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Contested City: Art and Public History as Mediation at New York's Seward Park Urban Renewal Area
2020 Brendan Gill Prize finalist
For forty years, as New York’s Lower East Side went from disinvested to gentrified, residents lived with a wound at the heart of the neighborhood, a wasteland of vacant lots known as the Seward Park Urban Renewal Area (SPURA). Most of the buildings on the fourteen-square-block area were condemned in 1967, displacing thousands of low-income people of color with the promise that they would soon return to new housing—housing that never came. Over decades, efforts to keep out affordable housing sparked deep-rooted enmity and stalled development, making SPURA a dramatic study of failed urban renewal, as well as a microcosm epitomizing the greatest challenges faced by American cities since World War II. Artist and urban scholar Gabrielle Bendiner-Viani was invited to enter this tense community to support a new approach to planning, which she accepted using collaboration, community organizing, public history, and public art. Having engaged her students at The New School in a multi-year collaboration with community activists, the exhibitions and guided tours of her Layered SPURA project provided crucial new opportunities for dialogue about the past, present, and future of the neighborhood. Simultaneously revealing the incredible stories of community and activism at SPURA, and shedding light on the importance of collaborative creative public projects, Contested City bridges art, design, community activism, and urban history. This is a book for artists, planners, scholars, teachers, cultural institutions, and all those who seek to collaborate in new ways with communities.
For forty years, as New York’s Lower East Side went from disinvested to gentrified, residents lived with a wound at the heart of the neighborhood, a wasteland of vacant lots known as the Seward Park Urban Renewal Area (SPURA). Most of the buildings on the fourteen-square-block area were condemned in 1967, displacing thousands of low-income people of color with the promise that they would soon return to new housing—housing that never came. Over decades, efforts to keep out affordable housing sparked deep-rooted enmity and stalled development, making SPURA a dramatic study of failed urban renewal, as well as a microcosm epitomizing the greatest challenges faced by American cities since World War II. Artist and urban scholar Gabrielle Bendiner-Viani was invited to enter this tense community to support a new approach to planning, which she accepted using collaboration, community organizing, public history, and public art. Having engaged her students at The New School in a multi-year collaboration with community activists, the exhibitions and guided tours of her Layered SPURA project provided crucial new opportunities for dialogue about the past, present, and future of the neighborhood. Simultaneously revealing the incredible stories of community and activism at SPURA, and shedding light on the importance of collaborative creative public projects, Contested City bridges art, design, community activism, and urban history. This is a book for artists, planners, scholars, teachers, cultural institutions, and all those who seek to collaborate in new ways with communities.
- GenresNonfiction
221 pages, Paperback
Published January 3, 2019
42 people want to read
About the author
Gabrielle Bendiner-Viani
2 books12 followersDr. Gabrielle Bendiner-Viani is a visual urbanist and cofounder of the interdisciplinary studio Buscada. She is the author of The Cities We Need: Essential Stories of Everyday Places (MIT Press, 2024) and Contested City: Art and Public History as Mediation at New York’s Seward Park Urban Renewal Area (University of Iowa Press, 2019), a finalist and honoree for the Brendan Gill Award. A widely exhibited photographer, she was a professor of urban studies at the New School for a decade and a fellow at the International Center of Photography and the Centre for Urban Community Research at Goldsmiths, University of London. She holds a doctorate in environmental psychology from the Graduate Center, CUNY.
Thriving on helping people have meaningful dialogue in our contested cities, she consults with arts and culture organizations on community and art engagements and strategic visioning. Her creative practice has been shown at institutions including MIT, the Brooklyn Public Library, the Center for Architecture, the Sheila C. Johnson Design Center, and Tate Britain. For more on her work, please visit www.buscada.com.
Thriving on helping people have meaningful dialogue in our contested cities, she consults with arts and culture organizations on community and art engagements and strategic visioning. Her creative practice has been shown at institutions including MIT, the Brooklyn Public Library, the Center for Architecture, the Sheila C. Johnson Design Center, and Tate Britain. For more on her work, please visit www.buscada.com.
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Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
November 14, 2018
Thanks to the University of Iowa Press and NetGalley for the advance reading copy.
This is an interesting, multi-layered case study of the Seward Park Urban Renewal Area (SPURA) in New York City. At first glance you might assume that this is only relevant to those working in urban planning contexts but the book touches upon many themes prevalent and current to the study of modern society.
One of the main themes running through the book is that of Gentrification. The impact of Gentrification on the previous residents of the area (residents that were promised the right of return and new housing - a promise that never materialised) is studied and the real stories of those affected by it are recounted. We can see parallels with the occurrences of Gentrification in other cities and particular incidents e.g. the Grenfell Tower fire. This provides some interesting links from a Social and Political Studies perspective.
Another aspect of the study was details of the collaboration between different agencies and interest groups. This would make it an illuminating read for anyone working in the areas of Planning, Urban Development or Local Government in general where collaboration is frequently touted as the way forward but is often shambolic or fraught with politics and ego in actual execution.
The Sociological themes explored also underpin the overall narrative. Power imbalances, the importance of place and community and inequality are some of the different topics explored in depth.
I must admit that the art related stuff passed me by as urban/contemporary art and photography is not a personal interest of mine, but it would certainly be interest to others studying or working in this area.
The author is clearly passionate and knowledgeable about the SPURA project and the book provides the opportunity for people working within these particular contexts to ask themselves some reflective questions about which lessons learned by those involved in the SPURA project could be applied to their work.
This is an interesting, multi-layered case study of the Seward Park Urban Renewal Area (SPURA) in New York City. At first glance you might assume that this is only relevant to those working in urban planning contexts but the book touches upon many themes prevalent and current to the study of modern society.
One of the main themes running through the book is that of Gentrification. The impact of Gentrification on the previous residents of the area (residents that were promised the right of return and new housing - a promise that never materialised) is studied and the real stories of those affected by it are recounted. We can see parallels with the occurrences of Gentrification in other cities and particular incidents e.g. the Grenfell Tower fire. This provides some interesting links from a Social and Political Studies perspective.
Another aspect of the study was details of the collaboration between different agencies and interest groups. This would make it an illuminating read for anyone working in the areas of Planning, Urban Development or Local Government in general where collaboration is frequently touted as the way forward but is often shambolic or fraught with politics and ego in actual execution.
The Sociological themes explored also underpin the overall narrative. Power imbalances, the importance of place and community and inequality are some of the different topics explored in depth.
I must admit that the art related stuff passed me by as urban/contemporary art and photography is not a personal interest of mine, but it would certainly be interest to others studying or working in this area.
The author is clearly passionate and knowledgeable about the SPURA project and the book provides the opportunity for people working within these particular contexts to ask themselves some reflective questions about which lessons learned by those involved in the SPURA project could be applied to their work.
November 20, 2018
I am not sure what to make of this book.
The main focus of “Contested City” is the studio class Gabrielle Bendiner-Viani taught at the New School. In her studio, SPURA (Seward Park Urban Renewal Area) was both, the subject of study and the lens through which to view community engagement, activism and public art.
Thus, the book provides a brief, but comprehensive enough history of the Seward Park sites, simulates a walking tour, introduces community organizations and individual advocates, with whom the author an her students worked, looks at larger, unravelling issue of affordable housing and resident activism at SPURA and, most prominently, at challenges of and approaches to teaching and learning through making and community participation.
Fortunately, the book does not come off as a promotional pamphlet for the New School, but does read as somewhat of an author’s personal manifesto with her work at SPURA as a significant, perhaps formative experience.
She explores issues of working with communities as an outsider, as an artist, a teacher and a student, relating her own and her students’ experiences (something one may learn from as an educator). She candidly talks about the trauma of displacement and housing (in)justice. She narrates the successes and failures of community organizations in finding common ground and forging a compromise on the long-contested patch of LES public land without shying away from the raw emotional side of it all. Very moving.
In the end, while the book seemed a little unfocused simply because of complexity and breadth of topics covered, it is so genuine, self-aware and sensitive to the site and its residents that this human side overrules the shortcomings. I wish more books on urban planning and local histories were written from such a place of personal emotional investment and empathy.
The history of SPURA still remains largely obscure to the general public, and "Contested City" is one effort to document such history (almost in real time) and battle the obscurity before the site is once again irreversibly transformed, erasing so much of its physical memory.
Thank to NetGalley for a digital ARC of this book.
The main focus of “Contested City” is the studio class Gabrielle Bendiner-Viani taught at the New School. In her studio, SPURA (Seward Park Urban Renewal Area) was both, the subject of study and the lens through which to view community engagement, activism and public art.
Thus, the book provides a brief, but comprehensive enough history of the Seward Park sites, simulates a walking tour, introduces community organizations and individual advocates, with whom the author an her students worked, looks at larger, unravelling issue of affordable housing and resident activism at SPURA and, most prominently, at challenges of and approaches to teaching and learning through making and community participation.
Fortunately, the book does not come off as a promotional pamphlet for the New School, but does read as somewhat of an author’s personal manifesto with her work at SPURA as a significant, perhaps formative experience.
She explores issues of working with communities as an outsider, as an artist, a teacher and a student, relating her own and her students’ experiences (something one may learn from as an educator). She candidly talks about the trauma of displacement and housing (in)justice. She narrates the successes and failures of community organizations in finding common ground and forging a compromise on the long-contested patch of LES public land without shying away from the raw emotional side of it all. Very moving.
In the end, while the book seemed a little unfocused simply because of complexity and breadth of topics covered, it is so genuine, self-aware and sensitive to the site and its residents that this human side overrules the shortcomings. I wish more books on urban planning and local histories were written from such a place of personal emotional investment and empathy.
The history of SPURA still remains largely obscure to the general public, and "Contested City" is one effort to document such history (almost in real time) and battle the obscurity before the site is once again irreversibly transformed, erasing so much of its physical memory.
Thank to NetGalley for a digital ARC of this book.
December 18, 2018
3.75 stars rounded up.
Contested City is an exploration of SPURA, the Seward Park Urban Renewal Area, on the Lower East Side of NYC. The author does a great job of fleshing out the history, demographics, culture, and strife of this area. Affordable housing, especially when interwoven with the many facets of gentrification, is a theme that needs to be explored across our nation and Bendiner-Viani sets the framework for this discussion well.
I appreciated how she used her college class to get students involved in their new community. She is correct that too often pedagogy is left wholly theoretical and practical application ignored when students are a group that could be helping to make the most difference. The arts and humanities must be continually engaged with the public so that they are valued. Language is also key in how discussions are framed and provide a window to the true meanings behind projects such as this one.
Unfortunately, though an important topic, the chapters were too long and could have been broken up better topically. There were also so many acronyms that it depersonalized the narrative somewhat, creating a distant feel for an emotionally-charged topic. Fortunately, Bendiner-Viani concludes with great advice for others seeking similar projects and creates a solid roadmap for construction. I’m unsure of whether a book-length exploration was needed to tell this story, but it is still one of which all New Yorkers (at the very least) should be aware.
Thank you to NetGalley and the University of Iowa Press for providing a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.
Contested City is an exploration of SPURA, the Seward Park Urban Renewal Area, on the Lower East Side of NYC. The author does a great job of fleshing out the history, demographics, culture, and strife of this area. Affordable housing, especially when interwoven with the many facets of gentrification, is a theme that needs to be explored across our nation and Bendiner-Viani sets the framework for this discussion well.
I appreciated how she used her college class to get students involved in their new community. She is correct that too often pedagogy is left wholly theoretical and practical application ignored when students are a group that could be helping to make the most difference. The arts and humanities must be continually engaged with the public so that they are valued. Language is also key in how discussions are framed and provide a window to the true meanings behind projects such as this one.
Unfortunately, though an important topic, the chapters were too long and could have been broken up better topically. There were also so many acronyms that it depersonalized the narrative somewhat, creating a distant feel for an emotionally-charged topic. Fortunately, Bendiner-Viani concludes with great advice for others seeking similar projects and creates a solid roadmap for construction. I’m unsure of whether a book-length exploration was needed to tell this story, but it is still one of which all New Yorkers (at the very least) should be aware.
Thank you to NetGalley and the University of Iowa Press for providing a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.
March 18, 2019
In "Contested City," Bendiner-Viani recounts the extraordinary and bizarre story of a redevelopment area in the Lower East Side of Manhattan that was demolished by the city and developers, and then left empty for the coming half a century. The city government and developers were unwilling to move forward with the promised affordable housing, and former tenants remained active and militant in successfully resisting the many terrible, neoliberal, rich-people-centered proposals that came their way. The story says a lot of amazing things about racism, class power, and urban political economy. Bendiner-Viani is a thoughtful artist, engaging people's stories and experiences with richness and substance.
Unfortunately, the fact Bendiner-Viani also has excellent politics and a clear-headed power analysis of this story is not particularly clear in the book. Like a lot of humanities-based, art-focused accounts of major social issues, the book is pretty vague about its explanations of why things happened, what could have happened, or what we (the tenant movement, organizers, tenants, concerned reasonable people) could do differently. That isn't a problem if your interest is making engaging and thoughtful art about complex issues, but I would have liked some sharper explanations. Bendiner-Viani actually does know exactly why shit went down the way it did and who was to blame, and I wished she had found a way to state that a bit more boldly.
Unfortunately, the fact Bendiner-Viani also has excellent politics and a clear-headed power analysis of this story is not particularly clear in the book. Like a lot of humanities-based, art-focused accounts of major social issues, the book is pretty vague about its explanations of why things happened, what could have happened, or what we (the tenant movement, organizers, tenants, concerned reasonable people) could do differently. That isn't a problem if your interest is making engaging and thoughtful art about complex issues, but I would have liked some sharper explanations. Bendiner-Viani actually does know exactly why shit went down the way it did and who was to blame, and I wished she had found a way to state that a bit more boldly.
April 14, 2019
This book is about community, history, art, teaching, activism, housing, and the multiple and complex intersections therein. The place -- and as Bendiner-Viani reminds us, place is everything -- is the Lower East Side, specifically the highly contested Seward Park Urban Renewal Area.
This book was a revelation; a purposeful and brilliant gust of academic fresh air in which the scholar/author tackles a topic with breadth and depth while never sacrificing the human stories at the center. Bendiner-Viani interweaves the history of SPURA, critical theory, the practices of organizing resistance to the threats of development, and the attendant racist threats of urban renewal, with the real lived experiences of the people on the ground, living in and displaced from the neighborhood. I especially appreciate the thought that the author gives her own positionality as a native New Yorker who is examining her own historic connections to the neighborhood. Bendiner-Viani interrogates the many and layered dynamics of community and collaboration as she details her own work. What are the implications for artists, teachers, and others who “come in” to work in a community? Who benefits? Who is consulted? These questions and many more are raised throughout this generous, contemplative, and uniquely creative book.
This book was a revelation; a purposeful and brilliant gust of academic fresh air in which the scholar/author tackles a topic with breadth and depth while never sacrificing the human stories at the center. Bendiner-Viani interweaves the history of SPURA, critical theory, the practices of organizing resistance to the threats of development, and the attendant racist threats of urban renewal, with the real lived experiences of the people on the ground, living in and displaced from the neighborhood. I especially appreciate the thought that the author gives her own positionality as a native New Yorker who is examining her own historic connections to the neighborhood. Bendiner-Viani interrogates the many and layered dynamics of community and collaboration as she details her own work. What are the implications for artists, teachers, and others who “come in” to work in a community? Who benefits? Who is consulted? These questions and many more are raised throughout this generous, contemplative, and uniquely creative book.
July 24, 2019
Kaleidoscopic, interdisciplinary, informative, and ultimately moving. This book partly a review of the history of the SPURA site on the Lower East Side and partly written as a reflection on teaching practice and the challenges/benefits of engaging with community groups and community members. It's not difficult to read but its focus is sort of academic in nature, so might not be for everyone, but very worthwhile for anyone in urbanism, teaching, public history, or a combination of those things.
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews