DESIGN and U R BA N ECOLOGIES PARSONS THE NEW SCHOOL FOR DESIGN SCHOOL OF DESIGN STRATEGIES
YEAR 1 REPORT 2012 — 2013
PA R S O N S T H E N E W S C H O O L FO R D E S I G N SCHOOL OF DESIGN STRATEGIES DESIGN AND URBAN ECOLOGIES
NEW YORK CITY SEPTEMBER 2013 MIGUEL ROBLES-DURÁN DIRECTOR
DESIGN AND URBAN ECOLOGIES
SARA BISSEN RESEARCH ASSISTANT
DESIGN AND URBAN ECOLOGIES PHOTOGRAPHS ANŽE ZADEL
p8
MARCO RANGEL SARA BISSEN
p9 + p12
CONTENTS FALL 2012 S1 SEMESTER 1 S1 DESIGN STUDIO S1 METHODS
URBAN FORENSICS MAPPING ECOLOGIES
SPRING 2013 S2 SEMESTER 2 S2 DESIGN STUDIO S2 DESIGN STUDIO S2 THEORY S2 METHODS
SANTA CRUZ VISIBLE URBAN HOMESTEADING URBAN LAB FIELDWORK AND DEMOCRACY
FINAL REVIEWS S1 URBAN FORENSICS S2 SANTA CRUZ VISIBLE S2 URBAN HOMESTEADING
CONGRESSES URBAN UPRISING! SOCIAL JUSTICE AND THE CITY
SEMINARS + LECTURES S1 URBAN LAW + MAPPING S2 INESCAPABLE ECOLOGY
EVENTS S2 URBAN ECOLOGIES COLLOQUIUM URBAN CONVERSATIONS URBAN TABLES
RT ROUND TABLE DISCUSSIONS RT1 A SSEMBLING URBAN ECOLOGIES RT2 FROM URBAN HOMESTEADING TO A NEW ECOLOGY OF HOUSING RT3 AFTER THE URBANIZATION OF SHOCK THERAPY RT4 A NEW URGENCY?
PROGRAM PARTNERS + COLLABORATORS FUTURE DIRECTIONS MS DESIGN AND URBAN ECOLOGIES
CONTACT
DESIGN and U R BA N ECOLOGIES PARSONS THE NEW SCHOOL FOR DESIGN SCHOOL OF DESIGN STRATEGIES
MASTER OF SCIENCE PROGRAM
DESIGN AND URBAN ECOLOGIES RADICALLY REFRAMES THE STUDY OF CITIES Through research and fieldwork, students gain broad understandings of the complex economic, political, social, environmental and physical forces that influence contemporary urban growth and development. Working in transdisciplinary teams, students design processes for urban transformation.
CRITICAL URBAN TRANSFORMATION
NEW YORK CITY + THE WORLD
TRANSDISCIPLINARY PATHWAYS
Bringing together the academic strengths of Parsons and other divisions of The New School, this studio-based program trains students to apply interdisciplinary methods in studying and designing processes to transform urban ecosystems. The first graduate program of its kind in the United States, this 60-credit, two-year master of science program explores the broad terrain of the urban complex and its interconnection with society and the environment.
Housed in Parsons’ School of Design Strategies, the program operates in close collaboration with the research-based Master of Arts in Theories of Urban Practice, Parsons’ School of Constructed Environments, The New School for Social Research, and other graduate programs at The New School. It offers intensive summer courses in New York City, as well as international exchange programs through a partner institutions around the world.
The program is well suited for students of varied backgrounds including liberal arts and social sciences. Reflecting The New School’s traditional commitment to rigorous inquiry and civic engagement, the program is aimed at design professionals, social scientists, urban activists, community leaders, and managers of nonprofit organizations and government agencies who wish to critically address urgent issues of urbanization.
Students in the program gain a broad view of the dynamics of urban life by investigating the influence of bureaucracy, policy, finance and design on contemporary cities. With a curriculum focusing on designing process rather than form, students develop strategic proposals for more cohesive and socially responsible urban development.
SITE-SPECIFIC WORK
PRAXIS
Students work on site-specific urban design projects for grassroots organizations and institutions locally and internationally. Collaborations are possible with other institutions such as the University of Venice, Katholieke Universiteit Leuven (Belgium), Technische Universiteit Eindhoven (the Netherlands), UC San Diego and Morgan State University in Baltimore. Studio opportunities are also available Asia.
Graduates are prepared to work in research, community development, and planning in government and urban agencies and development practices, nonprofits, nongovernmental organizations, and design firms. Students are also well positioned to pursue PhDs and academic careers.
DESIGN and U R BA N ECOLOGIES FALL 2012
S 1 SEMESTER 1
S1 DESIGN STUDIO Urban Forensics #1 REDEFINING COMMON PROPERTY Sunset Park | Brooklyn | New York S1 METHODS Design and Urban Ecologies Methods #1 MAPPING URBAN ECOLOGIES
S1 URBAN FORENSICS REDEFINING COMMON PROPERTY TOWARDS COMMON PROPERTY SUNSET PARK — BROOKLYN, NY PGUD 5180
FACULTY TEAM MIGUEL ROBLES-DURÁN is Director of the Design and Urban Ecologies program at Parsons The New School for Design. Miguel’s work as co-founder of Cohabitation Strategies, the international Rotterdam-based foundation/ cooperative for urbanism, has focused on design interventions and strategies in uneven urban developments, and areas of social urban conflict. ALESSANDRO ANGELINI is Adjunct Professor in the Design and Urban Ecologies program at Parsons The New School for Design. Alessandro’s dissertation in Anthropology at The Graduate Center CUNY, Model Favela: Youth and Second Nature in Rio de Janeiro, explores how residents, police and state actors imagine and valorize informal settlements in Brazil’s emerging economy. DAVID HARVEY is Distinguished Professor of Anthropology and Geography at The Graduate Center CUNY, Director of The Center for Place, Culture and Politics and author. David’s contributions to critical analyses of capitalism center on the relationship between urbanization and financialization, the role of geographical thought in imperial formation, and the history, present and future of anti-capitalist struggle. COLLABORATORS FRANK MORALES JEANNE VAN HEESWIJK ÁNGEL LUÍS LARA
Urban Forensics focused on the application of dialectical research methods and actions to the investigation and transformation of a concrete urban injustice. Its aim was to construct a relational way of understanding critical urbanization processes by transgressing traditional disciplinary boundaries, conducting fieldwork, engaging with urban movements and designing strategic actions for challenging the reproduction of an urban ecology. Under this frame, the goal was to understand, negate and speculate the counter-production of communal and non-speculative forms of property, which in principle contradict the systemic forms that urban development has taken. This design studio conceived alternative forms of property and their larger impact in the urban environment. The development of this studio was inspired by the numerous urgent discussions on property generated by the mass mobilization of the Occupy Wall Street movement, and the exchanges with many actors and organizations that conformed the urban struggle. Out of these exchanges, a strong relationship with a non-profit social justice organization from Brooklyn named LA UNIÓN of Sunset Park — one of New York City’s largest Mexican immigrant neighborhoods — began to emerge. We not only coincided in our desire for an organized anti-capitalist struggle for urban rights, but also in search for radical socio-spatial development possibilities. URBANFORENSICS.WORDPRESS.COM
S1 DESIGN AND URBAN ECOLOGIES METHODS MAPPING URBAN ECOLOGIES PGUD 5160 A+B
METHODS #1 introduced mapping skills,
METHODS #1 familiarized students with
which encouraged students to invent tools and methods of representation for urban social, political, ecological and Geo-spatial phenomena. Students collected and processed quantitative and qualitative information, from geographic information systems (GIS) to 1:1 interviews, and represented such information using a range of media (drawings, photography, audio and video recordings) to de-construct maps and information graphics to develop a shared understanding of how to visually represent and effectively communicate complex information.
urban research methods that exposed and emphasized urban processes, adaptation and change, rather than seeing the city as a static object. The course tied ethnographic and co-research methods with representation and mapping skills, encouraging students to invent tools and methods for representing urban processes. Building on group workshops, projects dialectically emerged from their ethnographic process throughout the semester, and culminated into final presentation projects.
In small groups, students used visual communication to breakdown a complex policy issue impacting NYC communities. Student projects developed in response to briefs from local community organizations that addressed such issues. Students produced and presented visualizations to be used by their community organization — to serve as a tool for social justice advocacy work.
Focusing on Bedford Stuyvesant, Brooklyn, the class explored little-known and often deliberately marginalized processes that affected the production, quality and use of urban spaces. Closely aligned with Urban Forensics #1, students synthesized new analyses, representations and communication tools for dynamic urban ecologies — inclusive of physical, social and environmental elements. DERIVEINBEDSTUY.WORDPRESS.COM
INSTRUCTOR CHRISTINE GASPAR is Executive Director of the Center for Urban Pedagogy (CUP), a New Yorkbased non-profit whose mission is to use design and art to increase meaningful civic engagement. Christine partners with designers and community organizations to create visually-based educational tools that help demystify complex issues from zoning laws to sewage infrastructure. Christine’s projects have been featured in art and design contexts such as the Cooper-Hewitt National Design Triennial, PS-1 and the Venice Biennale.
INSTRUCTOR MARY TAYLOR is Assistant Director of The Center for Place, Culture and Politics at The Graduate Center CUNY. Mary’s dissertation in Anthropology at The Graduate Center CUNY, The Politics of Culture: Folk Critique and Transformation of the State in Hungary, argues that associative and state forms are mutually constitutive. Viewed through a historical and political economic lens, Mary examined why ethno-nationalist expression is pervasive in the revivalist settings of today.
DESIGN and U R BA N ECOLOGIES SPRING 2013
S 2 SEMESTER 2
S 2 DESIGN STUDIO Design and Urban Ecologies #2 SANTA CRUZ VISIBLE Unitary Urban Research + Design of Community Urban Action Plan Casa Nuestra Gente | Comuna 2: Santa Cruz | Medellín | Colombia Design and Urban Ecologies #2 URBAN HOMESTEADING From Urban Homesteading To a New Ecology of Low-Income Housing Bushwick | Brooklyn | New York S 2 THEORY Urban Theory Laboratory Environmental Justice Community Engagement + Urban Pedagogy Urban Political Economy + Civic Outreach S 2 METHODS Design and Urban Ecologies Methods #2 FIELDWORK AND DEMOCRACY
S2 SANTA CRUZ VISIBLE UNITARY URBAN RESEARCH + DESIGN COMMUNITY URBAN ACTION PLAN CASA NUESTRA GENTE COMUNA 2: SANTA CRUZ MEDELLÍN, COLOMBIA PGUD 5190
In partnership with activist community group CASA NUESTRA GENTE and URBAM of EAFIT University — both of Medellín — students developed on-the-ground community urban action plans for new labor relations. Such plans fostered networks of economic sustainability, social cohesion and community development, within the mission of Casa Amarilla’s Community Development Project. FACULTY TEAM ALESSANDRO ANGELINI is Adjunct Professor in the Design and Urban Ecologies program at Parsons The New School for Design. Alessandro’s dissertation in Anthropology at The Graduate Center CUNY, Model Favela: Youth and Second Nature in Rio de Janeiro, explores how residents, police and state actors imagine and valorize informal settlements in Brazil’s emerging market economy. QUILIAN RIANO is a designer, writer and educator. Quilian is founder and principal of DSGN AGNC, and works with transdisciplinary teams to research and design proposals addressing complexities in spatial urban processes of marginalized communities.
COLLABORATORS CASA NUESTRA GENTE, MEDELLÍN URBAM EAFIT, MEDELLÍN
Students engaged with the community to create self-sustaining economic and sociospatial improvement. By developing community relationships and conducting exhaustive research on Santa Cruz, Medellín, student teams engaged in necessary field research to confront the realities that condition the city. Students experienced sites of intervention to reinforce the participative dialogue of all project actors — particularly Casa Nuestra Gente. Located in Comuna 2: Santa Cruz, Casa Nuestra Gente is an arts center that reinforces the social, territorial and historical identity of the community. For implementation by local agents in the comunas, the group created urban plans directly from the inhabitants of Santa Cruz by leveraging political and economic support. Plans included policy changes, economic cooperatives, social organizing and physical changes to both the community’s social and ecological spaces.
S2 URBAN HOMESTEADING
FACULTY TEAM FRANK MORALES is a squatter activist, co-founder of Organizing for Occupation and author of Police State America. While living in the South Bronx, Frank worked with the homeless population of NYC in the late 1970s and early 1980s — first as a legal “urban homesteader” — then as a squatter.
FROM URBAN HOMESTEADING TO A NEW ECOLOGY OF HOUSING BUSHWICK — BROOKLYN, NY
GABRIELA RENDÓN is an urban planner and cofounder of Cohabitation Strategies, an international non-profit cooperative for socio-spatial research, design and development-based in Rotterdam and NYC. Gabriela’s work combines research and practice at different scales, focusing on urban design strategies and processes counteracting conditions produced by market driven urbanization.
PGUD 5190
The urban homesteading program, effective from 1974 — 1991 in the United States, attempted to provide public grants and loans to tenants aiming to renovate existing city-owned vacant dwellings — and simultaneously provide affordable housing to low-income families and individuals. During the decade of urban homesteading in NYC, over one thousand units were rehabilitated and inhabited by low-income citizens. However, federal, state and city support ceased and local efforts gradually lost force. The program responded to the alarmed deficit of public housing provision for impoverished households — and the ongoing decline of inner city neighborhoods and communities of color.
JUST AS QUICKLY AS YOU READ THIS...YOU ARE NOW INVOLVED
ENGAGING LOTS DIVERTING THE CAUSES OF DISPLACEMENT
residents move out new large developments for affluent newcomers
RENTS
RISE
residents move out
overcrowding
NEWCOMERS
residents move out
the housing stock of the neighborhood that may not be viewed as favorable to the local residents, of which not all newcomers are aware.
NEWCOMERS
Nowadays, Bushwick finds itself at the centre of a culture quake. New, hip and young people are attracted to the neighborhood bringing with them new lifestyles and identities. New bars and places to eat are popping up, streets are cleaner and properties appear to be well maintained. This wave of newcomers therefore appears to be a positive influence in the neighborhood; however, the new popularity has had some major effects on
to the landlords compared to the long-term contracts which most of the local residents have. At the same time, there have been instances where landlords persuade and help the long-term residents vacate properties sooner by presenting incentives such as refunding moving costs, airplane tickets, pay-out stipends, etc. The houses are then renovated and the rents multiply. The local residents are being displaced by the rapid rent increases and have pressingly become people at risk of entering into the shelter system and facing the overall reality of homelessness.
DISPLACED PEOPLE
Short Leases: First of all he short stays of students and young professionals have provided the perfect opportunity for very fast readjustments of rental prices every time a new tenant moves in. This has made these short-term tenants preferable
house renovated house deregulated landowner stops upkeep of rent-controlled house
IN THE CITY
DEVELOPERS
MONEY FLOW OUT OF COMMUNITY
Speculation: This wave has also brought the overwhelming interests of profit-driven developers. New condos are erected at an alarming rate, targeted for affluent populations that are coming from outside the neighborhood, and excluding local residents, who mostly fall within lower income brackets. The money flow coming from rents of the newcomers benefits absent landlords instead of the local economy.
OUR RIGHT TO THE CITY
Our Strategies
Frank morales: my liFe as a homesteader
INSIDE
MONEY
NEWCOMERS O
N
RETURN DISPLACED PEOPLE
SI
FLOW
D
IV
ER
DISPLACED PEOPLE NEWCOMERS
page 28
DEVELOPERS MONEY FLOW OUT OF COMMUNITY
D
IV
ER
SI
O
DEVELOPERS
N HPD LEAD PHASE
FROM THE STORY ENGAGING LOTS BANK TO THE BUSHWICK COMMONS page 38 S1
H1
C1
R4
R2
C2
R3
R8
R7
R6
R5
R9
R1
ATLANTIS EXCHANGE + URBAN ECOLOGIES STUDIO URBANISMS OF INCLUSION - TRANSATLANTIC EDUCATION EU-US joint Atlantis Program is a transatlantic student and faculty exchange conducted by the US Department of Education for Improvement of Postsecondary Education and the European Commission’s Directorate General for Education and Culture. Urbanisms of Inclusion addresses the emerging territorial and socio-ecological issues that accompany the dual challenges of rapid global urbanization and the adaptation of cities in response to climate change and transnational migrations. Dualization, gentrification, mobility and migrations, territorial fragmentation and uneven development are viewed through the lens of social inclusion.
DISPLACED PEOPLE first newcomers move on followed by more affluent newcomers
We believe the aim to divert the causes of displacement will lend the foundation towards a more engaged community. Through agreements with the owners of vacant lots, the actors can begin to build a space for the community to gather and pursue their shared image of the neighborhood. Other spaces are set up to divert the problems of displacement. The creation of skills and jobs are crucial as it can provide the people with a tool towards a more self-sustained future. The goal is to create permanent spaces of habitation both for the people at risk and already displaced people.
s nt e re ris
Today, as the housing crisis manifests itself with growing economic disparity, spatial segregation, housing unaffordability and foreclosures, students worked to affect change amongst increasing levels of structural vacancies and homelessness. In this Bushwick-based studio, students examined the foundational ideology of individual home ownership benefits. Alongside Bushwick Community Members, students clearly challenged and called for an alternative housing approach in NYC.
COLLABORATORS MAKE THE ROAD NEW YORK BUSHWICK HOUSING INDEPENDENCE PROJECT THE RIGHT TO THE CITY ALLIANCE HOMESTEADINGINITIATIVE.WORDPRESS.COM
FROm URBAN HOmESTEADING TO A NEW ECOLOGY OF HOUSING HPD
START
Through agreements with the owners of vacant lots, we can begin to STORY BANK build a space for our community to gather and pursue shared images COLLECTING STORIES FOR REFLECTION AND ACTION of our neighborhoods. Other spaces are set up to divert the problems of PROCESS displacement. The goal is to create permanent spaces of habitation both 2. 1. for displaced people and our neighbors at risk. DISPLACEMENT / COMMUNITY CONTROLED ASSETS / SPACES OF OPPORTUNITY
BC
UHAB
competing with the permanent housing spaces of habitation – we need a strategic BUSHWICK HPD IDENTIFY HPD ACCEPTANCE DEVELOP FULL FINANCIAL stock and engage them and secondly to and supportive system of other REQUEST spaces. FOR QUALIFICATIONS (NOP) PROPERTY COMMONS (BC) PACKAGE: PURCHASE, REHAB, (SOCIAL ENTERPRISE divert speculative development. Under the CLUSTER These are the spaces of )meaning that both TECH SUPPORT, LOW INCOME, RENTAL SUPPORT heading of “prevention is better than cure”, expose and sustain a new housing strategy our aim is to first prevent the displacement for Bushwick. The spaces we identified are: of long-term residents out of their (rent2. Spaces of engagement: providing BUSHWICK controlled/rent-stabilized/foreclosed) informational support. It can be a space COMMONS apartments. Secondly by using the moneyNOT FOR PROFIT for the education of tenants in their legal Together these effects instigated by the LAND DONATED TO flow of the newcomers, instead of letting rights but it is also a physical space to come newcomers together with the speculative BUSHWICK COMMONS AFFORDABLE BUSHWICK it flow out of the community through together and find communal support. developers that followed them, form a COMMONS HOUSIING speculative development, we aim to bring 3. Spaces of production: providing job powerful change within the community of OPENED OWNERSHIP TRANSFERED back the displaced people, intertwining both support, creating work- and learning places Bushwick, displacing local residents in the TO BUSHWICK COMMONS groups in the process. for people at risk to eventually become process. We believe that a strongly engaged 6. PLEDGE 3. BUILD can counteract this 5. ANTI - DISPLACEMENT 4. CO-CREATE more self-sustainable. local community CEREMONY STORY PROCESSION PUBLIC 1. Spaces of habitation: Rather than just 4. Spaces of transition: providing financial process,BANK welcoming the changes and new PRESENTATION providing new houses for already displaced support, generated on vacant lots from residents on the one hand, but preventing residents, we want to tackle the problem temporary housing for temporary residents. the displacement on the other hand. The at the root; increasing home-ownership in These spaces can absorb the pressure, strong engagement of local residents can Bushwick for the long-term residents to created by the newcomers, on the permanent separate the speculation that is happening counteract the volatile market fluctuations. housing stock, to at least slow down the from the wave of newcomers that is moving To transform the home-ownership and turn increase of rents, causing displacement. in and create a double diversion: First to these dwellings into permanent housing They could in future become permanent. divert the short-term newcomers away from
NEGOTIATE PURCHASE
HPD
BUILDING INSPECTION
PRIVATE OWNERS
LOCAL RESIDENTS
UHAB
BUILDING REHABILITA
FUNDING: 1,5,7
This Gazette is part of a long term to renovate existing vacant urban research and design project buildings. In addition, it envisions initiated by faculty and students platforms to recognize local from the Graduate Program in knowledge, resources and skills page 42 Design and Urban Ecologies at that could be disseminated and the New School. Starting from exchanged to collectively generate If a more inclusive community of stakeholders have access to socially an investigation of the current a more sustainable and inclusive innovative tools, resources, and networks, community projects will have housing condition, homelessness social and spatial development. a greater impact, leading to overall systematic change instead of just local and structural vacancy, and the Urban practices pursuing the interventions. In short, we want to create an innovative and sustainable success and failure of federal legacy of Homesteading are social impact venture to build affordable housing alternatives. STORY BANK COMMUNITY TRUST NEW of STOCK and local urban homesteading crucial in todays context forprograms, the project seeks to profit development, to acheive STORY BANK COMMUNITY TRUST NEW STOCK design alternative strategies the Right to Housing. However, for community based access they must be envisioned with Citysteading: the steady making PLEDGES STATEMENT NEW KNOWLEDGE STOCKTAKING to housing, renovation and complimentary urban processes of life as a city or community ASSETS SHARING infill of existing housing stock, leading to Citysteading, the path PLEDGES DEFINITION through the creation of shared STRATEGIZING STRATEGIZING PLEDGES STATEMENT SPATIALIZATION structured around the provision to fulfill thr Right to the City, INSTITUTIONALIZATION NEW KNOWLEDGE STOCKTAKING HABITABILITY assets and dialog. PERFORMANCE ASSETS SHARING of public grants, loans, sweat and therefor access to alternative PLEDGES DEFINITION page 46 equity subsities and expertise STRATEGIZING models of learning, working, STRATEGIZING STRATEGIZING SPATIALIZATION INSTITUTIONALIZATION GATHERING MEMBERS to low-income citizens willing ALLOCATION housing provision and ownership. GATHER STORIES
GATHER PROJECT TEAM
When we look at a map with the new developments in Bushwick it is clear that they follow a general direction from EastWilliamsburg into West-Bushwick, but have not yet crossed Myrtle Avenue where the M-train line is currently being renovated.
BUSHWICK INCLUSIVE
The STORY BANK Project will be catalized by a core team of long-term community members, new local creative professionals and local arts and culture organizations committed to anti-displacement community organizing. As the project develops other partners join in and contribute.
Our team of local youth will pan out into South Bushwick visiting significant sites, meeting with residents and gathering stories about three meta themes: 1. Gentrification and displacement 2. Community controled assets 3. Spaces of opportunity
The story assets will be collected within an online STORY BANK, where people can watch stories, and add new ones. All stories will be located on a map, allowing for a spatialized analysis of the stories. But this is not all. The STORY BANK is not just a database. It will be used as a generative pedagogical and organzing tool.
The STORY BANK project team will work with the Story Assets to develop a performative event that presents the stories back to the community in the form of a Procession Against Displacement.
There is a strong history of walking tours, street parties and protest in Bushwick. The Procession Against Displacement build off this tradition. Through the live telling of stories, multimedia projections on buildings, street theatre and music, the event will publically honor stories of stuggle, celebrate collectively controled assets, and identify sites of opportunity including viable vacant buildings.
The group will define a route, write a script, produce multimedia installations, and invite other local organizations to contribute. Bushwick Collective will create a series of murals inspired by the STORY BANK meta themes and real stories of community members.
The teams will work with residents to produce digital stories.
The Procession will coalesce in a Pledge Ceremony, where individuals, organizaitons, and public officials will pledge a contribution towards the creation of a Community Trust. Contributions could be as simple as volunteer hours or in-kind legal services. Large organizations could pledge staff power, or even pledge to their properties for the future Land Trust.
CITYSTEADING
SUMMER
FALL
SPRING
WINTER
SUMMER
FALL
SPRING
WINTER
SUMMER
FALL
SUMMER
FALL
SPRING
WINTER
SPRING
WINTER
SUMMER
FALL
SUMMER
FALL
SPRING
WINTER
SPRING
WINTER
SUMMER
FALL
SPRING
WINTER
01
02
ESTABLISHING COMMONS BUSHWICK
PERFORMANCE
ACHIEVING NEW STOCK
GATHERING STORIES
01
ESTABLISHING COMMONS BUSHWICK
02
00
03
ACHIEVING NEW STOCK
SOCIAL ENVIRONMENT
ENVISIONING THE COMMUNITY
GATHERING MEMBERS GATHERING STORIES
GATHERING STORIES GATHERING MEMBERS
GATHERING TEAM
PLEDGES DEFINITION
PLEDGES STATEMENT
SPATIALIZATION
NEW KNOWLEDGE
PERF. DEVELOPMENT
ALLOCATION
INSTITUTIONALIZATION
ASSETS SHARING STRATEGIZING ISSUES DRAMATIZATION
STOCKTAKING PERF. DEVELOPMENT
STRATEGIZING ISSUES DRAMATIZATION
HABITABILITY PERF. DEVELOPMENT
S2 URBAN THEORY LAB
PGUD 5190 5005 A+B+C
ENVIRONMENTAL JUSTICE Municipal governments recognize they are at the ‘front-lines’ of climate change, and that social reproduction of their inhabitants depends upon proper management — but who will do the managing? — and who will be managed? Students examined this ever-shifting terrain of crisis, struggle and hope: impending sea level rises/local food system visions; extreme heat/participatory democracy; valuing nature/ discarding surplus humanity — and tactical urbanism/carceral capitalism. Rather than produce and excavate a canon of radical urban theory, or ‘survey the field’ in a superficial gesture towards comprehensive breadth, students worked through a selection of social theories — some more radical than others, some more urban than others — to pursue new, generative approaches to the practice of design and urban ecology. The complexity of student investigations reflected the complexity of urban life — gentrification and financialization, while other students related everyday life, waste management and marginality. INSTRUCTOR JESSE GOLDSTEIN is founder of Occuprint and Adjunct Professor in the Design and Urban Ecologies program at Parsons The New School for Design. Jesse is a PhD Candidate in Sociology at The Graduate Center CUNY with his dissertation on Planetary Improvement: Discourses and Practices of Green Capitalism in the Cleantech Space. URBANGREEN2013.WORDPRESS.COM
COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT + URBAN PEDAGOGY
URBAN POLITICAL ECONOMY + CIVIC OUTREACH
Students in urban theory examined the city through different historical as well as contemporary vantage points. Drawing upon anthropological methods of inquiry, students interrogated the interconnections between social theory and lived experience, and investigated different ways that race, class, gender, citizenship, sexuality, ability and other forms of difference inform everyday life in the city. Central to their inquiry was an exploration into ways that urban space is conceptualized, produced, contested and policed — and how/ why this has changed over time.
Students accessed urbanization theory with an emphasis on political economic and uneven development. Critical thinking about urbanization processes cannot be limited to discussion of the city proper. Students thought about processes at varying scales — through different lenses and case studies. Theory was approached by students in order to speak about concepts in uncomplicated ways. By conducting translation projects, students took complicated theoretical ideas and represented them in a manner they would express when participating in a community organization.
INSTRUCTOR UJJU AGGARWAL is a community organizer and PhD candidate in Cultural Anthropology at The Graduate Center CUNY. Ujju’s research grows out of her organizing work at The Center for Immigrant Families. Ujju explores contestations over public schools, and what this can illuminate about race, class, gender, social reproduction and urban space.
INSTRUCTOR MARY TAYLOR is Assistant Director of The Center for Place, Culture and Politics at The Graduate Center CUNY. Mary’s dissertation in Anthropology on The Politics of Culture: Folk Critique and Transformation of the State in Hungary, argues that associative forms and state forms are mutually constitutive in ethnonationalist expression.
S2 DESIGN AND URBAN ECOLOGIES METHODS FIELDWORK AND DEMOCRACY METHODS + EPISTEMOLOGIES FOR URBAN RESEARCH TOWARDS URBAN DEMOCRACY PGUD 51707 7514
By developing a process of learning that connects the quality of social and urban research methods with the issue of democracy, students were immersed into collective reflection and deep conversation about the relationship between democracy and research. Students engaged different perspectives of social research and their practical implications, while problematizing the concept of democracy in a journey across different perspectives and theoretical frames.
INSTRUCTORS ÁNGEL LUÍS LARA is Adjunct Professor in the Design and Urban Ecologies program at Parsons The New School for Design. Ángel is a sociologist and became a professional screenwriter while conducting extensive research on the living and working conditions of television writers in Spain, his country of origin. VICENTE RUBIO is a sociologist and political philosopher. Vicente is an Adjunct Professor in the Design and Urban Ecologies program at Parsons The New School for Design.
By identifying methods and epistemological positions that led to design research processes, students utilized in-depth interviews and discussion groups; ethnographic observation, oral histories and urban drifting; designing, conducting and analyzing surveys; production of socio-grams and fluxograms; participatory and reflective dynamics of diagnosis layout, patterns of use and interaction — and the design and development of community action research processes.
STUDENT EXPLORATIONS WERE GUIDED BY TWO OVERARCHING QUESTIONS 1 Which methodologies and epistemologies are capable of democratizing the production of urban research and the access to KNOWLEDGE?
2
How could ACTION research contribute to the democratization of urban life?
S1 JURIED FINAL STUDIO REVIEW URBAN FORENSICS REDEFINING COMMON PROPERTY TOWARDS COMMON PROPERTY IN SUNSET PARK — BROOKLYN, NY PGUD 5180 FALL 2012
JURY LA UNIÓN Sunset Park Brooklyn, NY
S2 JURIED FINAL STUDIO REVIEW SANTA CRUZ VISIBLE
UNITARY URBAN RESEARCH + DESIGN COMMUNITY URBAN ACTION PLAN
CASA NUESTRA GENTE SANTA CRUZ — MEDELLÍN, COLOMBIA
JURY ALISON MEARS Dean School of Design Strategies Parsons The New School for Design BRIAN McGRATH Architect, Urban Designer Dean School of Constructed Environments Parsons The New School for Design CYNTHIA LAWSON DEED Associate Provost The New School FRANK MORALES Squatter Activist, Organizing for Occupation Parsons The New School for Design GABRIELA RENDÓN Urban Planner Professor Parsons The New School for Design JUNE WILLIAMSON Architecture Professor The City College of New York LANDON BROWN Director VisionArc MARY ELLEN CARROLL Designer, Mec Studio MARY ROLDÁN Professor Latin American Urban History Hunter College PATRICIA TOVAR Economics International Business Brandeis University SHANNON MATTERN Associate Professor The New School SUKJONG HONG Designer, Activist VICTORIA MARSHALL Urban Designer Till Design, Assistant Professor Parsons The New School for Design WILLIAM MORRISH Architect, Urbanist UN-HABITAT, Associate Professor Parsons The New School for Design
PGUD 5190 SPRING 2013
URBAN HOMESTEADING
FROM URBAN HOMESTEADING TO A NEW ECOLOGY OF HOUSING BUSHWICK — BROOKLYN, NY
JURY ALISON MEARS Dean School of Design Strategies Parsons The New School for Design ATLANTIS PROGRAM PARTNERS KU Leuven Urbanisms of Inclusion Urbanism and Strategic Planning BRIAN McGRATH Architect, Urban Designer Dean School of Constructed Environments Parsons The New School for Design BUSHWICK COMMUNITY MEMBERS HABITAT FOR HUMANITY MIODRAG MITRASINOVIC Associate Professor Parsons The New School for Design PAIGE BALLENBAUM Community Programs Director The Settlement Housing Fund ROBERT BUCKLEY Senior Fellow International Affairs The New School for Public Engagement Former Advisor Rockefeller Foundation World Bank Lead Economist SUSANE SCHINDLER Architect Founding Editor Candide: Journal for Architectural Knowledge VICTORIA MARSHALL Urban Designer Till Design, Assistant Professor Parsons The New School for Design WILLIAM MORRISH Architect, Urbanist UN-HABITAT, Associate Professor Parsons The New School for Design
DESIGN and U R BA N ECOLOGIES CONGRESSES
URBAN UPRISING! RE-IMAGINING THE CITY November 30 — December 1, 2012 SOCIAL JUSTICE AND THE CITY 40 YEAR ANNIVERSARY! 1973 — 2013 May 4, 2013
URBAN UPRISING! RE-IMAGINING THE CITY NOVEMBER 30 — DECEMBER 1, 2012
In the wake of the 2008 explosion of the current economic crisis, more and more people are actively fighting to restore what they have lost. Not since the 1960s have so many people across the globe taken to the streets to demand a more just and democratic society: access to housing, healthcare, education, food, jobs, a clean and safe environment — and a life free from police violence. Most of these uprisings are rooted in the urban landscape. Many of their demands imply a major transformation in the way our cities work. During this time of crisis and mobilization, it is important we ask ourselves: WHAT KIND OF CITY DO WE WANT TO SEE? “THERE NEEDS TO BE SPACE CREATED FOR COMMUNITIES TO DEFINE THEIR SUSTAINABILITY GOALS FOR THEMSELVES. THEY’RE THE EXPERTS OF THEIR OWN LIVES . . . AND SO THEY NEED TO BE ABLE TO CREATE THAT VISION FOR THEMSELVES.” — JOEL STEIN Graduate Student Design and Urban Ecologies Parsons The New School for Design MEDIA DOMUS EXPERIMENTAL GEOGRAPHIES THE EDITOR AT LARGE TRANZIT PAPER PROGRESSIVE GEOGRAPHIES COMMON DREAMS INHABITAT NEW YORK CITY IN THESE TIMES THE INDYPENDENT - x2 REDHOOK2DETROIT A BLOG OF TWO CITIES DEXIGNER SUSTAINABLE CITIES COLLECTIVE
ORGANIZING PARTNERS THE RIGHT TO THE CITY ALLIANCE THE BRECHT FORUM THE CENTER FOR PLACE, CULTURE AND POLITICS GROWING ROOTS PARTICIPANTS UJJU AGGARWAL HIBA BOU AKAR JOHN WHITLOW JORDAN T. CAMP RUTH WILSON GILMORE CHRISTINA HEATHERTON RACHEL LaFOREST PETER MARCUSE AMAKA OKECHUKWU ROB ROBINSON MIGUEL ROBLES-DURÁN ÉVA TESSZA UDVARHELYI ABAHLALI BASEMJONDOLO
ATTENDANCE 400
MIZUE AIZEKI KAZEMBE BALAGUN MATT BIRKHOLD MAVUSO DIGNANI DAVID HARVEY MARIAN KRAMER TAMMY BANG LUU KAREN MILLER FRANCES FOX PIVEN NANCY ROMER DEEN SHARP PETE WHITE
URBAN UPRISING! RE-IMAGINING THE CITY URBAN JUSTICE ISSUE AREAS THE ENVIRONMENT SUSTAINABILITY IN THE CITY — FROM STORM WATER TO ENERGY EFFICIENCY — ISSUES ON ENVIRONMENTAL URBAN JUSTICE ADDRESSED ALTERNATIVE FORMS OF DEVELOPMENT FOR THE PRESERVATION OF A HEALTHY PLANET — IN A CITY WHERE THE IMPACT OF HURRICANE SANDY HAS LEFT ITS MARK AS THE “NEW NORMAL.” FOOD Urban gardening and farming; food security; Community Supported Agriculture (CSAs); connections and support between urban and rural farmers; food production; food preparation; food distribution and food justice.
EDUCATION Teacher training; curriculum development; teachers; students; administrators; school closures; charter schools; after-school programs; university education; adult education; alternative schools and funding.
JOBS + ECONOMIES Workers in various industries; labor unions; worker cooperatives; credit unions; CSAs; participatory budgeting; time banking and re-organizing.
HOUSING Justice; homeownership; renters/ tenants; public housing; homelessness — and a vision of equitable, sustainable and affordable housing for all.
DEMOCRACY/GOVERNANCE Alternative systems of decision making; governance; participatory budgeting; community candidacy and majority model.
CRIMINAL JUSTICE Stop and frisk; police brutality; school discipline; racial profiling; violence interruption; mass incarceration; community policing alternatives.
JUST COMMUNITIES Convening space for marginalized community members — conceived as a safe space for LGBTQ, POC, Differently Abled, Senior, Immigrant and other participants — to come together on issues from their particular perspective towards a more democratic, just and sustainable city for their communities. ART MEDIA + COMMUNITIES Space for authentic and democratic mechanisms of communication and expression in the city; artistic and academic disciplines to promote critical analysis, creative thinking and collaborative projects in community-level environments.
HEALTHCARE As varying as holistic medicine; hospital closures; national health care; obesity; meditative spiritual and physical practices and cultural/ language competence. TRANSPORTATION Bicycling; walking; public transit; taxis; ride-sharing and car pooling. PUBLIC SPACE Parks; urban gardens and farms; public venues and meeting spaces; public art; architecture and urban planning.
SOCIAL JUSTICE + THE CITY
40 YEAR ANNIVERSARY! 1973 — 2013 MAY 4, 2013 In April 1970, an essay titled SOCIAL PROCESSES AND SPATIAL FORM: AN ANALYSIS OF THE CONCEPTUAL PROBLEMS OF URBAN PLANNING was published in volume 25 of the journal Papers of the Regional Science Association. For the first time, this essay constructed an unexplored critique of urban disciplines vis-á-vis capitalism. The result created a dialectical theoretical framework, and forever changed the way many urban practitioners viewed their disciplinary tools and formal training. Ultimately, this heralded an ongoing formation of radically new and unseen forms of urban practice. In 1973, this essay became the first chapter of SOCIAL JUSTICE AND THE CITY. David Harvey’s seminal second book split the way our cities are read — and created entirely new research paths for his contemporaries and younger practitioners. Forty-years after its publication, Social Justice and the City is as relevant as when it was first conceived. As the processes of urbanization continued to be controlled by the elites, an unprecedented wave of enforced spatial segregation radically alters our urban realities. Today, Social Justice and the City provokes views and directions that remain at the core of any imaginary for resistance — and an action towards the belief that socially just forms of urbanization are possible. The 40-year commemoration of Social Justice and the City paid tribute to the lasting work and influence of DAVID HARVEY. The day was introduced by Harvey, who shared his views on the book and its 40-year trajectory. Harvey was joined by a diverse array of urban practitioners — from artists to academics and designers — whose practices were transformed by Social Justice and the City.
ORGANIZING PARTNERS THE CENTER FOR PLACE CULTURE AND POLITICS THE BRECHT FORUM PARTICIPANTS DAVID HARVEY SHARON ZUKIN ANDY MERRIFIELD DON MITCHELL MARGIT MAYER PETER MARCUSE AYREEN ANASTAS MARTHA ROSLER RENE GABRI ANDREW ROSS WILLIAM TABB JOHN KRINSKY TEDDY CRUZ ERIK SWYNGEDOUW NIK HEYNEN NEIL BRENNER MELISSA WRIGHT TOM ANGOTTI LINDA McDOWELL RICHARD WALKER MIRRIAM GREENBERG JEANNE van HEESWIJK — and MIGUEL ROBLES-DURÁN With Today’s Social Justice and the City Students — 40 YEARS ON ATTENDANCE 325
DESIGN and U R BA N ECOLOGIES SEMINARS + LECTURES
S1 URBAN LAW 596 ACRES Fall 2012 S1 MAPPING OPEN SOURCE + GEOGRAPHIC INFORMATION SYSTEMS Fall 2012 S2 INESCAPABLE ECOLOGY THE CIVIL SOCIETY Spring 2013
S1 URBAN LAW
596 ACRES SEMINAR FALL 2012 Following the public screening of My Brooklyn, which took place in the Myrtle Village Green Community Space on 22 September, Paula Segal from 596 Acres conducted an urban law workshop on property and urban agriculture. The following readings supported the workshop — The Revolution Will Not Be Funded: Beyond the Non-Profit Industrial Complex, Beyond Zuccotti Park and Shelterforce. Hidden in plain sight behind neighborhood chain-link fences, hundreds of acres of vacant public land exists in New York City — where green space and other public amenities are scarce. 596 Acres is a building tool for communities to unlock these spaces by providing municipal information through an online interactive map; placing signs on vacant public land that explains each lot’s status; steps that communities can take in order to use land; visioning sessions for education about public land holdings by invitation from community groups; engaging the community when an interested potential leader reaches out — and advocacy with New York City agencies. ORGANIZING PARTNERS PAULA Z. SEGAL Executive Director, Legal Director NYC Community Land Access Program 596 ACRES ATTENDANCE 20
S1 MAPPING
SEMINAR FALL 2012
BUILDING A COMMON MAP OF SUNSET PARK Quantum Geographic Information Systems (QGIS) mapping, and building a Geo-database towards common property in Sunset Park Brooklyn, New York. ORGANIZING PARTNERS LIZ BARRY Director of Urban Environments Public Laboratory for Open Technology + Science Director of TreeKIT, Urban Designer, Landscape Architect, Parsons The New School for Design PUBLIC LABORATORY ATTENDANCE 12
S2 INESCAPABLE ECOLOGY THE CIVIL SOCIETY
3-DAY SEMINAR + LECTURE FEBRUARY 13 — 15, 2013
LECTURER ALEJANDRO ECHEVERRÍ is Director of URBAM and the Center for Urban Environmental Studies at The Universidad EAFIT. Alejandro is an architect at The Universidad Pontificia Bolivariana, Medellín. With a PhD in Urban Planning from The School of Architecture, Barcelona, he has taught and directed at The Research Group in Architecture at UPB and served as Visiting Professor of Urbanism at the School of Architecture, Barcelona. Alejandro was also General Manager of the Urban Development Corporation and Director of Urban Projects for the Municipality, Medellín. LECTURE + SEMINAR in conjunction with Parsons The New School for Design and the Design and Urban Ecologies SANTA CRUZ VISIBLE Medellín-based studio. ATTENDANCE 65
DESIGN and U R BA N ECOLOGIES EVENTS
S2 URBAN ECOLOGIES COLLOQUIUM WITH WILLIAM MORRISH DEFINING THE PEOPLE, PROCESSES + PHYSICAL FEATURE OF DESIGN + URBAN ECOLOGIES PRODUCTION Spring 2013 URBAN ENCUENTRO URBAN SOCIAL MOVEMENTS + THE STRUGGLE FOR THE SOUL OF THE CITY GLOBAL + LOCAL PERSPECTIVES ON THE RIGHT TO THE CITY January 31, 2013 URBAN CONVERSATIONS ¿DISEÑADORES DE PROCESOS? April 18, 2013 CONCURRENT URBANITIES 3 May 16, 2013 LATE NIGHT NEW YORK - LLNY Spring 2013 URBAN TABLES IN THE URBAN CRISIS Spring 2013
S2 URBAN ECOLOGIES COLLOQUIUM WITH WILLIAM MORRISH SPRING 2013 At first glance, the phrase URBAN ECOLOGY seems oxymoronic, a contradiction in terms. To some, the phrase raises a question as to how urban processes define relationships between a set of organisms and its environment. To others, it is a statement standing for the quest to design our cities and urban processes upon principles of sustainability, social equity and justice, following theories of ecological organization. Both interpretations of urban ecology are correct and critical to its use as a method of research and work in urban settings. The phrase reflects an emerging realization among urban leaders and activists that macro policies and micro projects are reliant on a highly diverse geographic, cultural and political landscape — itself dependent upon the equitable inclusion of local social and natural ecological activity. In this Urban Ecologies Colloquium series, students — alongside community activists — asked practitioners how design performs as a transdisciplinary social process? What do such practices produce — and how are they owned and managed by the community? Is an urban ecology a new form of economic, social and natural transactional landscape — a background infrastructure to sustain a city and civil society in the midst of radical changes? SPEAKERS ALEJANDRO ECHEVERRÍ STEWARD PICKETT LYNN LOFLIN ROB VAN KRANENBURG NINA RAPPAPORT MINDY FULLILOVE
BRIAN McGRATH NANCY CONNERY RAFAEL SAMANEZ RAMA CHORPASH EMILIANO GANDOLFI TEDDY CRUZ
WILLIAM MORRISH wants his students to build a better city of the future — but in order to do so, they need to closely examine every interior and exterior component of the urban landscape. “WE’VE BEEN LOOKING AT THE CITY FROM THE OUTSIDE; NOW IT’S TIME TO LOOK AT IT FROM THE INSIDE” — says Morrish — a professor of urban ecology. What does that mean, exactly? “It begins with the notion that this discipline doesn’t have exclusionary boundaries,” he explains. “You need to understand that whatever you design has a relationship to multiple issues.” Those issues include not just the material and construction of the object but also how it’s used in the daily activities of consuming, working and living, what Morrish calls “BASIC ECONOMIC AND ECOLOGICAL TRANSACTIONS.” WILLIAM MORRISH is an urbanist, architect and Professor in the Design and Urban Ecologies program at Parsons The New School for Design. Morrish focuses on housing, infrastructure and ecological systems. After formerly serving as Dean of the School of Constructed Environments at Parsons The New School for Design, Morrish has continued to work on issues of human settlement and community design with UN-HABITAT. URBAN-COLLOQUIUM.SQUARESPACE.COM
S2 URBAN ECOLOGIES COLLOQUIUM WITH WILLIAM MORRISH JANUARY 31, 2013
URBAN ENCUENTRO THE RIGHT TO THE CITY URBAN SOCIAL MOVEMENTS + THE STRUGGLE FOR THE SOUL OF THE CITY GLOBAL + LOCAL PERSPECTIVES
From Occupy to housing squats — counter-power structures to participatory decisionmaking — urban social movements are re-imagining urban democracy.
This Colloquium featured local and national intellectuals, organizers and activists at the forefront of global and local movements constructing today’s urban alternatives. ORGANIZING PARTNERS THE RIGHT TO THE CITY ALLIANCE THE BRECHT FORUM GROWING ROOTS COMMUNITY VOICES HEARD PARTICIPANTS RACHEL LaFOREST MIGUEL ROBLES-DURÁN FRANK MORALES KAZEMBE BALAGUN MATT BIRKHOLD CARMEN PINIERO PRISCILLA “GRIM WOMYN” GRIM ATTENDANCE 100
URBAN CONVERSTATIONS ¿DISEÑADORES DE CONCURRENT URBANITES 3 PROCESOS? APRIL 18, 2013 ORGANIZED BY MIODRAG MITRASINOVIC
MAY 16, 2013
Concurrent Urbanities brought together designers, artists, architects, urbanists, planners, non-profits/NGOs, community activists with government representatives and the private sector in order to explore new roles that artists and designers play in encouraging processes of radical democratization, forms of socio-spatial resistance — and promoting economic equity and environmental sustainability the processes of producing urban space.
MEDELLÍN COLOMBIA Conference on how to expand urban practices and artistic processes against the challenges in today’s urban environment. ORGANIZING PARTNERS URBAM Center for Urban Environmental Studies The Universidad EAFIT POLITICALEQUATOR.ORG
Concurrent Urbanities featured individuals and groups that represented a generation of design activists whose work proposed a radical remapping of the relationships between urban practices and design through broad participatory design processes, bottomup organizational approaches, innovative networking and emergent approaches to urban field operations. Finally, the intent was to create synergies between emerging, innovative designled urban practices and the ways in which we begin to rethink design education and urban pedagogy by coding, translating and framing these types and modes of practice in more formative, more forceful and instrumental ways.
ORGANIZER MIODRAG MITRASINOVIC is an urbanist, architect, author and Associate Professor in the School of Design Strategies at Parsons The New School for Design. Miodrag previously served as Dean of the School of Design Strategies and Chair of Urban and Transdisciplinary Design. PARTICIPANTS TEDDY CRUZ LORENZO ROMITO WILLIAM MORRISH MIGUEL ROBLES-DURÁN
LATE NIGHT NEW YORK SPRING 2013
A new — student-led, independent, live audience talk-show — created to engage cultural undercurrents in New York City. Hosted by JAYSON GREEN and JUSTIN WILLIAMS — LATE NIGHT NEW YORK featured emerging contemporary artists, performers, musicians, activists and organizers who have contributed to New York City’s active cultural and socio-political movements — with guest commentaries from the organizers behind SANDY STORYLINES.
URBAN TABLES IN THE URBAN CRISIS SPRING 2012
ORGANIZER MS DESIGN AND URBAN ECOLOGIES Fall 2012 launch of Parsons’ Graduate Programs on urban transformation — Design and Urban Ecologies and Theories of Urban Practice. PARTICIPANTS DON MITCHELL ERIK SWYNGEDOUW FRANK MORALES JEANNE van HEESWIJK ANA MÉNDEZ DE ÁNDES and MIGUEL ROBLES-DURÁN
ANDREW ROSS PELIN TAN TOM ANGOTTI PAULA Z. SEGAL
DESIGN and U R BA N ECOLOGIES ROUND TABLE DISCUSSIONS RT-ROUND TABLE
ASSEMBLING URBAN ECOLOGIES: RESEARCH METHODOLOGIES FOR RADICALIZED URBAN PEDAGOGY Round Table #1: March 1, 2013 FROM URBAN HOMESTEADING TO A NEW ECOLOGY OF HOUSING Round Table #2: March 8, 2013 AFTER THE URBANIZATION OF SHOCK THERAPY: SOUTHEAST EUROPE AND THE EUROPEAN CRISIS Round Table #3: March 22, 2013 A NEW URGENCY? URBAN IMAGINARIES IN THE ERA OF CLIMATE CRISIS Round Table #4: April 19, 2013
RT1 ASSEMBLING URBAN ECOLOGIES RESEARCH METHODOLOGIES FOR RADICALIZED URBAN PEDAGOGY MARCH 1, 2013
A public seminar to provide an opportunity to discuss and examine mixed-method research methodologies and its phases/ processes in urban research. Urban conditions have transformed rapidly — thus situational knowledge and practice alongside studio practice becomes vital. In recent years, mixed-usage methods (quantitative-qualitative) borrowed from different disciplines have simultaneously applied method techniques of new media urban tools and participatory action research, which are often in use by urban researchers. Contested territories, urgent/emergent public spaces, micro-urban spaces under fast development and conflict urbanism, provide unusual conditions that call for the invention of research methods and practices. This seminar addressed the questions, failures and successful outcomes of radical research processes, the possibilities of alternative urban research methodologists and a future vision of alternative pedagogy. Speakers discussed and exemplified various research cases, and their specific and related theoretical groundings.
PARTICIPANTS PELIN TAN Sociologist, Art Historian Assistant Professor New Media Kadir Has University Istanbul MARTHA ROSLER Artist MALAV KANUGA Anthropologist, Editor Common Notions The Graduate Center CUNY NITIN SAWHNEY Assistant Professor Media Studies The New School for Public Engagement MARY TAYLOR Urbanist, Anthropologist Design and Urban Ecologies Parsons The New School for Design MIGUEL ROBLES-DURÁN Urbanist, Director Design and Urban Ecologies Parsons The New School for Design ATTENDANCE 75
RT2 FROM URBAN HOMESTEADING TO A NEW ECOLOGY OF HOUSING
MARCH 8, 2013
This discussion addressed the urban homesteading program, effective 1974-1991 in the U.S. — a program that attempted to provide public grants and loans for tenants to renovate existing city-owned vacant dwellings, and simultaneously provide affordable housing to low-income families and individuals. Today, the housing crisis manifests itself with a growing economic disparity and spatial segregation, housing unaffordability and foreclosures — therefore increasing levels of structural vacancies and homelessness. The foundational ideology of the benefits of individual home ownership is under question. This calls for alternative housing models. A new ecology of housing can be envisioned with the mobilization of public power and knowledge geared towards the just use of vacant public and private property. Public power, informed and armed with specific means and models to transform property ownership through alternative means, can re-ignite and erect a novel 21st century NYC Urban Homesteading Program for those truly in need.
PARTICIPANTS TOM ANGOTTI Professor of Urban Affairs and Planning Hunter College and The Graduate Center CUNY Director, Hunter College for Community Planning and Development BRENT SHERMAN Urban Homesteading Assistance Board Tenant and Community Organizer BRENDA STOKELY AFSCME Local 215 NYC Labor Party NY State Labor Party National Council HANNAH DOBBZ Writer, Filmmaker, Author, Former Squatter DAN DeSLOOVER Urban Homesteading Assistance Board Tenant Organizer MODERATORS FRANK MORALES Housing Organizer, Activist GABRIELA RENDÓN Urban Planner, Professor ATTENDANCE 150
RT3 AFTER THE URBANIZATION OF SHOCK THERAPY SOUTHEAST EUROPE + THE EUROPEAN CRISIS MARCH 22, 2013
South Eastern European cities have surrendered their growth to private market forces — foreign direct investments, foreign credits, foreign institutions — and the trade economy of foreign control. As an effect and due to promoted speculation, land privatization and spatial capital concentration, the territorial organization of these cities has spurred out of control — and in many cases generated social and environmental havoc. This panel looked further into the urban consequences of the Western European crisis. PARTICIPANTS ANA DŽOKIĆ STEALTH.unlimited (Belgrade/Rotterdam) Architect, PhD candidate Royal Institute of Art Stockholm with Practice-based Research On: Practices of the Essential In-between MARC NEELEN STEALTH.unlimited (Belgrade/Rotterdam) Architect, Visiting Professor School of Architecture University of Sheffield MIGUEL ROBLES-DURÁN Urbanist, Director Design and Urban Ecologies Parsons The New School for Design GEORGE CAFFENTZIS Professor of Philosophy University of Southern Maine Leading Thinker in the Development of Autonomist Thought Founding Member Midnight Notes Collective ÉVA TESSZA UDVARHELYI Cultural Anthropologist PhD Candidate The Graduate Center CUNY Co-founder The City is for All, the only homeless-led advocacy organization, Hungary ATTENDANCE 45
RT4 A NEW URGENCY? URBAN IMAGINARIES IN THE ERA OF CLIMATE CRISIS APRIL 19, 2013
As climate crisis escalates, green urbanism is becoming a fundamental landscape of crisis, protest and hope — upon which competing narratives of humanity’s possible futures are being rehearsed. This discussion explored a number of approaches to thinking of a future based upon uncertain ecological conditions as they emerge within NYC. In the wake of Sandy, question of infrastructures and resilience have come to the fore: two concepts easily twisted to any number of socio-political ends. From Bloomberg’s Plan NYC and a multi-billion dollar post-storm reconstruction effort — to the Alliance for a Just Rebuilding, Occupy Sandy and calls for a Climate Bill of Rights — a range of contesting visions struggle to define what makes ‘green urbanism’ green — how — and for whom? ARE NEW VISIONS READY TO TRANSFORM OUR COLLECTIVE IMAGINARY? PARTICIPANTS EMMA GELMAN Policy Director, Center for Working Families Green Jobs New York Alliance for A Just Rebuilding CARWIL BJORK-JAMES PhD Candidate The Graduate Center CUNY Focus on strategies of grassroots autonomy and disruptive protest in Bolivia STEPHANIE WAKEFIELD PhD Candidate in Geography The Graduate Center CUNY, Earth and Environmental Science Instructor of Urban Studies Queens College CUNY GIORGIOS KALLIS Professor Universitat Autónoma de Barcelona Environmental Scientist with focus on Ecological Economics and Political Ecology BRADEN CROOKS Masters Student Design and Urban Ecologies Parsons The New School for Design Founder of Groundswell PA: Environmental Rights Initiative / NYC Climate Bill of Rights
ATTENDANCE 12
DESIGN and U R BA N ECOLOGIES PROGRAM PARTNERS + COLLABORATORS
PROGRAM PARTNERS + COLLABORATORS REGIONAL
LATIN AMERICA
16 BEAVER GROUP CENTER FOR URBAN PEDAGOGY ENVIRONMENTAL JUSTICE ALLIANCE GROWING ROOTS LA UNIÓN Sunset Park, Brooklyn MAKE THE ROAD NESRI National Economic+Social Rights Initiative OCCUPY SANDY OCCUPY SUNSET PARK SUNSET PARK RENT STRIKE TAKE BACK THE LAND THE BRECHT FORUM THE CENTER FOR PLACE CULTURE+POLITICS THE RIGHT TO THE CITY ALLIANCE* THE ROSA LUXEMBURG FOUNDATION VAMOS UNIDOS WHY HUNGER?
CASA AMARILLA Medellín COLOMBIA COORPORACIÓN NUESTRA GENTE Medellín COLOMBIA INSTITUTO DE ALTOS ESTUDIOS NACIONALES - IAEN Quito ECUADOR M7RED LA PLATA Buenos Aires ARGENTINA URBAM CENTER FOR URBAN + ENVIRONMENTAL STUDIES + THE UNIVERSIDAD EAFIT Medellín COLOMBIA
*Research Advisor MIGUEL ROBLES-DURÁN
EUROPE NATIONAL + CANADA CENTER FOR URBAN ECOLOGIES, UCSD UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA SAN DIEGO NESRI National Economic+Social Rights Initiative THE RIGHT TO THE CITY ALLIANCE THE UNIVERSITY OF GUELPH Ontario CANADA
FREE HOUSE THE NETHERLANDS OBSERVATORIO METROPOLITANO Madrid SPAIN STALKER LABORATORIO D’ARTE URBANA Rome ITALY STEALTH.unlimited Belgrade SERBIA UOC UNIVERSITAT OBERTA DE CATALUNYA Barcelona SPAIN
INTERNATIONAL
ASIA
UN-HABITAT WORLD URBAN FORUM 7 Medellín COLOMBIA
hanare x SOCIAL KITCHEN Kyoto JAPAN SICHUAN FINE ARTS INSTITUTE Chongquing CHINA
DESIGN and U R BA N ECOLOGIES FUTURE DIRECTIONS
MS DESIGN AND URBAN ECOLOGIES FUTURE DIRECTIONS
DESIGN PROCESSES FOR URBAN TRANSFORMATION
STUDENT RATIO TRANSDISCIPLINARY STUDIES DISCIPLINE Architecture / Landscape Art Practices Environmental Sciences Social Sciences Design Disciplines Social Services Urban Planning / Studies Others Total ARCHITECTURE + LANDSCAPE
PERCENTAGE 12.500% 12.500% 12.500% 12.500% 12.500% 12.500% 12.500% 12.500%
STUDENT NO. 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 32
Architecture, Landscape Architecture, Landscape Urbanism Architecture Restoration, Architecture History + Theory, Urban Design
ART PRACTICES Visual Arts, Performing Arts, Contextual Arts, Cultural Development Pedagogy, Photography, Film, History/Theory
ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES
Ecology, Geography, Natural Resource Management Environmental Disaster Recovery, Water Management, Technology
SOCIAL SCIENCES
Urban Sociology, Anthropology, Human Geography, Urban Political Economy Ethnography, Urban Law, Urban Politics, History/Theory
DESIGN DISCIPLINES Urban Oriented – Communication Design, Graphic Design Industrial Design, Service Design
SOCIAL SERVICES Urban Oriented – Food Studies, Health Services, Non-Profit Management Housing Services, Education, Child Services
URBAN PLANNING + STUDIES
Urban Planning, Town Planning, Territorial Planning, Infrastructural Planning Transportation, Urban Management, Policy, Human Settlements
MS DESIGN AND URBAN ECOLOGIES FUTURE DIRECTIONS MEDIA APPROACHES 5-POINT PLAN
DESIGN PROCESSES FOR URBAN TRANSFORMATION
1. INFO-POSTERS Production of annual promotion posters (foldable 24” x 36”) that consist of: a) Backside to include faculty interviews, ground partners and students; summary of courses taught; events and selected student work examples. b) Frontside to include an explanation of the DUE program, future events and projects. [One Full-Time student + Budget for Printing and Distribution] 2. BI-ANNUAL NEWSPAPER Newspaper with a 1500 copy print run and recount of semester activities in studios, other courses, articles and self-led work by students and faculty. To be distributed locally, nationally and internationally at strategic points and institutions. [Two Full-Time Students + One Professional Designer + Budget for Printing and Distribution] 3. POSTCARDS Bi-annual production of postcards as invitations to DUE final events and exhibitions. [Same Full-Time Student working for Info-Poster + Budget for Printing and Distribution]
5. ADVERTISING Refers to adverts that CEA places and the need to meet with CEA to evaluate their current strategies and propose new venues in which to advertise. The following is a list of possible media spaces for advertising. 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. 11. 12. 13. 14. 15. 16. 17.
ATLANTIC CITIES e-flux DOMUS Web ARCHINECT CommonDreams.org DEMOCRACY NOW! interoccupy.net citylimits.org alternet.org GOOD MAGAZINE publicinterestdesign.org METROPOLIS MAGAZINE nextcity.org urbanomnibus.net designobserver.com thepolisblog.org antipodefoundation.org
4. WEBSITE I consider this space to be the most important and thus requires considerable investment budget and time. a. We need to produce video interviews of students, faculty and organizations engaged with the program. b. We need to structure a platform that brings together live feeds, studio blogs an concentrates on information produced for the Bi-Annual Newspaper. [Professional Designer + Professional Videographer + Same Full-Time Student + Budget for Production and Maintenance]
KEY SPACES FOR PROMOTION UNIVERSITIES PERIODICALS CONFERENCES NON-PROFITS CULTURAL INSTITUTIONS GOVERNMENT INSTITUTIONS
MS DESIGN AND URBAN ECOLOGIES
FUTURE DIRECTIONS DESIGN PROCESSES FOR URBAN TRANSFORMATION PUBLIC + STUDENT PROGRAMS PUBLIC EVENTS
TRAVEL
SEMINARS FALL 2013 Programing of at least 2 public seminars per semester. So far this Fall, I am partnering with The Brecht Forum and The Right to the City Alliance to structure the seminars. One will be given by Rick Wolff on “The Global Crisis Tied to Urban and New York City Manifestations,” and the second with Rachel LaForest and Frank Morales on “Community Mobilization + Urban Conflicts.”
LOCAL TRIPS Full-day bus tour of New York, focusing on The Bronx, Long Island, Queens, Harlem and Brooklyn. [Organizational Budget + Filming and Editing]
CONVERSATIONS/ROUND TABLES FALL 2013 This Fall focuses on Urban Environmental Justice with 3 programmed Round Tables. These public conversations will occur on Friday afternoons. Adding to this, the 1st year studio in Newark, taught by Damon Rich and Jae Shin, will organize a Round Table on the current condition of Newark. Each thesis group will also organize a Round Table in relation to their thesis topic. LECTURES FALL 2013 Speakers programed this Fall: Jeanne van Heeswijk, Dubrovka Seculic, David Harvey, Don Mitchell, Nick Heynen and Mindy Fullilove. CONFERENCES FALL 2013 Two large international conferences: 1. In collaboration with the Rosa Luxemburg Foundation on “Urban Convergences: Housing and the Global South,” that will take place on three days, September 26-28, 2013. 2. In collaboration with The Right to the City Alliance, The Murphy Institute, The Brecht Forum and The Center for Place Culture and Politics on “The Crisis of Housing,” November 15-17, 2013 at Theresa Lang. Each thesis group will also organize one conference in relation to their topic. EXHIBITIONS UN-HABITAT WORLD URBAN FORUM 7 Medellín COLOMBIA
WINTER COURSES 1. Quito and Guayaquil. 3-credit bearing fieldwork and urban study of specific urban conditions in Ecuador. In collaboration with the Institute of Advanced National Studies. 2. Buenos Aires/La Plata. 3-credit bearing studio on environmental crisis and localized food production in La Plata. In collaboration with M7Red and Mauricio Corbalan. SUMMER COURSES 1. Belgrade. 4-week 3-credit bearing studio on the Eastern European urban condition. In collaboration with Dubrovka Seculic and Ivan Kucina, led by Miodrag Mitrasinovic. 2. Rome. 4-week 3-credit bearing studio on autonomous urban development in collaboration with Stalker and Lorenzo Romito. 3. Venice, Atlantis Program EXPLORATORY FIELD TRIPS A series of exploratory field trips are planned to complement 2nd-year thesis projects. Discussions about Caracas Quito, and the Mississippi River.
STUDIOS ABROAD Medellín. Linked to the World Urban Forum, April 2014. Students will advance work developed by previous semester’s students. In collaboration with UN-HABITAT and The Center for Urban and Environmental Studies.
MIGUEL ROBLES-DURÁN DIRECTOR GRADUATE PROGRAM DESIGN AND URBAN ECOLOGIES SCHOOL OF DESIGN STRATEGIES PARSONS THE NEW SCHOOL FOR DESIGN 6 EAST 16TH STREET #726 NEW YORK, NEW YORK 10011 (212) 229-8970 x 4441
DESIGNURBANECOLOGIES.COM URBAN.PARSONS.EDU TWITTER.COM/URBAN_ECOLOGIES