TOWARDS A
RIGHT TO HOUSING

PROJECT: educational brochure, design and urban ecologies studio I - parsons school of design

TEAM: design and urban ecologies class 2015

PARTNERS: UHAB's national co-op research project & solidarity economy project

YEAR: 2016

LOCATION: new york, ny

THEMES: right to housing, cooperative housing, gentrification, displacement, urban strategies

>> take a look at the brochure on issu

In the setting of the current neoliberal ideology of the “free market,” housing in New York City, despite being a basic necessity, has become a commodity for the accumulation of wealth. Low-income populations struggle for affordable living space in the city while high-end luxury housing sits vacant as a form of speculative investment. This counts especially true for the neighborhood of Bushwick, one of the most contested urban spaces in the city. In this context it becomes necessary to ask how design can be used as a tool for democratization and to advance a right to the city.

In 2016, I was part of a participatory action research project on cooperative housing models between Parsons and the National Coop Research—led by the Urban Homesteading Assistance Board (UHAB) and the Solidarity Economy Project. The outcome of this research was an educational brochure on housing rights. Tailored to low-income residents living in limited equity co-ops, rent stabilized apartments, public housing, and other forms of government subsidized affordable housing, the brochure provides an analysis of the state of the current housing crisis in Bushwick, paired with a review of existing affordable housing rights, and strategies of expanding the right to housing. The brochure strategically makes accessible information as a basis for informed collective action against gentrification and displacement.