Reading Spatial Inequities in Charlottesville through Infrastructure Allocations

The following report describes a community-based partnership facilitated through Barbara Brown Wilson’s course, Community Engaged Methods, an offering out of the UVA Equity Center at the University of Virginia. In addition to introducing students to “methods of inquiry that share power in the production of knowledge,” the course also gives students the opportunity to be engaged with locally based projects, driven by local partners (CEM F21 Syllabus). Student contributions to these projects occur in tandem with the UVA Equity Center.

Here, we detail a partnership between Jordy Yager and the Mapping Cville project (community partner) and ourselves, three University of Virginia students (student partners). Mapping Cville is supported by the Jefferson School African-American Heritage Center (JSAAHC) and aims to show how race-based policies and practices have shaped Charlottesville. Examining the evolution of Charlottesville’s built environment, through the lens of race, allows a better understanding of why inequalities in the city exist today and sets up a tangible framework for reparative planning efforts. Over the semester-long collaboration, students made modest contributions to Mapping Cville’s overall data collection and mapping efforts, adding to that of previous university student partners and the immense contributions made by community members. Student partners contributed to the project through examining city council meeting minutes for the years 1935-1939, and creating a data set of requests and provisions for infrastructure.