Thanks for a good meeting today. For next Tuesday, each group should post the draft research question as a blog post on their project site, and each member should continue finding and annotating at least three primary and secondary sources that are relevant to the group’s research question. Earlier posts on primary source research and refining the research question might help, and do not hesitate to reach out with questions.

The following readings will give everyone some background information on the Gowanus. Some groups may have already found these in the course of research.

Please read the following 3 pieces: one is an opinion piece by Joseph Alexiou, author of Gowanus: Brooklyn’s Curious Canal. The next is a booklet that explains zoning and offers templates for workshops and activities to better understand this complicated concept. The last is a primary source, a collection of documents from the NYC Department of City Planning, that together comprise the rezoning proposal for the Gowanus.

  1. Alexiou, Joseph. “The Gowanus Canal Will Never Be Clean.” Brooklyn Daily Eagle, 20 Jan. 2020. https://brooklyneagle.com/articles/2020/01/17/the-gowanus-canal-will-never-be-clean-opinion/.
  2.  Center for Urban Pedagogy, What Is Zoning? 2013. welcometocup.org/file_columns/0000/0530/cup-whatiszoning-guidebook.pdf. Read pages 10-35 and 79-105.
  3. Gowanus Neighborhood Planning Study from the NYC Department of City Planning, 2018. Explore and skim, but no need to read the entire study.

After you’ve read all 3 pieces, write a 150-word reflective blog post, due on April 7 by 5pm. Please respond to the following prompt:

Alexiou offers an overview of the tensions between development and environment while expressing doubt that current practices will ever result in a cleaned-up, safe environment. The Gowanus Planning Study is an overview of a plan to rezone (or upzone) the neighborhood to allow denser residential development. How could New York do things differently, what does “clean” even mean in 2020, and what right to New Yorkers have to a clean and safe place to live? Your reflection could offer a critique of current NYC zoning practices, a critique of the Gowanus draft study, and/or a critique of the EPA cleanup efforts under the Superfund project.