Environment & Sustainability
Diversity, Equity & Inclusion
The ocean is Norfolk’s greatest ally and worst enemy
It bore enslaved Africans to the city’s shore and hid them as they escaped bondage. The ocean supports the region’s biggest industry: Naval defense. And the ocean creeps into the homes of Norfolk residents—threatening livelihoods, histories and futures.
I have only lived where white folks have allowed me to
Historically racist patterns in the housing market are built upon and replicated by new climate resiliency plans in Norfolk, VA.
How are East coast urban landscapes complicated by 1930s home loans? In this short interview, hear how racist and classist redlining policies are just one example of the American home finance system working exactly as it’s supposed to. LaDale Winling is an award winning urban and digital historian and an expert on redlining and housing discrimination.
How are East coast urban landscapes complicated by 1930s home loans? In this short interview, hear how racist and classist redlining policies are just one example of the American home finance system working exactly as it’s supposed to. LaDale Winling is an award winning urban and digital historian and an expert on redlining and housing discrimination.
The St Paul’s quadrant in Norfolk, VA, gets redeveloped in a historical pattern that disperses residents. The redevelopment flood-proofs the neighborhood, but it’s not the families who dealt with the construction, the multiple forced moves, or the chronic flooding who get to reap the benefits of the new infrastructure.
What is gonna happen for us – or to us – with this project?
April lives in Grandy Village in Norfolk, VA. Her waterfront neighborhood floods a lot, but that’s getting fixed with the Ohio Creek Watershed Project. The project is a dream come true, but the reality is more complicated.
To save our city, we're gonna have to throw everything at it.
Different approaches to resilience in Norfolk reflect different ideas about what resilience means. Big solutions have big effects, but leave some residents behind. Others aim to fill gaps left behind by the big ones.
Written, recorded, produced, edited, mixed, mastered and hosted by Adrian Wood.
Show art by Adrian Wood.
Story editing by Kelly Jones.
Visioned by the Repair Lab 2022 Practitioner-in-Residence, Kim Sudderth.
Music by Sugarlift.
Additional musicians listed in the show notes of the episodes on which they appear.
A project featuring original research by the Repair Lab.
With support from the Trans Journalist Association, The Bureau of Investigative Journalism, Music Theory Studios in downtown Norfolk, WTJU, the UVA Race, Religion and Democracy Lab, and the Karsh Institute of Democracy.