13-04-23 // SOCIAL BY DEFINITION – INTERVIEW WITH SHARON ZUKIN

Old social urbanism: Elizabeth Street, Manhattan
Photo by Richard Rosen

Bernd Upmeyer spoke with Sharon Zukin, an American professor emerita of sociology at Brooklyn College and the CUNY Graduate Center, City University of New York, who often writes about cities, culture, and gentrification. Her new book, The Innovation Complex: Cities, Tech, and the New Economy, examines the shaping of the tech ecosystem in New York. The interview took place via Zoom on April 13, 2023.

Intriguing but Mystifying

Bernd Upmeyer: We believe that there is a current shift in the way we use our spaces and environment socially that involves many aspects of our contemporary social urban life. That is why we think there is currently a unique chance and need to rethink what the term “social” means and should mean for cities today, whether it comes to working, living, playing, or other social urban activities and urbanism in general.
When I first contacted you for this interview you replied that you consider the topic of “New Social Urbanism” as intriguing but also mystifying. What intrigues you about it and what do you consider as mystifying?
Sharon Zukin: Urbanism is inherently and by definition social. So I do not really know what “New Social Urbanism” might mean. Maybe it means a change of attitude, and people feel more responsible for their fellow city residents. Or maybe it means that the elected representatives of the people are promoting new concepts about what urbanism means. Or it could mean something entirely different. I think what the term really suggests is spatial or “sociospatial” change, as geographers used to say: different physical arrangements in the city, from streets to housing to neighbourhoods, with new densities and new geographical concentrations, that reshapes the sense of place. Since the covid-19 pandemic, more people are thinking about these issues, from the design of public spaces to the spatial deconcentration of leisure and reconcentration of work.

BU: You are living since quite a long time in New York City. What are some of the issues people are thinking about now in New York?
SZ: More than anything, at least in New York, people are dealing with the present but looking toward the past. It is a strange moment when people are talking about building for growth, but crises keep us anchored in the present. People are searching for the most logical strategies for dealing with crises – the pandemic, the housing crisis, and the ongoing crises of migration and unemployment – that somehow will not cost too much. Thinking about New York often involves trying to dig the city out of a very deep hole of chronic fiscal crises that cause severe social and economic inequality. There are so many very pressing needs that neither individuals nor the city government can pay for.
At the same time, I see many people on the streets using public space in a bigger way than before, continuing what was happening during the pandemic. More stores, restaurants and cafes are opening. For people like me who remained in the city during the very dark days of the pandemic, the changes on the streets – the liveliness, the vitality, the crush of people – all that is fantastic. Although it was nice to have empty streets and no traffic, it was very depressing, like living in a war zone…

… the complete interview was published in MONU #36 on the topic of New Social Urbanism on October 16, 2023.

Title: Social by Definition
Project: Interview with Sharon Zukin
Date: April 2023
Type: Commissioned interview
Topic: New Social Urbanism
Organizer: MONU
Status: Published
Publications: MONU #36, P. 13-20
Interviewer: Bernd Upmeyer