- Feb 2017
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www.yalelawjournal.org www.yalelawjournal.org
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In Schindler's argument she discusses mostly about architectural discrimination among the African American community, but in Marak's argument the issue revolves around the elderly community; this raises the question of how many of the elderly are African American or are living in African American communities? It could strengthen both arguments if there is some form of correlation between the to issues.
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- Sep 2016
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www.yalelawjournal.org www.yalelawjournal.org
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Wealthy, mostly white residents of the northern Atlanta suburbs have vocally opposed efforts to expand MARTA into their neighborhoods for the reason that doing so would give people of color easy access to suburban communities
By opposing the MARTA expansion, these mostly white residents in Atlanta are not only preventing poor and people of color access, but also the elderly. As seen above, poverty affects all races especially in older years. The residents of northern Atlanta suburbs are preventing access to people who they may not even realize. https://www.americanprogress.org/issues/poverty/report/2010/09/27/8426/the-not-so-golden-years/
Marak, Carol. "'Elder Orphans' Have A Harder Time Aging In Place." Forbes. Forbes Magazine, 8 Sept. 2016. Web. 22 Sept. 2016.
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Street grid design, one-way streets, the absence of sidewalks and crosswalks, the location of highways and transit stops, and even residential parking permit requirements can shape the demographics of a city and isolate a neighborhood from those surrounding it, often intentionally
I highly doubt that when these things were designed that they were created this way to exclude the elderly even if they were made to exclude the poor and peoples of color. However, this is the effect.
Marak, Carol. "'Elder Orphans' Have A Harder Time Aging In Place." Forbes. Forbes Magazine, 8 Sept. 2016. Web. 22 Sept. 2016.
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The architected urban landscape regulates, and the architecture itself is a form of regulation.
This picture shows how a simple sidewalk can transform an area and bring people together and bring people of all ages, genders, and colors to places they may not otherwise be. For the elderly, walking down a sidewalk may be the only option for their transit.
Marak, Carol. "'Elder Orphans' Have A Harder Time Aging In Place." Forbes. Forbes Magazine, 8 Sept. 2016. Web. 22 Sept. 2016.
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It is hard to understate the central significance of geographical themes—space, place, and mobility—to the social and political history of race relations and antiblack racism in the United States. . . . [S]egregation, integration, and separation are spatial processes; . . . ghettos and exclusionary suburbs are spatial entities; . . . access, exclusion, confinement . . . are spatial experiences.5
It is much more widely discussed how there are unfair regulations to certain groups based on gender and race, but groups by age are almost never talked about in terms of inclusion or exclusion. Even here it is not discussed, besides implicitly. Elderly are in many cases more poor and are separated from certain places as a result.
Marak, Carol. "'Elder Orphans' Have A Harder Time Aging In Place." Forbes. Forbes Magazine, 8 Sept. 2016. Web. 22 Sept. 2016.
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When a locality is successful in its opposition, people who rely on transit to get around will not have access to those communities.13
While some of these excluded groups may be able to get along with out access to certain places, the elderly are more in need and are also excluded because of their physical disabilities. They not only may need to get somewhere, but they do not have company. This is part of why Marak created a Facebook group to connect these elder orphans who need a community of peers. They also work on finding solutions to these hard to access places, with the assistance of the Milken Institute.
Marak, Carol. "'Elder Orphans' Have A Harder Time Aging In Place." Forbes. Forbes Magazine, 8 Sept. 2016. Web. 22 Sept. 2016.
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And although the law has addressed the exclusionary impacts of zoning ordinances and restrictive covenants, courts, legislatures, and most legal scholars have paid little attention to the use of less obvious exclusionary urban design tactics. Street grid design, one-way streets, the absence of sidewalks and crosswalks, the location of highways and transit stops, and even residential parking permit requirements can shape the demographics of a city and isolate a neighborhood from those surrounding it, often intentionally. Decisions about infrastructure shape more than just the physical city; those decisions also influence the way that residents and visitors experience the city.17
The Milken Institute is hoping to influence the way city planning committees create their cities so that the city accommodates the elderly who most often have nobody to help them in everyday life. Even a simple sidewalk can have an effect on elderly happiness, health, and accessibility.
Marak, Carol. "'Elder Orphans' Have A Harder Time Aging In Place." Forbes. Forbes Magazine, 8 Sept. 2016. Web. 22 Sept. 2016.
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This design decision meant that many people of color and poor people, who most often relied on public transportation, lacked access to the lauded public park at Jones Beach.5
Lowering bridges to prevent buses largely does affect the poor and and people of color, but it also largely affects "elder orphans", who are too old to drive and who have nobody that can help take care of them. These people are largely dependent on public transportation as well. Marak, Carol. "'Elder Orphans' Have A Harder Time Aging In Place." Forbes. Forbes Magazine, 8 Sept. 2016. Web. 22 Sept. 2016.
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Architectural Exclusion
This article is about how elder orphans, people over 65 years of age who have no living friends or family to care for them, are having more and more difficult maintaining and/or obtaining a comfortable living environment as they age. Everyone ages and it is never an easy transition, but it is especially harder for those elder citizens who cannot get along on their own, who account for 29% of older persons are these elder orphans. The article explains that there is such a large number of elder orphans now because they are the baby boomers who have resulted in less children and a greater divorce rate. The writer of this article is an elder orphan who has created a Facebook page for other elder orphans to come together and find community and support and discuss their problems to find solutions. The main issues presented are legal and care issues such as dealing with finances when there is nobody around to help in times of need. Affordable housing is almost nonexistent for these elders who mostly live on social security. Transportation is usually not something that elders are able to handle themselves because their physical abilities are impaired. Even though the Facebook group is extremely helpful in finding some solutions, it is still imperative that service and support at the local level is implicated. One such business that is answering the call of these elder orphans is The Milken Institute. They work with local governments to build awareness of elder orphans. They work to provide for the needs of elders such as: living comfortable, affordable, healthy, happy, and financially secure, with proper living arrangements, access to mobility, and respect. They work to create a space for elders to thrive. There are cities that are providing well for the aging community as far as health care, active lifestyle choices, economy, and environment, but even here there is not enough available transportation, or affordable housing. Simple things could be implemented all around cities for these aging communities to better adapt, such as sidewalks which would provide a way for elders to go places as well as get them up and moving around, decreasing chronic diseases and isolation and loneliness.
Marak, Carol. "'Elder Orphans' Have A Harder Time Aging In Place." Forbes. Forbes Magazine, 8 Sept. 2016. Web. 22 Sept. 2016.
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