CEPACs, a form of land value capture in which developers pay the municipality a fee for additional development rights. Those fees are then used to fund public improvements, including social housing. The city also stipulates that all displaced families can resettle within the same geographic area, and that a fixed share of revenues must be invested in affordable housing.
Rodríguez and his colleagues are interested not only in land value capture, but in other tools for investing in public goods, such as health equity zones, hospital benefit zones, community benefits agreements, landscaping standards, and more.
“This work is not only about capturing value, but also ensuring its equitable distribution,” Rodríguez said. “We cannot run the risk of further exacerbating existing inequities and disparities.”
Adapting for Sea Level Rise in Christchurch
Finally, the cross-departmental team believes the Ōtākaro Avon River Corridor Regeneration Plan in Christchurch, New Zealand, may offer important lessons about how the Duwamish Valley can prepare for projected sea level rise. The project is run by Regenerate Christchurch, a quasi-public agency that formed in the wake of the 2011 earthquake, and takes a holistic approach to planning for present and future land use.
Regenerate Christchurch addresses both the infrastructure needs and the cultural ties of residents, indigenous populations, and representatives from private and nonprofit organizations to the river. In addition to drawing inspiration from Christchurch, the city’s team is also considering using scenario planning, a practice through which communities plan for an uncertain future by exploring multiple possibilities of what might happen, to address rising seas.
“Adaptation to sea level rise in the Duwamish Valley will be rooted in community resilience: power and wealth building today are as critical as engineered infrastructure to respond to climate change impacts tomorrow,” says Ann Grodnik-Nagle, climate policy advisor with SPU.
Learning by Doing: Duwamish Waterway Park Expansion Project
While thinking through the big ideas of the resilience district, the city is using this time to pilot community-led work on a smaller scale with the expansion of the Duwamish Waterway Park, South Park’s main riverfront green space. This “learning by doing” project will use an existing grant to purchase a one-acre site adjacent to an existing park and expand the facility to support community services and cultural programming. The group will start the project by leading a site plan to determine how community uses can be accommodated on the site and, ultimately, how the community could potentially own the land. According to Goldberg, this is one of several potential “proof-of-concept” projects being considered.
“This is a good way to prove the concept so we can learn and replicate something similar with bigger multimillion-dollar investments,” says Goldberg. “It is a way for us to exercise the muscles that we will need to have in place when the resilience district is operating.”
Emma Zehner is communications and publications editor at the Lincoln Institute of Land Policy.
Photograph Credit: Tom Reese.
Related Content
Climate Resilience: Seattle Housing Groups, Utility Launch Bold Experiment in Climate Equity
SHARE
Cambridge Mayor Sumbul Siddiqui immigrated to the United States from Karachi, Pakistan, at the age of two, along with her parents and twin brother. Raised in affordable housing in Cambridge and educated in the city’s public schools, she later graduated from Brown University and served as an AmeriCorps fellow at New Profit, a nonprofit organization dedicated to improving social mobility for families. After earning a degree from Northwestern’s Pritzker School of Law, Siddiqui returned to Massachusetts to work as an attorney with Northeast Legal Aid, serving the communities of Lawrence, Lynn, and Lowell.
Throughout her time as a public servant, Siddiqui has advocated on behalf of the city’s most vulnerable, striving to create affordable housing, protect households facing displacement, and promote equitable access to education. During the pandemic, she helped increase Internet access for low-income families and expanded free COVID testing for all Cambridge residents. Her agenda includes the promotion of clean and climate-resilient streets, parks, and infrastructure as part of making Cambridge a more equitable and civically engaged community.
Siddiqui recently took time to talk with Senior Fellow Anthony Flint, who is interviewing the mayors of cities that are intertwined with the history of the Lincoln Institute, this year celebrating its 75th anniversary. The following is an edited version of their conversation; the full interview is available as a Land Matters podcast.
Anthony Flint: Cambridge has been gaining quite a lot of attention lately for a new policy that allows for some increases in height and density at appropriate locations—if the projects are 100 percent affordable. Can you tell us about that initiative and how it’s playing out?
Sumbul Siddiqui: The passing of the affordable housing overlay was an important moment for me and for many on the city council. The proposal was to create a citywide zoning overlay to enable 100 percent affordable housing developments in order to better compete with market rate development . . . the goal is to have multifamily and townhouse development in areas where they are not currently allowed . . . . We have a city that has a widening gap between high- and low-income earners, and we always talk about diversity as well, as a value, and how do we maintain that diversity? For me and others it’s all about creating additional affordable housing options so more people can stay in the city. So far we’re seeing many of our affordable housing developers, like our housing authority and our other community development corporations, doing community meetings around proposals where they are in some cases able to add over 100 units to the affordable housing that they were already going to build.
AF: Changes like this really do seem to percolate up at the local level. I’m thinking, for example, of Minneapolis banning single-family-only zoning to allow more multifamily in more places, and several other cities followed suit. Is the 100 percent affordable overlay something that other cities might adopt, and did you anticipate that this might become a model for other cities?
SS: We certainly think that this can be a model. We know that our neighboring sister city, Somerville, is looking at it . . . . I think it’s all part of the overall mission for many cities to make sure that they are offering and creating more affordable housing options. You know, this is housing that’s affordable to your teachers, to your custodians, to your public servants, legal aid attorneys—you name it, to stay in the city that they maybe have grown up in, and maybe they’ve moved out and want to come back, and we want there to be that opportunity. I think we still see such stark inequality in our city, and as someone who’s grown up in affordable housing in Cambridge . . . I would not be here without it. This is an important initiative and policy, and I do hope it [serves] as a model for other cities across the country.
AF: Cambridge has been such a boomtown for the last several years, and there has been a lot of higher-end housing development. Can you tell us about a few other policies that are effective in maintaining more of that economic diversity?
SS: One of the ways we’ve been able to have the affordable housing stock that we do is through the city’s inclusionary housing program . . . under these provisions, developments of 10 and more units are required to allocate 20 percent of the residential floor area for low- and moderate-income tenants, or moderate- and middle-income home buyers. So it really has been an important way to produce housing under these hot market conditions . . . the more people we bring to the city, the more we’ll have that insatiable housing demand.
Another thing we really want to focus on is how we use city-owned public property that is available for disposition to develop housing . . . . We’ve done a lot of work around home ownership options for the city and making sure that we have a robust home ownership program for residents to apply to . . . . Preservation is also a big part of the policy around affordability. We this year have been working on the affordability of about 500 units in North Cambridge near the buildings I grew up in, and we’ve put in— probably it’s going to be over $15 million to help preserve these market-rate buildings. Essentially these are expiring use properties. So it’s a little technical, but there’s so many tools—and there’s a long way to go.
AF: How did the pandemic reveal the disparities and racial justice issues that seem to be ingrained, in a way, in the economic outcomes of the city and the region?
SS: The pandemic has revealed a lot of the fault lines . . . and we saw firsthand the disproportionate impact COVID has had on the Black and brown community. It’s highlighted longstanding issues around health-care equity, and we’ve seen how so many of our low-income families have been unable to make ends meet. Many of them lost their jobs because of the public health crisis, but still needed to pay rent, [pay] utilities, and purchase food for themselves and their families. A lot of the issues we saw [during] the pandemic have been issues all along, but as I’ve said, the pandemic has revealed those ugly truths even in our city . . . and you know, we can’t turn a blind eye anymore.
And we have to do things in a manner that is much more urgent. I always use the example of schools that had to close. We quickly got kids laptops and hot spots. [Before the pandemic], we knew kids didn’t have Internet at home, we knew kids didn’t have computers, but we said, ‘Oh, you know, we’re going to study that’ . . . . We should have been doing these things all along. And so I think the one good part of it has just been [that] we’ve been able to figure out solutions really quickly . . . . We can make our city more accessible and affordable and we have to really call out the injustices when we see them.
AF: The pandemic also arguably has been an opportunity to do some things with regard to sustainability, reconfiguring the public space. I wondered if you could talk about that and other ways you’re helping to reduce carbon emissions and build resilience.
SS: This is an area of work where there’s so much going on, and yet sometimes it feels like we’re not moving fast enough, given what we know. We are committed to accelerating the transition to net zero greenhouse gas emissions for all our buildings in the city. We have a goal of net zero emissions by 2050. There are various types of incentives, regulations, and various working groups that are looking at how do we procure 100 percent of our municipal electricity from renewable sources; how do we streamline existing efforts to expand access to energy efficiency funding and technical assistance.
We’re revising our zoning ordinance to make sure that the sustainable design [standards] require higher levels of green building design and energy efficiency for new construction and major renovation. We’re a city that loves our trees, right? So we are constantly looking at ways to preserve our tree canopy. We have a tree protection ordinance on the books that we are going to continue to strengthen this term. We continue to install high visibility electric vehicle charging stations at publicly accessible locations. There’s . . . a big push to incorporate green infrastructure into city parks and open spaces and street reconstruction projects. It’s all hands on deck.
AF: The Lincoln Institute of Land Policy has called Cambridge home since 1974, when David C. Lincoln, son of our founder, chose to locate in a place with world-famous universities and other nonprofit organizations. Can you reflect on that distinctive feature of Cambridge—that is, the nonprofit, educational, medical, and other institutions being such a big part of the community?
SS: I think the universities in particular play a huge role. With the pandemic, I’ve seen a really important collaboration between our educational institutions, community organizations, small businesses, and residents to work collaboratively to address some of the most pressing issues . . . . The Broad Institute of Harvard and MIT, working with the City of Cambridge Public Health Department, were the first in the state to offer COVID testing for residents and workers and all of Cambridge’s elder facilities. Now, we have seven-day-a-week testing in Cambridge. So that’s the direct result of this partnership and having them here in our space. Both have made contributions to the Mayor’s Disaster Relief Fund . . . we were setting up an emergency shelter for un-housed individuals and each of the universities contributed funding towards that; gave rent relief to our retail and restaurant tenants that they have; [and] they do a lot in the schools. So I think the partnership has strengthened this year as the pandemic’s hit, and they’ve been a key partner in the work that we’ve done in the city. They are such a big part of the community . . . and [they have risen] to the occasion whenever I’ve called on them.
Anthony Flint is senior fellow at the Lincoln Institute of Land Policy and a contributing editor of Land Lines.
Photograph: Sumbul Siddiqui was elected mayor of Cambridge, Massachusetts, in 2020. Credit: Courtesy of Sumbul Siddiqui.
Related Content
Land Matters Podcast: Season 2, Episode 4: Cambridge Mayor Sumbul Siddiqui
SHARE
Home to global tech companies and a record number of millionaires, Cambridge, Massachusetts, has been hard at work trying to make the city more accessible for all. One zoning measure, passed last fall, is attracting attention nationwide–an affordable housing overlay that awards extra height and density and includes a streamlined permitting process for below market-rate residential projects.
“This is housing that’s affordable to your teachers, to your custodians, to your public servant, legal aid attorneys—you name it,” says Cambridge Mayor Sumbul Siddiqui, interviewed on the Land Matters podcast.
Siddiqui, who immigrated to the U.S. from Karachi, Pakistan at the age of two with her parents and twin brother, herself lived in subsidized housing in Cambridge. It’s critical to provide a range of housing options for both newcomers of at all income levels, she says, and those who want to stay in, or return to, the city where they grew up. “We still see such stark inequality in our city, and as someone who’s grown up in affordable housing in Cambridge—I would not be here without it. This is an important initiative and policy and I do hope it as a model for other cities across the country.”
The conversation is part of a series of episodes looking at the people and places that have been interwoven with the Lincoln Institute, as the organization marks its 75th anniversary. After the founder, John C. Lincoln, established the Lincoln Foundation in 1946, his son, David C. Lincoln, created the Lincoln Institute of Land Policy in 1974—and chose Cambridge as its home.
David Lincoln’s daughter, current Board Chair and Chief Investment Officer Kathryn J. Lincoln, recalls that in the early seventies her father wrote to several college and university presidents testing interest in collaborating with a new research center focused on land use and taxation related to land, and then-Harvard president Derek Bok was the only one to write back with enthusiasm.
Nonprofit organizations have a special role in the life of Cambridge, Siddiqui says, and have been especially helpful during the pandemic.
The interview is also available online as the latest installment of the Mayor’s Desk feature—interviews with chief executives of cities from around the world, and during the 75th anniversary years those in cities that have been closely tied to the Lincoln Institute.
You can listen to the show and subscribe to Land Matters on Apple Podcasts, Google Play, Spotify, Stitcher, or wherever you listen to podcasts.
Anthony Flint is a senior fellow at the Lincoln Institute of Land Policy and a contributing editor of Land Lines.
Photograph: Mayor Siddiqui stands in front of Rindge Towers, the housing in Cambridge that she grew up in. Credit: Courtesy of City of Cambridge.
Related Content
City of Cambridge’s 100 Percent Affordable Housing Overlay
Through the Roof: What Communities Can Do About the High Cost of Rental Housing
Inclusionary Housing: Creating and Maintaining Equitable Communities
