[In Memoriam] Peter Kwong Distinguished Professor of Urban Affairs and Planning, Hunter College; Professor of Sociology, CUNY Graduate Center; Ph.D., Columbia University

Samuel Stein

Urban Geographer who specializes in issues of labor and housing in New York City. Adjunct faculty at John Jay College and CUNY’s Joseph S. Murphy Institute for Worker Education and Labor Studies.

In this, the second brief in the Roosevelt House series on Affordable Housing, “Preserve and Protect Chinatown,” Peter Kwong (Distinguished Professor of Urban Affairs and Planning at Hunter) and Samuel Stein (Adjunct Professor at John Jay College and the Murphy Institute) argue for making Chinatown a special zoning district as adjacent neighborhoods become gentrified.

As Kwong and Stein write:

‘The effects of gentrification are evident all over Chinatown. Eviction and harassment have become commonplace. Landlords are pushing out working class immigrant families in favor of wealthier tenants. Luxury towers and hotels rise on the edges and art galleries, hip restaurants and nightclubs are popping up. And meanwhile, real estate interests characterize the neighborhood as dirty and backward while enticing investors with the “brand” of Chinatown and its cultural heritage.’

Read the entire brief, here (PDF).

Part of the series of Roosevelt House Issue Briefs on Affordable Housing.