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My heart has been breaking over the past few days over the events surrounding George Floyd's death. As a member of the engineering community and in true engineering fashion, I'm looking for ways I can take some of the philosophical, some of the factual, and some of the physical into account towards building a better nation for my brothers and sisters.

I know I can do better than virtue signaling on social media, protesting in the streets, awareness in HR and education, or even voting. Those things seem shallow to me – some might say those are just lip service. I know that change is accomplished through micro actions in our everyday practice. Moreover, in my line of work, I know the economics of infrastructure investments impact change in measurable ways.

In my career, I've had several opportunities to support the funding of inner-city, urban developments that would have measurable impact on the black and brown communities of America. I'm grateful for the ones we were able to push through the system. Often, however, the economics aren't favorable for investment. Sometimes its devalued appraisals, bad loan-to-value ratios, high infrastructure costs, poor utility or transportation feasibility, shoddy construction of existing structures, AHJ's requiring significant offsite improvements from the private investor and many other things that derail the project. Eventually, the private investor decides the costs to be a poor investment and usually aims towards a suburban development opportunity.

As engineers and planners of the American Society of Civil Engineering, I'd like to start a conversation on design and planning towards enabling equitable opportunities for all peoples in the built environment.

As a conversation primer and thought exercise, I've attached a few articles from varying perspectives. I'm looking forward to an intellectually thoughtful and respectful conversation. Sometimes, silence is the best way for other voices to be heard. I'm listening.

https://brooklynrail.org/2002/03/books/the-race-of-architecture

https://www.citylab.com/perspective/2020/06/george-floyd-protest-urban-design-history-racism-architecture/612622/

https://www.citylab.com/transportation/2020/06/protests-black-communities-history-highways-george-floyd/612496/

The history of many Civil Engineering projects in the US is the history of trampling on the disadvantaged and making things worse for poorer segments of the population. While politicians make the decisions, we are still complicit in working on these projects. Whether the impact is on displacement of the poor with interstate highways or urban renewal projects in the 1960s to modern urban gentrification projects to bad decisions on sources of drinking water as in Flint, engineers have been involved somewhere in the process. I have seen road projects where there is no pedestrian access in areas where there are people that can't afford cars. The following video shows a newly paved street that has no access for pedestrians.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7zXC0m_NMDA

There was a thread post last year about how far engineers should go in making things safe. We are generally limited by technology and cost. All of the projects we work on attempt to improve things but is there too much of a trade-off for improving it for one group of people while increasing the hardships for the disadvantaged? Land developers love cheap land but when people barely making ends meet are forced to move where rents aren't as cheap because of a new development, this becomes a hardship that is too much to bear for them. It helps if there is a socio-economic impact assessment done for large scale projects but this isn't done for every project. As we have seen in Flint, the most horrendous problem was created by politicians to save money without an adequate assessment of the total health impacts. Yet, engineers worked on building this new system in 2014.

What projects have engineers seen that has put an uneccessarily large burden on the poor? What responsibility should civil engineers have in the decision making process when there are too many negative impacts to the poor and disadvantaged communities for specific projects?

My heart has been breaking over the past few days over the events surrounding George Floyd's death. As a member of the engineering community and in true engineering fashion, I'm looking for ways I can take some of the philosophical, some of the factual, and some of the physical into account towards building a better nation for my brothers and sisters.

I know I can do better than virtue signaling on social media, protesting in the streets, awareness in HR and education, or even voting. Those things seem shallow to me – some might say those are just lip service. I know that change is accomplished through micro actions in our everyday practice. Moreover, in my line of work, I know the economics of infrastructure investments impact change in measurable ways.

In my career, I've had several opportunities to support the funding of inner-city, urban developments that would have measurable impact on the black and brown communities of America. I'm grateful for the ones we were able to push through the system. Often, however, the economics aren't favorable for investment. Sometimes its devalued appraisals, bad loan-to-value ratios, high infrastructure costs, poor utility or transportation feasibility, shoddy construction of existing structures, AHJ's requiring significant offsite improvements from the private investor and many other things that derail the project. Eventually, the private investor decides the costs to be a poor investment and usually aims towards a suburban development opportunity.

As engineers and planners of the American Society of Civil Engineering, I'd like to start a conversation on design and planning towards enabling equitable opportunities for all peoples in the built environment.

As a conversation primer and thought exercise, I've attached a few articles from varying perspectives. I'm looking forward to an intellectually thoughtful and respectful conversation. Sometimes, silence is the best way for other voices to be heard. I'm listening.

https://brooklynrail.org/2002/03/books/the-race-of-architecture

https://www.citylab.com/perspective/2020/06/george-floyd-protest-urban-design-history-racism-architecture/612622/

https://www.citylab.com/transportation/2020/06/protests-black-communities-history-highways-george-floyd/612496/

My heart has been breaking over the past few days over the events surrounding George Floyd's death. As a member of the engineering community and in true engineering fashion, I'm looking for ways I can take some of the philosophical, some of the factual, and some of the physical into account towards building a better nation for my brothers and sisters.

I know I can do better than virtue signaling on social media, protesting in the streets, awareness in HR and education, or even voting. Those things seem shallow to me – some might say those are just lip service. I know that change is accomplished through micro actions in our everyday practice. Moreover, in my line of work, I know the economics of infrastructure investments impact change in measurable ways.

In my career, I've had several opportunities to support the funding of inner-city, urban developments that would have measurable impact on the black and brown communities of America. I'm grateful for the ones we were able to push through the system. Often, however, the economics aren't favorable for investment. Sometimes its devalued appraisals, bad loan-to-value ratios, high infrastructure costs, poor utility or transportation feasibility, shoddy construction of existing structures, AHJ's requiring significant offsite improvements from the private investor and many other things that derail the project. Eventually, the private investor decides the costs to be a poor investment and usually aims towards a suburban development opportunity.

As engineers and planners of the American Society of Civil Engineering, I'd like to start a conversation on design and planning towards enabling equitable opportunities for all peoples in the built environment.

As a conversation primer and thought exercise, I've attached a few articles from varying perspectives. I'm looking forward to an intellectually thoughtful and respectful conversation. Sometimes, silence is the best way for other voices to be heard. I'm listening.

https://brooklynrail.org/2002/03/books/the-race-of-architecture

https://www.citylab.com/perspective/2020/06/george-floyd-protest-urban-design-history-racism-architecture/612622/

https://www.citylab.com/transportation/2020/06/protests-black-communities-history-highways-george-floyd/612496/

My heart has been breaking over the past few days over the events surrounding George Floyd's death. As a member of the engineering community and in true engineering fashion, I'm looking for ways I can take some of the philosophical, some of the factual, and some of the physical into account towards building a better nation for my brothers and sisters.

I know I can do better than virtue signaling on social media, protesting in the streets, awareness in HR and education, or even voting. Those things seem shallow to me – some might say those are just lip service. I know that change is accomplished through micro actions in our everyday practice. Moreover, in my line of work, I know the economics of infrastructure investments impact change in measurable ways.

In my career, I've had several opportunities to support the funding of inner-city, urban developments that would have measurable impact on the black and brown communities of America. I'm grateful for the ones we were able to push through the system. Often, however, the economics aren't favorable for investment. Sometimes its devalued appraisals, bad loan-to-value ratios, high infrastructure costs, poor utility or transportation feasibility, shoddy construction of existing structures, AHJ's requiring significant offsite improvements from the private investor and many other things that derail the project. Eventually, the private investor decides the costs to be a poor investment and usually aims towards a suburban development opportunity.

As engineers and planners of the American Society of Civil Engineering, I'd like to start a conversation on design and planning towards enabling equitable opportunities for all peoples in the built environment.

As a conversation primer and thought exercise, I've attached a few articles from varying perspectives. I'm looking forward to an intellectually thoughtful and respectful conversation. Sometimes, silence is the best way for other voices to be heard. I'm listening.

https://brooklynrail.org/2002/03/books/the-race-of-architecture

https://www.citylab.com/perspective/2020/06/george-floyd-protest-urban-design-history-racism-architecture/612622/

https://www.citylab.com/transportation/2020/06/protests-black-communities-history-highways-george-floyd/612496/

My heart has been breaking over the past few days over the events surrounding George Floyd's death. As a member of the engineering community and in true engineering fashion, I'm looking for ways I can take some of the philosophical, some of the factual, and some of the physical into account towards building a better nation for my brothers and sisters.

I know I can do better than virtue signaling on social media, protesting in the streets, awareness in HR and education, or even voting. Those things seem shallow to me – some might say those are just lip service. I know that change is accomplished through micro actions in our everyday practice. Moreover, in my line of work, I know the economics of infrastructure investments impact change in measurable ways.

In my career, I've had several opportunities to support the funding of inner-city, urban developments that would have measurable impact on the black and brown communities of America. I'm grateful for the ones we were able to push through the system. Often, however, the economics aren't favorable for investment. Sometimes its devalued appraisals, bad loan-to-value ratios, high infrastructure costs, poor utility or transportation feasibility, shoddy construction of existing structures, AHJ's requiring significant offsite improvements from the private investor and many other things that derail the project. Eventually, the private investor decides the costs to be a poor investment and usually aims towards a suburban development opportunity.

As engineers and planners of the American Society of Civil Engineering, I'd like to start a conversation on design and planning towards enabling equitable opportunities for all peoples in the built environment.

As a conversation primer and thought exercise, I've attached a few articles from varying perspectives. I'm looking forward to an intellectually thoughtful and respectful conversation. Sometimes, silence is the best way for other voices to be heard. I'm listening.

https://brooklynrail.org/2002/03/books/the-race-of-architecture

https://www.citylab.com/perspective/2020/06/george-floyd-protest-urban-design-history-racism-architecture/612622/

https://www.citylab.com/transportation/2020/06/protests-black-communities-history-highways-george-floyd/612496/

My heart has been breaking over the past few days over the events surrounding George Floyd's death. As a member of the engineering community and in true engineering fashion, I'm looking for ways I can take some of the philosophical, some of the factual, and some of the physical into account towards building a better nation for my brothers and sisters.

I know I can do better than virtue signaling on social media, protesting in the streets, awareness in HR and education, or even voting. Those things seem shallow to me – some might say those are just lip service. I know that change is accomplished through micro actions in our everyday practice. Moreover, in my line of work, I know the economics of infrastructure investments impact change in measurable ways.

In my career, I've had several opportunities to support the funding of inner-city, urban developments that would have measurable impact on the black and brown communities of America. I'm grateful for the ones we were able to push through the system. Often, however, the economics aren't favorable for investment. Sometimes its devalued appraisals, bad loan-to-value ratios, high infrastructure costs, poor utility or transportation feasibility, shoddy construction of existing structures, AHJ's requiring significant offsite improvements from the private investor and many other things that derail the project. Eventually, the private investor decides the costs to be a poor investment and usually aims towards a suburban development opportunity.

As engineers and planners of the American Society of Civil Engineering, I'd like to start a conversation on design and planning towards enabling equitable opportunities for all peoples in the built environment.

As a conversation primer and thought exercise, I've attached a few articles from varying perspectives. I'm looking forward to an intellectually thoughtful and respectful conversation. Sometimes, silence is the best way for other voices to be heard. I'm listening.

https://brooklynrail.org/2002/03/books/the-race-of-architecture

https://www.citylab.com/perspective/2020/06/george-floyd-protest-urban-design-history-racism-architecture/612622/

https://www.citylab.com/transportation/2020/06/protests-black-communities-history-highways-george-floyd/612496/