We Can Feel the Wind: Place Based Health Equity and Displacement in Richmond, CA - 2017
A working paper published by the Institute for Urban and Regional Development at UC Berkeley, this study examines the tension of place-based or placemaking approaches to health equity alongside the threat of displacement in Richmond, California. Twenty representatives of government, non-profit, philanthropic, and academic entities engaged in place-based health equity efforts were interviewed about their views and responses to demographic shifts and/or the potential of further demographic shifts in a majority non-white city, given the regional housing crisis in the Bay Area, the profitability of housing, and high levels of economic inequality. The findings seek to inform efforts in city planning and public health that approach health equity through improving the conditions of a place. The research identifies opportunities and challenges for practices, policy, and frameworks that support a people-in-place, or “placekeeping” approach to health equity based in the specific context of Richmond.