Past Exhibition

Affordable Housing in New York: The People, Places, and Policies that Transformed a City

February 10 – May 28, 2016

About

Affordable Housing in New York: The People, Places, and Policies that Transformed a City

February 10 – May 28, 2016

Curated by Matthew Gordon Lasner, Nicholas Dagen Bloom, Matthias Altwicker

A lucky million-and-a-half New Yorkers rent or own apartments developed under affordable-housing programs. The exhibition provides an unparalleled window into the reality of this vast system by bringing together original photographs by award-winning photographer and sociologist David Schalliol, large-scale interactive models of apartment interiors through contemporary photos taken by public housing residents through the acclaimed Project Lives program, an illustrated timeline, maps, archival material, and more. The exhibition also offers innovative ideas for the future of affordable housing by students from nine schools of architecture from around the world, which accompany the publication of Affordable Housing in New York: The People, Places, and Policies That Transformed a City, a landmark anthology of case studies and images documenting America’s largest and most successful affordable housing system. By focusing on the lived experience of New York City housing built for low and middle income families over time, the exhibition revisits the city’s singular housing achievement as inspiration for finding bold and creative solutions for tomorrow.

This project will be supplemented by a full schedule of interdisciplinary public programming including walking tours of the case study projects featured in the show, led by the curators with Hunter College. All programs are free and will be open to the public.

This exhibition is made possible by Hunter College Art Galleries, the Hunter College President’s Fund for Faculty Advancement, and the New York Institute of Technology: School of Architecture and College of Arts and Sciences, The Journal of Planning History, and Princeton University Press.

Programming

Walking Tours:
Upper Harlem (Dunbar Apartments and Harlem River Houses); East Harlem public-housing superblocks and community centers; Lower East Side (Amalgamated Dwellings, Co-op Village, Vladeck Houses); Parkchester, Bronx; Roosevelt Island; Long Island City (Queensbridge, Queensview, Ravenswood); Western Queens (Sunnyside Gardens, Phipps, Woodside Houses, Boulevard Gardens); Melrose Common and Via Verde, South Bronx; Co-op City.

February 19, 2016
Gallery Talk and Site Tour: Upper Harlem
Details: Gallery talk with curator Matthew Gordon Lasner followed by a walking tour of Upper Harlem’s Dunbar Apartments and Harlem River Houses.

February 24, 2016
The Politics of Affordable Housing
Location: Roosevelt House Institute of Public Policy
Details: This event brings together curators Matthew Lasner and Nicholas Bloom in conversation with Vicki Been, Commissioner of the City of New York’s Department of Housing Preservation and Development; Judi Kende, Vice President and New York market leader for Enterprise Community Partners; Helen Rosenthal, New York City Council Member representing District 6 on Manhattan's Upper West Side; and Alex F. Schwartz, Professor at Milano School of International Affairs, Management, and Urban Policy at the New School, and Director of the Milano School's Urban Policy Lab. More information...

March 2, 2016
Film Night: NYCHA Then and Now
Location: Silberman School of Social Work
Details: An evening featuring starkly contrasting visions of public housing in New York City. The evening begins with a short, funny, and optimistic view of public housing in the Queens in the 1950s and 1960s as featured in the film Pomonok Dreams. Film followed by a series of new short films exploring public housing in the Bronx today and the many challenges faced by residents living there. The filmmakers and producers of both films will be on hand for a short Q & A after the screenings.

March 4, 2016
Gallery Talk and Site Tour: East Harlem
Details: Gallery talk with curator Nicholas Dagen Bloom followed by a walking tour of East Harlem’s public-housing superblocks and community centers.

March 11, 2016
Gallery Talk and Site Tour: Lower East Side
Details: Gallery talk with curator Nicholas Dagen Bloom followed by a walking tour of the Lower East Side’s Amalgamated Dwellings, Co-op Village, and Vladeck Houses.

March 15, 2016
Book Talk at LandmarkWest
Location: 35 West 67th Street (CUNY Macaulay Honors College)
Details: Nicholas Dagen Bloom and Matthew Gordon Lasner discuss the companion book, Affordable Housing in New York.

March 16, 2016
The Next 100 Years of Affordable Housing
Location: Cooper Union Great Hall
Details: This event brings together curators Matthew Gordon Lasner and Nicholas Dagen Bloom in conversation with Shola Olatoye, commissioner of the New York City Housing Authority; Alexander Gorlin, FAIA, architect of Nehemiah Spring Creek, the Brook, and other innovative affordable housing complexes; Gwendolyn Wright, Professor of Architecture, History, and Art History, Columbia University; Joseph Heathcott, Associate Professor of Urban Studies, The New School; Carol Lamberg, former Executive Director, Settlement Housing Fund.

March 24, 2016
Gallery Talk and Site Tour: Roosevelt Island
Details: Gallery talk with curator Matthias Altwicker, AIA followed by a walking tour of Roosevelt Island.

April 8, 2016
Gallery Talk and Site Tour: Long Island City
Details: Gallery talk with curator Nicholas Dagen Bloom followed by a walking tour of Long Island City’s Queensbridge, Queensview, and Ravenswood.

April 15, 2016
Gallery Talk and Site Tour: Western Queens
Details: Gallery talk with curator Matthew Lasner followed by a walking tour of Western Queens’ Sunnyside Gardens, Phipps, Woodside Houses, and Boulevard Gardens.

April 19, 2016
Book Talk at The Skyscraper Museum
Location: The Skyscraper Museum, 39 Battery Place
Details: Nicholas Dagen Bloom and Matthew Gordon Lasner discuss the companion book, Affordable Housing in New York.

April 22, 2016
Gallery Talk and Site Tour: Melrose, South Bronx
Details: Gallery talk with curator Nicholas Dagen Bloom and Karen Kubey of new affordable housing at Melrose Commons, including Via Verde.

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Book Talks

“The Next 100 Years of Affordable Housing” event at Cooper Union with curators Lasner and Bloom, Shola Olatoye, Alexander Gorlin, Gwendolyn Wright, Joseph Heathcott, and Carol Lamberg

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Guest Appearances

Al Jazeera America: “Inside Story,” Nicholas Dagen Bloom, March 14, 2016
AM New York: “Donald Trump’s NYC Legacy,” March 7, 2016
WBAI-FM: “City Watch", Nicholas Dagen Bloom and Matthew Gordon Lasner, December 19, 2015