PROJECTS

Whose City?

Rodrigo Brandao

Canal Street Research Association (Ming & Alex)

Whose NYC?” is a series of short documentary pieces questioning the idea of public spaces in New York City, with a special focus on how communities, activists, and urban planners are fighting against gentrification forces and the indiscriminate use of public spaces by private developers. 

One of the series’ episodes is focused on Red Hook and Sunset Park, two neighborhoods widely considered to be the single largest area left for development in New York City. The episode will profile activists like Carolina Salguero, the founder of PortSide NewYork, who are trying to fight a development plan for the city that privileges the rich and private developers looking to build high-value condos on one of the last seashore areas in the city. Salguero’s nonprofit is advocating for the strategic development of the Red Hook port and Brooklyn waterways as a hub of public transportation and maritime education, as opposed to using the area for more upscale housing units. 

Another episode of the series is focused on efforts in Jackson Heights, Queens, to support recently arrived undocumented immigrants looking to contribute to the neighborhood and make New York their new homes. The episode will feature Nuala O’Doherty, a former attorney who transformed her home basement into an immigration center – and how other members of the Jackson Heights community have organized to turn an “immigration crisis” into an opportunity for the neighborhood to grow and develop other sophisticated mutual aid networks that benefit everybody – not just recently arriving immigrants. 

Link: whosecity.nyc