Brick, Grass (&) Steel

Is rebuilding possible without displacement?

Tue, 10 Mar 2026 19:21:56 GMT

Hurricane Katrina reshaped New Orleans — and reshaped how America thinks about disaster recovery. In this episode, Andrew Kopplin of the Greater New Orleans Foundation joins Collete English Dixon to reflect on the long shadow of Katrina, the realities of displacement, and the hard lessons about equitable recovery.

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When disaster strikes, resilience doesn’t begin with buildings—it begins with people.

Mon, 02 Feb 2026 17:19:09 GMT

In the Season 2 premiere of Brick, Grass (&) Steel, we explore how schools and libraries became anchors of recovery after the 2025 LA fires—and what communities everywhere can learn about social infrastructure, trust, and resilience.

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Scorched Earth: What Burned and Why?

Mon, 15 Dec 2025 05:00:00 GMT

In the Season 1 finale of Brick, Grass and Steel, host Collete English Dixon is joined by urban planner and equity advocate Dr. Nina Idemudia to reflect on the major themes of the season. Together, they revisit key insights from conversations on segregation, urban renewal, social infrastructure, environmental injustice, and climate resilience — and discuss how these threads set the stage for Season 2. This wrap-up brings clarity, connection, and a forward-looking vision for what it takes to build communities that are equitable, sustainable, and resilient by design.

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How the Climate Crisis Exposes, and Deepens, Inequality

Mon, 01 Dec 2025 05:00:00 GMT

Climate change doesn’t strike evenly – scholars Brandon Derman and Lesa Johnson join me to explore how the crisis exposes and deepens the inequalities built into our cities and what is means to build a just response to the climate crisis.

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Race, Place and Pollution: The Fight for Environmental Justice

Mon, 17 Nov 2025 19:01:02 GMT

Why is environmental justice essential to resilience? Dr. Robert Bullard reveals the history, the fights, and the urgent need for equity in every community.

View materials from Dr. Bullard's recent report, "Green Light to Pollute in Texas... Again."

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From History to Action: Undoing Segregation in our Neighborhoods

Mon, 03 Nov 2025 05:00:00 GMT

Building on Richard Rothstein’s “The Color of Law” and the discussion about urban renewal with Dr. Mindy Fullilove, who wrote “Root Shock”, and Brentin Mock, this discussion with Richard Rothstein and Leah Rothstein explores how “Just Action” offers a tangible framework for communities to dismantle segregation, influence urban planning and public policy decisions, and build more equitable, integrated communities.

If you would like to read more about the topics discussed in this episode arc, please see information below for purchasing the books referenced. Also, you can subscribe to Leah Rothstein’s SubStack platform at https://substack.com/@justaction.

The Color of Law: A Forgotten History of How Our Government Segregated America

Root Shock: How Tearing Up City Neighborhoods Hurts America, and What We Can Do about It

bookshop.org

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Urban Renewal or Urban Removal?

Mon, 27 Oct 2025 16:26:00 GMT

Dr. Mindy Fullilove and journalist Brentin Mock explore how urban renewal became “urban removal,” the trauma it caused, and its lasting echoes in today’s redevelopment.

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Lines that Last: Legal Segregation by Design - A Color of Law Conversation

Mon, 20 Oct 2025 04:00:00 GMT

In this episode, Richard Rothstein reveals how segregation in American communities was not the result of personal choice or private prejudice, but the outcome of deliberate government policy and industry practice. From housing and zoning laws to mortgage lending and urban planning, he explains how the architecture of inequality was built — and why its legacy still defines our neighborhoods today.

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The Power Behind the Plans: Urban Planning and the Real Estate State

Mon, 06 Oct 2025 04:00:00 GMT

In an interview with Samuel Stein, author of Capital City: Gentrification and the Real Estate State, this episode explores how urban planning – often viewed, but seldom literally seen, as a neutral or technocratic practice – has historically played a central role in enabling inequality, displacement and segregation and how planners can reclaim their power to foster equity, resilience and justice in cities.

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The Unseen Architecture of Inequality

Mon, 22 Sep 2025 04:00:00 GMT

Featuring Eric Klinenberg, sociologist and New York University professor, whose groundbreaking book Palaces for the People examines how libraries, parks and other social infrastructure can strengthen democracy and reduce inequality. Klinenberg’s research and commentary have been featured widely in The New Times, The New Yorker, and other leading outlets.

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