“Cities for People, Not for Profit”: Gentrification and Housing Activism in Bushwick is an oral history project tracing the history of ongoing gentrification and subsequent fight for affordable housing in Bushwick, Brooklyn from the perspective of artists, activists, and community residents. Oral history can be used as an entry point to explore what Henri Lefebvre famously termed the citizen’s “right to the city” and to explore how these narratives can respond to rampant real estate growth and housing policy. The goal is to have these stories posted online alongside informative tools and resources to help activate the community, such as alternative housing strategies, locating activist organizations and fair housing efforts in the area. Ultimately, we want to seek effective ways to empower urban residents to contribute to greater urban democracy, using these stories to underscore the urgent need for politics in this city to prioritize housing that corresponds to the human social needs of the people of this city rather than to the capitalist profit-driven economy of the elite few. This will help ignite relationships amongst urban historians, policymakers and community activists, with the various groups being affected by gentrification in Bushwick in order to participate in real solutions with the community’s best interest in mind.

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