Seminar: "Roots of the Revolts: Segregation, Serial Displacement, and Gentrification in St. Louis, Baltimore, and Beyond", by Derek Hyra

Derek Hyra, Ph.D., Professor and Founding Director of the Metropolitan Policy Center American University, will offer the seminar "Roots of the Revolts: Segregation, Serial Displacement, and Gentrification in St. Louis, Baltimore, and Beyond"

Title: "Roots of the Revolts: Segregation, Serial Displacement, and Gentrification in St. Louis, Baltimore, and Beyond"

Speaker: Derek Hyra, Ph.D., Professor and Founding Director of the Metropolitan Policy Center American University
 

Date: Thursday, November 24th 2022
Time: 1pm
Venue: Aula Magna UB (c/Montalegre, 6. Barcelona)
 

While many scholars assess aggressive policing, serial displacement, the forced removal and destruction of African-American communities, is a critical undercurrent of American unrest. By investigating the legacy of serial displacement in the St. Louis region and Baltimore, this presentation argues certain urban housing and community development policies over time perpetuate segregation, poverty concentration, and gentrification that create a contemporary context for aggressive policing, Black frustrations, and unrest. While police aggression action is important to understanding unrest, it can only be fully understood through an assessment of the intersection of policies that perpetuate serial displacement, neighborhood inequality, and Black urban trauma. My urban renewal unrest framework suggests housing policy reforms to increase community stability and “home” are needed to cultivate conditions of care and alleviate the pain of ongoing social exclusion and displacement.

Biography
Derek Hyra is a professor in the Department of Public Administration and Policy and the founding director of the Metropolitan Policy Center at American University. His research focuses on neighborhood change, with an emphasis on housing, urban politics, and race. Dr. Hyra is author of The New Urban Renewal: The Economic Transformation of Harlem and Bronzeville (University of Chicago Press 2008) and Race, Class, and Politics in the Cappuccino City (University of Chicago Press 2017). He is working on another manuscript, Roots of the Revolts: Ferguson, Baltimore, and Beyond (University of California Press). Dr. Hyra’s research has been showcased in both academic journals, such as Journal of Urban Affairs, Urban Affairs Review, and Urban Studies, and popular media outlets, including the British Broadcasting Corporation, C-SPAN, The Washington Post, The Wall Street Journal, and The New York Times. He has received research grants from the American Council of Learned Societies, the Annie E. Casey Foundation, and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. Dr. Hyra is an editorial advisory board member of Housing Policy Debate and a member of the City of Falls Church (Virginia) Planning Commission. He received his B.A. from Colgate University and his Ph.D. from the University of Chicago.