Social Justice, Urban Planning and Philosophy

Week 1

• Planning is defined and explained
• Planning serves as a means, involving creating and evaluating plans and policies
• It includes public engagement, collaboration, and giving suggestions to the council
• Planning serves as an end, resulting in conformity with plans/policies
• It results in development of infrastructure and allocation of resources
• It shapes the experiences of people, with social, political and economic implications
• Planning is a community-based profession
• It interacts with agencies, politicians, and locals to understand public interest and the interrelations of people and place
• OPPI describes planning as essential for creating great cities, deeming planners as actors and defining its purpose as social
• "Social" refers to anything dealing with people, their interactions, or contextual issues
• Social planning is the short- or long-term enhancement of social well-being in communities via planning processes
• Community development involves community engagement, involvement and resources in the planning process, alongside planners
• It’s used interchangeably with social planning but is actually a part of it
• Social planning academically comes from Dykeman in 1966
• It involves social goals of the state, setting targets, applying social values to assess programs, and social programming from broad social goals
• The goal of social planning is to create healthy, equitable, socially sustainable cities for all
• Toronto explains social planning as processes achieving social outcomes in place, and planning with social values to enhance wellbeing and flourishing

Week 2

• Plato's Academy shows how place influences perspectives
• It was the site for philosophical origin and the pursuit of knowledge in the West, where Aristotle studied for two decades
• Eudaimonia, from Aristotle's Nicomachean Ethics, equates to "well-spirited"
• He said to flourish, one must recognize their potential as rational, emotional, and social beings for happiness, well-being and human flourishing
• Aristotle says value needs to be found in intellectual thinking, in a proper environment with an appropriate government
• Macro level refers to government, institutions, or policies, concerning society at large
• Meso level refers to communities or groups
• Micro level relates to individuals, focusing on improving human agency and considering experiences, actions, and perceptions
• Macro-level wellbeing, explained via GDP per capita, life expectancy, infant mortality, or unemployment, aligns with UN SDGs
• Meso-level wellbeing includes social capital, group experiences, and access to services or opportunities
• Micro-level wellbeing can be understood through the PERMA model, measuring positive emotions, engagement, relationships, meaning, and accomplishment from experiences
• Planning was institutionalized in Canada in 1919
• Key takeaways from the Reece reading:
• British Industrialization led to unsanitary living conditions for the working class
• Prosperity from industrialization caused movement to the city, causing overcrowding
• Planning emerged from social activism to fight the unsanitary living conditions of the early city
• The Social Progressive Era emerged from social activism to address public health and housing, seeking safe housing through building codes and land-use control
• It existed in urbanization, industrialization and population growth

Week 3

• The City Beautiful movement is based on aesthetics
• Seeks to fix urban ills through design
• Technocratic
• Ignores context and locality
• Ignores human agency
• The National Mall in Washington DC is an example
• Quality and character of urban life are both sought by movements
• Social Progressives focus on social equity and political activism
• City Beautiful proponents focus on civic virtues
• Defensive architecture involves control/regulation on designing use of spaces
• The Eaton Centre shows control of users through its focus on consumption
• Erfani's framework for sense of place is: in-between of individuals-communities-place
• Socio-spatial relations are the relation between all levels of society and space
• A person is influenced by the neighborhood they grew up in as an example.
• Shaping social outcomes differs as it considers the influence of human agency
• Canadian Index of Waterloo describe Wellbeing as the highest quality of life, with a good standard of living and robust health
• Planning impacts human flourish via physical access such as proximity to resources, and social access such as networking
• CIP says planners should support wellbeing and ensure accessible amenities
• The Just City, by Susan Fainstein, refers to prioritizing the marginalized in envisioning the future
• Planning attitudes shifted from deterministic to considering human agency
• Normative society conditions specify principles a society should have before considering identity
• John Rawls' Original Position and Veil of Ignorance (1971, Theory of Justice) forms the basis for contemporary Social Justice, with equal liberties and opportunities
• Social justice is a fair society where each individual matters and is respected, with decisions made fairly - complex, encompassing equity, inclusion, and belonging Social Justice
• Planning is rooted in utilitarianism and positivism
• 1960s-70s-increasing social activism focused on pluralism, advocacy, equity, and collaborative planning
• Today, planning is in the context of neoliberalism, social diversity, and increasing acknowledgement of social injustices
• Intersectionality refers to micro-level diversity as personal experiences' difference and identity
• Marginalized influences of interlocking power relations such as class, gender, and race
• Positionality understands one's own position in society based on class, gender, race, etc.
• Reflexivity concerns about personal biases and backgrounds
• Meso-level diversity as social populations' or spatial attributes' heterogeneity

Week 4

• Iris Marion Young says cities allow differences to flourish, though homogeneous districts are well understood
• Cosmopolis per Sandercock as the ideal city, with variety, equal rights, and anonymity
• Chinatown is an ethnic area for concentration and solidarity
• Planning for diversity can be seen as inauthentic or simulacrum, concerning if markets should run their course or imposing diverse order
• Macro-level diversity values institutional difference, recognizing better social outcomes, an indicator and society representation
• Diversity can foster capabilities
• Diversity is a place-based value, due to sparking creativity, contributing to social tolerance, and helping appreciation for different lifestyles
• Diversity is heterogeneity descriptor and value-laden
• Equity-laden construct revolves around sharing power and considering individual positions/barriers with intentions to improve social outcomes
• Equity in planning aims to improve resources and redistribute power
• Equity planners seek power redistribution from elites to marginalized
• Tree Equity Score shows distribution of trees
• TTC stated plan to use equity lens, recent service cuts affected marginalized communities
• Inclusion is where people feel valued, develop belonging through perception of social interactions, an indicator of successful integration
• Focuses on assisting marginalized communities, elevating BIPOC voices, requiring understanding of inclusion to become an RPP, and helping planners understand the link between diversity, equity, and inclusion in CIP's advice to be inclusive
• DEI is Diversity, Equity, Inclusion
• Pretending to care may act as an example of function/unexpected outcome
• Belonging is a normative result used in social justice, where individuals should feel respected, and in temporal and spatial dimensions
• Common: equity, diversity, inclusion, belonging, and justice with themes of relational, multiscalar, and context contingent

Week 5

• Time spent and neighbors for trust in general has been decreasing
• Social capital involves building trust and networking over time
• Social capital is Klinenbergs definition, where are interpersonal networks can prosper
• Parking and Doaks describe social capital as the quality of social relationships, maintenance, broken elements, and relationships formed
• Bonding, bridging, and linking are the 3 forms of social capital
• Bonding involves being well acquainted with other neighbours
• Bridging comes with knowing a little about others
• Linking has to do with level of influence with decision makers
• Economic has factors that diminish social connection
• Income and employment barriers which create division
• Issues regarding incomes and employment at either a systemic macro level, or micro level as a personal issue
• Commuting by car has reduced social interactions because it is the leading cause of why one cannot connect with others
• Ethnoburbs are a concept where minorities gather for sense of solidarity.
• Place identity which attributes to positive relations that has been developed over time
• Place identity is a sense of place that is constructed over a sense of time that one lives within a said area
• Place has Oldenburg's third concepts for interactions.
• It is a concept used in amenities

Week 6

• Social infrastructure are objective but are places associated with well being such as a gym
• Social capital should describe the physical space that shapes peoples interactions for support
• Infrastructure is used to support community and has social life with others What are the infrastructures?
• Digital installations
• Recreation facilities
• Commerce
• They help in disaster and identifications for belonging
• To help the betterment of integration in small towns, one must improve to focus on cohesion
• Having a well built environment allows for good relations Quotes for the following:
• Lonely in churches
• Lack of amenities
• Integration and building relations for a better premigrant life How should the sense of work work
• Integration
• Attachment
• General pleasantness
• Vision for planners on ought to form
• There has been scrutiny
• Bias
• critiques
• modernist

Explores social justice in urban planning. Covers Fainstein's 'Just City', shifts from physical determinism, and 'normative society conditions'. Examines Rawls' 'Veil of Ignorance', intersectionality, and philosophical views on cities and human flourishing.