Sep 6, 2026 · 43 min · 10 segments
In this episode of Radicals for Good, we’re talking about the true impacts of urban gardening as a means of feeding our people and building community with Dolores Perales-Lara, an urban planner and…
Dolores Perales LaraGuest
Shayla ZimmermanHost
I'm wondering, too, for someone that might not know what built environment means, can you explain that a little bit more?
Essentially, with the built environment, and again, a lot of these have very many definitions and things like that.
But essentially, when I'm talking about the built environment, the built environment is something that is not inherently naturally created.
It is something that is man-made and is something that you essentially bring to the space that you're in.
So for example, with this space, even though it is a natural space, it is still a part of our built environment because we, the ground is the ground.
The bins that they are in are these, the bins that we grow in our old shipping containers, like all the different aspects that we have are different components of the built environment.
Yet we've made the core to the natural environment that we try to cultivate here, which is really interesting where, we really try to merge those two things together as best as we can within the space.
And that got me into like a lot of the things that I decided to pursue, study and investigate where, you know, at first it started with the core of the environmental sciences in mind to learn more about, you know, my space and my place within nature and how I fit within that, especially within an urban environment.
I think the first time I learned about food insecurity, for example, was in school where I felt like, I was like, oh man, the writing's on the wall here.
I never knew, I never had the definition to what I grew up or experienced.
However, like going through like, you know, the educational channels and realizing my life was what textbook definitions people were describing as pregnancy care, low income, all these different aspects of what they already expect people to, you know, not have access to.
I was like, wow, like, I didn't know that this was, you know, I was like, why is my life in this textbook? Like, this is so strange to me.
And It really hit me hard and fast of like how a lot of people don't realize they are living, you know, food insecure or they're living in a way that isn't inherently...
You shouldn't be growing up in these types of spaces, but that's not the right word.
I'm wondering, too, for someone that might not know what built environment means, can you explain that a little bit more?
Essentially, with the built environment, and again, a lot of these have very many definitions and things like that.
But essentially, when I'm talking about the built environment, the built environment is something that is not inherently naturally created.
It is something that is man-made and is something that you essentially bring to the space that you're in.
So for example, with this space, even though it is a natural space, it is still a part of our built environment because we, the ground is the ground.
The bins that they are in are these, the bins that we grow in our old shipping containers, like all the different aspects that we have are different components of the built environment.
Yet we've made the core to the natural environment that we try to cultivate here, which is really interesting where, we really try to merge those two things together as best as we can within the space.
And that got me into like a lot of the things that I decided to pursue, study and investigate where, you know, at first it started with the core of the environmental sciences in mind to learn more about, you know, my space and my place within nature and how I fit within that, especially within an urban environment.
I think the first time I learned about food insecurity, for example, was in school where I felt like, I was like, oh man, the writing's on the wall here.
I never knew, I never had the definition to what I grew up or experienced.
However, like going through like, you know, the educational channels and realizing my life was what textbook definitions people were describing as pregnancy care, low income, all these different aspects of what they already expect people to, you know, not have access to.
I was like, wow, like, I didn't know that this was, you know, I was like, why is my life in this textbook? Like, this is so strange to me.
And It really hit me hard and fast of like how a lot of people don't realize they are living, you know, food insecure or they're living in a way that isn't inherently...
You shouldn't be growing up in these types of spaces, but that's not the right word.
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