Re: Zoning; Gentrification and Neighborhood Change in New York City’s Superfund Communities

The concept of environmental justice rose to popularity in the 10 years. Interestingly, urban sustainability initiatives have often taken on a neoliberal development-centric approach. One outcome of this strategy is a compounding of gentrification as a result of environmental projects. While a large body of research exists around these issues, few sufficiently articulate the interactions and relationships of state and private processes and stakeholders. New York City is home to three (now four) Superfund sites, areas that require federal intervention due to their high levels of contamination and are generally located in historically industrial neighborhoods. This thesis focuses on how the areas around these sites are changing and how policy and governance affects that process. I explore this interaction using a mixed methods approach, employing a survey, spatial analysis, interviews, and participant observations. My findings suggest that gentrification in these neighborhoods occurs in a manner unique to formerly industrial areas. These remediation projects lack sufficient equity measures because of their focus on redevelopment and neoliberal framing of this form of revitalization as a universal good. Furthermore, community meetings are an insufficient countermeasure because of barriers to access and concerns around their actual impact. As such, a shift away from the current neoliberal paradigm could contribute positively to the effort to address these inequities. Keywords: gentrification, Superfund program, environmental remediation, zoning, neighborhood change, urban studies, urban sociolog