Melrose,
Mott Haven, Port Morris

These South Bronx neighborhoods, in the Bronx’s 1st Community District, have a dual history: one of divestment and devastation, and another of resistance, activism and resilience. New high rise residential buildings have started to fill in some of Port Morris’s previously industrial areas. Even with those changes, this neighborhood has 4 times more space dedicated to polluting activities like peaker plants, factories and highways than to parks and open space. Sometimes called “asthma alley”, this neighborhood has some of the worst rates of child asthma in the country. It is also among the poorest neighborhoods in New York City, with one of the highest incarceration rates. Its spirit of resistance remains, for instance, through the 17 volunteer-led community gardens where neighbors grow flowers and kitchen vegetables and create shady oases.