The pandemic offers us a unique opportunity to repurpose our streets and open spaces – rethinking how we can make our neighborhoods healthier, resilient, and more sustainable.

While governments have scrambled to respond to the COVID-19 pandemic, citizens and small businesses have demonstrated both resilience and creativity in adapting outdoor and underutilized spaces to fit their new lifestyles.

Although it’s been over 400 years since the first enslaved Africans arrived on present-day U.S. soil, we have yet to truly confront this legacy - something that’s imperative to understanding how and why systemic racism has come to take its current form in our country.

In early March of this year - shortly before the COVID19 pandemic upended our daily lives - our team launched a national survey of 1,000+ people to better understand how they feel about real estate development in their neighborhoods.

Fostering constructive relationships between communities and developers is an essential step toward improving our communities and making the decision-making process more equitable and sustainable.