Photography by Rashedul Deepon, Master in Urban Planning student, is featured in  The NYC Hustle exhibition Strictly New York 3 August 25-27, 2016. For further reading, click here.

Prof. Matthew Lasner argues for more government subsidies for housing in The Nation's article " The Case for Public Housing". For further reading, click here.

MSUPL students Samantha Chiafolo, Dina Amer, Wednesday Moore, and Rashad Dismute were selected as New York State Excelsior Fellows 2016-2017. The fellowship program is an initiative to bring highly talented graduates into government service. Fellows will be working over the next two year on high level policy initiatives at the state level.

Hunter UPP Professor Jill Simone Gross' latest Journal article "Hybridization and Urban Governance: Malleability, Modality, or Mind-Set?" Urban Affairs Review 1078087416637127, first published on April 11, 2016 as doi:10.1177/1078087416637127 just released for viewing Online First at Urban Affairs Review. The article is part of a mini symposium on urban governance with Susan E. Clarke, Allison Bramwell and Jon Pierre.

UPP Prof. Jill Simone Gross's newest article "Migrants and the Right to the City" has just been published in Yasminah Beebeejaun (Ed.) The Participatory City (Berlin: JOVIS Verlag GmbH, 2016). The article explores "ongoing patterns of exclusion, and the inability of cities to engage citizens in efforts to build socially cohesive neighborhoods." She asks, "what if anything a right to the city might offer to planners seeking to counter or challenge the forces of...balkanization in the contemporary city?" She uses the case of Dublin, Ireland to illustrate these dilemmas.

Details of the book can be found at https://www.jovis.de/en/books/details/the-participatory-city.html

Prof. Jill Simone Gross, Director of the M.S. Urban Policy and Leadership program, was elected to serve a second term as Chair of the Urban Affairs Association. The second term runs from spring 2016 to spring 2017.

Professors John Chin, Sigmund Shipp, Jill Simone Gross, current MS Urban Policy and Leadership Student Caitlin Ho, and ABD Marry Rocco (University of Pennsylvania and Hunter, MUP graduate) just returned from a fantastic Urban Affairs Association Conference in San Diego. They all made our Department shine, while bringing a strong lens to issues of social justice!

Prof. John Chin and Caitlin Ho presented their paper: "Gendered Labor Markets within Ethnic Economies: Asian Immigrant Women Working in Sexually Oriented Massage Parlors in New York City," on behalf of John Chin, Hunter College CUNY; Lois M. Takahashi, UCLA; Douglas J. Wiebe, University of Pennsylvania; Caitlin Ho, Hunter College CUNY

Prof. Sigmund Shipp presented a paper Titled: "The Geography of White Poverty", on behalf of Sigmund Shipp, Hunter College; Lynn McCormick, Hunter College; Mary Rocco, University of Pennsylvania.

Mary Rocco, MUP Hunter, ABD University of Pennsylvania gave a paper on her doctoral work titled, "Revitalizing Legacy Cities in the 21st Century: The Role of Foundations"

And Prof. Jill Simone Gross brought an international lens to her standing room only Colloquy titled: "Re-thinking Justice in the City in the Wake of Ferguson and Baltimore" with Todd Swanstrom, University of Missouri-St. Louis; Michael Leo Owens, Emory University; Henry Taylor, University of Buffalo; and Cathy Schnieder, American University.

Other notable Hunter sightings at the conference included former Teaching Fellow Kimberly Libman (PhD Environmental Psychology, CUNY Graduate Center, now at the New York Academy of Medicine). Dr, Libman presented a paper titled"New York State Hospital “Community Building” Investments: Will They Advance Health Equity?." Shauneequa Owusu, a graduate of the MS Urban Affairs program (currently at New York Academy of Medicine) moderated a panel titled "Health and Community Development: Rethinking Anchor Investments and Institutions." Fredrica D. Kramer, DPA, gave a paper titled "The Loss of Social Diversity in Urban Revitalization and the Promise of Social Impact Assessment to Fix It." Dr, Kramer is an educator, researcher and consultant who came to Hunter to work with Paul Davidoff and was in the first class of MUP graduates in 1968. Dr. Kramer, is currently based in Washington DC. Also in attendance was Professor Kevin Keenan, PhD. ( College of Charleston, and among our adjunct summer school faculty), who gave a paper titled,"The Gender Values-Vulnerability Nexus and Studying Societal Responses to Terrorism."

Prof. Laxmi Ramasubramanian has been appointed by Secretary of the Interior, Sally Jewell, to serve on the National Geospatial Advisory Committee (NGAC). The Committee will review and comment on geospatial policy and management issues and provide a forum to convey views representative of non-Federal partners in the geospatial community. Prof. Ramasubramanian will hold a three-year appointment concluding December 31, 2018.

Additional information can be found at:
https://www.doi.gov/pressreleases/interior-department-appoints-new-members-and-leadership-national-geospatial-advisory

Prof. Matthew Lasner's book and exhibit on affordable housing featured in "The Long, Complicated History of Affordable Housing in New York," written by Eillie Anzilotti, The Atlanta City Lab.

UPP Visiting Professor Pablo Vengoechea’s project, The Landmark Colony, is the focus of New York Times article,”New Life for Staten Island’s Derelict Farm Colony”, written by David W. Dunlap, January 20, 2016.

The Landmark Colony project, headed by architects Pablo Vengoechea and Timothy G. Boyland is a master plan for the redevelopment of Staten Island’s derelict Farm Colony. Staten Island Developer, Raymond Masucci purchased 45 acres of the Farm Colony for $1 and plans to rehabilitate it at a cost of about $91 million dollars. The plan includes building approximately 350 senior-targeted condominium units, the rehabilitation of 5 of the 11 historic buildings, approximately 17,000 SF of commercial space, and much more. For further reading, click here.

Prof. Matthew Lasner's new book, "Affordable Housing in New York:The People, Places, and Policies That Transformed a City", is the subject of Slate Magazine article, "The People Who Call New York’s Affordable Housing Developments Home", written by Jordan G. Teiche, February 1, 2016.

UPP Distinguished Professor Peter Kwong quoted in Radio Free Asia, CBS Money Watch, and AlJazeera, December 2015.

China Seeks Wider Global Reach With African Loans, Naval Presence: Analysts Reported
by Yang Jiadai for RFA's Mandarin Service. Translated and written in English by Luisetta Mudie, Radio Free Asia, December 4, 2015.

Xi Jinping delivers a speech in Johannesburg, South Africa, Dec. 4, 2015 announcing China would be extending $60 billion in debt facilities to African countries as well as writing off existing loans in a three-year plan to extend its influence in the region. Peter Kwong, Distinguished Professor at the City University of New York, agreed, saying that China appears to be taking a well-trodden colonialist path in Africa. "It's very similar to the [European] colonialism of the 19th century," Kwong said. "It's not just about resources; it's also about achieving political control over these places." For further reading, click here..

China's crackdown on graft, media obscures picture for investors
Written by Robert Hennelly, Money Watch, December 21, 2015.

"Nobody inside China wants to do news or documentaries anymore because the politics are so unsettled," said Peter Kwong, a documentary filmmaker and professor of Chinese-American history at Hunter College in New York. "They are doing very safe things. People are intimidated." For further reading, click here..

Gentrification threatens Chinatowns across the US
Development and rising rents are pushing many ethnic Chinese out of the neighbourhoods they call home.
Written by Gabriel Elizondo, Lucia He, Business & Economy, United States, Aljazeera, December 29, 2015.

"A Chinatown is not just where the people reside. Chinatown is a place where social networks, economic fabrics have been built," Kwong said. "New immigrants come, want to adjust, want to find a job, want to know how to fund a business. And the information, the material, the supplies, all these things come from a place like Chinatown."The development of cities has been pressuring Chinese communities to move out of the neighbourhoods where they have been living for decades, according to Kwong. For further reading, click here..

UPP Professor Matthew Lasner and Prof. Nicholas Bloom, NYIT, co-editors of "Affordable Housing in New York: The People, Places, and Policies that Transformed a City", discuss the history of housing in NYC on CUNY TV’s "Eldridge and Company", December 8, 2015. For further reading, click here.

Photos from Professor Matthew Lasner’s new book, "Affordable Housing in New York", are featured in the New York Times article, “An Affordable Place of One’s Own”.

UPP Prof. Matthew Lasner and Alicia Glen, New York Deputy Mayor for Housing and Economic Development interview with VICE on affordable housing in New York,"Can New York Save Itself from Out-of-Control Rents?", November 8, 2015. Prof. Lasner shares his views on Mayor de Blasio’s ten year housing plan. For further reading click here.

"Dont Make Times Square square: Be careful not to turn the commons into an overmanaged suburban space" article by Anthony Maniscalco,UPP Adjunct Associate Professor and author of “Public Spaces, Marketplaces and the Constitution”, is published in the New York Daily News Opinion Section, Sunday October 11, 2015.

Our 2009 Urban Planning degree alum, Ryan Rzepecki, is the CEO of Social Bicycles (SoBi), an NYC-based company that recently won a contract to manage Portland's bike share system. The proposal calls for a 600-bike fleet as part of a long-delayed bike rental program to be rolled out as soon as next summer in order to help renew Portland's reputation as a bicycle-friendly city. Click here to read more...

UPP Distinguished Professor Peter Kwong, known by many in Chinatown as the Dean of Chinatown scholars, is quoted in the September 24, 2015 New Yorker Magazine article, “How Has Chinatown Stayed Chinatown?” Prof. Kwong, the author of numerous books on Chinese-American immigrants says, “Chinatown has reinvented itself, that’s why it’s still here.” For further reading, click here.

Ryan Rzepecki,Hunter MUP 2009 alum is CEO of Social Bicycles (SoBi), an NYC-based company that recently won a contract to manage Portland's bike share system. Click here to read the article, "Portland says bike share coming in 2016, names bicycle supplier"

Hunter MUP students Mia Moffett and Melissa Plaut gain scholarships for the fall 2015 semester through Advancing Women in Transportation (WTS) Greater New York Chapter.

On Thursday, July 9, HunterUAP students traveled to Washington DC where they presented the research findings to senior level White House staff. Students studied the planning and implementation of the Obama Administration’s place-based initiatives.

The project grew out of the URBG 702 Structure of the Urban Region class offered in Summer Session I. For this class, students studied various urban plans, policies and programs at national, regional, city and neighborhood scales. Under the guidance of Adjunct Professor Mary Rocco, students gathered and analyzed data from five specific geographies along with the implementation of placed-based initiatives such as the Partnership for Sustainable Communities, Promise Zones, and the Mayor's Challenge to End Homelessness. Rocco, an alumnus of both the Urban Studies and Master of Urban Planning programs at Hunter, coordinated the project to demonstrate the connection between the classroom and on the ground urban practice in cities and regions. The White House Community Solutions team, led by Tara McGuinness, plans to disseminate the findings of the students' work to their partners in each of the places studied.

For more information, please contact Mary Rocco at mrocc@hunter.cuny.edu or rocco.mary@gmail.com.

Mary Rocco and students in front of the Old Executive Office building where they presented

Mary Rocco and students in front of the White House

Dash Henley presents as Tara McGuinness and Victoria Collins look on

Philip Mark Plotch, Political Science Professor at St. Peter's University in Jersey City, NJ and former UAP Adjunct Lecturer, is interviewed on WNYC in a 2-part interview, "The New Tappan Zee Isn't as Innocent as It Looks," about the political history of the new crossing being built north of the Tappan Zee Bridge and his book " Politics Across the Hudson."

UAP Chair Joseph P. Viteritti interviews with the New York Times,"What Bill DeBlasio Can Learn From John Lindsay".

Joseph P. Viteritti, Urban Planning and Policy Department Chair and editor of "Summer in the City: John Lindsay, New York and the American Dream" interviews with the New York Times, "What Bill de Blasio Can Learn From John Lindsay".

Associate Professor Lynn McCormick, who teaches courses in economic development, employment policy and planning, and manufacturing retention, authored a chapter in the recently published Handbook of Manufacturing Industries in the World Economy (Edward Elgar Publishing, 2015). Entitled “The city and industry: deurbanizing manufacturing in New York City?,” the chapter examines the issues surrounding manufacturing retention in the city.

As the chapter points out, in 1950s, New York City was the largest manufacturing hub in the United States, with over one million workers. Today, manufacturers in the city employ about 75,000 people, or less than 3 percent of all local workers. Planners and policymakers face a question of whether to attempt to retain the manufacturing that remains or let it go and foster service sector expansion instead. For further reading, click here.

Each year, the Environmental Design Research Association recognizes professional and scholarly excellence in environmental design. Award-winning projects reflect an interdisciplinary approach that is enduring, human-centered, sustainable, and concerned with the experiential relationship between people and their environment (built and natural).

This year, the Great Places book award is being given to Community Matters: Service Learning in Engaged Design Planning, co-edited by Associate Professor Sigmund Shipp.

The award will be formally announced and presented at EDRA46LosAngeles, the 2015 EDRA conference held May 27-30, 2015 in Los Angeles, California. The winning entries will be on display throughout the conference and publicized throughout the year in various print and electronic publications.

Professor Shipp is the Director of the Urban Studies program. His research has involved a study of urban renewal, worker-owned cooperatives, and the Black church and college community development corporations.

The Urban Affairs and Planning Department proudly congratulates Brian Lamberta on becoming a 2015-2016 Urban Fellow. The Urban Fellows Program is sponsored by The City of New York and administered by the Department of Citywide Administrative Services (DCAS). The program is designed to introduce America's finest college students and graduates to local government and public service.

Brian credits the assistance of UAP faculty members as being invaluable in guiding him toward the fellowship, specifically in terms of his professional growth and sharpening his academic skills. His placement is still unknown, but he is leaning toward the New York City Department of Small Business Services.

The Urban Affairs Association (UAA) is the international professional organization for urban scholars, researchers, and public service professionals. Congratulations to Associate Professor Jill Gross, who has just been elected Chair of the UAA Governing Board.

From the UAA website: “The Urban Affairs Association is dedicated to creating interdisciplinary spaces for engaging in intellectual and practical discussions about urban life. Through theoretical, empirical, and action-oriented research, the UAA fosters diverse activities to understand and shape a more just and equitable urban world.”

UAA includes over 700 institutional, individual, and student members from colleges and universities throughout North America, South America, Europe, Africa, and Asia. Among its other activities, UAA sponsors the Journal of Urban Affairs, a refereed annual journal, publishing manuscripts related to urban research and policy analysis of interest to both scholars and practitioners.

Prof. Gross is the Director of the Graduate program in Urban Affairs. Her primary areas of research are in comparative urban politics, governance, migration and economic development in Western European and North American cities, with an emphasis on issues of equity.

Jeremiah Cox, a graduate student in urban planning, is the first - prize winner of the 2015 student paper competition for the Transportation and Planning Division (TPD) of the American Planning Association (APA). The first -prize winner is awarded a $1,000 cash prize. Jeremiah's paper, "The Shrinking, Rural Intercity Bus Network: A Problem of Immobility for Rural Residents without Automobiles and Possible Solutions, " is posted on the American Planning Association's website.

Cheers to Jeremiah!

UAP Professor and Director of the Urban Affairs program, Jill Simone Gross was recently published in Cities: The International Journal of Urban Policy and Planning. Her work, co-authored with Hank V. Savitch and Lin Ye, titled, "Do Chinese cities break the global mold?" investigates the significance of China's new-found globalism.

Professor Gross wrote about a similar subject for the Journal of Urban Affairs in the article titled, "Asia and the Pacific Rim: The New Peri-Urbanization and Urban Theory" with Lin Ye and Richard Legates. She also participated in the Second International Conference on Regional and Urban Development last month at Sun Yat-sen University in Guangzhou, China where urban clusters and regional development were discussed through the lens of contemporary public administration.