In 2017, Atlanta’s city planning department designated four large green spaces as quote “lungs,” that were vital for cooling the city. They announced plans to turn one of these lungs, the South River Forest, into an urban park. But four years later, there was a change in plans. The mayor approved a police and firefighter training facility to be built in that park. It’s called “The Atlanta Public Safety Training Center,” but to some, it has come to be known as “Cop City.”

There has been a concerted effort to push back against the development of the training center. But what’s interesting is that these protestors aren’t just anti-police. Many are environmental activists who don’t want to see Atlanta’s natural climate infrastructure destroyed. They know that the neighborhoods closest to the South River Forest are majority Black, historically redlined, and vulnerable to climate change.

For this episode, we spoke to Manaan Donaghoe and Hanna Love, researchers from the Brookings Institution