Initiative
New York City
NYC-Related Faculty Research
Below are descriptions of faculty research relating to New York City. This research was funded by a grant received from Open Society Foundations.
Designing Infrastructures of Inclusion: The Case of the 7 Line
Primary Investigator: Miodrag Mitrašinović, Professor of Urbanism and Architecture, Parsons School of Design
Infrastructures are commonly thought of as material systems, facilities, and services, as well as their necessary interdependencies, which all cumulatively make a society sustain itself. Infrastructure is never only an ensemble of material artifacts: its true character is always relational. In Concurrent Urbanities: Designing Infrastructures of Inclusion I suggested that infrastructures of inclusion are the types of infrastructures build to catalyze and sustain processes of social, spatial and political transformation towards more diverse and inclusive, democratic and just, as well as sustainable cities. In addition, by suggesting that such infrastructures can be designed, I put forth a hypothesis that the diverse communities and civic groups in Queens have been engaged in generating novel configurative socio-spatial possibilities by catalyzing processes of solidarity, cooperation, mutual aid, interdependence, leadership and trust; together with expert designers and other institutional actors in the case of Corona, they have also been involved in a collaborative, creative process of configuring new ways of becoming public by co-creating a unique public space—Corona Plaza. I suggest that infrastructures of inclusion have thus a dual effect: on the one hand, they coordinate, synergize and strengthen community-based, local initiatives and projects by creating an ecosystem capable of sustaining them; on the other, they enable individuals and groups to transcend the limitations of their own communities, community-centered concerns and spaces, and provide both the conditions for, and an environment conducive to the emergence of new publics. I also suggest that ‘the urban project’ must be reimagined through the redefinition and radical democratization of the process of designing.
COVID Impact and Immigrant Communities in the South Bronx
Primary Investigators: Michael Cohen, Professor of International Affairs, Director of the Doctoral Program in Public and Urban Policy, and Co-Director of the Observatory on Latin America; Margarita Gutman, Professor of Urban Studies and International Affairs, and Co-Director of the Observatory on Latin America
It is proposed to develop a comparative research project in selected zip codes of the South Bronx in New York to assess the response to and impact of COVID-19 on immigrant communities living in these areas. The proposed analysis is grounded in studies undertaken by the NYC Department of Health and census tract data on the incidence of COVID-19 throughout the five boroughs of the city. Initial studies of the differences in incidence of the pandemic among racial groups have received media attention, but there have not yet been community level studies combining the physical location with immigrant identities among New York City residents. Two years after the pandemic began, there is not yet a theory of neighborhood performance in relation to COVID-19, i.e., there is no explanation of differential incidence and impact between neighborhoods. The South Bronx includes some of the poorest Congressional districts in the United States and zip code areas with different immigrant compositions and is, therefore, an excellent site for this applied research.
This research project will analyze how social support services offered by local governments (as in BA) orby non-profit organizations (as WHEDco) in low-income neighborhoods with a high proportion of immigrant communities improve the neighborhood’s performance, meaning their residents have better economic and health outcomes than in communities without this social infrastructure.
Flourishing Here and There: Transnational Organizing Amongst Migrant Communities in New York City and Mexico City
Primary Investigators: Alexandra Delano Alonso, Associate Professor and Chair of Global Studies; Anne McNevin, Associate Professor of Politics
This project focuses on emergent transnational connections between New York and Mexico City-based migrant communities. The project focuses on two migrant-led organizations, La Morada (NYC) and Otros Dreams en Acción (ODA, Mexico City), whose responses to the context of the Covid-19 pandemic included transnational dimensions. From 2020 to 2022, these organizations, separately and together, developed increasingly explicit frames for the work they do around notions of accompaniment, mutual aid, and flourishing, both in a local and translocal context. These notions represent both guiding principles and forms of practice that resist the more conventional frames for supporting migrant rights: integration, deservingness and hospitality. Through a series of interviews and participant observation in the two organizations’ activities, spanning New York and Mexico City, this project investigates the following:
• What do accompaniment, mutual aid and flourishing mean in the context of migrant-led organizing in NYC and beyond? How do they manifest practically?
• In what ways do these three ideas challenge conventional discourse and practice with respect to organizing in support of migrant rights?
• What are the transnational dimensions of accompaniment, mutual aid and flourishing?
Immigrant Counter-Narratives Shaping Critical Cartographies in New York City
Primary Investigators: Gabriela Rendon, Assistant Professor of Urban Planning and Community Development, Parsons School of Design; Mia Charlene White, Assistant Professor of Environmental Studies, Milano School of Public Engagement; Kevin McQueen, Part-Time Faculty, Milano School of Public Engagement
Combining story-telling and critical geography, this project seeks to expose immigrant housing struggles, community organizing efforts promoting housing justice, and collective visions leading to community-controlled housing in New York City. This will be achieved through (1) the execution of an oral history research program; (2) the development of an online interactive spatial repository (critical cartography) where oral histories will live with accompanying images, text, audio and video recording that will deepen our commitment to the dissemination of popular knowledge; and (3) the dissemination of the outcomes of the oral history program and the critical cartography targeting different audiences through publications, public discussions, and an online platform managed by the Housing Justice Lab.
Developing a Mental Health Course with Immigrant Organizations in NYC
Primary Investigators: Adam D. Brown, Associate Professor of Psychology (Clinical) and Vice Provost for Research, The New School; Manaswi Sangraula, Postdoctoral Fellow and Research Lab Coordinator, Trauma and Global Mental Health Lab
In a recent meeting organized by the Zolberg Center for Migration and Mobility, a group of CBO’s and local leaders working on issues of immigration identified mental health trainings for their staff as among the top priorities to support the work they are doing in their communities. Given the experience and expertise of the T&GMH Lab in capacity building and the training of non-specialists, we seek to carry out a certificate course for individuals working for local immigrant organizations.
Specially, the course will be carried out of the 6-8 weeks in which a cohort of individuals will be taught foundations in various mental health and psychosocial strategies. By the end of the course, it is anticipated that participants will feel more confident in the recognition of signs and symptoms of distress, will be more effective in referrals to local healthcare resources, will possess greater knowledge about strategies for responding to mental health concerns, and will develop practical skills for supporting individuals in distress. Moreover, we hope that the content covered in the courses will also contribute to a reduction in burnout and stress often identified people individuals working in this context, by increasing their self-efficacy and knowledge around these issues.
The course will be free to cost for participating CBO staff and will be held on Zoom. For the initial round, approximately 20 participants will be in the session. We will hold an application process to peak interest and work with various organizations to promote the program. The research assistant along with other program staff will conduct several online roundtables with various organizations that work with immigrant communities on their mental health needs to increase our understanding of what topics would be best to cover. Therefore, the course development will be very collaborative. Topics could potentially include:
• Recognizing Signs and Symptoms of Distress
• Displacement and Mental Health
• Psychological First Aid
• Self-Care
• Preventing and Managing Burnout and Trauma
• Motivational Interviewing
Post-Pandemic Geographies: Life Beyond Covid-19 in Immigrant QueenS
Primary Investigator: Joseph Heathcott, Associate Professor and Chair of Urban and Environmental Studies
From March through May 2020, Queens gained widespread notoriety as the global epicenter of the Covid-19 crisis. Specifically, the pandemic took its heaviest toll in terms of infection and mortality on a cluster of four zip codes in Western Queens corresponding to the neighborhoods of Woodside, Jackson Heights, Elmhurst, and Corona. These neighborhoods are renowned for their ethnic and religious diversity, with large numbers of immigrants from India, Bangladesh, Nepal, Tibet, Mexico, Colombia, Ecuador, China, Thailand, Indonesia, and the Philippines. At the center of these neighborhoods lies Elmhurst Hospital, which quickly became overwhelmed by patients suffering from respiratory distress brought on by Covid-19. Elmhurst Hospital featured in long-form journalism pieces in major venues such as the New York Times and the Atlantic Monthly, exposing the pandemic’s toll on frontline health care workers, patients and families, and surrounding communities.
The project takes a close look at these four neighborhoods, focusing on the varied and uneven experiences of residents and business owners during the pandemic, the impact on lives and livelihoods, and the strategies by which communities attempt to regain a sense of routine in the wake of the crisis. Using a mixed portfolio of methods, including surveys, semi-structured interviews, participant observation, mapping and spatial analysis, we will engage residents, business owners, health care workers, service employees, and others with a stake in the neighborhoods under investigation. Our goal is to build a careful picture of Western Queens during the critical stages of transitioning, however tentatively, to a post-pandemic condition.
Keeping the Gateway Open: New York’s Politics of Scarcity Migrant Crisis and Emplacement
Primary Investigators: Achilles Kallergis, Director of Cities and Migration Program, Zolberg Institute on Migration and Mobility, Assistant Professor, Nina Glick-Schiller, Distinguished Visiting Fellow, Zolberg Institute on Migration and Mobility.
Drawing from the case of New York City’s “migrant crisis” this paper explores the evolving role of gateway cities as emblematic spaces of transformation in migration governance. We argue that the crisis narrative and ensuing response reflect an ongoing restructuring of migration governance that redefines migration’s role for the city, repositions migration actors, and reconfigures the differential and relational power that determines access to resources for migrants. These include the institutional and discursive resources that shape life possibilities, guide polemic interpretations of migration governance, ask who should govern particular aspects of migration, and ultimately, mediate migrant identity and experience, and determine who is welcome and worthy of rights in cities. We identify four interrelated trends underlining this restructuring: a) the rise of exceptionalism in migration governance, b) the increasing fragmentation of migration governance; c) the outsourcing of migration policy implementation and service provision; and d) the abandonment of gateway cities as the de facto ‘integration engines.’ Together these trends encapsulate the politics of scarcity framed under a neoliberal logic that defines migrants and asylum seekers as politically ‘costly’ though implicitly recognized as economically ‘necessary’ for ensuring urban growth and revitalization.
Non-Citizen Voting: The Evolving Case of New York City
Primary Investigators: Patrich Co, Cynthia Golembeski, Tim Komatsu, Vasiliki Malouchou Kanellopoulou, Eduardo Mora Zúñiga, Sebastean Pujols, Connor Smith, and Ruilong Zhang, Graduate Students, The New School for Social Research
In order to understand the approval of this legislation, we plan to examine aspects of the legislative process, including the ways in which the bill entered the political agenda and the power dynamics that affected its passage, both within the city council and in a broader institutional context. In mapping out these dynamics, we plan to assess the role of institutional actors, interest groups and CBOs as negotiators, advocates and components of the bill’s supporting coalition. An understanding of similar bills that have been passed may allow us to see what strategies that particular actors drew from to result in its passage by City Council.
We will examine literatures related to the history of migration in New York City, with a particular focus on major waves of immigration from the 19th Century to the present day, theory and research linking shifts in global capitalism to the formation and subjectivity of diasporic communities, and major scholars writing about urban citizenship. In this review, we will highlight some of the major moments of political organizing and agency of non-citizen communities and the historical evolution of claims to membership and rights in the city. Our aim is to understand how these claims have evolved and/or been co-opted in the present moment, as well as who has been included or excluded in this new subject of the ‘non-citizen voter’ in New York City.