This assignment is designed to have you engage on a deeper level with the readings and concepts from the first half of the course. Namely using the case study of Pruitt-Igoe consider how the built and social environment influence the health of the residents.
Using the frameworks and language of public health, you will explore the ways racial residential segregation can influence urban health outcomes drawing on biology, policy and history. Linking segregation to race and health is complex, therefore this exercise serves a way to understand causal pathways that potentially lead to adverse health outcomes in communities paying close attention to categorizing the proximate and ultimate/ distal/ systemic causes. As an example, residents may have had higher rates of asthma due to exposure to rodent feces(proximate) but pulling out from that exposure what were the factors that led to that vulnerability?
In viewing the documentary film The Pruitt-Igoe Myth, it is important to ground the story in history. This housing project originally built between 1954 and 1956, was an ambitious public housing project financed under the Housing Act of 1949. Originally conceptualized as a segregated housing development, in which the Pruitt side was for Black residents only, and the Igoe side for White residents. However, in 1954, with the Supreme Court ruling in Brown v. Board, Pruitt-Igoe became an integrated development that had anticipated a large urban population boom. Contrary to that projection, the population of Saint Louis declined by 50% within 50 years, with a majority of the White residential population departing for the suburbs for jobs, resulting in a housing project that was primarily populated by the remaining Black residences. The vacancy led to an inability for tenants to cover the maintenance costs which led to the decline of the project. In 1961, the Health, Education and Welfare and Housing and Home Finance Agency task force was formed to save Pruitt-Igoe, but by this time it was already 25 percent vacant.
The film asks us to recall the bioecosociological model of health where one’s physical and social environment (home, neighborhood, state, etc) can be embodied (organs, tissues, cells). In addition to the Film, a short blog post by Borders is provided to contextualize the systemic policies that led to social disorder in Pruitt -Igoe (loss of fathers/family due to the Aid for Dependent Children), and the localized community effort of mothers in the form of Operation Brightside and eventually the Tenants Strike in 1972.
WATCH The Pruitt Igoe Myth and analyze how spatial characteristics, racial residential segregation, and racism can influence urban health outcomes.
SYNTHESIZE in your response: three levels of racism (Jones, 2010) and key themes from neighborhood health under the umbrella of “Pathogenic” and “Salutogenic” (Coutts and Kawachi, 2006) and address at least three dimensions of segregation as outlined in the Kramer 2009 chapter (see rubric).
APPLY the case of Pruitt Igoe to biological and health outcomes. Draw and explain a flow diagram using the language of a causal pathway through which racial residential segregation can influence urban health outcomes. Evaluate your proposed pathway: what are its strengths/limitations? Where on the pathway can policy intervene? Remember to define proximate and ultimate/systemic causes.
UTILIZE the course readings and media and some that might be useful are listed below. The course resources should be the evidence base for your argument and you can
draw on evidence from other case examples that we have reviewed in class
draw on and cite at least five course resources in addition to the film. Citations should appear in parenthesis in the text as (Last name, Year) and in a bibliography
provide evidence for the history, policy, and health impact of segregation in the U.S. in your response.
Resources for this assignment include those that were already assigned on the syllabus:
Scholarly Book Chapter: Kwate, N.O. (2013). Chapter 10: Racial Segregation and the Marketing of Health Inequality. In Harris, F. C., & Lieberman, R. C. (Eds.). Beyond Discrimination: Racial Inequality in a Post-racist Era. Russell Sage Foundation. 317-438. LinkDownload Link
Historical Review: Kramer, M. R., & Hogue, C. R. 2000. Is segregation bad for your health? Epidemiologic reviews, 31(1), 178-194. LinkDownload Link
Research Review Article: LaVeist, T., et al. 2011. Place, not race: disparities dissipate in southwest Baltimore when blacks and whites live under similar conditions. Health affairs, 30(10), 1880-1887. LinkDownload Link
Science News and Views and Review Article: Schell, C. J., et al. Sept 2020. The ecological and evolutionary consequences of systemic racism in urban environments. Science. (13 pages but lots of images) LinkDownload Link
Blog County Health Rankings Data: Schwarz, D. 2016. What’s the Connection Between Residential Segregation and Health? Culture of Health Blog. LinkLinks to an external site.
Textbook Book Chapter: Coutts, A., & Kawachi, I. (2006). Chapter 3 The urban social environment and its effects on health. In Cities and the Health of the Public, 49-60. LinkDownload Link
Research Review Article EJ: Bullard, R.D. 2001. Environmental justice in the 21st century:Race still matters. Phylon(1960-),49(3/4), 151-171.LinkDownload Link
Framework Article : Jones, C. (2000). Levels of racism: A theoretic framework and a gardener’s tale. American Journal of Public Health. 90, 8: 1212-1215. LinkDownload Link
REQUIRED Additional Resources
Documentary Film: Freidrichs, Ch. (2011) The Pruitt Igoe Myth. USA. Unicorn Stencil. Available through Kanopy (streaming video). You will need to sign in by searching for “The New School” and then use your institutional Google email account to login in. Search for “The Pruitt Igoe Myth”. (59 minutes) https://www.kanopy.com/en/newschool/video/126559Links to an external site.
Blog: Borders, C. Sept 9, 2017. Remembering Black Women in St. Louis’s Pruitt-Igoe Housing Projects. Black Perspectives. African American Intellectual History Society. LinkLinks to an external site.
Government News: July 26, 2021. EPA. From Triage to Recovery: Pruitt Igoe Becomes New Medical Campus in St. Louis. LinkLinks to an external site.
News: Board of Health Passes Resolution declaring racism a public health crisis. Board of Health Passes Resolution Declaring Racism a Public Health Crisis – NYC Health. (n.d.). Retrieved October 22, 2021, from LinkLinks to an external site.
Technicalities:
Paper should be a 1200-1500 words with your name, date, word count, and course number on the top right of the first page. Please use a standard essay structure, with citations within the text using Chicago, APA, or MLA format- really any format that is an acceptable bibliographic format and include the bibliography (include weblinks) at the end of the document.
Connected urban health outcomes with racial residential segregation using the Pruitt Igoe Myth – Made great attempt to connect The Pruitt Igoe Myth to present day housing policy and health. Defined the Pruitt Igoe myth and used concepts under the umbrella of “Pathogenic” “Salutogenic”in response
Draw and explain a diagram to map the hypothetical process of segregation impact on health.- A detailed level of factor identification at the proximate and community level, explanation with connections to health outcomes and critical analysis
Defined levels of racism and connected concepts to health outcomes.-Three levels of racism were described and explained and synthesized with segregation history, policy and impact on health outcomes. Detailed and clear examples were provided.
Dimensions of segregation were defined and explained and critiqued in the context of health.- Segregation was defined using specific terms from the public health literature e.g. clustering, concentration, evenness, and connected to health outcomes.
Address of new models of social cohesion and connection to address negative outcomes of segregation-One specific example of community based action to address segregation and/ or the effects of health disparity as a consequence of racism and/or segregation- with adequate explanation of which level of segregation and/or racism influenced
Quality of the writing (grammar, typos, organization)-Writing is clear, engaging, with good flow of theme and logic. No grammatical or spelling errors.
References and bibliography
At least five citations to course readings/resources should be included in the reference page using APA format- Rich bibliography drawing from five or more course resources; correct citations formatted throughout the text and at the end of the essay.
Links-
https://www.rwjf.org/en/insights/blog/2016/03/whats-the-connection-between-residential-segregation-and-health.html
https://www.aaihs.org/remembering-black-women-in-st-louiss-pruitt-igoe-housing-projects/
https://www.epa.gov/mo/triage-recovery-pruitt-igoe-becomes-new-medical-campus-st-louis
https://www.nyc.gov/site/doh/about/press/pr2021/board-of-health-declares-racism-public-health-crisis.page
MAIN VIDEO LINK – https://www.kanopy.com/en/product/126559?vp=newschool
