As the Urban Studies Program Expands at New College, Emerging Guest Lecturers Visit Campus

“I’m hoping that this will be first of many lectures on urban studies at New College,” said David Brain, Ph.D., a professor of sociology and environmental studies, and the director of the Urban Studies Program at New College. “I think the topic is timely and should draw a lot of interest from the community.”

Ross is a professor of social and cultural analysis at New York University, a social activist, and the author of Sunbelt Blues: The Failure of American Housing (Metropolitan Books, October 2021). His recent book is about “how ineffective government planning, property market speculation, and poverty wages have combined to create this [housing] catastrophe,” in the publisher’s words.

The Ross lecture will be of particular interest to New College students pursuing an urban studies area of concentration. In the program, students are learning to understand the sociopolitical, economic, cultural and ecological processes of growth and decline that have shaped the structure and development of human settlements (from rural villages to metropolitan regions).

The real-world applications of this field of study are vast, and Brain recently spent the January Interterm at New College working on an urban studies-based Independent Study Project with his students (five are continuing to work on the initiative this spring). It is called the “New College Urban Lab,” and it is a partnership with Realize Bradenton, a local nonprofit organization.

“We will be working with our community partners in Bradenton on an opportunity for New College students to contribute to what is referred to as the ‘entrepreneurial ecosystem,’ that can provide opportunity and support for young entrepreneurs, and help to keep young talent local and engaged,” Brain said.

As New College students continue to put their studies into practice, lectures like the one Ross plans to give next week will help them put their ideas into perspective. Ross is a contributor to The Guardian, the New York Times, The Nation and Al Jazeera; as well as the author or editor of more than 25 books.

“I met Andrew when he was living in Celebration, Florida to do research for a book, and I was researching the New Urbanism as a movement. The scope of this book shifted as he began looking at the housing situation in the area around Orlando and the Disney theme parks,” Brain said. “One of the unique aspects of his most recent book (and Andrew’s approach) is that he is able to focus in on the problem in great detail. Where many social scientists might focus on the broad outlines of the issue of housing, Andrew builds his analysis on the basis of interviews with real people facing this housing emergency along Florida’s Route 192.”

Brain looks forward to introducing his studies, and the public, to Ross and his expertise. His upcoming lecture is co-sponsored by the Urban Studies Program and New College’s media partner, WSLR 96.5 FM community radio station.

To register in advance for the lecture, click here.

To learn more about Ross, visit andrewtross.com.

To learn more about the Urban Studies Program at New College, click here.

Abby Weingarten is the senior editor in the Office of Communications & Marketing.