What Cities Can Learn About Asset Management From Hair
This post was written December 2, 2020.
In this society, everything is replaceable.
If it’s old we buy a new one, if it’s damaged, we replace it. Sadly, when it comes to our infrastructure, like roads, bridges, and plumbing, our cities are no different.
But when it comes to Black people and our hair, now that’s a whole different story.
If my family had a mantra, it would be, “preventive maintenance”, in the yoga and healing world, they say, “keep up to be kept up”, or in the church, “prayed up”, “be ready so you don’t get ready.” In short, it means sustainability.
In short, non-expert terms, asset management is basically a routine, a system in place to ensure that everything is primed and ready. In beauty, this would be washing your brushes before and after you do your makeup or brushing your teeth everyday. It’s ensuring you’re doing a little along the way, and not all at one time, which is a remnant of procrastination and lack of preparedness.
Poor asset management is why many of the US’ bridges are in a state of repair or level of service. This means many of our bridges are at the point where agencies are trying to brush their teeth to get rid of a cavity. The only option is total replacement.
Proper asset management ensures the longevity of our buildings, our pipes that give us clean water, to ensure we have sanitary streets and infrastructure that is structurally sound, sustain environmental factors, and meet user experience. However capitalism teaches us everything is expendable, making us lose the ability and patience to care for things and treat them with value, something to pass down to the next generation.
We work to preserve the integrity of our hair, our skin, and our relationships - why not our built environment? I feel like our cities, which are full of planners who’s job it is to plan and prepare, can learn a lot about how to keep its infrastructure and programs running smoothly if they follow the steps of hair care.
Disclaimer, I am not a licensed hair stylist, hairdresser. I’m an urban / transportation planner who also braids [my hair only]
Start with a Fresh Foundation. When you do hair, it’s clean, the scalp has been assessed, done, primed, ready for styling. It’s important to start with fresh clean bases and make sure the foundation is solid. No need to keep treating a symptom when the problem is the root. Same with infrastructure. This step is to ensure you do your due diligence, build relationships with your community, assess the level of service and state of repair the infrastructure is, what projects have happened here before, who was involved? Do your research. Know the history. Do your homework.
Take Inventory. When you’re about to get your hair done, a good stylist lets you know what’s going on on your scalp, especially things you may not have been aware of or cannot see. Did you know you had a bald spot there, is this breakage, did you know you needed a trim? Now, your project is more than likely not to have some dandruff, but there are some places within the city that shows where a city and its community are experiencing some challenges. Make sure you address those. There’s no need to do a fresh style with old problems. Take inventory of who has done what, assessing the scalp or heart of the issue. Fix first, with a plan for correcting, then move on.
Styling. Once you have a fresh base and have taken inventory, it’s time to start your project! This is part of the execution of project management (more on this soon). The asset has been placed! After the construction crew leaves the site and the client gets out of the chair, now, is time for the asset to be managed.
Keep up to be kept up. The same reason why our sofas were covered in plastic is the same reason why we put shower caps on while bathing and satin pillow cases and or tie our braids down at night. After doing all of that work to do our hair, there is no reason why it should be left to the elements to do erode. Do you know that potholes are formed the same way cavaties are? Instead of plaque cracking at your molars, rain and salt freezes into asphalt, causing it to expand and melt, creating a crater that devastates cars, bikes, and causes serious need for repair in cars, and injuries for unweary cyclists and pedestrians.
Oil / Moisturize Your Scalp. It’s much easier to drink one gallon of water throughout the day rather than at the last hour. In fact, it’s harsher on your system to do the latter. Another way I like to think of it - the more time you give yourself to get from point A to point B, the safer your journey will be, since you won’t have to worry about speeding to get there on time. Maintain your asset by doing work gradually over time, rather than rushing at the last minute.
Stay ready so you don’t have to get ready. There’s nothing worse than wanting to do your hair and not having any of your tools with you. Before pandemic planning, we still had one or two things of jam and a braiding bag full of hair ready to go. Make sure you have what you need ahead of time so you don’t have to scramble when the moment comes. For cities and other workers, this looks like creating space within your calendars and teams to ideate and rest, it’s taking inventory of problems and fixing them right away. It’s keeping up and maintaining relationships with constituents, it’s allocating budget and resources for maintenance for the long and short term.
Honor the Life Cycle. This goes back to starting with fresh foundations. In infrastructure, a sidewalk has a life cycle of about 30 years. Does it make sense to take out the sidewalk then lay new concrete, or does it make sense to pour new concrete on top of the old? Exactly. In hair honoring the life cycle in asset management is trimming your hair, getting a new style, making sure that your hair is fresh, healthy, and rested, to prepare for the next style ahead. In infrastructure projects, some assets will have to be replaced, some projects and methods no longer serve the intended goal. Sometimes it needs to be let go or updated.
Asset management ensures that we preserve the longevity of our lives and the things we use to navigate it - like our cities, our mobility devices (like our cars and bikes), and especially our hair. Though some things need to be let go, undone, and started all over again, that’s okay. It’s the circle of life. Let’s make sure we make the best of it (and our braids).
