#069 - SHARON ZUKIN, Professor of Sociology
SUMMARY
This week David and Marina are joined by Sharon Zukin, Professor of Sociology at Brooklyn College & the CUNY Graduate Center and the author of numerous books on modern urban life. The three discuss her upcoming book on the tech industry's impact on cities, the commodification of modern life, what makes a place authentic?, the pros and cons of privately managed public spaces, China, gentrification and more. Enjoy!
ABOUT SHARON
Sharon is a professor of sociology who specializes in modern urban life. She teaches at Brooklyn College and the Graduate Center, City University of New York. As of 2014, she was also a distinguished fellow in the Advanced Research Collaborative at the CUNY Graduate Center and chair of the Consumers and Consumption Section of the American Sociological Association. Zukin was a visiting professor at the University of Amsterdam in 2010–11.
TIMESTAMPS
Innovation Economy
“The discourse that is very popular about this kind of urban change all over the world now is innovation discourse. It's all about the so-called “innovation economy” […] Sometimes the tech ecosystem, sometimes the startup ecosystem, but basically the kinds of networks, organizations, and spaces in which the new economy is being imposed. And I do see it as kind of an imposition on top of older ecosystems and older ways of working." (08:36)
Gentrification and Uber
"I think that the availability of an on-demand car has made it easier for people to travel to areas of the city that they would not ordinarily have gone to if they had to go by subway or by taxi. So that these people who visit out of the way neighborhoods—usually where low-income people live—they are agents of gentrification. […] They’re going to these neighborhoods and they're saying, “This is the real authentic city that I want to live in.” That's an unforeseen consequence." (35:11)
Small Businesses and Consumptive City Centers
"If you look at the heart of many small towns, the small businesses are dying. […] The centers of the towns or the cities, if they survive, survive by upscaling to sell really expensive products in precious kinds of boutiques, cafes and restaurants." (25:54)
"The transformation of so many urban spaces into shopping places could be considered ideological. It's a way of lulling all of us into becoming slaves of consumer society and advocates of corporate capitalism by the clothes that we buy, the labels, the brands that we 'engage with'." (29:40)
Business improvement districts
"Business Improvement Districts have become so widespread around the world and so well entrenched in New York […] that people don't even think of what neighborhoods, streets and parks would be like without them anymore. […] The city government in New York, and in many other places of the world, has decided it's more efficient and cheaper to let building owners and business owners pay for the maintenance and cleaning in New York, and also the security of their little part of public space." (53:23)
Securitization of Public Spaces
"There is such a selective enforcement of public order. […] For example, a case in Bryant Park where a group of people, who obviously seemed middle class, would spread a tablecloth on the grass on movie nights […] and lay out a picnic dinner including bottles of wine, and the private security guards would not bother them. By the same token, if a homeless person comes along and roots through the garbage cans for bottles to return for the deposit, or somebody takes a drink out of a bottle in a brown paper bag, you can bet that the security guard will at least I ask them what they're doing, if not ask them to leave." (01:05:20)
"These are the frictions. These are the frictions that we live within densely populated cities and they're significant of political divisions in this country as well as other countries. How well do we accept others who are historically different?". (01:12:25)
