Austerity urbanism and the promise of immigrant- and refugee-centered urban revitalization in the US Rust Belt

Recent urban studies research emphasizes the unevenness of local responses to immigration in the United States and the emergence of economic development-focused inclusionary initiatives as a response to neoliberal downscaling in the Rust Belt. Scholars also highlight the impact of austerity urbanism – the deepening of neoliberal urbanism – in Rust Belt cities following the 2007–2008 financial crisis, noting its potential to produce progressive activism. This article considers the relationship between downscaling, austerity urbanism, and immigration activism in the Rust Belt by analyzing economic revitalization narratives within a regional consortium of inclusionary initiatives. My findings underscore the incongruities and compromises encompassed by welcoming coalitions operating in the age of austerity. Some local actors are motivated by growth agendas but affirm inclusionary values toward immigrants and refugees to substantiate them. Other actors are motivated by social justice agendas but cite the economic benefits of immigration to garner support from other factions.     

重庆市武隆县农地流转下农业劳动力对耕地撂荒的不同尺度影响

在农地流转市场日趋完善的背景下,农户间的耕地流转无疑会缓解因部分农户劳动力不足造成的耕地撂荒现象,但仅从农户尺度上分析难以揭示农业劳动力数量与耕地撂荒间的关系。运用重庆市武隆县17 个乡镇40个自然村的308 份农户调查数据,通过二分类Logistic 回归模型、简单相关和偏相关分析,从农户和村庄两个层次上探讨农业劳动力对耕地撂荒的影响程度及农地流转对两者关系的影响。结果显示：① 农户尺度上亩均农业劳动力对耕地是否撂荒的影响不显著,而在村庄尺度上显著。② 亩均务农劳动力与耕地撂荒规模的偏相关回归分析中,控制耕地流转和不控制流转条件下,农户尺度上两者的偏相关系数和简单相关系数分别为-0.138 和-0.027,前者在1%水平上显著,而后者不显著;村庄尺度上,控制流转和不控制流转的相关系数分别为-0.273 和-0.294,均在5%水平上显著。③ 在农地流转市场较为完善的地区,选择在村庄尺度上进行农业劳动力对耕地撂荒影响分析研究是比较合理的。     

不同类型农户撂荒及其影响因素研究——以重庆市12 个典型村为例

近年来,耕地撂荒因与耕地流失及粮食安全紧密联系而备受关注。反映撂荒现状并揭示其影响因素,有利于政府制定科学的政策、规划和计划。现有的研究多将农户作为一个整体,较少考虑到不同类型农户撂荒的差异。以重庆市12 个典型村为例,在农户类型划分的基础上,分析不同类型农户撂荒的差异,运用多元线性回归模型定量分析不同类型农户撂荒的影响因素。研究表明：① 不同类型农户撂荒的差异主要体现在撂荒户数比重、户均撂荒面积、撂荒面积占承包地面积比重随耕作半径的变化情况、撂荒地现状及不同时间段撂荒面积;② 野生动物影响和人均耕地面积是影响不同类型农户撂荒的共同原因。此外,影响基本型农户的因素包括户主外出经历、耕作半径和房屋离集镇距离;影响自然资产型农户的因素包括农业劳动力比重、户主外出经历、地块平均面积和耕地收益;影响人力资产型农户的因素包括家庭人口、非农收入、耕地转出面积和耕作半径。     

耕地撂荒研究进展与展望

20世纪后半叶以来许多发达国家发生明显的耕地撂荒现象,并逐渐演变为全球性土地利用现象,深刻地改变了广大农村地区土地景观.本文以"土地利用变化--驱动机制--环境效应--政策响应"的框架系统梳理耕地撂荒主要研究进展.研究表明:① 全球耕地撂荒仍主要发生在欧美发达国家,但发展程度的区域差异很大;② 社会经济要素变化是耕地撂荒最主要驱动力,务农机会成本上升等原因引起的耕地边际化是撂荒发生的根本原因,而劳动力析出是造成耕地撂荒的直接原因;③ 耕地撂荒与否,撂荒程度以及撂荒地空间分布受村镇,农户,地块三个尺度的自然条件,劳动力特征,农业生产条件和区域社会经济条件等多方面因素的综合影响;④ 生态环境效应是当前撂荒效应研究的焦点,但该效应是以积极还是消极为主仍存争议;⑤ 增加农业补贴是当前减缓耕地撂荒的主要措施,但并非唯一和最合理的措施.未来,快速城镇化进程将促使中国耕地撂荒现象愈演愈烈,所以当前研究有待加强,本文认为应加强大范围耕地撂荒信息提取和监测,撂荒趋势预测和风险评估,社会经济效应评估及政策设计等方面研究.     

Global understanding of farmland abandonment: A review and prospects

Since the 1950s, noteworthy farmland abandonment has been occurring in many developed countries and some developing countries. This global land use phenomenon has fundamentally altered extensive rural landscapes. A review of global farmland abandonment under the headings of “land use change–driving mechanisms–impacts and consequences–policy responses” found the following: (1) Farmland abandonment has occurred primarily in developed countries in Europe and North America, but the extent of abandonment has varied significantly. (2) Changing socio-economic factors were the primary driving forces for the farmland abandonment. And land marginalization was the fundamental cause, which was due to the drastic increase of farming opportunity cost, while the direct factor for abandonment was the shrink of agricultural labor forces. (3) Whether to abandon, to what extent and its spatial distributions were finally dependent on integrated effect from the physical conditions, laborer attributes, farming and regional socio-economic conditions at the village, household and parcel scales. With the exception of Eastern Europe, farmland abandonment was more likely to occur in mountainous and hilly areas, due to their unfavorable farming conditions. (4) A study of farmland abandonment should focus on its ecological and environmental effects, while which is more positive or more negative are still in dispute. (5) Increasing agricultural subsidies will be conductive to slowing the rate of farmland abandonment, but this is not the only measure that needs to be implemented.Due to China’s rapid urbanization, there is a high probability that the rate of abandonment will increase in the near future. However, very little research has focused on this rapid land-use trend in China, and, as a result, there is an inadequate understanding of the dynamic mechanisms and consequences of this phenomenon. This paper concludes by suggesting some future directions for further research in China. These directions include monitoring regional and national abandonment dynamics, analyzing trends, assessing the risks and socio-economic effects of farmland abandonment, and informing policy making.     

耕地撂荒研究进展及启示

本文运用文献计量方法对1992-2019年在Web of Science数据库中发表的耕地撂荒领域的910篇文献进行总量和关键词分析,并根据关键词领域从耕地撂荒监测与制图、驱动力与影响因素、效应评估与权衡三个方面进行主题综述。研究发现:(1)目前撂荒耕地的提取与制图渠道以农户调研与遥感技术为主,结合空间信息的NDVI时间序列撂荒地提取方法具有较高精度;(2)从作用程度、来源、属性三个维度对耕地撂荒的驱动力和影响因素进行归纳,发现耕地边际化是耕地撂荒的根本驱动力,劳动力析出是耕地撂荒的直接驱动力,社会经济因素是主要驱动力;(3)耕地撂荒的环境效应具有空间异质性,时空差异、景观环境、气候、耕种、地形特征均会对耕地撂荒的环境效应起决定作用;耕地撂荒效应权衡主要集中在生态系统服务功能和价值领域,但相关空间背景的作用往往被忽略。在系统梳理现有文献的基础上,本文从开展全国层面的撂荒耕地调查、开展多尺度的撂荒驱动力研究、结合国情开展撂荒效应权衡研究等方面对未来耕地撂荒研究进行展望。     

Ecological compensation for winter wheat abandonment in groundwater over-exploited areas in the North China Plain

The land fallow policy was adopted by central and local governments to encourage the abandonment of water-intensive crops, such as winter wheat, in groundwater over-exploited areas. At the same time, since the 1990s, many households in the North China Plain (NCP) have chosen to replace the winter wheat and summer maize double-cropping system with the spring maize single-cropping system. Therefore, it is crucial to identify target land parcels for winter wheat abandonment and to design reasonable and proper standards for ecological compensation prior to the implementation of the land fallow policy in the NCP. In this study, multi-level logit models were used with household survey data in order to detect determinants across land parcel, household and village levels on household cropping system decisions; the opportunity costs for winter wheat abandonment were also calculated using cost–benefit analysis. The results show that: (1) land quality and irrigation condition at parcel level are two essential elements influencing household cropping system decisions. Nearly 70% of the total area of poor land and more than 90% of the total area of unirrigated land has suffered winter wheat abandonment. Target land parcels for the land fallow policy should be those that are irrigated and of high quality. (2) There were no significant differences between net profits from spring maize and summer maize under similar farming conditions, and the opportunity cost for winter wheat abandonment should be equal to the net profit of winter wheat. (3) The primary purpose of the land fallow policy is to induce groundwater recovery and restoration as a preliminary stage. A higher level of 350 yuan/mu is recommended as subsidy for ecological compensation at this stage. Later, the primary purpose of the policy should be a transition to a balance between exploitation and supplementation of water resources, and a lower level of 280 yuan/mu is recommended as a subsidy at this stage.     

基于CiteSpace软件国内外撂荒地研究进展与述评

基于Web of Science(WOS)和CNKI数据库中以撂荒地为研究主题的文献数据,借助CiteSpace软件对国内外撂荒地研究学科、作者、内容、热点、进程进行梳理,进而对撂荒地成因、机制、影响进行分析。了解国内外撂荒地研究历程和研究现状,并总结遏制土地撂荒的具体措施和办法,期待为中国撂荒地研究提供指引。结果表明：① 国内外学者对撂荒耕地的关注不尽相同,国外学者多研究撂荒地的形成机制,国内学者则侧重揭示耕地撂荒现象。农用地撂荒是国外的研究热点,撂荒政策、模型模拟和遥感技术运用是国内的研究热点。② 国内外撂荒地研究的发展历程有所差别,各阶段呈现出不同的研究特征。③ 撂荒地研究中国内外学者在成因、机制、影响、举措等方面有共识。建议学者采用地理空间大数据、流数据、遥感影像数据等,对撂荒地的时空模拟、趋势推演、风险评估等开展研究;探寻不同资源禀赋和社会经济背景下撂荒的驱动和演变规律,总结演化过程;提出自然-社会-经济等科学化、系统化的研究方法,丰富研究内容和成果;并开展村镇级小尺度案例研究,为理论深化和方法创新提供支撑,进而为小尺度区域的撂荒地生态修复与治理提供理论支撑和案例借鉴。     

山区土地流转对缓解耕地撂荒的作用（英文）

Farmland abandonment is a type of land use change in the mountain region,and this change is under rapid development. Whether farmland transfer can prevent this process and promote the effective allocation of land resources or not is a question worth studying and discussion. With the help of the previous research findings,the objective of this paper was to find out the role of farmland transfer on preventing farmland abandonment,by using the methods of multiple view with two factors,and single factor correlation analysis. The results showed that:(1) At village level,a significant negative correlation between farmland transfer and farmland abandonment existed in the study site,with R2 = 0.7584. This correlation of farmland with high grade farming conditions presented more outstandingly. The fitted curve for the farmland at Level I had the largest R2 at 0.288,while that for the farmland at Level IV had the smallest R2 at 0.103. Which indicated that farmland transfer could prevent the abandonment of farmland with high grade farming conditions?(2) At plot level,the abandonment rate of farmland with high grade farming conditions was significantly lower than that of farmland with poor grade farming conditions. It was the lowest at 10.49% for the farmland with Level I farming conditions,whereas the farmland with Level I farming conditions was 26.21%. Abandoned farmland was mainly contributed by farmland with Level IV farming conditions in the study site.(3) At village level,the role of farming conditions on farmland abandonment was insignificant. The univariate correlation analysis revealed that the abandonment ratio was negatively correlated with the proportions of farmland at Levels I and II and their accumulated proportion; however,their R2 were small at 0.194,0.258,and 0.275,respectively. The abandonment of farmland with high farming conditions still existed. The abandonment ratios of farmland at Levels I and II were high at 9.96% and 10.60%,respectively. This presented that farmland transfer on behalf of the land rental market was still not developed.(4) However,the village possessed the high rate of farmland transfer,and its rate of farmland abandonment with high grade farming conditions was all lower. When the transfer ratios of farmland were over 20%,the abandonment ratios of farmland at Levels I and II were 6.47% and 6.92%,respectively. Farmland abandonment was still controlled by the improvement of land rental market. And the functions of land rental market optimizing the utilization of farmland resources have been presented to a certain degree.(5) To further improve the marketing degree of land rental,the probability of farmland abandonment could be reduced. Especially,their function to farmland with high grade farming conditions was very obvious,and could avoid the waste of farmland resources with high grade farming conditions.     

Effectiveness of farmland transfer in alleviating farmland abandonment in mountain regions

Farmland abandonment is a type of land use change in the mountain region, and this change is under rapid development. Whether farmland transfer can prevent this process and promote the effective allocation of land resources or not is a question worth studying and discussion. With the help of the previous research findings, the objective of this paper was to find out the role of farmland transfer on preventing farmland abandonment, by using the methods of multiple view with two factors, and single factor correlation analysis. The results showed that: (1) At village level, a significant negative correlation between farmland transfer and farmland abandonment existed in the study site, with R² = 0.7584. This correlation of farmland with high grade farming conditions presented more outstandingly. The fitted curve for the farmland at Level I had the largest R² at 0.288, while that for the farmland at Level IV had the smallest R² at 0.103. Which indicated that farmland transfer could prevent the abandonment of farmland with high grade farming conditions? (2) At plot level, the abandonment rate of farmland with high grade farming conditions was significantly lower than that of farmland with poor grade farming conditions. It was the lowest at 10.49% for the farmland with Level I farming conditions, whereas the farmland with Level I farming conditions was 26.21%. Abandoned farmland was mainly contributed by farmland with Level IV farming conditions in the study site. (3) At village level, the role of farming conditions on farmland abandonment was insignificant. The univariate correlation analysis revealed that the abandonment ratio was negatively correlated with the proportions of farmland at Levels I and II and their accumulated proportion; however, their R² were small at 0.194, 0.258, and 0.275, respectively. The abandonment of farmland with high farming conditions still existed. The abandonment ratios of farmland at Levels I and II were high at 9.96% and 10.60%, respectively. This presented that farmland transfer on behalf of the land rental market was still not developed. (4) However, the village possessed the high rate of farmland transfer, and its rate of farmland abandonment with high grade farming conditions was all lower. When the transfer ratios of farmland were over 20%, the abandonment ratios of farmland at Levels I and II were 6.47% and 6.92%, respectively. Farmland abandonment was still controlled by the improvement of land rental market. And the functions of land rental market optimizing the utilization of farmland resources have been presented to a certain degree. (5) To further improve the marketing degree of land rental, the probability of farmland abandonment could be reduced. Especially, their function to farmland with high grade farming conditions was very obvious, and could avoid the waste of farmland resources with high grade farming conditions.     

Using market-based policies to address market collapse in the American Rust Belt: the case of land abandonment in Toledo,Ohio

Land abandonment is an acute problem for shrinking cities throughout the world. The prevailing legal paradigm in the United States relies on market logics to address abandonment—specifically by auctioning abandoned parcels to the highest bidder. This emphasis is reinforced by a variety of structural forces at multiple scales, despite its highly questionable efficacy as a way to return land to “productive use.” In this article, we explore the case of Toledo, Ohio, to illustrate the limitations of market logics in addressing market collapse inherent in land abandonment. We find that the market emphasis is effective neither for city building nor tax generation goals, but is deeply rooted and reinforced by layers of state law, structural forces, and pro-market institutions.     

Mapping abandoned agricultural land in Kyzyl-Orda,Kazakhstan using satellite remote sensing

In many regions worldwide, cropland abandonment is growing, which has strong and known environmental and socio-economic consequences. Yet, spatially explicit information on the spatial pattern of abandonment is sparse, particularly in post-Soviet countries of Central Asia. When thriving reaching for key Millennium Development Goals such as food security and poverty reduction, the issue of cropland abandonment is critical and therefore must be monitored and limited, or land use transformed into an alternative one. Central Asia experienced large changes of its agricultural system after the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991. Land degradation, which started already before independence, and cropland abandonment is growing in extent, but their spatial pattern remains ill-understood. The objective of this study was to map and analyse agricultural land use in the irrigated areas of Kyzyl-Orda, southern Kazakhstan, Central Asia. For mapping land use and identifying abandoned agricultural land, an object-based classification approach was applied. Random forest (RF) and support vector machines (SVM) algorithms permitted classifying Landsat and RapidEye data from 2009 to 2014. Overlaying these maps with information about irrigated land parcels, installed during the Soviet period, allowed indicating abandoned fields. Fusing the results of the two approaches, RF and SVM, resulted in classification accuracies of up to 97%. This was statistically significantly higher than with RF or SVM alone. Through the analysis of the land use trajectories, abandoned agricultural fields and a clear indication of abandoned land were identified on almost 50% of all fields in Kyzyl-Orda with an accuracy of approximately 80%. The outputs of this study may provide valuable information for planners, policy- and decision-makers to support better-informed decision-making like reducing possible environmental impacts of land abandonment, or identifying areas for sustainable intensification or re-cultivation.     

长江经济带建设用地扩张与经济增长关系及区域差异

基于长江经济带11个省份2002—2014年的面板数据,运用空间计量生产函数模型对建设用地扩张与经济增长的关系及区域差异进行研究。结果表明:长江经济带经济增长具有显著的空间正相关性,空间效应估计结果表明空间误差模型能够很好拟合样本数据的特征,传统回归模型存在局限;建设用地投入对经济增长具有促进作用,但贡献程度小于资本和劳动力,投资驱动仍然是目前经济增长的主要方式;分区域看,上游地区建设用地要素投入对经济增长的贡献最大,中游地区次之,下游地区最小,主要原因是各区域的经济发展水平不同。鉴于土地要素对经济增长的贡献差异,提出合理引导建设用地扩张和维持经济持续健康发展的差异化政策建议。     

Characteristics of Agricultural and Livestock Products Trade Flows between China and the “Belt and Road” Initiative Region: From the Perspective of Biocapacity

In the context of global ecological overload, international trade has become one of the most important ways to make up for the ecological deficit. This study takes the “Belt and Road” Initiative as the study area to analyze the biocapacity and ecological footprint characteristics between China and other countries along the “Belt and Road” Initiative. Trade flow characteristics were explored from the perspective of biocapacity. The import and export of virtual land was used to assess the effect of trade on compensating for the resource gaps in crop and grazing land. The main results show that: 1) In 2005-2014, the majority of “Belt and Road” countries were experiencing increasing degrees of overload. In China, cropland takes up the largest proportion of biocapacity, while the ecological footprint is dominated by the carbon footprint. 2) The trade flow of agricultural and livestock products in the mainland of China shows a trend of increasing imports and decreasing exports, which increases dependence on specific regions. 3) In 2005-2014, China’s trade in cereals and oil crops along the “Belt and Road” Initiative were generally net imports, and the share of cereals traded along the “Belt and Road” Initiative is increasing gradually, but that of oil crops decreased rapidly. 4) The import trade has alleviated ecological deficit, as the selected products compensated for 1.03 times of the cropland deficit and 0.65 times of the grazing land deficit in China. This study is helpful to understand the relationship between the land use and trade deeply, and provide decision-making references for reducing ecological deficits, optimizing land resource allocation, and promoting win-win cooperation among China and other countries in the “Belt and Road” Initiative.     

Farmland Abandonment Research Progress: Influencing Factors and Simulation Model

Farmland abandonment is a global problem and considered one of the most important areas in land use change research. Farmland abandonment research currently focuses on understanding the factors that affect farmland abandonment and developing scientific models to simulate farmland abandonment. The study reviewed the natural and political factors driving farmland abandonment and summarized the main models for farmland abandonment simulation together with their advantages and disadvantages. We discuss the main ecological effects of farmland abandonment and propose farmland abandonment research directions. The study found that: (1) the influence of labor cost change and ageing labor force on farmland abandonment needs further investigation, (2) simulation models for farmland abandonment must include the decision-making mechanism of individual farmers and focus on macro large-scale abandonment prediction models, and (3) the influence of farmland abandonment on landscape culture must be investigated in detail.     

基于定性比较分析法(QCA)的村域耕地撂荒影响因素分析

弃耕是一个全球性问题,被认为是土地利用变化研究中最重要的研究领域之一。明确撂荒耕地驱动因素对于提高农村地区耕地资源利用效率、保障国家粮食安全具有至关重要的作用。本文采用定性比较分析法(QCA)对赣州市49个村庄的耕地撂荒影响因素进行了研究。结果表明:(1)耕地撂荒是多因素共同作用的结果,其中农业机械化水平低是赣州耕地撂荒发生的必要条件,对耕地撂荒具有重要影响。(2)导致耕地撂荒现象的路径不具有唯一性,研究区有5个导致耕地撂荒现象产生的组合。它们分别是组合A1(交通便利、农业生产设施完善、农业机械化水平低、土地流转程度低、无政策扶持产业相结合),组合A2(农业生产设施完善、农业机械化水平低、土地流转程度低、农业劳动力充足、无政策支持产业相结合),组合A3(交通便利、农业生产设施完善、农业机械化水平低、农业劳动力充足、无政策支持产业相结合),组合A4(交通便利、农业机械化水平低、土地流转程度低、农业劳动力充足、政策扶持产业相结合),组合A5(交通不便、农业生产设施完善、农业机械化水平低、土地流转程度高、农业劳动力充足、政策扶持产业相结合)。(3)在耕地撂荒现象的条件组合中,核心条件与辅助条件共同对耕地撂荒产生影响。最后,本文提出了相应的政策建议,以期能更深层次地揭示耕地撂荒的机理,为政策制定者正确决策提供全新的思路和方法,进而促进耕地的有效利用。     

Does outmigration lead to land degradation? Labour shortage and land management in a western Nepal watershed

In Nepal, changing demographic patterns are leading to changes in land use. The high level of outmigration of men in the hills of Kaski District, Western Development Region of Nepal, is affecting the household structure but also land management. Land is often abandoned, as the burden on those left behind is too high. How do these developments affect the state of the land in terms of land degradation? To find out, we studied land degradation, land abandonment caused by outmigration, and existing sustainable land management practices in a subwatershed in Kaski District. Mapping was done using the methodology of the World Overview of Conservation Approaches and Technologies (WOCAT). While previous studies expected land abandonment to exacerbate slope erosion, we demonstrate in this paper that it is in fact leading to an increase in vegetation cover due to favourable conditions for ecosystem recovery. However, negative impacts are several, including the increase of invasive species harmful to livestock and a decline in soil fertility. Traditional land management practices such as terraces and forest management exist. To date, however, these measures fail to take account of the changing population dynamics in the region, making the question of how migration and land degradation are linked worth revisiting.     

劳动力非农转移对农户耕地撂荒的影响

以福建省长汀县农区为研究区域,依据1978-2008年社会统计资料和农户调查数据,构建农业劳动力非农转移对农户耕地撂荒影响的多项式回归分析模型,采用社会统计和比较分析方法,研究长汀县农业劳动力非农转移对于农户耕地撂荒的影响．结果表明：近30年来,长汀县农业劳动力非农转移与农户耕地撂荒之间存在非线性关系,即自改革开放至20世纪90年代中后期,农业劳动力非农转移程度虽逐渐提高,而农户耕地开垦面积却呈现上升趋势;但自2000年以来,农户从耕地净开垦转向耕地净撂荒,农业劳动力非农转移推动着农户耕地撂荒面积的不断增加．同时发现,与外出务工以及本地雇佣劳动相比,从事传统农业较高的务农机会成本是农户耕地撂荒的根本原因,也是农业劳动力非农转移对耕地撂荒产生影响的主要中介．     

Impacts of Non-farm Employment of Rural Laborers on Agricultural Land Use: Theoretical Analysis and Its Policy Implications

During rapid urbanization and industrialization process, non-farm employment of rural laborers has emerged as a prevalent phenomenon in rural areas of China and become an important driving factor for changes in agricultural land use. This article attempts to theoretically analyze the impacts of non-farm employment of rural laborers on agricultural land use based on economic frameworks. As rational agents, farmers aim to maximize their income and follow equilibrium principles when they decide how to allocate their labor forces (or working time) in two departments (farm and non-farm) and how to use their agricultural land with different quality and location. The income earned by non-farm employment is higher, and there exists a comparative advantage between labors, as a result the quantity and quality of labor input in agricultural land use decreases. With the limitation of labor input during agricultural land use decision-making of farm households, on the one hand, land with higher quality is still utilized by farmers. On the other hand, poor quality land will be less well managed and is more likely to be abandoned. Non-farm employment of rural laborers and the rising of opportunity costs will result in abandonment of poor quality land, and great importance should be attached to this by policy makers.     

CONSTRUCTING AFRICAN AMERICAN URBAN SPACE IN ATLANTA,GEORGIA*

Recognizing the connections between the construction of urban space and racial identity, this article explores an urban redevelopment scheme launched in 2004 by Big Bethel ame Church in Atlanta, Georgia. Known as the “Renaissance Walk,” Big Bethel's project is a $45 million dollar redevelopment plan to turn an adjacent city block into a mixed‐use development. By looking at the racialization of place from the perspective of those who live, work, and organize along Auburn Avenue, one of the most historically significant African American business corridors in the United States, I contend that Big Bethel's redevelopment project is emblematic of contemporary black counterpublic spaces and links the redevelopment project undertaken by Big Bethel with African American identity positions.