Humanizing the Future: Alternative Landscapes for Just Environments
Although San Antonio is currently the nation’s fastest growing city it struggles with inequality. Of the 25 largest metro areas, the city has, with 20 percent, the highest percentage nationally of people living below the poverty line. These statistics not only reveal issues exposing inequalities that affect us all, but they also put the city as a whole at risk as we move forward facing the challenges of the future. For example, some of San Antonio’s most vulnerable neighborhoods are in a precarious position due to compounding factors—they are the city’s least educated, lowest income segment of the population, who live in the oldest houses, and spend the highest percentage of their income on energy costs. It is time to start asking the right questions and resolve some of San Antonio’s deeply rooted, entrenched inequalities that have created generations of impoverished residents on the city’s South, East, and West sides. 1 Million Trees for Equality in San Antonio is an initiative that the Urban Future Lab started to simultaneously respond to the global climate crisis and the local crisis of inequality. The idea is to plant trees and activate spaces in areas the city needs it most. Among other benefits, we believe the trees can be a catalyst for environmental stewardship, economic development, and improved physical and mental health in our communities. San Antonio as a city believes in collective betterment without leaving anyone behind. This is a call for action to help us plant trees for equality and not only better our environment but also enable social imagination, inspiring other cities across the globe to follow our community engagement model.
Graphic by Dr. Antonio Martinez-Molina, Assistant Professor of Architectural Technology and Sustainability in the UTSA School of Architecture and Planning; Lab Head in the UTSA Building Performance Lab
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