Urban Political Ecology from Below: Producing a “Peoples’ History” of the Portland Harbor

Abstract

AbstractUrban political ecology scholars recognise that a historical perspective is central to elucidating processes of racialised uneven development. In this paper, I articulate a collectively produced “peoples’ history” of the Portland Harbor Superfund Site, recounting how over a century of industrial pollution in Portland, Oregon has disproportionately impacted Native, Black, immigrant and refugee, and houseless residents of all backgrounds—and has spawned collective work for a more just future. I argue that it is imperative for scholars to not only articulate such racialised pasts, however, but also to recognise how those working on the front lines of change draw on their own personal and group experiences to produce shared narratives, particularly across difference and in a context of depoliticised, ahistorical sustainability discourse. The case of the Portland Harbor Community Coalition reveals how the production of a shared history can be an important part of work to redress racialised dispossession and displacement in so‐called green cities.