Cornell Department of City and Regional PlanningManuel Pastor, Professor of Latin American and Latino Studies and Director of the Center for Justice, Tolerance, and Community, University of California, Santa Cruz
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Recent years have seen the emergence of a movement for "regional equity" - that is, an attempt to change the metropolitan practices that some contend contribute to concentrated poverty, economic stagnation, and other social ills. The number of adherents seems to be growing rapidly, as reflected in a burst of academic research, the development of new policy intermediaries, and the roll-out of new strategies by social justice and community-based organizations. However, much of the nascent theory and practice is being challenged by a range of critics, including those who see the regional stress as de-emphasizing the power of local organizing and development, those who worry that the regionalism tent is too big to truly yield a social justice focus, and those who wonder how such a region-based approach can scale up to national change. Dr. Pastor will explore both the emerging debates and possible coalitions to see whether this emerging regional equity perspective could really add up to a shift in politics and paradigms.
