Download the syllabus: Planning the Future of New York City (Spring 2017)

Common Course Description

“Having examined a variety of important aspects of the past and present New York City in the previous seminars, in this fourth and final seminar students analyze the interplay of social, economic and political forces that shape the physical form and social dynamics of New York City…By studying institutional agents of change-federal, state, and city governments; public authorities; private sector interests; community boards; and grassroots organizations-students come to appreciate the roles people take or are given in the decision-making processes of government and the ways in which these roles are affected by patterns of success, inequality, and the operations of power. The culminating project of this seminar are small-group presentations, in an academic setting, of students’ investigations of crucial issues affecting the future of New York City.”

Common Course Learning Objectives

In this seminar, students will:

1. Use primary sources, both qualitative and quantitative, especially in their research projects, to understand community institutions, the local economy, and the role of government.
2. Develop an understanding of how power differentially affects New York City’s people. Its built environment, and its institutions through site visits, case studies. and research projects.
3. Develop the ability to engage in key contemporary debates that shape the future of the city through in-class discussions, presentations, and colloquia.
4.  Develop an understanding of the formal and informal institutions underlying decision making in the city by analyzing historical and contemporary planning and policy issues.

Our Seminar Description

Our seminar will focus on understanding the political, economic and cultural causes and effects of contemporary gentrification processes in New York City. The first part of the course will ask students to imagine both what kind of city they want to inhabit and whom they imagine should shape that city. To inform this process, we will compare and contrast the “Corporate City” associated with Robert Moses’s post-WWII vision, the “Urban Village” associated with Jane Jacobs’s 1960s vision, and the “Neoliberal City.” The second part of the course will focus on understanding both processes of gentrification and the field of gentrification research. Among issues we will focus on are: debates regarding the relative power of the city’s “growth machine” and of community groups in shaping the city; the regarding the possible “positive outcomes” of gentrification as a policy to encourage “social mixing” and poverty deconcentration; and debates regarding the negative effects of gentrification in terms of residential and industrial displacement. The last part of the course will ask: “what is to be done?” We will look at debates among policy-makers, planners, activists, and scholars over how to both address and study current gentrification trends.