Metropolitics

The Cities We're Losing—The Cities We Need

Ahmed Allahwala — 2026-03-17T06:00:00Z

Although there is no shortage of work on gentrification, it rarely takes as its object of inquiry those “ordinary” places—diners, corner stores—that are lost. Yet, in The Cities We Need, Gabrielle Bendiner-Viani shows the importance of understanding how their loss impacts not only how we understand neighborhoods, but how we understand ourselves.
The Cities We Need explores what we lose when the spaces that anchor life in urban communities disappear. In this beautiful book, visual artist and

- Reviews / gentrification, nostalgia, place, placemaking, displacement, Brooklyn, New York, Oakland, everyday spaces

The Banality of Innovation: Mythic Discourse and the Long Road to Shore Power in New York City

Iain McDavid — 2024-12-03T06:00:00Z

If the New York City Economic Development Corporation is committed to the city's “green transformation, ” then why is it dragging its feet to curb cruise-ship pollution at city ports? Iain McDavid explains how clean air doesn't align with EDC's primary concern of encouraging investment.
By allowing ships to plug into the electrical grid while at berth, shore power installations can drastically reduce carbon emissions and harmful pollutants produced by a vessel's auxiliary engines (CLIA 2024;

- Debates / cruise ships, pollution, air quality, Brooklyn, New York, United States, energy, environmental justice, environment, shore power

Fixing the Accessibility Gap in Municipal Procurement

Emily Holloway & Nicholas Shatan — 2019-03-05T06:00:00Z

How can minority- and women-owned businesses overcome structural disadvantages to building wealth through entrepreneurship? Emily Holloway and Nicholas Shatan assess minority- and women-owned business enterprise (M/WBE) procurement policies in New York City and show that while these programs are designed to generate equitable access to business growth, M/WBE participants are not receiving enough contracts—however, if implemented more strategically and equitably, such policies have the potential

- Debates / New York, Brooklyn, Bronx, United States, accessibility, procurement, women, gender, ethnicity, race, businesses, minorities, entrepreneurship

“People of Color Are Not Props”: Black Branding and Community Resistance in Gentrifying Brooklyn

Maura McGee — 2018-02-06T13:00:00Z

When a new white-owned upscale bar-restaurant in the gentrifying Brooklyn neighborhood of Crown Heights advertised rosé wine served in 40-ounce bottles and a purported “bullet-hole-ridden” wall, the neighborhood erupted with protest. In her analysis of the “bullet-hole bar” controversy, Maura McGee probes the intersection of race, gentrification, and community in a changing commercial landscape.
Summerhill—a “boozy sandwich shop”—opened in the gentrifying historically low-income black

- From the Field / authenticity, gentrification, New York, race, community, Brooklyn, Black neighborhoods, marketing, branding

The Evolution of New York City's Black Neighborhoods

John Mollenkopf — 2017-05-09T06:00:00Z

Especially in the central cities of the Northeast, neighborhoods that were once identified with black politics and culture are growing more ethnically diverse, and wealthier. John Mollenkopf examines demographic data from New York City's Harlem and Bedford-Stuyvesant and reflects on their implications for electoral politics and the fates of economically vulnerable black households.
New trends are influencing American cities. Particularly notable is the falling-off of African-American

- From the Field / immigration, gentrification, New York, Brooklyn, Black politics, Black neighborhoods, Manhattan, Harlem, Bedford-Stuyvesant

“We Are the Scene”: Alternative Art Economies in Bushwick

Mary Kosut — 2016-09-13T05:00:00Z

Artists and art communities are essential to the cultural life of cities. In New York City, artists have created networks of artist-run galleries in unlikely spaces that are outside the corporate gallery system. Sociologist Mary Kosut explores how artists generate alternative urban art economies within the contemporary New York art world.
Art scenes are integral to urban cultural centers—Berlin, Paris, London, and New York are defined by vibrant artist communities. As an art capital, New York

- From the Field / gentrification, culture, New York, art, culture-based economy, artist, arts, Brooklyn, art worlds, galleries, art economies, Bushwick

“Harriet Jacobs didn't learn to read and write so that she could get an A”

C. Ray Borck — 2016-05-03T05:00:00Z

Confronted by school systems that persistently reproduce race- and class-based educational inequality, how can individual poor students of color navigate their own educational paths to realize self-actualization, engaged learning, and scholastic success? Urban ethnographer C. Ray Borck shows how one school in Brooklyn is teaching students to harness their historical disenfranchisement and cultural strength for educational achievement.
Poor youth of color are more likely to attend struggling

- From the Field / New York, race, education, Brooklyn, school, culturally competent curriculum, critical racial awareness, public education, educational inequality, racial pedagogy, Brooklyn schools

Where Did the Bees Go? New York City Beekeeping Amid Ecological Crises

Mary Kosut & Lisa Jean Moore — 2016-04-05T05:00:00Z

The decline and extinction of bees and other pollinators threatens the global food supply. Residents in cities like New York have engaged in the practice of beekeeping to harvest honey and care for this essential species. Ethnographers Lisa Jean Moore and Mary Kosut explore the connections to urban sustainability that this new practice entails.
Bees have always lived in metropolitan spaces without the aid of humans. Yet, until very recently, most people never thought of them as a species that

- From the Field / environment, urban ecology, urban agriculture, New York, wildlife, Brooklyn, bees, urban beekeeping, colony collapse disorder, DIY, honeybees, pollination

The Hollowing-Out of New York City's Industrial Zones

Tarry Hum — 2016-02-16T06:00:00Z

At a November 2015 press conference, New York Mayor Bill de Blasio vowed to take action to ensure that firms in the city's core manufacturing areas are shielded from speculative pressures as incompatible land uses like hotels, self-storage facilities, and office buildings continue to encroach on key industrial zones. The preservation of affordable space—for industry, artists, and low-income residents—is one of the administration's main priorities. But an analysis of commercial real-estate

- From the Field / gentrification, New York, displacement, de Blasio administration, Brooklyn, maker economy, industrial policy, commercial gentrification

Artists and Industry: Friends or Foes?

Paul Parkhill — 2015-11-03T06:00:00Z

Anti-gentrification activists have castigated artists' lofts as the vanguard of gentrification, while cities have heralded them as neighborhood revitalization or affordable housing. Paul Parkhill argues that working artists and manufacturing businesses share common interests in affordable, long-term workspace, and that programs like the Artist Studio Affordability Project can create workspace for artists without disrupting urban industries.
In the spring of 2014, I attended a panel discussion

- Debates / gentrification, real estate, New York, art, artist, Brooklyn