Today we continued our historical investigation into the policies and practices that have shaped NYC, physically and socially. We focused specifically on the period between 1968 and the 1980s, which is widely known as one of urban decline and decay, as federal support for cities and the civil rights movement waned. The Wallace article gave us insight into the one of the city’s and country’s poorest neighborhoods (then and now), the South Bronx, from 1974-1978. . Unlike many stereotypes and dominant narratives about poor neighborhoods and communities that view poverty through a culture/cycle of poverty framework, this paper shows the hugely significant shaping role of political economy.   In particular, Wallace and Wallace provide a quantitative analysis of the city’s “planned shrinkage” policy during the NYC fiscal crisis, showing the cyclical dynamics of abandonment, its demographic implications (i.e. forced migration, social disintegration) and public health effects.

We also discussed Tom Angotti’s chapter in which he traces the roots of contemporary community planning to various modes of community struggles over urban land and development throughout NYC’s history.  Angotti’s analysis is helpful in highlighting the community resistance that has always been present, and in showing us how the nature/character of that resistance has changed over time, and been shaped by its historical context. We built this into our timeline, and discussed the different waves of struggle from slave rebellions in the 1700s to self-help housing by Community Development Corporations in the 1980s.

Please draw on these articles to make sure you are familiar with how and why community organizing around land and housing in NYC have changed over time, and start working in your groups to connect your project’s issue and community to past struggles!