The Politics of Defining and Building Equity in the Twenty-First Century

Abstract

This research interrogates the meaning of equity in the twenty-first century and analyzes how residents’ ideas about the meaning of equity reflect different material and political agendas, divided between neoliberal and redistributive approaches to redevelopment. Drawing on qualitative research conducted in three neighborhoods in post-Katrina New Orleans, this research compares residents’ conceptualizations of equity and argues that the meaning of equity itself varies significantly across different groups in the city and that these varying definitions of equity promote different outcomes in planning. This research offers grounded approaches to equity planning in unequal urban settings.