Social Distance Scenes from Little Bangladesh
Little Bangladesh sits along the eastern edge of Koreatown, a densely populated community in Los Angeles, and home to primarily working-class Central American and Bangladeshi immigrants. For the past few months, I have explored my community and observed the many adjustments that have taken place in our new pandemic routines. These daily walks have become an intentional breath of fresh air and an integral practice that has forced me to take in my immediate surroundings with deeper appreciation.
As a planner, I often think about the intersection of people and the built environment and the role that plays in placemaking. The COVID-19 pandemic, local stay-at-home orders, and the nationwide uprisings for Black liberation and police abolition have prompted changes in peoples’ routines, schedules, and responsibilities that have deeply impacted my observations of life in public space.
Taking inspiration from the handful of living archives, quarantine diaries, and photo essays, like the social distanced neighbor portraits or a day in the life of a paletero in Pico-Union, I wanted to share some of the creative ways that people — whether you are a planner, elected official, or concerned resident — can think about building community through public spaces in the new normal amid the pandemic and beyond. I’d like us to consider how we can reimagine our streets to solve the pressing issues that our communities face. Often times, it simply requires taking the lead on how communities organically make use of the built environment.
FOOD SECURITY: In cramped city life, flexibility and creativity is essential for those eager to grow their own food. On my walks, I catch glimpses of people’s sidewalk gardens, potted plants growing on patios and outdoor spaces, and overgrown flower beds. At a time when the pandemic has left many vulnerable households food insecure, our pockets of green spaces can offer some relief for the city’s food deserts. There is much we can learn from Ron Finley and others to commandeer underused sidewalk space to grow and share food to ensure that our food future is healthy, fresh, affordable and accessible. Now would be a great time for city officials to expand the places where people beautify their community and grow their own food.
There are other ways to increase access to nutritional resources. One innovation from the current crisis has been the collection of community fridges popping up across the city as part of a collaborative partnership among community residents, business owners, and social services.
Breaking bread together and sharing food has always been a powerful way to connect people. The increased isolation and economic vulnerability faced by many during this time underscore the vital need for reliable support networks, such as emergency response resources and mutual aid networks organized among family units, apartment buildings, neighbors or street blocks. Community gardens and shared public food pantries have proven to be important spaces to come together even in times when we have to be physically apart.
LOCAL ENTREPRENEURSHIP: As the unemployment rate reaches historic heights, it’s time to truly commit to supporting street vendors, and empowering the unique ways that aspiring business owners add to the vibrancy of our streets and sidewalks.
As many of us stay safer at home, it’s these local entrepreneurs who have kept our streets energized even at the risk of their own safety. On my walks, I hear and smell different food vendors returning to their usual street corners. My favorite sound is the ringing bells of the paleta, raspado, and elote vendors that make their way up and down the street each afternoon.
Many of our businesses are moving their operations outside, when possible, to increase safety for their customers. Using our public spaces to support local businesses is a great way to bolster the local economy and brighten up our streets. We need to make sure that all entrepreneurs, including those who have long contributed to the vibrancy of our communities, such as street vendors, are not left behind.
CELEBRATE THE MOVEMENT FOR RACIAL JUSTICE: Between boarded-up windows, I see businesses place “Black Lives Matter” signs in their windows to prevent looting and show solidarity. I see winding lines outside of coffee shops and restaurants of people wanting to support Black-owned businesses around my neighborhood.
Since the beginning of the pandemic, we have witnessed a seemingly endless stream of Black people being killed in public by police and white supremacists — Ahmaud Arbery, Breonna Taylor, Sean Reed, Tony McDade, George Floyd, and countless others. How do we ensure that our streets are truly safe for Black Indigenous People of Color (BIPOC) who are excessively criminalized in public spaces? The ability to walk and move freely up and down the street, in and out of a store, and in other public spaces safely, without fear of being hunted, deemed suspicious, or even killed should be a basic right. Our streets can continue to be places where community solidarity takes place to demand a more just future, whether it’s through protests demanding justice or through community art that speaks to the moment.
COVID-19 has disproportionately devastated BIPOC communities, serving as a relentless and grim reminder that our systems fail to value human life, especially the most vulnerable people. We have witnessed the impacts of the pandemic (and failed leadership) compound and exacerbate existing inequalities in healthcare, housing, education, job quality, social services, economic benefits, and access to open space. This moment has also exposed how woefully inadequate our systems are to support and protect people. This moment calls for us to critically observe and challenge the societies we live in and doggedly fight for the creation of a better future for all of us.
What are you seeing in your own communities in a new or different light?
EARTHSEED: THE BOOKS OF THE LIVING
“All that you touch
You Change.
All that you Change
Changes you.
The only lasting truth
Is Change.
God
Is Change.”
— Octavia E. Butler, Parable of the Sower
