April 27, 2008

New Book Focuses on Under-Recognized Americans

LAS VEGAS — A new book, Overlooked America, is being released today by the American Planning Association (APA) at the National Planning Conference in order to call attention to the plight of several groups of Americans — estimated to affect at least one out of every eight living in the U.S. or more than 37 million people altogether — whose daily struggles go largely unnoticed.

The shocking tragedies of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita, which focused national attention on thousands of residents who were unable to evacuate themselves from New Orleans and other Gulf Coast cities, led APA to examine several population groups who struggle day in and day out as much as the natural disaster victims of 2005.

Writing in the book's forward, APA Executive Director and CEO Paul Farmer, FAICP, says that by overlooking some of those among whom we live, we are also "overlooking ourselves. Our own human dignity can only exist in an environment of respect and caring."

The stories in Overlooked America, originally published by APA in Planning magazine, explore the marginalized lives of several groups including:

• The Homeless (as many as 3.5 million people per year including youth, in addition to some 900,000 "migrant, not homeless" workers with housing needs);
• Special Needs (more than 600,000 people aged 70 or older stop driving every year; other special needs cited are people displaced from public housing, sex offenders and refugees);
• The Jobless (7.6 million unemployed plus over 100,000 day laborers); and
• Poor Communities (36.5 million live in poverty).

Tracing the course of the planning profession’s focus from physical reform to social reform, and back again, Overlooked America challenges the traditional definitions of “at-risk” populations in the U.S. This progressive volume helps create a national dialogue about these persons and offers a comprehensive and systematic method of identifying the problems and possible solutions.

Planners are uniquely positioned to help address the needs of overlooked Americans given that the planning profession views social groups comprehensively and in context of complete communities: housing, transportation, schools, work places, parks, infrastructure, retail centers, commercial and industrial areas as well as economic and social considerations.

Take the elderly who do not drive and who do not want to move out of their homes where they have lived much of their lives. Planners can help address their need for mobility with the development of public and, where viable, on-demand transit along with compact, mixed-use, and mixed-age neighborhoods. Such an approach to community planning and design encourages wellness, counters isolation, and seizes the potential of elders as mentors. It reduces the traffic that contributes mightily to climate change.

No array of public interventions can solve the social problems of overlooked groups, APA believes. Governmental safety nets such as food stamps and unemployment benefits are not a panacea. Greater involvement of families, policy makers, religious institutions, advocates, and socially responsible corporations, as well as planners, is required if the needs of the overlooked are to be effectively met.

Review copies of Overlooked America are available to representatives of media organizations by contacting APA's Public Information staff by calling 312-786-6395 or 202-349-1006, or sending an e-mail to publicinfo@planning.org.

Contacts
Roberta Rewers, APA Public Affairs, 312-786-6395; rrewers@planning.org
Denny Johnson, APA Public Affairs, 202-349-1006; djohnson@planning.org