Disorderly space: Power relations and the postwar decline of New York City

This dissertation undertakes a social, cultural, and political history of New York City from the end of World War II to the mid-1990s. It documents efforts by city powerholders to reclaim neighborhoods perceived to be in decline and public spaces viewed as disorderly through aggressive urban planning and policing strategies. Racial minorities suffered disproportionately from these public policies and they developed strategies of resistance visible in public space. The conflict over the appropriate use and definition of urban space that ensued, has influenced contemporary proposals that call for the privatization of public spaces and their tight control.

Using public policy documents, media reports, organization minutes, maps, photographs, ethnographies, court documents, graffiti, and film, this dissertation studies the relationships between the politics of race, the decline of neighborhoods, and redevelopment. This project expands upon previous research in that it integrates political-economic approaches with aspects of ideology and popular culture. It shows how processes such as racial and ethnic succession, deindustrialization, and disrepair of the built environment combine with perceptions of the “good life,” racial anxieties, and ideological dimensions of city rebuilding. It focuses on four New York City areas: Morningside Heights, the South Bronx, Times Square, and the Lower East Side.

Five interrelated chapters comprise the dissertation. Chapter One examines urban decline at the neighborhood level, by outlining efforts by Columbia University and other institutions to stop the expansion of African American Harlem into Morningside Heights. Chapter Two explores the urban collapse of the South Bronx with an emphasis on racial conflict, failed public policies, and representations of deplorable spatial conditions in the mass media. Chapter Three shows the effect that the graffiti movement had on the image of New York City, and how efforts to eradicate graffiti became synonymous with the city's economic recovery. Chapter Four chronicles city government efforts to improve conditions in Times Square, which has been the most high profile public space in New York City since the beginning of the twentieth century. Chapter Five explores the conflict between the authorities and homeless people, squatters, and street vendors in the Lower East Side.