The word alafia, in the language of the Yoruba religion, is associated with peace, well-being and health. These are the coordinates in which the homonymous housing project that the State of New York recently promoted in one of the most deprived areas of Brooklyn, in the extreme south of the east of the city, intends to move. There, 30% of the population, mostly black or Hispanic, is below the poverty line: ten points more than the average for the rest of the city. Life expectancy, 78, is also three years lower. And in these figures is the key to the experiment, valued at around 1,200 million dollars (just over 1,100 million euros, which the State will round off with a small amount of private capital support): improve the life expectancy of neglected citizens by intervening in urbanism. “Alafia is part of Vital Brooklyn Initiative, whose objective is to associate housing with personal balance and well-being, employment, support for physical and social health, and cultural and community spaces”, explains Daniel Heuberger, director of Dattner Architects, study that is in charge of projecting the group of houses –around 2,400– on a space of more than 23 hectares, in collaboration with the SCAPE landscape design studio.
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Spencer Orkus, from one of the firms commissioned to design the original proposal, L+M Development Partners, quoted In a New York Times article one of the pillars of his inspiration: the Blue Zones, a concept popularized by Minnesota writer and explorer Dan Buettner. They are places in the world with a high incidence of people over 100 years of age. Buettner pointed out five: Okinawa (Japan), Ikaria (Greece), Sardinia (Italy), Nicoya (Costa Rica) and Loma Linda (California, USA). All these environments are marked by special characteristics, such as their contact with the sea, low pollution, a certain cultural emphasis on friendship or gastronomic traditions linked to the consumption of vegetables. In the case of Loma Linda, perhaps the most striking, a weighty element is the influence exerted there by the Seventh-day Adventist Church, whose followers barely eat meat. The consumption of alcohol or tobacco is also highly restricted in the city, located in San Bernardino County. And Buettner, in fact, points to active membership in a religious creed as a factor that helps to live longer: after all, its practice favors community life.
Is it possible to transfer and implement from scratch such a particular set of circumstances to a Brooklyn neighborhood? No. The promoters themselves are clear about it. But, they say, it is an aspiration. Heuberger prefers to refer to the notion of the “15-minute city”, an urban planning model that promotes citizens’ access to basic needs and services at distances of, at most, a quarter of an hour from their homes, on foot or cycling. The Vital Brooklyn Initiative program, originated in 2017, cites limited access to health care, fresh food and spaces for sports as one of the causes of the low quality of life in the area. “It’s about providing a sense of community, the feeling of neighborhood, belonging and place that characterizes Blue Zones,” Heuberger elaborates. “It will generate some jobs in the maintenance of the project, an urban agricultural exploitation [que gestionarán residentes] and new local businesses. Heuberger says that the project, which is expected to be completed by 2030, includes a supermarket with fresh fruit and vegetables permanently available, a clinic, a mental health center, areas to play or exercise and a cultural center, as well as education plans. nutrition or distribution of food at home for the elderly. The buildings will use geothermal heating and cooling, as well as solar panels.
The project has its skeptics, especially after the redevelopment in the area carried out by the Democratic mayor Bill de Blasio – whose term ended in 2021 – already caused an escalation in rental prices. In East New York, the cost is now nearly double what it was in 2015. Against gentrification, Alafia has a remedy in store: affordable rents. “The process to access the homes will be by lottery, with a number of places reserved for people who live nearby and have a limited income,” says Heuberger. Living 100 years begins with being able to afford it.
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Dan Buettner believes that income level does not determine quality of life. “In the Blue Zones they lived below the US poverty line,” says the writer. “Beans, cereals or tubers are among the cheapest foods, going for a walk is better than paying for a gym and having friends is free.” The concept of Blue Zones, questioned by the scientific community due to the lack of controlled studies with the elderly, was coined by the demographers Gianni Pes and Michel Poulain, and has served Buettner to launch books, documentaries (the last one, Live 100 years: The secrets of the Blue Zones, just premiered on Netflix) and a company that has advised 72 communities. Alafia is not among them. “I have little or no faith that they execute this intervention well,” she says.
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2023-09-05 03:30:00
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