the underview.
The underview is an exploration of the shaping of our place viewed through the medium of bikes, land, and people to discover community wholeness.
The underview is a series of discussions within and about the community of Northwest Arkansas. The underview explores our collective understanding and beliefs about the place we live.
These discussions will include topics that are foundational to the identity of our region, the history of our communities, the truth of conflict with the land and its people, and the current challenges and opportunities for our community.
the underview.
the zoning policies with Alli Thurmond Quinlan (ep 2, 28).
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In this episode, we continue the story of Southeast Fayetteville—this time by examining the systems that helped shape, and often erase, its historic Black community. Architect and former Fayetteville Planning Commissioner Alli Thurmond Quinlan joins us to uncover how zoning policies, preservation rules, and land use codes have operated as tools of exclusion across generations. Building on the firsthand testimony shared in our last episode with Tommie Flowers Davis, we explore how seemingly neutral planning decisions have had deeply racialized consequences.
Alli helps us understand how policies like minimum lot sizes, nonconforming use codes, and historic preservation standards have systematically excluded Black residents from housing assistance, infrastructure investment, and neighborhood protection. Together, we ask: how can cities like Fayetteville begin to repair the harm? And how can planning be transformed into a tool for justice rather than a barrier to it?
About the underview:
The underview is an exploration of the development of our Communal Theology of Place viewed through the medium of bikes, land, and people to discover community wholeness.
Website: theunderview.com
Follow us on Instagram: @underviewthe
Host: @mikerusch
Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/theunderview/message
