← New Urban Politics and the Right To The City Events

Debating U.S. National Security Whistleblowing: Secrets, the State, and Democracy, A Discussion with Whistleblowers, Advocates, and Historians

WHERE:
Jerry H. Labowitz Theatre for the Performing Arts
1 Washington Place
New York, NY , USA

WHEN:
Thursday, October 18, 4:00pm — 7:00pm

Are Edward Snowden, Reality Winner, and James Comey whistleblowers or leakers, heroes or traitors? Is WikiLeaks a media organization or a foreign agent? Is it ever appropriate to disclose official secrets to the public? Join us for a series of roundtable discussions featuring whistleblowers, advocates, and historians to debate the past, present, and future of national security whistleblowing. This event is organized by Hannah Gurman (NYU Gallatin) and Kaeten Mistry (University of East Anglia, UK) and is sponsored by the Urban Democracy Lab at NYU Gallatin, The Tamiment Institute Library at NYU, and the Arts and Humanities Research Council (UK).

Schedule

Introductions from Hannah Gurman (NYU Gallatin) and Kaeten Mistry (University of East Anglia, UK)

Historical Perspectives: The Origins, Evolution, and Legacy of National Security Whistleblowing

4:15-5:30 pm

Sam Lebovic (George Mason University); Chase Madar (NYU Gallatin); Jeremy Varon (The New School), and Julia Rose Kraut (The Historical Society of the New York Courts)

Break

5:30-5:45 pm

Whistleblowing Today: A Conversation with Whistleblowers and Advocates

5:45-7 pm

Thomas Drake (NSA Whistleblower); John Kiriakou (CIA Whistleblower); Brian Fleming (Miller & Chevalier); Barry Pollack (Robbins, Russell, Englert, Untereiner & Sauber)

For more information, go to: https://wp.nyu.edu/whistleblowing. This event is free and open to the public but an RSVP is requested.

Topics

Sponsors

Urban Democracy Lab NYU Gallatin Arts & Humanities Research Council, UK The Tamiment Institute Library

← Urban Humanities and Their Publics Events

THE BIG [QUEER] WALK

WHERE:
1 Washington Place
New York NY, USA

WHEN:
Saturday, October 13, 10:00am — 2:00pm

The BIG WALK, sponsored by the Gallatin School of Individualized Study at NYU, is an annual “walkingand talking” tour that traverses iconic New York City thoroughfares or focuses on certain neighborhoods. This year, we are exploring sites in lower Manhattan of special significance to the LGBTQ communities. The 2018 BIG [QUEER] WALK will be directed by Gallatin professor Louise Harpman and will include special guest curator Michael Ryan (BA ’14). The BIG [QUEER] WALK is co-sponsored by the Urban Democracy Lab and is free and open to the public. Reservations are required. This event is part of the ARCHTOBER celebration.

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Topics

Gentrification LGBTQ Informality Design Public Space Housing Gender and Sexuality Urban Planning Arts Activism Urban Social Movements

Sponsors

NYU Gallatin Urban Democracy Lab

← Urban Humanities and Their Publics

Zoning and Urban Development

WHERE:
Jerry H. Labowitz Theatre for the Performing Arts
Washington Place
New York, NY , USA

WHEN:
Tuesday, March 6, 6:30pm — 8:00pm

What is zoning? Rezoning? How has it shaped NYC? How does development relate to climate change? Gentrification? Come talk about it! The Urban Democracy Lab’s Student Advisory Board is hosting a teach-in about zoning and urban development on March 6 from 6:30-8 PM in the Gallatin 5th Floor Lounge. The event will feature Jon Ritter, Paula Crespo, Zishun Ning, and Sam Stein as panelists. Listen to experts, ask questions, and contribute your knowledge to our discussion! The event will be moderated by Student Advisory Board member Jonathan Marty, and will be co-hosted by the Urban Design and Architecture Society. Snacks provided!

Panelists

Sam Stein: PhD student at CUNY, Professor of Urban Studies at Hunter College. Contributor to Jacobin Mag and the recent book Zoned Out!: Race, Displacement, and City Planning in New York City by Tom Angotti and Sylvia Morse.

Paula Crespo: Senior Planner at the Pratt Center for Community Development. Coordinator of the Center’s graduate student Fellowship program and the Taconic Fellowship

Zishun Ning: Founder of Youth Against Displacement, and organizer at the Chinese Staff and Workers Association

Jon Ritter: Clinical Associate Professor of Urban Design and Architecture at NYU. President of the New York Metropolitan Chapter of the Society of Architectural Historians

Topics

Urban Planning Gentrification Zoning

Sponsors

Urban Democracy Lab

← Democratizing the Green City

Are the Benefits of Urban Greening Equitably Distributed and Perceived?

WHERE:
1 Washington Place
5th Floor New York, NY 10003

WHEN:
Tuesday, January 10, 12:30pm — 2:00pm

We are excited to be hosting an informal seminar with Isabelle Anguelovski from the Universitat Autonoma de Barcelona on January 10 here at the Urban Democracy Lab. Her recent work on environmental gentrification, which you can view here, intersects beautifully with our Democratizing the Green City Initiative. Melissa Checker will be our interlocutor.

Presenters

Universitat Autonoma de Barcelona

Topics

Gentrification Environment

Sponsors

Urban Democracy Lab

← Initiatives

Economic Crisis and Democracy in Brazil

WHERE:
Alvin Johnson/J.M. Kaplan Hall
West 12th Street
New York, NY , United States

WHEN:
Wednesday, April 12, 4:00pm — 5:30pm

How did the Brazilian government of President Dilma Rousseff reconcile its commitment to provide ‘social and welfare rights’ and ‘balance the budget?’ When the country’s economy was growing at record rate, this tension between ‘social equality’ and ‘fiscal authority’ remained manageable and benefited citizens from all walks of life and across the political spectrum. However, following the 2015 economic debacle, it became exceedingly difficult for President Rousseff’s government to deliver on both. In response to this situation, politicians and citizens alike became politically factionalized, socially polarized and increasingly intolerant and uncivil in their everyday interactions, even among family members and long-time friends.

To defuse these and other socio-economic and political problems, President Rousseff’s government implemented a series of wide-ranging reforms, including trimming some of the social programs that had provided impoverished citizens (one in four) with new opportunities. During her talk, President Rousseff will discuss the challenges that her government faced, its accomplishments and limitations, some of the difficult decisions and choices that it made and how these, in turn, have alleviated some problems while at the same time generating new ones that have yet to be resolved.

Tickets are free, but registration is required.

Presenters

Former President of Brazil

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Topics

Politics Economy Democracy

Sponsors

Anthropology Economics History New York University Politics Robert L. Heilbroner Center for Capitalism Studies Sociology

Sponsors

Urban Democracy Lab Janey Program in Latin American Studies The New School for Social Research

← Democratizing the Green City

Sustainability and the Affordable Housing Crisis

WHERE:
240 Rachel Carson College Service Road
Santa Cruz CA, United States

WHEN:
Friday, February 17, 5:00pm — 7:00pm

Visit the event’s official website for full details

Keynote

Karen Chapple, Professor of City and Regional Planning, UC Berkeley College of Environmental Design; Director, Urban Displacement Project

Urban Displacement and the Sustainable City: Lessons for Housing Production and Preservation
Friday Feb 17, 5:00-7:00 pm , DARC 108, UC Santa Cruz

Conference

Saturday, Feb 18, 9:30 am-6:30 pm
Red Room of Rachel Carson College, UC Santa Cruz

Organizers

Miriam Greenberg and Hillary Angelo, UCSC Sociology
Urban Democracy Lab/Democratizing the Green City NYC (NYU)
Critical Sustainabilities Project (UCSC)

This conference examines a paradox: urban sustainability initiatives that are so vital in countering climate change can, through their improvements, contribute to driving up rents and driving out residents, and in the process, exacerbate sprawl, greenhouse gas emissions, and climate change itself. Our speakers examine this growing link between environmental improvement and social displacement and ask: How is it possible to break this link? What would it mean to include affordable housing and equity within sustainability efforts? And what are the consequences—socially and ecologically—if we don’t?

We begin with a focus on the housing crisis that is transforming our own state and region. Renowned for greening and sustainability initiatives—from transit-oriented development to locavore food sheds to green building—California is also home to the most unaffordable housing markets in the country, including Santa Cruz. Thus greening interacts with gentrification and increased consumption, declining diversity and rising inequality, displacement and longer commutes, and multiple environmental health and ecosystem impacts, including habitat fragmentation, loss of groundwater, and increased carbon footprints. Our region, however, is not alone. We bring together a new generation of scholars, planners, and activists addressing ‘the housing question’ across the Americas —in Mexico City and New York, Seattle and Medellin, Sao Paulo and Oakland— as well as emerging strategies for democratizing the green city.

Confirmed Participants

Hillary Angelo, University of California, Santa Cruz
Gianpaolo Baiocchi, New York University and Urban Democracy Lab
Joan Byron, Pratt Institute and Neighborhoods First Fund
Karen Chapple, University of California Berkeley and Urban Displacement Project
Melissa Checker, City University of New York (Queens College)
Daniel Aldana Cohen, University of Pennsylvania
Lindsey Dillon, University of California, Santa Cruz
Gordon Douglas, San Jose State and the Institute for Public Knowledge
Miriam Greenberg, University of California, Santa Cruz
Sarah Knuth, University of Michigan
Claudia Lopez, University of California, Santa Cruz
Oscar Sosa Lopez, University of Georgia
Steve McKay, University of California, Santa Cruz
Dawn Phillips, Causa Justa:: Just Cause and National Director, U.S. Right to the City Alliance
Jennifer L. Rice, University of Georgia
Julie Sze, University of California, Davis
David Wachsmuth, McGill University
Camilo Sol Zamora, Causa Justa:: Just Cause, Housing Rights Campaign

Sponsors

Urban Democracy Lab
The UCSC Sustainability Office
Rachel Carson College
UCSC Sociology Department
The Center for Science & Justice

Full details at democratizing-the-green-city.sites.ucsc.edu

RSVP

Topics

Housing Gentrification Design Environment

Sponsors

Rachel Carson College Sociology Department The Center for Science & Justice The Sustainability Office University of California, Santa Cruz

Sponsors

Critical Sustainabilities Project Urban Democracy Lab