Geography of Power: How to Map Community Power Barriers
- Rachel Branaman
- 14 hours ago
- 3 min read
In the world of urban planning and social impact, development is considered a neutral tide that lifts all boats. We point to new glass-fronted condos and polished storefronts as markers of progress. But if you look beneath the surface of changing skylines, you’ll find progress is a dog whistle for gentrification: a calculated community erasure.
The displacement of marginalized communities doesn’t always happen through dramatic, overnight shifts. It happens through the quiet, synchronized movement of two different types of power: visible policies we can see and hidden power that we often miss.
Real World Impact
For multi-generational residents of DC's Ward 8 , the unyielding advance of gentrification causes a gradual and painful disconnection. The collective strength that Black families established over the years – through childcare networks, communal meals, and the sharing of wisdom across generations – is being depleted. As luxury condos and high homeowners’ association (HOA) fees supplant affordable housing, the neighborhood's familial continuity is disrupted: children are unable to grow in the same environment that nurtured their parents and grandparents.
A group of elders and young activists noticed that their community's resources were being redirected and aimed to democratize the DC Council’s inclusionary zoning policy. They mapped the architecture of their displacement, demanding that the policy address the income, racial, and geographic segregation realities of Ward 8. After months of collective action, the DC Council passes an amendment to increase affordable units for families at the lower end of the median family income (MFI) requirements. However, a single policy win does not make a healthy ecosystem. A network of barriers kept power centralized.
Visible Barriers: City Policy
In Washington D.C., the Height of Buildings Act of 1910 is the most visible power at play. It is a literal ceiling on the city’s growth, mandating that no building can tower over the monuments. While intended to preserve the city’s human scale and aesthetic dignity, it creates unintended modern consequences. When you cannot build up in the city’s core, the only direction for capital to flow is out. Because of this visible policy, development becomes a hunt for 'undervalued' land. Without a Congressional exception, the density required to make affordable housing viable is effectively blocked.
Hidden Barriers: MFI Myths and Regulatory Loopholes
While the Height Act is a visible force, median family income (MFI) is a hidden barrier that ensures gentrification continues unimpeded. DC uses a city-wide MFI of $108,210. This figure masks a staggering gap between Ward 3 ($136,832) and 8 ($34,824). This calculation makes affordable units financially impossible for Ward 8 residents – effectively subsidizing the displacement of Ward 8 families by wealthier outsiders.
Furthermore, the DC Department of Buildings (DOB) is known to slow-walk affordable housing permits while fast-tracking luxury developments, acting as a filter that only lets resources flow toward high-capital interests. Developers exploit this gatekeeping by using mixed-use zoning to prioritize profitable commercial space or use value engineering to prune away promised affordable units. To counter regulatory loopholes, DC’s inclusionary zoning policy must be adjusted to offer increased density bonuses as an offset for project costs and to incentivize the creation of larger family units for households at 30% MFI or lower.
The result? Affordable units are priced for a reality that doesn't exist in Ward 8.
Visible Power: City policy and MFI calculations claim housing is affordable.
Hidden Power: Gatekeeping and loopholes ensure it remains inaccessible.
The city performs the act of inclusion while the underlying visible and hidden barriers ensure the status quo remains untouched.
The Geography of Power
This is the ecology of power in action. Erasure happens when a community's 'natural frequency' — its history, elders, and culture — is drowned out by the 'periodic force' of external capital. Anacostia is a case study in what happens when we prioritize clarity (building codes and MFI) over resonance (the lived reality of the people).
Break the Silence
To stop erasure, we must:
Expose Invisible Barriers: Demand localized income metrics that reflect the neighborhood, not a regional average.
Map Influence: Understand how visible policies like zoning and height acts create ripples that erase marginalized voices.
Create Space: Stop inviting residents to town halls where the plans are already finished. Create spaces where the community authors the agenda.
Neither erasure or inclusion happen by accident; both are the result of intentional systems. It’s time to start designing for the collective good.
Are you ready to map power barriers within your own community?
Download the Geography of Power Map to visualize your unique position within these systems.
Explore the Social Change Glossary to equip your team with the essential terms and frameworks for social impact.
Pre-order Rooted Together: Democratizing Power for the Collective Good to learn how to build 'person-proof' foundations that resist erasure.
