Willets Point Land Use Study

The purpose of the study is to survey and map land use patterns and businesses in the Willets Point area of Queens, New York. Willets Point has been the subject of numerous recent proposals for redevelopment. The City's Economic Development Corporation released Requests for Expressions of Interest in November 2004 and recently qualified a small group of developers to present proposals for redevelopment of the area. The information and maps provided by this study will hopefully serve as background for discussions about the area. It was not within the scope of this study to evaluate existing proposals or develop alternative proposals. However, we have offered some preliminary assessments of current conditions and ideas that could serve as a foundation for more in-depth study of future opportunities

Le lotte per la terra e le promesse del Fondo comunitario terriero

Community land trusts (CLTs) are growing in the United States. They are non-profit community-based organizations that own land and lease it for permanently affordable housing. CLTs have diverse historical roots including the peace and civil rights movements and community struggles against displacement by urban redevelopment. Although land trusts have been used by elites, CLTs are potentially an alternative to the displacement and inequalities of private housing and land markets. The CLT is one among many tools for achieving the right to housing and the right to the city. However, much more is needed to secure community control of land, keep land out of the market, and make housing permanently affordable. To sustain the transformational potential of CLTs, their ties to the social movements that gave rise to them need to be strong.Negli Stati Uniti, i Community land trusts (CLT), o Fondi terrieri comunitari, sono una realtà in crescita. Si tratta di organizzazioni comunitarie, senza scopo di lucro, che possiedono terreni e che li destinano alla realizzazione di alloggi a buon mercato. I CLT hanno diverse radici storiche, inclusi i movimenti per la pace e per i diritti civili e le lotte comunitarie contro gli sgomberi legati a interventi di recupero urbano. Benché i fondi terrieri siano stati utilizzati da élites, i CLT rap-presentano una potenziale alternativa agli sgomberi e alle ingiustizie del mercato immobiliare e fondiario privato. Il CLT è uno fra i molti strumenti utili all’ottenimento del diritto alla casa e alla città. D’altra parte, è richiesto molto di più per assicurare alle comunità il controllo della terra, tenerla fuori dal mercato e mantenere gli alloggi ad un costo accessibile. Per realizzare in pieno il proprio potenziale trasformativo, i CLT devono stringere legami molto forti con i movimenti sociali da cui sono sorti

The Long Crisis: Economic Inequality in New York City

City University of New York Law Review hosted this public panel discussion on November 12, 2014 at CUNY School of Law. CUNY Law Review would like to thank the co-sponsors of this event: Law Students for Reproductive Justice (LSRJ); Latin American Law Students Association (LALSA); Labor Coalition for Workers’ Rights and Economic Justice; National Lawyers Guild CUNY Law Chapter (NLG); Iraqi Refugee Assistance Project (IRAP); Student for Justice in Palestine (SJP) and CUNY Law Association of Students for Housing (CLASH)

Cultural Competence in Urban Affairs and Planning

In the Fall of 2009, the Center for Puerto Rican Studies (CENTRO) undertook the Centro Cultural Competence Initiative (CCI) with the support of a one-year grant from the U.S. Department of Education’s Fund for the Improvement of Postsecondary Education (FIPSE). The goal of the CCI is to address the need for culturally appropriate work in a variety of professions by training students to be culturally competent practitioners. In the Fall of 2010, the Urban Affairs and Planning Department at Hunter College joined CENTRO as a partner in this initiative. Full time Professors Sigmund Shipp, Laxmi Ramasubramanian, and Tom Angotti worked with graduate assistants Angela Tovar and Marly Pierre-Louis on a year-long inquiry of cultural competency within the department. The following report documents this year long effort to engage in discourse and to incorporate strategies to effectively introduce cultural competency into the urban planning curriculum in the Urban Affairs and Planning Department at Hunter College – City University of New York

A METROPOLIS OF ENCLAVES: IMAGE AND REALITY IN URBAN NORTH AMERICA*

RESUMEN La imagen y la realidad de las ciudades americanas siguen siendo definidas por el enclave, aunque ha habido una tendencia reciente hacia la concentración urbana. La mayoría de la población vive en suburbios dispersos, fragmentados, de baja densidad y dependiente del automóvil. Las nuevas formas de desarrollo de enclaves en los centros urbanos y los suburbios son: “edge cities”, “technopoles”, Disneyworld, vecindarios con rejas, y las “cibercities”. Imágenes opuestas, que reflejan un desarrollo urbano más articulado, diferenciado y sustentable juegan un subordinado pero importante papel en la metrópoli real. ABSTRACT Enclave development continues to define the image and reality of American cities, despite recent trends toward grater urban concentration. The majority of the population lives in sprawled, fragmented, low-density, auto-dependent suburbs. New forms of enclave development in central cities and suburbs include “edge cities”, “technopoles”, the Disneyworld theme park, the gated community, and cybercity. Opposing images, reflecting more integrated, diverse and sustainable forms of  urban development, continue top lay a subordinate but important role in the real metrópolis. *This paper was the keynote presentation to the conference “Real and Imaginary Cities of the Americas” at the Third University of Rome in March 1997