Activist Space in New York City

Catalog description

An examination of participatory practices in re-purposed buildings reveals the critical relationship between real estate, architecture and activism. In cities across the country, in the 1970’s, the devaluation of property created a vacuum of ownership. Vacant lots, storefronts, schoolhouses, factories and abandoned tenements in New York City became havens for experimental, communal practices. These same urban landscapes, in the present time, are facing the opposite crisis of inflated costs and speculation by development that threaten the small gains made by communities in historically marginalized neighborhoods. What new practices are emerging in cities such as New York that can sustain these activist spaces and challenge the status quo? What are the new modes of participation that can produce new, radical outcomes? Is there room for socially conscious design and art practices? Expanding the discourse of sustainable practices within the built environment to include grass roots participation is important for the equitable development of cities. Working at the intersection of history, adaptive reuse and collaborative design, this class will interweave theory and practice to find new ways to advocate for equity and social change. Amid current debates about urban justice and access to public space this class will critically re-visit the often-overlooked domain of civic participation- commercial storefronts, offices, gardens, artists collectives and community centers where citizens gather to plan acts of political dissent and collective participation. The class will visit some of these sites and the everyday spaces with a long history of counter-institutional practices will be considered as case studies. For the final project, students will create a “zine” that memorializes the efforts and projects a future for a particular “activist” endeavor.