Building the Outer Boroughs: Architecture and Urbanism beyond Manhattan

Venue and Dates: Brooklyn College, March 23, 2017

Organizers: Anna Jozefacka (Fellow, Leonard A. Lauder Research Center for Modern Art, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2015-17) and Malka Simon (Brooklyn College)

Co-sponsored by the Wolfe Institute for the Humanities and the Art Department at Brooklyn College

CALL FOR PAPERS:

Before they were the “outer boroughs,” the Bronx, Brooklyn, Queens, and Staten Island developed as cities, towns, and villages in their own right, independent of New York City. Though these so-called outer boroughs comprise most of today’s New York and are part of its architectural identity, the bulk of existing scholarship in architecture is persistently Manhattan-centric. However, there remains much to be said about New York City’s outer boroughs and their neighborhoods. The different pace of growth and initial political independence of these parts of the city have yielded architecturally varied urban landscapes well worth examining.

This symposium seeks to highlight the study of New York City’s architecture and urban development outside of Manhattan. We invite papers that expand beyond the existing field of scholarship on the city’s built environment. We aim to discuss the variety of building types, styles, and urban patterns evident in the Bronx, Brooklyn, Queens, and Staten Island and to consider their roles in shaping the city. We welcome interdisciplinary papers that address architecture within the context of other fields. Papers might examine topics that include but are not limited to the following:

Early colonial settlements
Urban archeological sites
Industrial architecture and infrastructure
Civic, cultural, and religious centers past and present
Housing typologies across the outer boroughs
Gentrification and architectural style
Intersections of the natural and built environments
The skyscraper outside of Manhattan
Adaptive reuse of buildings and sites
Preservation in the face of real estate development
Building with the “The Other”: voices of immigrants, women, and architects of color

In recent years, native and new residents alike have “discovered” the richness of life outside Manhattan, leading to a wave of fast-paced development and neighborhood

transformations. The time is right for a closer scholarly examination of the places and spaces of New York City’s outer boroughs.

Please send a 500-word paper proposal and an academic CV to: outerborougharchitecture@gmail.com

Deadline for submissions is September 12, 2016. Successful applicants will be notified by September 30, 2016.