LAIS Program, Historical Studies Program, Center for Civic Engagement, Anthropology Program, American and Indigenous Studies Program, and Sociology Program Present

Parks, Plazas, and Planters: Homelessness and Ecological Development

In the 1990s, the well-known tactic of "broken-windows policing" targeted homeless people by removing them from core areas of New York City and other global mega-cities. Yet today, with a progressive administration and softer policing in place, homeless New Yorkers still find themselves unable to exist comfortably in public space. How should we understand this shift? In this presentation, I argue that the regime of anti-homelessness in New York has shifted to what I call "ecological development," and present evidence from an ethnographic study to show how green spaces, linear parks, and urban plaza areas have taken up the mantle of anti-homelessness, and how homeless activists resist these nefarious tools of urban planning and development.

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For more information, call 773-853-1901, or e-mail [email protected].

Time: 6:00 pm – 7:15 pm EDT/GMT-4

Location: Olin Humanities, Room 102

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