The Invention of Brownstone Brooklyn

Tuesday, 3/15/11 at 6:30 pm
The Invention of Brownstone Brooklyn: Race and Gentrification in South Brooklyn
Museum of the City of New York

Before Park Slope, Boerum Hill, Carroll Gardens, Cobble Hill, Fort Greene and others, there was South Brooklyn. Labeled a “blighted” industrial wasteland by postwar city planners, the area became re-branded in the 1960s and ’70s as “Brownstone Brooklyn,” as idealistic newcomers allied with longtime residents against urban renewal. While some argue that the gentrification of Brownstone Brooklyn is a successful story of neighborhood revitalization, progressive politics, and human scale planning, others argue that it has become a yuppie disaster, driving up property values and pushing out longtime residents. Suleiman Osman, author of The Invention of Brownstone Brooklyn (Oxford, 2011), moderates a discussion with Eric Demby, co-founder of Brooklyn Flea; D. Kenneth Patton, former divisional dean of the NYU Schack Institute of Real Estate; Amy Sohn, author of Prospect Park West (Simon & Schuster, 2009); and Michelle de la Uz, executive director of the Fifth Avenue Committee, exploring the racial and economic fault lines in the pro-urban ideal and the contested meaning of Brooklyn. This program is presented as part of the ongoing Urban Forum series, New York Neighborhoods: Preservation and Development. $

RESERVATIONS REQUIRED
$12 Non-Members
$8 Seniors and Students
$6 Museum Members

*A two dollar surcharge applies for unreserved, walk-in participants.
For more information please call 917-492-3395 or click here

Previous post:

Next post: