Department News

UPP Chair Joseph Viteritti was quoted in The Atlantic (November 3) for an article entitled "Schools Aren't the Republican Ticket to Victory."

UPP Chair Joseph Viteritti's book on Mayor Bill de Blasio was quoted in the Gothamist article "Did De Blasio Make A Dent In The ‘Tale of Two Cities’? A New Analysis Of NYC Income Inequality Makes A Case," November 30.

Professor Viteritti was quoted by Agence France (November 2), a French news agency; and La Vanguardia (November 2), a Spanish publication in Barcelona on the subject of what we might expect from Mayor Eric Adams.

Professor Nicholas Dagen Bloom was quoted in City Limits article "NYCHA Leaders List Priorities for Next HUD Regional Chief, as Biden Considers Brooklyn Councilmember" and in Gothamist article "Longer NYC Commutes, Household Crowding Linked To Higher COVID-19 Rates"

Professor Nicholas Dagen Bloom interviewed housing legend Carol Lamberg for the New York Housing Conference.

Assistant Professor Lily Pollans’s book, Resisting Garbage: The Politics of Waste Management in American Cities, has just been released by the University of Texas Press. The book examines how some cities are able to defy America’s weak recycling waste regime, while most cities acquiesce to pressure to simply make waste “disappear.” Stay tuned for information about upcoming talks and events!

UPP Chair Joseph Viteritti was the featured guest on Phi on NY, an hour long podcast presentation of the Gotham Philosophical Society, where he discussed "Searching for the Soul of the City," a conversation based on a pair of articles he wrote in June for the Gotham Gazette drawing on materials from his Governing the City course at Hunter UPP.

Professor Nicholas Bloom presented on NYCHA history to students at Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai looking into Designing Healthy Cities. He also lectured and discussed NYCHA urban design with graduate architecture students engaged in rethinking public housing at the Yale School of Architecture.

Prof. Sigmund C. Shipp was invited to be a panelist for a discussion on September 29, 2021 about the Office of the Public Advocate's newly created Racial Impact Policy.

Affiliated UPP Professors Steffie Woolhandler and David Himmelstein's letter to the editor of the New York Times (September 27) regarding “For Democrats, Tough Options on Health Care” speaks to the current Congressional health care debates. The letter is the item after the second picture called "A False Choice on Healthcare."  (Please note that Steffie and David do not have an opinion on antibody treatments for anti-vaxxers, which the first letter on the page addresses). Their letter can be read here.

Associate Professor Laura Wolf-Powers delivered a paper at the Rutgers University-sponsored conference "Negotiating Social Futures: the politics of land development and value capture during and after the COVID-19 pandemic" on September 23.

The Consortium of Race and Gender Scholars (CORGES) invited UPP Associate Professor Karina Moreno to speak in a webinar called "Framing Racial Justice in Public Administration” which took place on September 23rd.  This webinar featured two other panelists, Brandi Blessett and Tia Gaynor, inaugural director and faculty member at the University of Cincinnati’s Master of Public Administration Program, which is currently the only NASPAA-accredited program that specializes in social equity.  The conversation was moderated by Andrea Headley (Georgetown University) and James Wright (Florida State University).

Professor Nicholas Bloom was interviewed on WNYC/Gothamist about Governor Hochul's plans for public housing.

UPP affiliated faculty member Professor Steffie Woolhandler was interviewed on NPR's Marketplace about her study on the low use of medical specialists by patients of color. The interview can be heard here (the story is at 17:00 minutes and runs for about 3.5 minutes).

Professor Jill Simone Gross’ review of Carmen Sirianni’s 2020 book Sustainable Cities in American Democracy: From Postwar Urbanism to a Civic Green New Deal (Lawrence: University Press of Kansas),  has been published in the September 2021 Issue of Perspectives on Politics, 19(3), 1005-1007.

Associate Professor Matthew Lasner discussed the origins of redlining — and its discovery by scholars — with The New York Times in “What Is Redlining?”

MUP student Colin Ryan is awarded the New York City Department of Housing Preservation & Development (HPD) and the New York City Housing Development Corporation (HDC) Housing Fellowship. The HPD-HDC Fellowship is a two-year  rotational program designed to expose individual Fellows to New York City government specifically in the field of affordable housing.

MS UPL alum Paola Martinez (2020) has been appointed as director of local government and legislative affairs for SUNY System. Previously, she was director of social services and community engagement for Catholic Charities at the Betances Houses in the South Bronx. She oversaw a portfolio of 41 buildings and approximately 3,000 residents, making this the largest New York City Housing Authority development, and only the second one in New York City to participate in the Rental Assistance Demonstration program.

Two of the most respected professionals in NYC Land Use & Zoning law, Raymond H. Levin and  UPP Adjunct Associate Professor Mitchell A. Korbey, discuss the changes that have occurred in Brooklyn over the past 30 years.

Herrick Does That Podcast:https://www.herrick.com/podcasts/the-changing-face-of-brooklyn/

Vivian Louie, professor of Urban Planning and Policy, recently co-published in a special issue of the Social Sciences Journal. She wrote “Divide, Divert, & Conquer” Deconstructing the Presidential Framing of White Supremacy in the COVID-19 Era with Anahi Viladrich, formerly of Hunter College, now at Queens College & The CUNY Graduate Center.

Associate Professors Laura Wolf-Powers and Sigmund C. Shipp have been awarded a three-year $294,000 community-engaged research grant from the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation to develop in collaboration with minority entrepreneurs and the Brooklyn Communities Collaborative, a supplier diversity program in Brooklyn, NY.

Professor Matthew Lasner published "Why Condos Caught On In America" in The Conversation. The article discusses the history and appeal of condominiums, a system of shared ownership which Professor Lasner refers to as a "remarkable achievement" that "allows millions of people who don’t want or need whole houses, or who can’t afford them, to live in dignity – or even luxury – in apartments of their own."

UPP affiliated faculty member Prof. Steffie Woolhandler was quoted in the U.S. News article "Patients of Color Less Likely to Get Specialist Care Than White Patients," (July 26), regarding her recent research on the racial and ethnic disparities in outpatient visit rates across 29 specialties.

UPP Chair Joseph Viteritti was quoted in a Gotham Gazette (July 29) article on Mayor de Blasio's Commission on Racial Justice.

Professor Louie, who directs the Hunter College Asian American Studies Program & Center, was quoted in the Christian Science Monitor  ‘I need to vote.’ Why more Asian Americans are staking a political claim.

Prof. Matthew Lasner was quoted in “After Surfside, Calls for Building Oversight Grow” in The American Prospect.

SPRING program application deadline: SEPTEMBER 15th.

FALL/YEAR program application deadline: FEBRUARY 15th.

Undergrad urban studies majors who have at minimum GPA of 3.0 and have completed 60 credits can apply to the Hunter/Bartlett exchange program for a semester abroad. The Bartlett School of Planning, a part of the University College of London, is one of Europe’s most prestigious planning schools. The exchange program begins Spring 2022 and applications for the Spring term must be completed by September 15, 2021.

Undergrad majors should:

1) complete the application available on the link below and

2) let Prof. Sigmund Shipp (shipp@hunter.cuny.edu), the undergrad program director, know of their interest.

Students will pay the current Hunter tuition to study at Bartlett. The credits to be taken in London at Bartlett, which must be pre-approved by Prof. Shipp, will be counted toward the degree.

For more info please visit: http://www.hunter.cuny.edu/educationabroad/programs/semester-hunter-college-programs/semester-exchanges/england-ucl

UPP Chair Joseph Viteritti was quoted in a New York Post (July 8) on speculation that Public Advocate Jumaane Williams might challenge Governor Andrew Cuomo in the Democratic primary for governor next year.  Professor Viteritti was also quoted in The 74 (June 16) on the emergence of charter schools as an issue in the Democratic race for mayor this year.

Associate Professor Matthew Lasner published “Condo Buildings Are at Risk: So Is All Real Estate” in The Atlantic, offering his perspective on the role that condo ownership may—or may not—have played in the tragic collapse of Champlain Towers South.

Associate Professor Laura Wolf-Powers was a featured speaker at an online event sponsored on June 16 by the Urban Design Forum. Prof. Wolf-Powers discussed her research on public value recovery as an avenue by which the benefits of private real estate development might be more equitably distributed across New York City.

UPP Chair Joseph Viteritti has published a pair of essays on "The Soul of New York" in Gotham Gazette that are drawn from the readings in his "Governing the City" course and reflect the themes outlined in the syllabus. Click to read part 1 and part 2.

UPP affiliated faculty member Professor David Himmelstein is quoted in the Newsweek article "Concerns Mount Over Looming Surge in Bankruptcy as COVID Medical Debt Soars" (June 14, 2021), which also cites his research in the American Journal of Public Health.

MUP alum Jen Chantrtanapichate's (2019) emergency food distribution program, which she developed and launched at Sixth Street Community Center in response to the COVID19 pandemic, was featured in a short film "On the Line."

MUP alum Kyle Gorman was featured in the New York Times for his work on the Open Streets program as part of his job as Senior Program Manager at New York City Department of Transportation.

UPP affiliated faculty member Prof. Steffie Woolhandler was quoted in the NY Times article "Poor Americans More Likely to Have Respiratory Problems, Study Finds" regarding her recent research on inequalities in lung health.

Vivian Louie, professor of Urban Policy & Planning, directs the Hunter College Asian American Studies Program & Center, and has been speaking on responses to anti-Asian hate. She was featured in The Thought Project podcast, in conversation with Hunter colleague, historian Manu Bhagavan, also of the CUNY Graduate Center,  and journalist Tanya Domi, who also teaches in Hunter’s Human Rights Program. The podcast: To Stop Anti-Asian Racism, First Remedy Ignorance and Nationalism.

Louie recently moderated the panel discussion, Anti-Asian Violence in the Pandemic Age: Confronting and Curing the Virus of Hate, featuring experts and community leaders, and wrote a short commentary.  Earlier this Spring, she was quoted in Delaware Online and The Washington Post.

Assistant Professors Mehdi Heris and Lily Pollans received an Enhanced Award ($12,000) from the Professional Staff Congress-City University of New York (PSC-CUNY) Research Award Program to work on a project in collaboration with the Mayor’s Office of Resiliency. In this project, they will measure the albedo of building rooftops in New York City to evaluate the effectiveness of the City’s efforts to increase the reflectivity of building rooftops. They will also measure how cool-roof policies can mitigate urban heat island effects.

On May 10 Professor Matthew Lasner spoke in conversation with urban economist Dr. Jenny Schuetz, Senior Fellow at the Brookings Metropolitan Policy Program, about housing policy past and present at “Ill Housed: Housing Policy for the New Deal and Today,” presented by Hunter’s Roosevelt House and the New York City chapter of Living New Deal.

Professor Owen Gutfreund is featured in the "Highways" episode of a newly-released documentary series called "Faster! Humanity's Quest to Save Time", viewable on CuriosityStream.com.

Urban Studies major Turquoise Martin has been selected to receive a $10,000 scholarship award from the Women's Forum of New York

Professor Nicholas Bloom discussed NYCHA's Blueprint for Change in the Hunts Point Express.

Rachel Albetski (MUP 2018) was quoted in this West Side Rag story about her work at the Street Plans Collaborative.

Professor Nicholas Dagen Bloom provided background and commentary in Gothamist on the revival of social housing concepts in the current mayoral campaign: https://gothamist.com/news/big-idea-dianne-morales-wants-bring-social-housing-nyc

Professor Sigmund Shipp was invited to join the Association of Collegiate Schools of Planning Presidential Task Force on Anti-Racism. He has accepted the invitation. The committee will convene Spring/Summer 2021.

Antonio Sieunarine (MUP 2016) was profiled on ABC 7 for his COVID work at the MTA.

On behalf of the entire faculty and staff, UPP Chair Joseph Viteritti congratulates Professor Victoria Johnson, who has received a Guggenheim Award to support her work on a book about the Hudson River artist Frederic Church, which she will be taking up while on sabbatical next year. The prestigious Guggenheim is certainly well-deserved. Professor Johnson's last book, a biography of physician David Hosack, was a finalist for both the Pulitzer Prize in History and a National Book Award.

In the wake of the Atlanta shootings in March 2021, Professor John Chin was interviewed by Vice and the Washington Post about his study of illicit massage parlors. His study was also cited in articles by Gothamist and the Associated Press  (AP). The two AP news articles have been picked up by numerous local and national media outlets.

Professor Nicholas Bloom will be moderating a conversation about NYCHA's future on March 31st. The event is sponsored by the New York Housing Conference: https://thenyhc.org/event/rln-presents-2021-winter-thought-leader-series-with-eva-trimble-2/

UPP Chair Professor Joseph Viteritti was featured in a public conversation at Roosevelt House (virtually) with Thomas Dyja, author of New York, New York, New York: Four Decades of Success, Excess, and Transformation on Tuesday, March 23. Dye's book had been reviewed on the front page of the New York Times Book Review on the previous Sunday (March 21).

Associate Professor Karina Moreno's article, "Joe Biden’s Immigration Reform Doesn’t Do Enough to Help Migrant Workers" was published in Jacobin, March 1, 2021.

Profs. Jill Gross and Sigmund Shipp were invited and participated in the "Race and Class Chat" sponsored by the New York State Human Rights Commission on Friday, February 26, 2021.

Professor Victoria Johnson was featured on CNN, Pix11 News, and ABC World News Tonight this week after harnessing the power of Twitter to find the family pictured in a 1964 photo she found in a used book about 15 years ago. Professor Johnson credits Hunter MUP student Sola Olosunde with inspiring her to use Twitter to share this small piece of history.

UPP's Racial Justice Working Group has released a report summarizing the feedback shared at our community-wide town hall What Does an Anti-racist Department Look Like? The event took place November 20, 2020, and drew more than 85 students, alums, and faculty to engage with this question. The report also summarizes feedback gathered through an online questionnaire related to the event. The report can be viewed and downloaded by clicking here.

Profs. Jill Gross and Sigmund Shipp were invited and participated in the "Race and Class Chat" sponsored by the New York State Human Rights Commission on Friday, March 26, 2021.

Professor Sigmund C. Shipp gave a lecture entitled “A Charge to Keep: Historically Black Colleges and Universities in America"  to the Washington (DC) Friends Meeting (Feb 14), Cathedral Congregations, Racial Justice Task Force at the National Cathedral, Washington, DC (Feb 21), and R.C. Nusbaum Honors College, Norfolk State University, Norfolk, VA (Feb 22). His co-presenter was Professor Gregory Gardner, Norfolk State University.

Professor Nicholas Bloom contributed to a feature on NYCHA in The City. He also provided commentary on Scott Stringer's housing plan in Gothamist.

Associate Professor Laura Wolf-Powers testified on Tuesday 2/23 in favor of the City Council's new comprehensive planning legislation. One of the Council staff instrumental in devising the proposal is Hunter MUP alum Brian Paul (Spring 2011).

Prof. John Chin's report on illicit massage parlors, based on his NIH-funded study, was cited extensively in a recent article by Freedom United, an anti-trafficking organization. The article presents a cautionary tale of well-intentioned anti-trafficking efforts resulting in the criminalization of working immigrant Asian women.

Professor Viteritti was interviewed and quoted in an article in the Haitian Times (February 18) on the practice of discretionary spending by New York City Council members.

UPP Chair Joseph Viteritti was quoted in a Village Voice article on mayoral leadership and the meaning of progressivism (February 18). UPP alum Sam Stein was quoted in the same article.

Assistant Professor Mehdi Heris is co-author of a study published in the Journal of Ecosystem Services, January 29, 2021, on the first Urban Ecosystem accounting for the U.S. The study provides the results of two models for more than 700 cities in the U.S. that quantified the amount of energy savings as the impact of urban trees as well as the value of intercepted rainfall. The research shows that American cities saved $538.6 million as the result of the cooling impacts of trees in 2016. The value of avoided runoff as the ecosystem service of urban trees was $424.7 million in 2016.

For the full article, "Piloting urban ecosystem accounting for the United States," click here.

Professor Nicholas Dagen Bloom is featured in a Gothamist/WNYC article on affordable housing debates in the current mayoral election. MUP graduates Sam Stein (Community Service Society) and Moses Gates (Regional Plan Association) also provided commentary.

A comprehensive website featuring the 2019/2020 exhibition on Housing Density at the Skyscraper Museum, co-curated by Professor Nicholas Dagen Bloom, is now available online: https://skyscraper.org/housing-density/

Professor Laura Wolf-Powers's research on urban manufacturing economies was featured in a report released by the Urban Manufacturing Alliance in December 2020. Read the full report here: https://www.urbanmfg.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/UMA-Sewn-Trades-Mfg-in-the-USA-Final.pdf

Professor Laura Wolf-Powers was quoted in a WHYY Philadelphia article, "How Black Philadelphians Lived MLK's fight for 'open housing'": https://whyy.org/articles/how-black-philadelphians-lived-mlks-fight-for-open-housing/

UPH Professor and UPP affiliated faculty member Philip Alcabes' new essay, "The Cost of Prudentialism," was published in The American Scholar, (January 16, 2021). Prof. Alcabes explains the consequences of the public health profession's abdication of its former role of social engineer.

Here are links to his prior essays on coronavirus, in case you missed them:

Race and Public Health (9/5/20)
Beyond Technical Fixes for Coronavirus (4/21/20)
Coronavirus: This is not a Plague (4/6)
Anxiety of Culpability (3/31)
Coronavirus and its Costs (3/25)
Coronavirus as Crisis (3/20)
State of Vulnerability (3/15)
How to Think About the Coronavirus (3/10)

MUP graduate students in Professor Nicholas Bloom's Fall 2020 urban planning studio analyzed underutilized office parks and strip malls to identify opportunities for new affordable housing and related transit upgrades. Their full report, developed for the Westchester County Department of Planning, is here: http://www.hunterurban.org/studio/growing-opportunity-in-westchester

Prof. Matthew Lasner and MUP student Sola Olosunde explore video as a historical medium and the impact of Olosunde’s research in a conversation published recently on PLATFORM: Found Footage of Black New York: Ten Questions for Sola Olosunde

Prof. Matthew Lasner has co-authored an editorial in PLATFORM titled “The Sixth of January” reflecting upon the horrific events at the Capitol last week.