2019-2020
The Student Magazine of Pratt Institute’s Graduate Center for Planning and the Environment
showcased in this issue: STUDIOS THESIS EXCERPTS and FIELDWORK including an interview with:
Dean Harriet Harris
table of contents HOMEWARD BOUND: A Cultural Landscape inquiry of coastal commons in Chennai, India
2
by Dhanya Rajagopal [UPM]
HOMEWARD BOUND:
10 ‘A canon?What Canon?’
‘A canon? What Canon?’
by Claudia Castillo & Carlos Rodriguez [UPM]
HOMES WITH HISTORY: Preservation Design: The Solution to Stronger Integration between Interior Design + Historic Preservation
14
by Travis Matts [HP]
homes with history:
24 What are you doing here?
What are you doing here? by Ahmad Shaibani [CRP]
居場所 IBASHO: understanding the urban structure of homelessness in Tokyo and Osaka
28
by Timna Churges Golan; Duane Martinez; Yisha Su; and Kaila Wilson
36
Havana City in times of COVID-19
IBASHO:
understanding the urban structure of homelessness in Tokyo and Osaka
Havana City in times of COVID-19
42 Harriet
by José Javier Rodríguez-Xenes & Alberto Montero Graniela
INTERVIEW: Harriet Harriss “Not Just a Qualification Factory”
by Ariella Levitch & Carolyn Levine [UPM]
[CRP: City and Regional Planning] [HP: Historic Preservation] [SES: Sustainable Environmental Systems] [UPM: Urban Placemaking and Management]
LETTER FROM THE EDITORS Dear Fellow Student, The theme for the 2019-2020 edition of MultipliCity is home + housing, which are threads that connect all four of GCPE’s programs. Housing is the umbrella under which we classify all structures of shelter, of providing lodging and refuge. At GCPE we think of housing in terms of issues of affordability, equity, density, access, quality, and history. Housing equity is one of the greatest challenges modern cities are facing, and is tied to all other areas of urban life. As students we will most likely tackle issues related to housing in our studies and our careers. Of course housing is more than the structures we plan for, design, and build. They are places of emotional connection, memory, and identity. There is a process in which ‘housing’ becomes ‘home.’ In the words of American author, professor, feminist, and social activist, bell hooks, “The challenge these days, is to be somewhere, to belong to some particular place, invest oneself in it, draw strength and courage from it, to dwell in a community.” As a team of Placemaking students, we wanted to examine the many layers of home + housing: dwelling, community, sense of belonging— where do they come together and where do they diverge?
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS We would like to thank the authors of the articles included in this edition for their contributions and enthusiasm. We hope to have done justice to the passion and excitement that inspired your writing. We would also like to thank the GCPE and faculty, especially our Department Chair Eve Baron and UPM Academic Coordinator David Burney, for their generous support in this endeavor. Multiplicity is a collaborative effort, and we are honored to have been a part of it this year. On the cover: GCPE virtual classes and events. sourced from the GCPE community. 61 St. James Pl. Brooklyn, NY 11238 www.pratt.edu/gcpe
Each piece submitted to this year’s issue directly or indirectly considers a different aspect of what home + housing mean in our disciplines. Dhanya Rajagopal’s piece looks at finding a sense of place in the cultural landscapes of coastal fishing communities in her hometown of Chennai, India. Travis Matts examines the physical characteristics of historical houses and interiors, and Carlos Rodriguez Estevez and Claudia Castillo de la Cruz point out that sometimes, pieces of home are hiding in plain sight. A team from the Japan Studio explores the urban structure of homelessness in Tokyo and Osaka. The diversity of pieces is a reflection of the multifaceted nature of home + housing, issues that have become even more complex in the age of Covid. No longer shielded by our shared experiences in public space, at work, and in school, the inequities in housing and access to a sense of home were highlighted. As editors of this year’s issue of MultipliCity it has been a true privilege to read our peers and professors research, reflections, and ideas. In this period of global uncertainty, it is crucial to reimagine a more just world on the other side, one in which we can all feel at home. Writing to you from our respective homes, Carolyn Levine [UPM] Ariella Levitch [UPM], Carlos Rodríguez Estévez [UPM]
Demonstration of Professional Competence Urban Placemaking and Management
HOMEWARD BOUND: A Cultural Landscape inquiry of coastal commons in Chennai, India
by Dhanya Rajagopal Spring 2019
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‘Our human landscape is our unwitting biography, reflecting our tastes, our values, our aspirations, and even our fears in tangible visible form.’ (Lewis 1979:12)
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(on previous spread) Temporary spaces in the coastal commons for funeral rites and net drying. Photo: Dhanya Rajagopal
Use of coastal commons for boat landing and net repair. Photo: Dhanya Rajagopal
In March 2019, I visited my hometown, Chennai, a coastal city in the southeastern periphery of India, as part of my graduate thesis research. I received a grant from the Graduate Student Engagement Fund to carry out two weeks of on-site participatory action research in Kottivakkam Kuppam, a fishing hamlet home to around 1,000 people. My research began as an interest in my city’s coastal commons, which are often mismanaged and misappropriated to suit private/recreational needs in lieu of the life and livelihood of fishing communities that have lived along the coast, since before the urbanization of the region. In an attempt to reclaim the commons and fight for their home, a group of fishermen-turned-activists,1 work alongside research institutes, using GIS mapping to educate lawmakers and share the value of preserving these commons for their livelihood and way of life. According to UNESCO’s World Heritage Convention (1992), “Cultural landscape is an adaptation between cultural and ecological values, the quality and function of which have been reconciled by the interrelation between humans and nature.” I immediately related to the idea of a cultural landscape, seeing the value of a landscape as a home--an entity that both influences culture while also being influenced by human activity. Coastal commons are at the interface of land and sea and are of immense significance to fishing communities,2 who have, over centuries evolved a deep connection to the landscape. The connection is fostered through unique socio-cultural practice, which oversees and manages the coastal resources. My thesis was an attempt to capture these untapped values and the challenges facing Indian coastal landscapes through drawings, narratives, visions and stories of the commons, told by the fishing community.
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WHY CULTURAL LANDSCAPES?
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BEING AN OUTSIDER AT HOME: PERILS OF “ACTION RESEARCH” Despite knowing the language, the neighborhood, and having established a relationship with local practitioners, the participatory process was still very difficult. I was challenged by the need to develop relationships with an entirely new community within the twelve-day time constraint. I hoped that through introductions by trusted community members, I could narrate my intent to a largely skeptical population who are justified in their lack of trust in politicians, policies that never manage to capture their voices, and “studies” that have never come to fruition in the form of tangible change. Since completing my initial research, I have begun the process of sharing the information back to the community with the goal of producing an open source platform that would collect drawings, oral histories, and other narratives of cultural landmarks as told to me by the residents of fishing hamlets across Chennai. Participatory action research is all about collective inquiry and action grounded in experience and social history.3 The two-way sharing of knowledge makes the process one that is built out of trust and through conversation, with the goal of establishing a long-term relationship and information sharing network. As this was my first time conducting community engagement independently, I also found it challenging, because as always, research and “studying” communities requires sensitivity, openness, and care as not to create any unrealistic expectations. I accepted that I had to think on my feet and adjust to different ways of engaging the fisherwomen, men and children that were convenient for the community. Transect walk exercise revealed children’s spaces of play. Photo: Dhanya Rajagopal
MULTIPLICITY -7- THESIS (above) Workshop with fishermen Photo: Dhanya Rajagopal (below) Visioning workshop with children Photo: Dhanya Rajagopal
BEAC H
RA DI US 50 0M
MAI NR D
KOT TI VAKKA M KUP PAM
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KUPP AM
Bus Stop
Park/Playground
Temple
Schools + Disaster Shelter
Kottivakkam Fish Market Public Toilet Burial Ground Ration Shops
CULTURAL LANDSCAPES AND SENSE OF PLACE
APPLICATIONS OF CULTURAL LANDSCAPE VALUE
Home is more than just a geographic location. It evokes a myriad of emotions, it is reflected in the way we eat, communicate, form friendships, love, pray and play. When we refer to “sense of place” home brings forth the strongest memories in most of us. Beyond a physical address, it really captures descriptions of landscapes. For me, it was the familiar smell of the sea, colors of nets and boats and a mental map that I can always revisit.
The literature on cultural landscapes documents immense potential for practical use such as:
Depending on what constitutes home-- be it a physical property like your house, or the vast forests and landscapes of fishing communities-- it is susceptible to varying threat levels. This is why I propose the application of Cultural Landscape Management4 principles to nurture the livelihood and habitats of coastal communities, while also expanding economic opportunities across the country by shifting policies and mindsets about the “beach” as a purely recreational space.
1) Understanding people and society 2) Analyzing cultural values 3) Instruments to propel public awareness through collective histories documentation 4) Ecological Benefits: Community involvement is seen as a precursor to sustainable landscapes and is widely promoted as a cornerstone for successful and just practice in landscape planning.5 5) Protecting cultural landscapes can contribute to the continued existence of traditional forms of land use, that in turn help support biodiversity.6
7) Approach for sustainable tourism planning, involving leadership from the community for management in the long run. Imagine you live and work based on the changing tides and the full moon. Imagine your playground is the beach and you have developed close ties with seasonal turtles that lay eggs in the shore next to your home. Now imagine this home, which is also a “cultural landscape” threatened by commercial/industrial expansion. The fight for “home” in this case is also a fight for the longevity of these landscapes with the rich, longstanding history of fishing communities often ignored by elitist populations. This threat of livelihood is a constant fear in the midst of rapid urbanization. By involving local rituals and practices, a more sustainable future can be imagined for coastal commons across the country.
(previous page) Places in Kottivakkam Source: Dhanya Rajagopal
1_ https://scroll.in/article/912381/a-tamil-nadufisherman-is-making-maps-to-help-villagerssave-their-lands-from-encroachment 2_ Dakshin Foundation, 2009 3_ Reason, P. and Bradbury, H. (2008) (eds) The Sage Handbook of Action Research: Participative Inquiry and Practice. Sage, CA. ISBN 978-1412920292 4_ https://whc.unesco.org/uploads/activities/ documents/activity-475-8.pdf 5_ Jones, 2007; Selman, 2012 6_ European Convention 2000, OG Annex 3.9
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6) Defining boundaries helps create a governable object for facilitating local management, encourages and involves Participatory mechanisms.
‘A canon? What Canon?’
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by Claudia Castillo de la Cruz and Carlos Rodriguez Estevez [UPM]
Engraving on Pratt’s cannon cascable Photo: Carlos Rodriguez Estevez
It took us more than three years and a pandemic to discover it. We got used to walking around it, referencing it as a meeting point, and enjoyed the public life around it. However, we never stopped to observe the cannon. On one of our last days at Pratt before the shutdown, a 30-second stop to look at the cannon revealed an engraving, “SE PUSO ESTE GRANO EN SBRE DE 1859 HABANA”1. This cannon was acquired from Havana, our hometown. The Cuban presence at Pratt goes back 120 years in the past. After that surprising discovery, we asked classmates, friends, and faculty what they knew about the history of the cannon, but it was unclear for many. We got answers like, “I think it’s from the Civil War,” “It might be a sculpture from a former student some time ago,” “I haven’t thought about it…,” or “a cannon, what cannon?” It was an embarrassing discovery for all of us-- that the cannon had been on campus since 1899 (Norton, 1899)-- yet there was so little known or written about it.
1 “This breech was placed in September of 1859, Havana” (Pratt Institute, 1913).
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Yes, there is a cannon.
On Pratt Institute’s Monthly from November 1899 - June 1990, a brief description of recent acquisitions and improvements to the Campus, includes the cannon, described as “a stranger from a foreign land is daily passed by the hundreds who cross the pavement to the library building…Once a terror that perhaps frowned grimly from the Morro [Castle of Morro, Havana], it is now valued for the beauty of design which some Spanish artificer gave it” (Norton, 1899).
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Extract from Pratt Institute’s Monthly (Nov. 1899-June 1990) Source: Pratt Institute
The cannon plaza during the 1950s Source: Brooklyn Public Library
According to the Report of Chief of Ordinance of the War Department (1899), the cannon is one of three, five-anda-half inches bore bronze cast cannons appropriated from the form the Castle of Morro in Havana during the SpanishAmerican War. The cannon was cast in Sevilla, Spain and 43,000 pounds. Its inscription describes that it was made by the well known 18th-century bronze artisans Voie and Abet “VOIE I. ABET FECIT X. SEVILLA ANNO D. 1720” 2 (de Salas, 1831). The beauty and rarity of its bronze-founder’s art might be one of the major reasons for the purchase by the Pratt Board of Trustees only 11 years after the institute’s founding. “Beautifully cut bands of ornaments surround the barrel, and the handles are in the forms of dolphins ...its lines and parts are admirably proportioned”(Norton, 1899). In 1939, a competition to create the mascot that would symbolize Pratt Institute resulted in James Cooper’s winning idea, the Cannoneers. The “Data Board,” a publication of the then School of Science and Technology referred to as “the strength and character of the ‘Cannoneer’ is symbolic of the spirit and foresight that guided Mr. Charles Pratt in founding the Institute” according to the Pratt Institute Archives Instagram post (Pratt Institute, 2016). Oddly, there was no reference to the artifact that had already been installed on campus for forty years. The photo archives at the Brooklyn Library has a collection of images that include this cannon during the 1950s, and reference its connection to the students as “the trophy which gives Pratt varsity teams their nickname, ‘Cannoneers’…” (Brooklyn Public Library, 195?). We also found references to the cannon on the social media page of Pratt’s Alumni, which confirms its place in the institute’s collective memory. A 1971 photo from alum Robert Cohen Wilkoff shows a defaced, or altered, with some commenting about its “many psychedelic repaintings,” and the cannon being “completely painted in a hot neon fuzzy pink…like it was covered in pink pop rocks.” One comment makes a reference to its Spanish origins, citing the “frat boys used to paint and repaint the cannon,” where the commenter “was happy to see the thing stripped and shined.” Later acknowledging
The cannon ca. 1971 Source: https://twitter.com/PrattAlumni/status/1156956013574201344?s=20
2 “Voie I Abet made this at Seville in the year 1720” (Pratt Institute, 1913).
the “question of what an old Spanish cannon stolen during the Spanish American War has to do with Pratt Institute. Maybe it should be returned to Cuba or wherever it was stolen from” (Pratt Institute Alumni, 2019). In 2015, Pratt Institute’s Cannoneer mascot got a redesign. Designer Wayland Chew states that the update “provides history and context to the iconic cannon located on campus” (Pratt Institute, 2015). However, despite the artifacts’ notable place on campus for over a century, it is still not acknowledged on the list of works of the Pratt Institute’s Sculpture Park. The cannon is an inherited symbol of Pratt Institute, but maybe we took it for granted. If you pass by and look, indeed it is there, and it is ours. Pratt Institute’s Cannoneer mascot, 2015 Source: Pratt Institute
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1720 Cast in Sevilla, España.
1859 Placed on the walls of Castle of Morro in Havana Cuba, during the Spanish Colony.
1899 Appropriated the three 16-cm bronze cannon from Castle of Morro in Havana, Cuba.
1899 Bought by the Trustees of Pratt Institute.
1939 Mascot name of Cannoniers to identify Pratt Students by student James Cooper.
2015 Cannoneers mascot illustration updated.
Timeline Image: Carlos Rodriguez Estevez
References Brooklyn Public Library. (195?). Brooklyn Daily Eagle photographs, Brooklyn Collection. De Salas, Don Ramón. (1831). Memorial Histórico de la Artillería Expañola, Imprenta García. Norton, Dora Miriam. (1899). Recent Art Acquisitions at Pratt Institute. Pratt Institute Monthly, Vol. VIII, 61-63. Pratt Institute. (1913). Pratt Institute Free Library Quartly Booklist. Pratt Institute. (2015, October 15), Pratt Institute Unveils New Mascot Illustration for the Cannoneers. Pratt Institute. Pratt Institute [@prattinstitutearchives]. (2016, March 17). Ever wonder where the @PrattInstitute mascot - the Cannoneers- originated? Well, the Databoard, a publication of the School of Science and Technology [Photograph]. Instagram. Pratt Institute Alumni. (2019, August 1). #TBT to 1971! Remember when the Cannon looked like this? Thanks to alumnus Robert Cohen Wilkoff for sharing his photo! [Image attached]. Facebook. War Department. (1899). Report of Chief of Ordnance.
Thesis Historic Preservation
HOMES WITH HISTORY: Preservation Design: The Solution to Stronger Integration between Interior Design + Historic Preservation
by Travis Matts Spring 2020
Often created in reflection of the architectural and design trends of the period in which they are erected, interiors are designed to provide functional and aesthetic appeal through materials, finishes and fixtures, and spatial relationships. Because people use them regularly, interiors are commonly changed, be it through major interventions such as the reorganization of spatial relationships, or through minor modifications such as the changing or removal of ornamentation, finishes and fixtures. These inevitable episodes of change create layers of history in historic interiors, equating them to something of a palimpsest.1 Yet because these historic interiors are often altered, interior designers frequently overlook their potential historic significance as they introduce design interventions. This issue is perfectly captured by Lisa Tucker, architect, interior
designer, and Interior Design Program Chair at Virginia Tech, in her attempt to better integrate the training of interior design students with historic preservation and sustainable interior design: “In the case of historic buildings the interior of a structure will likely change significantly over time. Layers of surfaces and resurfacing continuously change the historic interior space to reflect its social history. How all of this is preserved, restored, adapted, or otherwise interpreted is at the core of what an interior designer does. As such, it is important that the designer’s work not only reflect the new uses and occupants of a historic interior but, at the same time, honor the changes in taste and social mores that have occured over time.”2 Conversely, while historic preservationists are tasked with identifying the significance of these historic interiors and advocating for their appropriate treatment, they may be faulted for their lack of understanding of necessary and/or creative interventions that interior designers feel will be successful in these spaces.
1 Lisa Tucker, “Chapter 22: The Relationship between Historic Preservation and Sustainability in Interior Design”, (West Sussex, UK, John Wiley & Sons LTD., 2015), 399. 2 Lisa Tucker, “Chapter 22”, 398.
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History happens both outside and inside buildings. While interiors are commonly the most ephemeral of building components, they provide the opportunity to collect tangible histories of people, culture, architecture, and design. This places historic interiors at a unique intersection where today’s interior designers and historic preservationists must engage.
Historic home architecture & interior. Example 1: Exterior of single family home, built ca. 1916 Source: For the Love of Old Houses, 2020
Historic home architecture & interior. Example 1a: Interior of previous single family home, showcasing existing historic interiors integrity in their current condition, foyer and central stair Source: For the Love of Old Houses, 2020
Historic home architecture & interior. Example 2: Exterior of historically single family home, built ca. 1875, now a duplex Source: Realtor.com, 2020
Historic home architecture & interior. Example 2a: Interior of above single family home, showcasing existing historic interiors integrity in their current condition, second floor bedroom Source: Realtor.com, 2020
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Historic home architecture & interior. Example 3: Exterior of single family home, built ca. 1967, exemplifying Frank Lloyd Wright’s prairie style Source: For the Love of Old Houses, 2020
Historic home architecture & interior. Example 3a: Interior of above single family home, showcasing existing historic interiors integrity in their current condition, main living space Source: For the Love of Old Houses, 2020
Historic home architecture & interior. Example 4a: Interior of above single family home, showcasing existing historic interiors integrity in their current condition, kitchen and dining area; This historic home offers unique historic spaces such as an original bowling alley and recreation room Source: For the Love of Old Houses, 2020
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Historic home architecture & interior. Example 4: Exterior of single family home, built ca. 1957, in the Mid Century Modern style Source: For the Love of Old Houses, 2020
Historic home interior. Source: Tuxedo Park Fine Homes, 2020
The lack of integration between these professions has inevitably led to the mistreatment and inappropriate modification of many historic interiors. Taking into consideration the continuous evolution of US interior design and historic preservation principles, and noting the increasing trend of adaptive re-use of historic building typologies, now more than ever it is time to close the gap between these fields and establish a basis for collaboration. A collaborative profession, preservation design, would ensure more appropriate treatment for historic interiors, including improved policy, updated design and documentation standards, and new preservation incentives.
As mentioned above, contemporary interventions in historic interiors generally result in one of two outcomes: they are appropriately treated, with involvement of a preservation professional, or their historic integrity is degraded or destroyed without one. The Secretary of the Interior’s Standards for Historic Property Treatment provide guidance; however, historic buildings’ inability to adapt well remains a challenge. In How Buildings Learn: What Happens After They’re Built, author and and design enthusiast Stewart Brand explains, “They’re [buildings] designed not to adapt; also budgeted and financed not to, constructed not to, administered not to, maintained not to, regulated and
taxed not to, even remodeled not to. But all buildings (except monuments) adapt anyway, however poorly, because the usages in and around them are changing constantly.”3 For the purposes of this research, I focused on residential interiors, as they present the opportunity for preservation design to reach the historic residential property sector. Residential interiors tend to undergo renovations more frequently than other property types, due to changes in property ownership, owner needs, design trends, and the changing economy. But if they are equipped with education and advocacy tools, owners of historic homes can achieve
their physical and aesthetic goals for their homes’ interiors while maintaining historic character. One challenge of historic homes is that often, unless a home is of particular architectural significance, interior changes over time have not been documented, leaving an unclear timeline of renovations that have almost certainly happened over time. As a result, significance must be identified through visual analysis of current conditions as they are found prior to treatment or modification, with a timeline of interior evolution beginning at the time of investigation for renovation or remodeling. Further difficulties arise
3 Brand. How Buildings Learn: What Happens After They’re Built. 1. Historic home interior. Source: Tuxedo Park Fine Homes, 2020
for home historic interior renovations with regard to their regulatory framework. Because these properties are privately owned, they are almost always unregulated, and changes are at the whim of the property owner.
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However, these challenges present an opportunity for preservation design to engage with and educate these property owners about the significance and value of their homes’ historic interiors. Preservation designers can analyze the historic integrity of a home’s historic interior and establish a timeline for its evolution, identifying layers of history in the process. In keeping with market trends in home renovation and remodeling, preservation
designers can evaluate the owner’s desired modifications and introduce design interventions to achieve their goals, while being conscious of preserving historic significance. Forty percent of the nation’s 137 million homes are at least 50 years old,4 meaning an ample supply of historic home interiors exists for potential intervention via preservation design. Coupled with the fact that 78% of interior design work in the US takes place in the residential sector,5 the practicalities for engagement of preservation designers is evident. The market trends for home renovations and remodeling further support this claim.
4 Improving America’s Housing 2019 - Key Facts Sheet, Joint Center for housing studies of Harvard University, page 1 https://www.jchs.harvard.edu/sites/default/files/ Harvard_JCHS_Improving_Americas_Housing_2019_Key_Facts-Embargoed.pdf 5 “Top 100 Giants of 2019” Report, Interior Design Magazine https://www.interiordesign.net/giants/2019/
The Home Remodeling Market has Grown More than 50 Percent Since the Recession Ended
Inevitably, the engagement of preservation design with historic interior treatments and/ or modifications, coupled with stronger home investments, would help to simultaneously
preserve and modernize the nation’s housing stock.7 For more information on how the proposed role of preservation design is integral in both interior design and historic preservation, be sure to review the submitted thesis research, titled Preservation Design: The Solution to Stronger Integration between Interior Design + Historic Preservation, by Travis Matts, found in the Pratt Libraries digital collection.
6 203(k) Rehab Mortgage Insurance, US Department of Housing and Urban Development, https://www.hud.gov/program_offices/housing/sfh/203k/203k--df 7 Improving America’s Housing 2019 Report, page 11
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Increased financing options for homeowners would further expand opportunities for renovation and remodeling. Such financing may stem from tools such as the FHA203k6 loan, and may further increase the percentage of renovation and remodel investment.
Remodeling Spending Continues to Contribute a Dominant Share of Residential Investment
Bibliography (In order of appearance) Lisa Tucker. 2015. Chapter 22: The Relationship between Historic Preservation and Sustainability in Interior Design, in The Handbook of Interior Design. Jo Ann Asher Thompson and Nancy Blossom. 2015. West Sussex, UK: John Wiley & Sons LTD. Stewart Brand. 1995. How Buildings Learn: What Happens After They’re Built. New York, New York: Penguin Books. Improving America’s Housing 2019 - Key Facts Sheet, Joint Center for Housing Studies of Harvard University. Accessed May 1 2020. https://www. jchs.harvard.edu/sites/default/files/Harvard_ JCHS_Improving_Americas_Housing_2019_Key_ Facts-Embargoed.pdf “Top 100 Giants of 2019” Report, Interior Design Magazine. Interior Design Net, Accessed May 1 2020. https://www.interiordesign.net/ giants/2019/ Improving America’s Housing 2019, Joint Center for Housing Studies of Harvard University. Accessed May 1 2020. https://www.jchs. harvard.edu/sites/default/files/Harvard_JCHS_ Improving_Americas_Housing_2019.pdf
What are you doing here?
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by Ahmad Shaibani [CRP]
If you’re graduating from GCPE this year, or graduated in the past few years, your first job out of school may not be “City Planner”. One out of the seven in my CRP cohort at Pratt landed work explicitly in urban planning. Three out of seven, myself included, are in planning-related work. But don’t be discouraged, the American Planning Association keeps the definition of planning broad: “to maximize the health, safety, and economic well-being of all people living in our communities.” You don’t need their definition, however, to know the impact planning can have, especially if you’ve been trained at Pratt. Our professors, mentors, and programs have fostered the values of communitybased participatory planning, those methods and processes take you much farther than traditional landuse planning. These values can be applied to most professions.
My responsibilities at TLC include data analytics regarding accessibility programs. I also manage the accessibility program for the “For-hire Vehicle” sector, including Uber, Lyft, and Via. At first glance, there may not seem to be a lot of opportunity to apply what I know about affordable housing, set-back requirements, or land use proposals in this role. However, when I let go of the misconception that these concepts are unrelated, I’m able to use the skills and knowledge I have in creative ways.
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Line of drivers licenced by the TLC waiting to pick up food for delivery Photo: Ahmad Shaibani
For the past year, I’ve worked as an analyst at the NYC Taxi & Limousine Commission (TLC), the regulatory and enforcement agency for taxis, Uber, Lyft, and the like. You may think that is a strange place for a Pratt alumni to find themselves. There are a few planners sprinkled here and there throughout the TLC, almost all focused their studies on transportation planning, none have degrees from Pratt Institute. In my team of seven, we have one colleague who studied public policy, the rest have backgrounds in computer science or finance.
GCPE values can be applied to most professions
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In my role, I have introduced GIS and census data into our analysis. Because of this we’ve identified underserved neighborhoods using a selection of census and American Community Survey data, including disability characteristics, income, and population density, among many others. My perspective and the tools I learned at Pratt were not obvious to my colleagues. By introducing this new data and perspective, stakeholders and decision makers are further empowered to make decisions that are equitable, just, and informed. The City has partnered the TLC, Parks and Recreation, Office of Emergency Management, and Sanitation to organize a food delivery system to serve the most vulnerable in our communities, in response to Covid-19. Part of that work includes outreach to City-licensed drivers who have lost work due to the pandemic and have pivoted to delivering food. These cars wait in long lines to pick up boxes to be delivered. As part of my work, I speak to drivers, in-taking their questions or concerns. During this work, residents from the neighborhood have approached me with questions, complaints, and concerns.
MULTIPLICITY -27- FIELDWORK Holding lot for food distribution Photo: Ahmad Shaibani
I was able to exercise the values I learned at Pratt in a confrontation with a woman lugging groceries across the street who asked, “What are you doing here!?”. I like to think that because of those values, I could identify the tension that had been created due to the queuing cars in what may normally have been a calmer neighborhood. I can’t say where you’ll go after GCPE, whether you’ll get a job at the Department of City Planning, an analyst at some far city agency, or if you will find a job in what seems like an unrelated field. Since graduating three years ago, I’ve worked odd jobs and civil service roles. What has become increasingly obvious for me since then, is that the values inherent in community-based and participatory planning should be paramount to whatever you do. Listen to the calls-- what are you doing here-listen to the calls that might not be obvious to your colleagues, the ones we’ve been trained to listen for, and then ask yourself, what am I doing here?
FACULTY Jonathan Martin; Alexa Fabrega. STUDIO MEMBERS Timna Churges Golan; Duane Martinez; Yisha Su; Kaila Wilson.
compiled by Duane Martinez [CRP]
居場所 IBASHO: understanding the urban structure of homelessness in Tokyo and Osaka PLAN 820: Japan Planning and Urbanism - Land Use and Urban Design Studio
居場所 居場所, (ibasho): noun
INTRODUCTION Homeless settlements challenge both the carrying capacity of the places in which they are located and a fundamental distinction in city planning—that between private property and public space. In many ways, this puts the city through the hardest test of inclusivity. Often noticed, but hard to officially recognize, homeless people carve out a space of their own from that which is designated to be used by everyone: the public realm. They make the city their home in the most literal sense possible, depending on public infrastructure for basic needs. This stark distinction in Japanese cities is the focus of this research. This case study report investigates the spatial distribution and materiality of homeless settlements in Tokyo and Osaka, seeking to evaluate these cities’ capacity to provide “Ibasho”, a place to be, for all of its residents. Yoyogi Park, Ueno Park, and Sanya in Tokyo and Kamagasaki in Osaka were among places mentioned in the literature review as having homeless settlements and high concentrations of residents. The team consulted with local research partners, which confirmed the relevancy of these sites to the team’s research objectives, and these four sites were selected for study.
Research team. Cocoroom, 2019 Photo: Duane Martinez
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1. A place to be, 2. A place to exist, 3. A place to be oneself.
FormalFormal Settlement Settlement
BACKGROUND AND CONTEXT
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STUDIOS
Homelessness became a phenomenon in Japan after the burst of the economic bubble in the early 1990s. The construction industry left hundreds of thousands of people without a job or a place to stay. Today, roughly ninety-five percent of Japan’s homeless population are middle-aged men (Lynagh 2015). Women comprise a small minority of this population and thus their history is far less documented. The Advocacy and Research Centre for Homelessness (ARCH), based in Tokyo, reports that in recent years a new “type” of homeless cohort has emerged who are younger and unrelated to the construction industry (Kasai, Kitabatake, & Dohi 2017). In 2003, the first governmental survey of Japan’s homeless population was estimated at 25,300, with approximately 6,000 living in Tokyo’s 23 Wards (Margolis, 2008). The most
recent count, in 2018, estimates this population at 4,977, making it the first year that the homeless population dropped below 5,000 (Mckirdy, 2019). In Tokyo’s 23 wards, the number of homeless people in 2018 was estimated at 614 (Yuki, 2019) in a city of nearly 14 million. The main reason for the decrease in the presence of homeless people in the streets of Tokyo and Osaka is a change in national policy. The enactment of the Special Act in Regards to Supporting the Autonomy of the Homeless Population in 2002 marked the first time the government acknowledged its responsibility to help local governments deal with homlessness. It guaranteed assistance in seeking employment and providing public or private housing for homeless people and made health care available (Mckirdy 2019, Kasai Kitabatake & Dohi 2017, Hayashi 2015).
Temporary Temporary LodgingLodging
Informal Informal LodgingLodging
Informal Informal Settlement Settlement
Rough Rough Sleeping Sleeping
Nomadic Nomadic Infrastructure Infrastructure
HostileHostile Architecture Architecture
Packs tied to the railings Photo: Duane Martinez
• Permanent, commercial lodging facilities • Exists within a market-based, legal framework • Capsule hotels, doyas, hostels, shelters
• Places not programmed to serve as lodging, yet still provide space to rest, sleep and bath • Exists within the market-based legal framework • Manga cafes, 24-hour diners/restaurants, internet cafes, bathhouses
• Groupings of more than one structure that occupy public space • Exists outside of a market-based, legal framework • Tents, plywood structures, blue tarp structures
• Episodic locations not programmed for lodging • Exists outside of a market-based, legal framework • Underpasses, sidewalks, parks, shotengai, transit stations, benches
• Unaccommodating, communicative, physical and sonic barriers to utilizing public space for private use (housing or sleeping) • Exists as government and private interventions • Signage, barriers, traffic cones, high-pitched beeps, water
• Unaccommodating, communicative, physical and sonic barriers to utilizing public space for private use (housing or sleeping) • Exists as government and private interventions • Signage, barriers, traffic cones, high-pitched beeps, water
Physical composition of homelessness
The following elements were considered as tactical aspects of informal settlements in Tokyo and Osaka while also being utilized by a wide spectrum of city dwellers and visitors on a daily basis. Each element alone may not be considered a unique social or spatial service, but as an amalgamated whole, these elements create a web of infrastructure for the homeless. Each has been assessed based on the nature of the use and its place within prevailing socio-economic norms - on a scale from private to public. The graphic to the left illustrates some of these elements as they relate to the urban structure of homelessness in Tokyo and Osaka. Overall, these findings support the existing literature and the propositions regarding the spatial distribution and materiality of homeless settlements. The two main expressions of homelessness, the tent-lifestyle and roughsleeping lifestyle, identified in the 1990s (Margolis 2008), were present. In addition, a third group was described through interviews. The “cyber-cafe refugees” primarily sleep in manga cafes and fast-food chains that are open all night. This younger group remains fairly unnoticed but has been nonetheless steadily growing (Yoshihira 2019). In 2017, according to a survey conducted by the Tokyo Metropolitan Government, the number of “cyber cafe refugees” has reached 4,000 (Yuki 2019). A settlement site is determined by the availability of relevant employment opportunities, mostly public works, and other income generating facilities such as recycling centers. This is combined with social services like medical care and soup kitchens and inexpensive accommodations, such as doyas and internet cafes (Yuki 2019). Job opportunities in construction and the sex industry, and the availability of big public spaces are the main draws for settling in Shinjuku and Shibuya wards (Yuki 2019). Sanya, like Kamagasaki in Osaka, offers a wide selection of cheap accommodation, social services provided by the governmental agencies and nonprofits, and recycling centers (Yuki 2019). The presence of an established homeless community may indicate the existence of a supportive network comprising the above mentioned resources and other aspects of informal economy (Ueda 2019, Yoshiria 2019). The night market in Sanya and Kamagasaki are examples of “the
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• Permanent housing units either rented or owned • Exists within a market-based, legal framework • Single family dwelling units, multi-family housing structures
ASSESSMENT OF THE PHYSICAL COMPOSITION OF HOMLESSNESS IN TOKYO AND OSAKA
business of poverty” that characterize these districts (Ueda 2019). Local economies that once relied on day laborers’ money from construction work, today rely on ex-day laborers welfare money (Yoshiria 2019).
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Privacy and safety are leading factors in site selection for a resident. Sites need to be somewhat hidden to allow for privacy, but should have a reasonable volume of foot traffic in order to maintain safety (Ueda 2019, Kanda 2019). Violence is
common for many who make the public realm their home. Informal settlements were often formed by networks of people that met while collecting cans, staying at a shelter or attending an event. Kanda reflected on the experience as feeling “‘like they were building a family.” Kanda’s personal testimony corroborates observations of the site audit. The rankings of Ueno Park, Sanya and Kamagasaki were identical - placing access and visibility with
the highest score, followed by uses and activity, sociability and finally physicality. Yoyogi Park differed with a thriving informal settlement. It was the only site to be observed twice, day and night. It scored the highest in uses and activity, followed by access and visibility, physicality and finally sociability. Yoyogi Park had the fewest occurrences of hostile architecture and it was the most well-maintained and cared-for site.
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(on previous page) Structures in the forested Photo: Duane Martinez
Overall, the findings with regards to sociability, uses and activities across all sites corresponded with existing theory that emphasizes the surprising adherence of homeless settlements to mainstream social values (Margolis 2008, Rawles 1999, Peacock 2018). The presence of homeless people or settlements did not seem to deter other people from using the adjacent areas in the parks. This finding was further supported by Yuki indicating homeless residents’ effort to upkeep their settlements in order to maintain relationships with the larger community (Yuki 2019).
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One of the strongest social values that drives the physical reality of homelessness in Tokyo and Osaka is
dignity. While being mentioned in existing literature (Margolis 2008), it was a prominent theme in the three expert interviews conducted. Dignity and self-reliance were repeatedly referred to as the reason many people choose to live informally instead of accepting public assistance (Yuki 2019, Ueda 2019, Yoshihira 2019). The documentation of the variety of elements - facilities, places and objects that constitute the physical reality of homelessness in Tokyo and Osaka may be a significant contribution to existing literature on the topic. Spanning from formal to informal, commercial to residential, public to private, Tokyo and Osaka offer a broad array of
(on previous page) Kamagasaki rough sleeper Photo: Duane Martinez
accommodation for those living informally. This has an immediate impact on these cities’ inclusivity, making it substantially open for people under varying circumstances to find a safe place to rest, work, and be in Tokyo and Osaka. This finding is a unique characteristic of the physical reality of homelessness and the urban environment in general in Tokyo and Osaka, which is not sufficiently explored in existing literature on homelessness. Development and tourism are cited by advocates as the greatest pressures being faced by homeless settlements in Tokyo and Osaka. Sanya and Kamagasaki appear to be fairly immune to development pressures (Yuki 2019, Ueda 2019), yet experience transformations from a day-labor community to one of backpackers and tourists seeking cheap accommodation. As the day-labor population ages and
shrinks, more doyas are transformed to hostels, posing a threat to the neighborhood’s existing inclusive character (Yoshiria 2019). Ibasho, a place to be, is a concept Ueda introduced to the research team while touring the district of Kamagasaki. She was describing a shaded gathering spot that the Airin Welfare Center had constructed on a vacant lot, defining it as “Ibasho.” This concept resonated with the research team. This term is an adequate and necessary addition to the concept of “the right to the city”, prominent in western social theory. People, all people, need more than just a shelter, they need a place to be, to exist. The inclusive city must provide for ibasho as well as the material and economic aspects of civic life as was observed in the informal settlements of Tokyo and Osaka.
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Shelter Sketch: Duane Martinez
Havana City in times of COVID-19 by José Javier Rodríguez-Xenes and Alberto Montero Graniela
Today, weeks into a nearly universal shift to working from home, for those who are able, the previous appeal of the home office is waning. Perhaps the discomfort comes from the over exhaustion of daily routines or because what was previously your “corner” - has become the place where you least want to be. Maybe it stems from family feuds, a lack of privacy, or the dissolution of tranquility, now drowned out by a continuous stream of distractions. Each minute feels as if everything is happening to you. You may have plenty of space or just the bare minimum: a place to get up from your chair, go to
the bathroom (if no one is already waiting), to the kitchen (if there is space) , to stretch out on the sofa (when it’s not occupied), or to look out the window. If spending time with your family is already somewhat awkward, it can be compounded by working from home. Tight quarters, shared resources, and lack of personal space can create conflict and discomfort- seeing your mother running from here to there doing housework like an hormiga loca1, your father watching TV and your brother playing and screaming. During times like these, perhaps your mother exclaims, “What is this “rest” they speak of in quarantine, if I feel that I work more now than before?” She cleans, cooks, washes dishes, cleans again, works, washes. And then there is your brother -how do you motivate him to complete his school assignments when he can find the answers on an educational television show that does the work for him without needing to follow a complex mathematical operation? He only knows how to protest, complain, and worry. All this leads to a cluster of feelings, emotions, and moods in a house where we can barely move. This experience has led us to reflect on the Le Corbusier quote, “the house is a machine for living”, but are we living comfortably?
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In March 2020, quarantine and social distancing were decreed in Havana, important in these times when COVID-19 threatens the health and life of all. From that moment, those who were lucky, were able to work from home. Homes turned into offices, schools, play spaces and beyond. Before Covid, the concept of the “home office” created enthusiasm and was desirable. We used to imagine that working from home would be productive because of the calm felt in one’s own home-- the overwhelming silence and the feeling of autonomy provided by being able to decide what is worth your time, the lack of pressure from comparison to coworkers.
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People who grew up in Havana have always relied on interior and exterior public spaces to socialize. These public spaces are main components in Havana neighborhoods2. The Bodegas3 are visited regularly in the afternoon by neighborhood gossips, forming a panel of local critics. In the same breath, they discuss Telenovelas, baseball, politics, and the economy. The Cuban is not adapted to the running of the bulls, the Cuban prefers to have a drink of rum in the corner playing dominos, chatting among friends on the ground floor of the building. Even the little ones choose to play Las Bolas or Cuatro Esquinas4 on the street rather than being at home with their family. The well-known
Throughout history, Cuban architecture has represented the Cuban tropical climate. There are endless ways to achieve the environmental comfort that is needed, including patio, shutters, and porches. The principles of socialization, ample light and natural ventilation are at the center of any successful architecture project6. Today, these elements are often sacrificed
as houses adapt to overcrowding. The transformation of housing to accommodate more people causes them to lose their Cuban essence and comfort, while pushing aging buildings to further deteriorate. In response to the virus, Havanan families are experiencing a new reality, which involves staying at home under sometimes unfavorable conditions with pressure increasing every day. Concerned by how they will get food during this crisis, Havana residents flock to food markets, which makes it difficult to safely social distance. There is added pressure to decide when and where to get food, how to safely wait in line, and being able to obtain necessities.
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parks, colonial plazas that have evolved into tree-lined plazas, are occupied by all generations throughout the day. In the morning, older adults exercise and in the afternoon, the younger ones play sports or do other physical activities. Havanans love to enjoy these spaces5.
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On top of this, public transportation in Havana is one of the venues for n and social interaction which can result in violation of social distancing requirements.
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How can we improve our current situation? Perhaps we can start by bringing order to the house through an equitable distribution of domestic tasks. For the time being, we have to sacrifice socializing in order to keep people healthy, even though our city and our society are both designed to facilitate socialization. The build environment does not support living and working in overcrowded homes. In order to once again view home as a refuge, we can use this time of mandated shelter in place to reconnect with our family nucleus and get back to basics, in order to be able to enjoy home, sweet home.
1_ Hormiga loca is a Cuban name to refer to a person who does many things quickly or at the same time. It means “crazy ant”. 2_ Plan Maestro De La Habana, OHC. Espacios Públicos. Recovered July 13, 2020 from http:// www.planmaestro.ohc.cu/index.php/la-ciudadhistorica/espacios-publicos; Gómez D. F. (Ed.). (2011). Habana Vieja como Espacio Público. Sevilla: Consejería de Obras Públicas y Vivienda, Junta de Andalucía. 3_ The Bodegas is a Cuban name to refer to small markets on nearly every corner. 4_ Las Bolas (Game of Marbles) or Cuatro Esquinas are frequently children´s games in Cuba. 5_ Rodríguez S. F. (2019). El Encanto de las plazas y parques de La Habana. Habana Radio la Voz del Patrimonio Cubano. Recovered July 13, 2020 from http://www.habanaradio.cu/culturales/elencanto-de-plazas-y-parques-habaneros/ 6_ Rodríguez E. L. (2000). The Havana Guide. New York, Princeton Architectural Press; Rodríguez E. L. (Ed.). (2011). La Arquitectura del Movimiento Modern. Selección de Obras del Registro Nacional. Havana, Ediciones Unión.
INTERVIEW:
Harriet Harriss “NOT JUST A QUALIFICATION FACTORY”
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by Ariella Levitch and Carolyn Levine [UPM]
Dr. Harriet Harriss (RIBA, FAIA, Ph.D.) was appointed Dean of the School of Architecture in the summer of 2019. Before coming to Pratt, she led the Architecture Research Programs at the Royal College of Art in London. We spoke in the middle of June, three months after Pratt closed its campus in response to Covid. Because her teaching, research, and writing focus on pioneering new pedagogical models for design education, and for widening participation in architecture, we wanted to know her plans for the School of Architecture, and specifically GCPE. In our conversation, we discussed her love of animals, her feelings about New Yorkers’ passive aggressive ‘curb your dog’ signs, her transition from London and her experience making a home in New York. She shared with us her hopes for the next generation of architects and planners, including a desire for a more robust research arm at Pratt and opportunities for the profession to better reflect the diversity of the communities it serves. She hopes to encourage mentorship between established and newer professors and elevate Pratt’s global reputation. Below are excerpts from that interview. They have been edited for brevity and clarity.
building that could have seismic and substantial beneficial impacts upon communities both within the immediate New York network and beyond.
Coming to New York was definitely a shift. I’ve come from London, a typically dense city that also has fairly seismic social and economic inequalities. It also has a strong emphasis around cultural diversity, creativity, art and design, and entrepreneurship. I would say there’s also a healthy political ecology there, and opportunities to find people from all different walks of life and different identities. You can find your people in both London and New York and I think that facilitated the ease of transition.
What’s been so positive to witness in the consortium is the spirit of engagement from students and faculty from all of the departments. There’s willingness to come in and there is no privileging of one profession over any others. It’s not architects saying ‘well we’re the ones who can build.’ Policy is of equal value and strategy is of equal value. It’s not just about production of space. The equity and spirit of engagement, based on equal knowledge exchange, that’s been taking place in the housing consortium is symbolic of exactly the kind of ecology I want to see arise in other research consortiums going forward. I’m really encouraged to see that its outputs are publications, policy statements, design projects and ideas for studios.
There are a few things that were kind of odd [in New York]. Nature is treated in a very confined and controlled way. I was very intrigued that every single tree in the streets have these really passive aggressive signs telling people not to let their dogs go near the tree, and in some cases people are really invested in the heavily planted picturesque little fences around them. I see these things as quite symbolic of a sort of yearning for a closer proximity and integration with nature in the urban realm. I’ve thought of lots of strange-- not to be disclosed-- design innovations for the sidewalk, as you guys [Americans] call it, for things that would reintegrate nature in the street.
One of the initiatives you launched this year was the Housing Consortium. Can you describe it and how you hope Pratt SoA will contribute to conversations surrounding housing? When I was applying for the role [of Dean of the School of Architecture], I found the website completely nonrepresentative of how many talented faculty and students were within the school and what the principle concerns within the school are. [When I started], all faculty had to make a statement about the research that they are doing and the research they want to do (individual research plan) so that I could start planning to accommodate and also critically identify what research culture looked like at Pratt. There were many research cultures identified from that, six in total, but the strongest was housing. It really seemed to be the arterial vein between all of the departments. I wanted to start the housing consortium because I wanted it to be a research prototype for other consortiums within the school. I came in as dean with a strong agenda for building a culture of collaboration that transcends the silos of the departments. It’s about leveraging latent talent-- and there’s evidently a lot of that within the school-- but it’s also recognizing that we’re not just a qualification factory. We are a community of thinkers, of scholars, of practitioners who could, through collaboration and collective will, generate outcomes beyond the
One of the assets of these consortiums is that they allow for people in different stages of their academic and professional development to learn from each other. It is also about the identity and presence of the school, both at home and abroad, and I am really looking forward to what comes next.
Housing is at the intersection of Planning and Architecture. What other opportunities for collaboration exist between the Architecture and Planning students at Pratt? Absolutely! In addition to housing, the other research themes that have emerged [from the individual research plans] are climate change, social justice, design-led research, and what I would call the historical canon. The notion of historical canon is the underpinning of everything we do, the theoretical interrogation of everything that’s beneath us. It’s where we situate a lot of the work around reconfiguring the canon and decolonizing the curriculum. It’s where we would challenge things around eurocentrism and privileging of white over non-white professors, architects and thinkers. It’s looking very critically at pedagogy because we are working within post-imperialist, but in many cases still very imperialist, institutions and carrying with us a burden of pedagogic imprint which is also privileging certain kinds of learners over others. One of the themes, design-led research, is derived from the many maker-driven professors and studios-- what a lot of the tradition of architecture is-- and what is a healthy (or unhealthy) obsession with “building as a product.” That still has a place within architecture schools, but I didn’t want it to be privileged the way it was before. In many schools that is the pinnacle of what they’re trying to do, and I don’t see it like that. I have a much more egalitarian approach to forms of expression that we can generate within a School of Architecture. [We should] call
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You started your role as Dean a few days before the 2019-2020 school year began, tell us about your experience in finding a new home at Pratt.
it the School of the Environment rather than the School of Architecture, because architecture is just one component of the built environment. Being a school of architecture carries an implicit bias in favor of the architecture courses.
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These research themes intersect and overlap, but they also provide forums in which we can really start to question what they mean to us at both the macro and micro level. How do we turn this into outputs that transcend any one typological outcome. You don’t just want spaces, you don’t just want policy, you want what happens when you bring all of the ideas together. These consortiums are really about working towards getting junior researchers collaborating with established professors, putting together research applications, co-authoring books, working with local governments to change regional policy, creating international partnerships and projects. What I’m trying to do is flip the school into something that is able to have an impact beyond just qualifying people [for jobs].
Because this interview is for MultipliCity, the GCPE magazine, do you have any specific goals or visions to share for GCPE? First, I think GCPE offers so much to the rest of the departments in the school and I’d love to see close relationships and collaborations within the school and internationally. Most architects don’t have a very good idea of how to talk to the public because there’s this preoccupation with thinking that the solution in every case is a building. That is a huge distraction from being able to ask meaningful questions about what is needed and what communities really want. Schools of architecture privilege architecture students over the outputs of students in other disciplines because it’s all about this seductive set of drawings, often of fictional spaces that wouldn’t stand up if you put a hair dryer on them, let alone people in them. I’m all for speculation and play, but that can’t be the only thing. I think the planning process, and certainly everything within [GCPE], has been about participation-first, about participatory processes over spatial outputs - or even product. [Participatory processes] are the key to better understanding where architects, designers, and other members of the school community can have the most impact. I’m very keen to start looking at how we build our relationships to allow [students] stronger opportunities for mobility and exchange, collaboration across regions, cultures and contacts-- that is one of my priorities. Secondly, I want to see a lot more research initiatives, more funding, and building out capacity to advance and get major grants. GCPE is one of the strongest departments in terms of its potential. It’s very active [in the community] but I see its potential to become even more successful in terms of research grants and publications. I want to
encourage the next generation of academics. On the one hand, we are tasked with, and what students are paying for, is a qualification that will get them a job in professional practice but I also think schools have a responsibility to generate the next cohort of academic leaders. There’s often this accusation that schools are not just the reflectors of professional practice but they’re actually directing it.
At this point in the interview, Dean Harriss turned the questions to us. She asked what changes we’d like to see in our education and how we envision the future for GCPE. We shared our desire for a more radical and decolonized curriculum as well as more collaboration across GCPE programs. Dean Harriss responded with her ideas for a database for school decolonization, partnering with local high schools, and increasing international collaboration.
Before ending the call, Dean Harriss lamented that her time on campus was cut short before she got a chance to meet with more students, before we all went home.
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61 St. James Pl. Brooklyn, NY 11238 www.pratt.edu/gcpe 2019 - 2020
