Author: UB Center for Urban Studies

Selected Media

Your Home’s Value Is Based on Racism

By Dorothy A. Brown

Read the full article from The New York Times here.

“Black Americans are often unable to build wealth from homeownership in the same way their white peers are, in large part because home prices are generally set by the people who make up the majority of buyers: white Americans. White families typically prefer to live in predominantly white neighborhoods with very few or no Black neighbors. Homes in these neighborhoods tend to have the highest market values because most prospective purchasers — who happen to be white — find them most desirable.”

Uncategorized

France’s Alternative to Gentrification

By Owen Hatherley

Read the full article from Tribune, here.

This year’s Pritzker Prize, the highest award in architecture, went to Lacaton and Vassal: French architects who rejected estate demolition and instead renovated public housing – keeping residents in place.

Selected Media

Did the Comprehensive Community Initiatives of the 1990s, early 2000s Bring About Change?

By Meir Rinde

Read the full article from Shelterforce here.

“While their methods and specific goals varied, the CCIs all sought to bring focused resources and the lessons of past revitalization initiatives to poor, urban neighborhoods in order to effect broad change at the individual, neighborhood, and systems levels. They aimed to help local groups organize their communities, develop leaders, improve the physical infrastructure, boost their economies, enhance access to human services, and strengthen social bonds.”

Selected Media

‘Couldn’t possibly be silent’: These women are carrying the torch for Breonna Taylor

By Chloe Atkins

Read the full article from NBCBLK here.

“‘It has given a lot of women a voice who didn’t realize they had one or didn’t know how to use it,’ said Tamika Palmer, Taylor’s mother. ‘To see so many women become part of something and stand up and not feel ashamed or powerless because they’re women — that’s a blessing, and Breonna would’ve loved to see it.'”

Uncategorized

From Brooklyn to Buffalo, Socialists are Organizing to Tax the Rich

By Rob Katz

Read the full article from The Indypendent, here.

When a coalition of 40 organizations wrote to Krueger in February 2020 to propose a package of income taxes on wealthy individuals and large corporations, she told the Daily News that she supports a “robust progressive tax system” but insisted that only the governor, who has spent his decade-long tenure slashing taxes and social spending, could grow total spending for new or expanded programs. In the pre-pandemic world, Krueger made clear that while she supported the sentiment, she believed her hands were tied.

Uncategorized

White supremacists’ fake bomb threats net 3 years in prison

By Associated Press

Read the full article from the Grio, here.

A former Old Dominion University student who joined up with white supremacists in a swatting conspiracy that targeted a Black church, his own university and a Cabinet officer, among others, was sentenced to nearly three years in prison Monday.

Selected Media

Renting Is Terrible. Owning Is Worse.

By Shane Phillips

Read the full article from The Atlantic here.

“The housing situation is only getting worse—more expensive, more inequitable, more precarious. As prices have continued their climb in the country’s most economically dynamic regions, it’s no longer feasible for working-class residents to seek out the best opportunities there. Instead, younger and lower-income residents are being pushed out to places where jobs are less plentiful and lucrative, but where housing, at least, is relatively affordable.”

Selected Media

How Can Blackness Construct America?

By Michael Kimmelman

Read the full article from The New York Times here.

“The MoMA show was organized by Sean Anderson, an associate curator at the museum, and Mabel O. Wilson, an architect, Columbia University professor and author, among much else, of ‘White by Design,’ which describes the Modern’s failure to display and collect works by Black architects and designers. ‘Reconstructions’ proceeds from a question: ‘How do we construct Blackness?’ The architects enlisted to answer this question are a multigenerational mix, including some familiar names. Nearly all run small or solo practices.”

Selected Media

U.S. Pedestrian Deaths Soar In ‘Total Failure’ As States Prioritize Vehicle Speed, Traffic Flow

By Nina Golgowski

Read the full article from HuffPost here.

“Black people were found to have been struck and killed by drivers at an 82% higher rate than white non-Hispanic people during the years 2010 to 2019. The fatality rate in the lowest-income neighborhoods was nearly twice that of middle-income neighborhoods. ‘Low-income communities are significantly less likely to have sidewalks, marked crosswalks, and street design to support safer, slower speeds,’ the report states. ‘It is likely that many of the people walking in these lower-income census tracts are also lower-income themselves.’ People in lower-income communities are less likely to have cars, the report adds.”

Translate »