Emily Prines
While there is a burgeoning discussion of the forces of urban renewal, gentrification, and investment in Austin, less attention has been given to UT’s contribution to this change. In addition, how the university moves and establishes a presence throughout the city is unquestioned. The university’s flow of operations is constant and without conflict, which allows the university to expand and develop in a silent and invisible manner. However, through conflict the university’s invisible operations are revealed. The Blackland Neighborhood is a crucial case study of a vocal community that responded to UT’s expansion into East Austin and revealed the university’s silent and powerful land procurement operations. The East Riverside case study exemplifies the university’s advocacy for off-campus student housing and development across Austin. The university’s historic involvement in the development of E. Riverside in relation to the current rezoning crisis is a point of contradiction that reveals the true nature of the university’s operations and missions.
Comments
Thank you for this wonderful research and sharing you work – the poster looks really great! This is a very important topic to be researching, thinking and raising awareness about. As a social designer, we had similar conversations on a module called Race in the Built Environment where these issues were discussed. Also, it involves different groups like students, professionals, government to come together to address and combat these. —Hannah S Saji
Thank you! Yes, the intersections of different groups are so important to discuss. I would love to learn more about your module! I think the perspective of students is often not considered in the conversation of housing affordability and city planning. Fortunately, students are getting involved and voicing their experiences and needs. —Emily Prines
This is a very well designed poster. I’m so glad you were able to share this work, which is so relevant to us at UT and to Austin as a whole. Thank you for sharing it! —Rob Reichle
Thank you so much! I really enjoyed doing this research and being a part of the discussion. —Emily Prines
Thank you for this wonderful poster, Emily! This is such an important topic for us to think about at UT, and your poster does a great job of explaining the issues. Even the feel of being in Austin changes so much from fall/spring to summer, depending on when students are in Austin, but the permanent physical presence of UT off campus isn’t something I’d thought enough about. I certainly will pay more attention now! —Jeanette Herman
Thank you! Yes, UT moves with students, as students are agents of the university. However, the university’s presence without the students is felt by the residents, grounded in documentation, and in subtle ways in the physical landscape. —Emily Prines
Hi Emily, Thank you for doing this research and sharing your work here. Having lived in two college cities (Savannah and Austin), you’re right in investigating the ways that the university is contributing to the massive overhaul of the city and how it affects the people who have lived in those areas for generations, and what those changes mean for different groups. In doing this work, have these communities found there to be any ability to initiate conversations with the city and university about these new neighborhood plans, and if so, have they seen any positive response/real progress on addressing these issues from these two government groups? Obviously, gentrification is an issue with many arms in a lot of pockets, and the willingness to relent on changes by the city developers is often very little, so I’m sure it’s a challenging, exhausting, and scary battle these communities are and have been facing for a long time now. Would you like to continue this research/field work? Do you think it could contribute to/be beneficial for both addressing this on a large scale, but also for the local communities here in Austin? I’ve read about a few projects in different areas of the country using ethnography, historical documents, archaeological evidence, etc., to help combat gentrification, which is why I ask. Thank you! —Anna Hornsby
Hi Anna, Thank you so much for viewing and commenting on my poster. Yes, the Blackland neighborhood had success. They have an agreement with UT, the city, and their neighborhood association to create a boundary that UT may not expand farther than. Although there is still conflict, as not everyone has the same goals, they are able to compromise. On the other hand, the Riverside case is still so fresh. UT’s president has commented on the housing issue for students; however, no action has come from UT’s administration regarding Riverside and largely undergraduate housing. I think this research is so rich in that the story is constantly developing. I would love to learn more about it. I think addressing UT’s involvement in shaping the city starts the conversation that can feed into a broader discussion about universities’ urban power. I think ethnographic methods offer an interesting lens to view gentrification and the university’s impact on the city. On paper, gentrification may not sound as destructive as it can be, but through hearing and observing its effects the true nature of this urban phenomenon comes to life. Stories of displacement and fear of displacement allow us to clearly understand the consequences of gentrification and institutions that contribute to it. Thank you! —Emily Prines
It’s great to hear that they’ve had success; I hope that it’s something other communities are able to use as a, I guess, jumping off point as well. You’re right, though, Riverside is still such a rapidly changing, but still fairly ‘new’ case. It’s wild to see the changes that have happened in even just a few years, and how the university has affected it. I hope you’re able to continue this work. Ethnographic work is really powerful, and even more so when it put next to quantitative data. It really takes all of those numbers and statistics and turns them into something more…well, human haha. Thank you for doing this work, and sharing it! It’s important work for many different communities and agents affecting/affected by gentrification. —Anna Hornsby