507
and regulations have created and reinforced racial exclusion over an extended time
period (policy heavy). This exclusion results in FEW nexus insecurities.
For example, housing insecurity causes nexus insecurity with implications for
health and reduces individual options to acquire a stable and sustainable future in
economic, political, and cultural realms. Housing insecurity is a common phenomenon across global cities, whether it is due to lack of affordability, inadequate services
and amenities for survival nearby, limited urban employment options, or the vulnerabilities posed by tenuous tenure in squatter settlements or in refugee, migrant, or
detention camps. Housing insecurity can also challenge the delivery of water, electricity, and other sources of power needed for household survival and operation, either
due to lack of household resources to maintain service or due to lack of system
resources to provide broad access triggered by lack of rate-paying customers.
Lack of adequate, consistent, and clean water supplies can lead to food insecurity
and disease due to a greater dependence on processed, packaged foods; inability to
cook food or maintain sanitary conditions; and an inability to plan (the criticality
criterion). This can have especially dire knock-on and lifetime effects for affected
children. The poor end up paying more in both intangible and relative terms in their
efforts to correct either situation. Nexus insecurity thus can challenge households’
efforts to counter poverty, imposing constraints on members’ ability to realize their
potential through education, employment, and other forms of social achievement.
18.4.2 Factors Contributing to and Approaches for Addressing
Urban Nexus Insecurity
Spatial exclusion of the form historically experienced by African American and
Native American communities and other impoverished communities of color has
created disparities along many dimensions, including Nexus insecurity. Nexus solutions to resolve the impacts of exclusion require strategies that target both places as
well as people (policy heavy). An example of the former might be to enact policies
for inclusionary housing such that all residential developments set aside a portion
for households with incomes that are below the community’s median value. The
latter category might include rental vouchers for low-income households that will
help them afford to rent apartments in better-off communities.
In Detroit, nexus insecurities are creating a water crisis: tens of thousands of
households have experienced or are threatened with water shutoffs. Water shutoffs
cripple personal care, dietary planning and preparation, and sanitation. Children
miss school or face cognitive and social difficulties due to impacts related to personal
hygiene and dirty clothes.
Similarly, in Flint, lead contamination of water has caused significant long-term
physical and psychological hardships for residents, devalued tens of thousands of
homes, and resulted in enormous public expenditures and mountains of plastic waste.
In both cases, and in similar others, racial exclusion was the basis upon which
these more proximate dynamics have created Nexus insecurity.
18 Cities at the Nexus
and regulations have created and reinforced racial exclusion over an extended time
period (policy heavy). This exclusion results in FEW nexus insecurities.
For example, housing insecurity causes nexus insecurity with implications for
health and reduces individual options to acquire a stable and sustainable future in
economic, political, and cultural realms. Housing insecurity is a common phenomenon across global cities, whether it is due to lack of affordability, inadequate services
and amenities for survival nearby, limited urban employment options, or the vulnerabilities posed by tenuous tenure in squatter settlements or in refugee, migrant, or
detention camps. Housing insecurity can also challenge the delivery of water, electricity, and other sources of power needed for household survival and operation, either
due to lack of household resources to maintain service or due to lack of system
resources to provide broad access triggered by lack of rate-paying customers.
Lack of adequate, consistent, and clean water supplies can lead to food insecurity
and disease due to a greater dependence on processed, packaged foods; inability to
cook food or maintain sanitary conditions; and an inability to plan (the criticality
criterion). This can have especially dire knock-on and lifetime effects for affected
children. The poor end up paying more in both intangible and relative terms in their
efforts to correct either situation. Nexus insecurity thus can challenge households’
efforts to counter poverty, imposing constraints on members’ ability to realize their
potential through education, employment, and other forms of social achievement.
18.4.2 Factors Contributing to and Approaches for Addressing
Urban Nexus Insecurity
Spatial exclusion of the form historically experienced by African American and
Native American communities and other impoverished communities of color has
created disparities along many dimensions, including Nexus insecurity. Nexus solutions to resolve the impacts of exclusion require strategies that target both places as
well as people (policy heavy). An example of the former might be to enact policies
for inclusionary housing such that all residential developments set aside a portion
for households with incomes that are below the community’s median value. The
latter category might include rental vouchers for low-income households that will
help them afford to rent apartments in better-off communities.
In Detroit, nexus insecurities are creating a water crisis: tens of thousands of
households have experienced or are threatened with water shutoffs. Water shutoffs
cripple personal care, dietary planning and preparation, and sanitation. Children
miss school or face cognitive and social difficulties due to impacts related to personal
hygiene and dirty clothes.
Similarly, in Flint, lead contamination of water has caused significant long-term
physical and psychological hardships for residents, devalued tens of thousands of
homes, and resulted in enormous public expenditures and mountains of plastic waste.
In both cases, and in similar others, racial exclusion was the basis upon which
these more proximate dynamics have created Nexus insecurity.
18 Cities at the Nexus