Shifting the Lens Through a Planning Podcast

Over the past year, Monument Lab has assembled a team of storytellers and reporters to explore the invisible forces that shape both the land and story of this country. Entrenched powers and norms have paralyzed our imaginations. To build the future we deserve, there must be a radical change in our approach to policy and practice, and options that have been foreclosed by racial capitalism, exploitation, and extraction must be firmly put back on the table. The consequence of doing nothing is the status quo, or more likely, increased inequity.

Storytelling is an important component of changing minds, and therefore, policies. Podcasts are now a pervasive medium reaching millions of diverse listeners. Giving a megaphone to real people and dynamic, place-based stories that explain how we got here is the first step in undoing past oversights and wrongs. Such stories range from that of imperiled Black farmland ownership in Boley, Oklahoma, to divestment and privatization in subsidized housing on Roosevelt Island in New York City.

Hear from planners, researchers, and reporters who created Plot of Land to shift the lens through which land ownership is viewed. Learn how the project was conceived and produced, and how it intends to influence the national conversation.

NPC Peer Reviewers assigned this presentation a learning level of Foundational. For more on learning-level descriptions, visit our General Information Page.