Please join us at Roosevelt House for a special evening exploring the creation of Brooklyn Bridge Park, one of the largest and most significant public projects to be built in New York in a generation. Joanne Witty, an environmental activist who also served as president of the park’s local development corporation and as director of the Brooklyn Bridge Park Development Corporation, and William Solecki, Professor of Geography, Hunter College, and Director of CUNY Institute for Sustainable Cities, will discuss the ways in which the park has transformed a decrepit industrial waterfront into a public space that is both a reflection and an engine of Brooklyn’s resurgence in the twenty-first century.

In their talk, Ms. Witty and Professor Solecki will examine the social and political phenomenon of how a community overcame overwhelming opposition and obstacles to build the park – and also the ways in which the solutions developed during the prolonged battle can be applied to important economic and planning issues around the world. They will discuss how grassroots movement and community planning united around a common vision, and reveal the human dynamics that unfolded in the course of building the park, including attitudes and opinions that arose about class, race, gentrification, commercialization, development, and the role of government.

We hope you will be able to attend this important conversation