This course encourages students to explore different kinds of urban issues in Downtown Brooklyn, from gentrification to the new economy, and utilize the neighborhood as an urban laboratory. Downtown Brooklyn, the civic and commercial center of the borough, has attracted new jobs and residents in the past decade. Between 2010 and 2016, according to the Downtown Brooklyn Partnership, the neighborhood has grown in residential population by 31%, and tech, advertising, media and information jobs grew 115; 1,211 new firms were added between 2010 and 2015. However, this growth and economic development mainly benefit people with high human and financial capital. For example, the Fulton Mall has undergone dramatic changes in the past two decades. Once a shopping district for white middle- and upper-middle class Americans until 1940s, it became a commercial center for largely for African American and Caribbean shoppers. In recent years it has transformed yet again, attracting national retail chains and luxury stores. Downtown Brooklyn, in fact, has become a battlefield over gentrification and the displacement of mom-and-pop stores and old residents – mostly people of color, particularly Black residents, who were left behind in the neighborhood during the urban crisis and white flight. These urban transformations raise several questions regarding what Brooklyn is and who belongs here.
We, as a class, will explore the neighborhood together in three ways.
First, we will learn more about the urban history of Downtown Brooklyn through visual materials. My Brooklyn (2013), an excellent documentary about gentrification in Downtown Brooklyn from a working-class African American and Caribbean to an upscale neighborhood, produced by Kelly Anderson and Allison Lirish Dean, raises compelling and critical questions about gentrification-related issues. We will watch this documentary together, and discuss how and why gentrification has transformed the urban identity of Downtown Brooklyn. From there we will start to gather data on the neighborhood.
We will then conduct archival research in order to learn more about the unique traits of Downtown Brooklyn. We will read newspapers and magazines, and construct urban history of Downtown Brooklyn with an emphasis on three themes: 1) urban redevelopment and rezoning – the development of high-rise luxury condos and new luxury shops, 2) new industries – tech, advertising, media and information, and 3) colleges and universities.
Third, we will do two fieldtrips to Downtown Brooklyn and adjacent neighborhoods on Thursdays, in order to observe the urban landscape in Downtown Brooklyn and gather empirical data through observations, what sociologists call fieldwork. Fieldtrip sites include the Fulton Street Mall, Brooklyn Fare and Dekalb Market Hall (and, of course, luxury condos). I will ask students to write a brief one-paragraph-long memo after each fieldtrip.
