Contested City

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.

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.