Framing Struggles: How Race, Class, and Space Shape Perceptions of Rezonings Among Residents and State Actors

• In Event: 40452 - The Structures and Institutions That Shape Place-Making

Abstract

Although zoning changes are a critical instrument to address housing affordability concerns, the political struggles that they spark are under-explored. This paper fills this gap by comparing the participatory rezoning process in two New York City neighborhoods—where citizen participation is mandated but non-binding— between 2014 and 2021. Through a combination of archival research, ethnographic observations of virtual public hearings, and in-depth interviews, I analyze how city officials and residents from two communities, different in class and racial composition, engaged in framing struggles about how rezonings would affect these neighborhoods. Zoning change proposals aimed to respond to each neighborhood's socioeconomic characteristics in the context of a chronic, citywide housing crisis and rampant gentrification. Consequently, supporters and opponents used conflicting narrative frames that made sense of the spatial, social, and temporal tensions within this place-based policy. Ultimately, the city approved both rezonings and institutionalized the “mainstream view” of rezoning as the best policy tool to address the city’s housing affordability crisis and persistent material inequalities. By focusing on political struggles, this research changes the focus for discussing rezoning from outcomes to process.

Author

• Viktor Bensus, CUNY-Graduate Center