Category: Urban History

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Abstract of my PhD Dissertation Project at University of Michigan

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My future book project titled “Plundering the City” examines how capital and new technologies eroded the quality, density, and variety of small businesses, craft industries, neighborhood institutions, and community groups in what is now the inner-city of Newark, New Jersey. Taking one city as the prism to examine larger urban crises in American culture, this project highlights the spatial and social causes of urban poverty and impoverished social relations in American urban life. Rebuilding social infrastructure requires systemic change and seizing a new means of production.

Visit: NewarkChanging.org/map VIEW PUBLICATION

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Time-Lapse Evolution of Istanbul’s Urban Form: 330 AD to Present

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This film project utilizes historical cartography and GIS to create a time-lapse animation of Istanbul’s urban development over millennia. It illustrates three significant periods: Byzantine rule (330AD-1453), Ottoman rule (1453-1923), and modern metropolitan growth (1923-present). The animation visualizes changing coastlines and showcases the evolution of 200 archaeological sites, churches, aqueduct routes, and early Roman roads. Viewers can explore the film with the accompanying soundtrack or pause the map and zoom into a high-resolution map of individual places. VIEW PUBLICATION

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Envisioning Seneca Village

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This collaborative project by Gergely Baics, Meredith Linn, Leah Meisterlin, and Myles Zhang. The project showcases a historically-accurate and archaeologically-informed 3D model of the historic African American community of Seneca Village, which was demolished in 1857 to build Central Park. The project combines digital reconstruction with extensive research, as public-facing tools to commemorate the village’s history and legacy. The project was recognized with multiple awards, widespread use in classrooms, and publicity by the Central Park Conservancy.

Visit: EnvisioningSenecaVillage.github.io VIEW PUBLICATION

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Homeownership and the Racial Wealth Gap

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Presented March 5, 2024 at the Newark Public Library and hosted by NJPAC on their website The world’s largest concentration of wealth is in the New York City metropolitan area, yet the region contains many under-resourced cities, including Newark. What historical factors created this division between low-income Newark and its wealthy neighbors along lines of race, housing, income and social class? The agents of change are more complex and nuanced than a simple narrative of redlining and white flight following the 1967 uprising. From discriminatory actions by the Federal Housing Administration and highways that carved through the urban fabric, to… VIEW PUBLICATION

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Jersey City: Urban Planning in Historical Perspective

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This project was commissioned by the Jersey City Public Library to be used as an educational tool about the history of land use law and city planning, from 1900 to today. The project overlays citywide maps of every building in 1873, 1919, and today – to reveal changing land use patterns. The project also includes a PDF booklet about Jersey City’s six master plans, each of which captures the spirit of the city and the governing philosophies of city planners at the time. These documents reveal the city’s evolution in response to urban challenges and broader themes in U.S. urban history. VIEW PUBLICATION

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Reflections on my experience as PhD student, halfway through the program

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As a third year student, I am more than halfway through the PhD program. So I thought now is as good a time as any to reflect. In the same spirit of making public my undergraduate application to study at Columbia and my PhD application to study at Michigan, I am sharing the exam essays I wrote as a PhD student. When applying to Columbia, Oxford, Cambridge, and now Michigan, I struggled to find online example essays and statements that had worked for other applicants. In my case, I was fortunate to have academic parents to read my application statements… VIEW PUBLICATION

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Newark Changing in Maps: 1889, 1927, 1930

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This project overlays historical city-wide fire insurance and tax maps above the contemporary geography to reveal change over time. Detailed maps of building footprints from 1889, 1927, and 1930 reveal different patterns of land use, community life, and walkable streets. Find your building, your workplace, or any site in Newark – and identify who lived there a century ago with the unique tool of this interactive map. VIEW PUBLICATION

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The City as Carceral State

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Context: The following personal essay accompanied my application for the Gupta Values Scholarship from the University of Michigan. I am sharing it here because it speaks more broadly to my background, education, activism, and research interests. Entrance gate to the Old Essex County Jail One out of every one hundred black men in my neighborhood of Newark, NJ is currently in prison. At least half have a permanent criminal record as formerly incarcerated people. Most charges are for drug use and possession, often marijuana records from when marijuana was illegal. My earliest memories of Newark are of the homeless walking… VIEW PUBLICATION

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Goodbye Baxter Terrace

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Written by my father Zemin Zhang on December 2, 2007 Demolition of Baxter Terrace in 2009 “I love you darling’ “Baby, you know I do “But I’ve got to see this Book of Love “Find out why it’s true” Every day in 1955, Charles Patrick, 17, and a group of teenagers came together to sing in the Baxter Terrace’s recreation hall.  By 1958, they had sung their heart out and their song, “Who Wrote the Book of Love?” hit the country and even spread as far as Europe and Australia.  “Oh, I wonder, wonder ohm ba doo who….. who wrote… VIEW PUBLICATION

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The Paterson Silk Strike in Historical Perspective

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1913 to 2023 A century later, the mills of Paterson sitting abandoned, their machines silent Image source: LoC, HABS,link to left image and right image Exactly 110 years ago today – on July 28, 1913 – Paterson silk mill workers voted to end their strike. Their strike had failed. But what has changed (or not) since then frames their historical struggle in the context of ongoing labor battles. The strikers’ motivations are as relevant in 2023 as they were in 1913: the fight for a living wage, for an eight-hour day, and – ultimately – for the right to work… VIEW PUBLICATION

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Time-lapse Animation of Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire

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Based on court transcripts, eye witness testimonies, primary sources, and historical maps, this animation reconstructs the workplace conditions and abuses that caused the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire. This fire on 25 March 1911, killed 146 garment workers and represents a turning-point moment in the history of organized labor in America. This project is the first – and only – accurate-to-the-inch virtual reality model of the entire factory floor. VIEW PUBLICATION

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Time-lapse History of the United States

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This animation visualizes 272,000 data points spanning 220+ years of the U.S. census since 1790. With data from the National Historical Geographic Information System (NHGIS) at the University of Minnesota, I geo-referenced racial dot maps for all ten year intervals since 1790. Overlaying and fading time-lapse cartographies into each other reveals the scale of environmental and urban change. ● Each dot represents 10,000 people. Top ten largest cities for each decade are labeled in orange. Musical accompaniment by Philip Glass from the 1982 experimental film Koyaanisqatsi. In the Hopi language of the indigenous peoples of Arizona, the word koyaanisqatsi means… VIEW PUBLICATION

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Newark Changing: Mapping neighborhood demolition, 1950s to today

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Newark Changing is an interactive visual encyclopedia featuring 2,400 photo comparisons from 1959-68 vs. today. The project illustrates the combined impacts of urban renewal, slum clearance, highway construction, and decades of demolition by neglect. Through a historic map, users can explore dozens of neighborhoods and thousands of demolished homes. This research highlights the devastation faced by communities due to decades of anti-urban policy decisions by the government and anti-black investment decisions by corporations.

Visit: NewarkChanging.org/map VIEW PUBLICATION

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The Time Columbia Built an Artificial Moon in Low Library

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Published in Columbia College Today alumni magazine, spring 2022   Low Library in 1905 The best definition of a university is, to my mind, a city from which the universe can be surveyed. It is the universe compressed into a city the size of Morningside Heights. Aesthetically ancient but technologically advanced, Low Library rose to this challenge in the 1890s. Buried within hundreds of tons of Milford granite, Indiana limestone, and the unchanging architecture of antiquity were the latest technologies: electricity, steam heating, Corliss steam engines, and internal plumbing in a time when hundreds of thousands of New Yorkers still… VIEW PUBLICATION

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Racializing Space

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Why does the American city remain so spatially and racially divided? Drawing from the perspectives of architecture, planning, sociology, and history, this conversation considers the evidence for how the American city and suburb – specifically Detroit – remain spatially divided and what steps must be taken to fulfill the dream of an egalitarian metropolis. Panelists include: Karyn Lacy, professor of sociology and African American studies at the University of MichiganLaDale Winling, professor of American history at Virginia TechRobert Fishman, professor of history at the University of Michigan’s college of architecture and urban planning Why does the American city remain so… VIEW PUBLICATION

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A Different Kind of Radiant City: Bucharest

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Comparing Le Corbusier’s plans for Paris with Ceaușescu’s plans for Bucharest Utopia and totalitarianism are both engaged in a mirroring game, tirelessly sending the same image back and forth as if utopia were nothing more than the premonition of totalitarianism and totalitarianism the tragic execution of the utopian dream. Only the distance that separates a dream from its realization seems to stand between the two. – Frédéric Rouvillois Utopia: The Search for the Ideal Society in the Western World Paris: Bucharest: Abstract: Comparing Le Corbusier’s unrealized plans for Paris and dictator Nicolae Ceaușescu’s completed plans for the Romanian capital Bucharest… VIEW PUBLICATION

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The Geography of Racial Segregation in 1940s Detroit

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A data visualization of urban history and racializing space Created with urban historian Robert Fishman View project full screen Opens in new window This map illustrates in three layers some of the impacts of a racist government policy called redlining: All three features – the physical city, the urban residents, and the urban policy of redlining – are interlinked. By displaying these three features together, previously invisible aspects of urban history become visible in plain site to the public. Data sources: Topoview from USGS for street network mapsMapping Inequality Projecct for redlining dataIPUMS at the University of Minnesota for population… VIEW PUBLICATION

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“The State is Responsible”

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The article examines racial segregation in Royal Oak Charter Township and Detroit Public Schools, exploring how race-based policies have historically influenced public education quality. It highlights how the 1974 Supreme Court case Milliken v. Bradley contributed to growing racial segregation and class inequality between black and white communities in Detroit. VIEW PUBLICATION

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Lorch Column at the University of Michigan

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Essay published in Taubman College Magazine: The Lorch Column, a significant architectural salvage from the demolished Mutual Benefit Life Insurance building in Newark, NJ, symbolizes the intersection of history and capitalism. Originally designed to represent strength and wealth, its migration from Newark to Taubman College the University of Michigan reflects the cyclical nature of architectural life and death, capitalism and creation. VIEW PUBLICATION

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Branch Brook Park Interactive History Map

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As featured by the Branch Brook Park Alliance as the official park map Navigate this interactive history map of Newark’s Branch Brook Park. Click on map features to learn about park amenities, recreational spaces, and historic features. Map annotations are paired with explanatory texts and comparative photos of past and present. Beneath each annotation is the Google Maps link that will display directions to that point in the park from wherever you are standing. All historic images are from the archives of the Essex County Parks Department and Newark Public Library. Browse their digital collections or contact the agency to… VIEW PUBLICATION

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The Privatization of Public Space in Lower Manhattan

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Map created by author in QGIS with planimetric data from NYC Open Data More than a specific threat to New York City, the decades-long erosion of public space is an existential threat to democracy. About 60% of Lower Manhattan’s surface area is listed as being public in some way, but only about 25% is totally unrestricted to the public in practice.* *Percentages are rough estimates from author, based on area south of Chambers Street with planimetric data from NYC Open Data. An exact estimate is impossible to arrive at because there is no single definition of public space. New York… VIEW PUBLICATION

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Street Grid Development vs. Population Density

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Adapted from Shlomo Angel and Patrick Lamson-Hall’s NYU Stern Urbanization Project,here and here. The animation at left shows street grid development from 1801 to 2011, mapping Manhattan’s gradual expansion north. The animation at right shows the population density over time of each census tract in Manhattan. Notice how Manhattan’s population density rises and peaks around 1900 before falling to present levels. Despite Manhattan’s appearance of being denser and more built up with skyscrapers than ever before, the island actually has a lower population density than a century ago. Before the introduction of subways in the early twentieth century, the difficulties… VIEW PUBLICATION

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The Detroit Evolution Animation

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Old maps were layered and animated to reveal the scale of Detroit’s transformation from French colonial trading post, to 19th-century boom, to 20th-century decline. Cartography highlights how political policies, technological changes, and the Great Migration accelerated racial segregation and the decline of mass transit. Detroit reflects broader trends seen in American cities. Project developed with historian Robert Fishman for an exhibit and lecture, funded by Egalitarian Metropolis grant from Mellon Foundation. VIEW PUBLICATION

A Drop of Water

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This essay is a brief history and analysis of Newark’s water supply system, based on my experience of walking along the aqueduct from forest origins to urban destination. The journey of Newark’s water supply illustrates the connection between diverse communities in New Jersey, highlighting how the rural, suburban, and urban areas are interlinked. Despite their physical separation, the health and well-being of Newark residents depend on clean water sourced from distant, often affluent regions, revealing societal inequalities in access and environmental safety. VIEW PUBLICATION

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Homesteads to Homelots in the Garden State

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Analysis of US census data reveals the historical origins and growth trends in New Jersey’s suburban sprawl from the 1920s to 2020s. NJ’s suburban landscape evolved from an urban state with significant open space and rural lands in the 1920s to what is now a suburban state with a much diminished civic realm. This analysis uses data to explore municipal fragmentation, population density shifts, and enduring economic challenges. The state’s unique political geography causes persistently high property taxes and spatial inequality. NJ’s story reveals reveals large trends in American suburban history. VIEW PUBLICATION

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Book Review of “Saving America’s Cities”

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Lizabeth Cohen. Saving America’s Cities: Ed Logue and the Struggle to Renew Urban America in the Suburban Age.New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2019. 547 pp. The memory of mid-century urban renewal will always evoke images of the bleak brick towers and windswept plazas of crime-ridden public housing. Urban renewal projects airdropped into the city fabric caused demolition and dislocation. This colossal failure has been epitomized by Robert Moses’ automobile-oriented vision of New York City. The Power Broker by Robert Caro described Moses stubbornly going alone to remove 1,500 families and pave the Cross Bronx Expressway through their vibrant neighborhood…. VIEW PUBLICATION

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The time-lapse history of Manhattan in two minutes

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This two-minute time-lapse film illustrates the 400-year transformation of Lower Manhattan from a Dutch village to a modern metropolis, highlighting the impact of new technologies on evolving methods of urban representation. The film draws from seventeenth-century drawings to modern photography, showcasing how each generation perceived and depicted through art the city’s growth and the changing world around them. VIEW PUBLICATION

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The Berlin Evolution Animation

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Abstract: The Berlin Evolution Animation visualizes the development of this city’s street network and infrastructure from 1415 to the present-day, using an overlay of historic maps. The resulting short film presents a series of 17 “cartographic snapshots” of the urban area at intervals of every 30-40 years. This process highlights Berlin’s urban development over 600 years, the rapid explosion of industry and population in the nineteenth-century, followed by the destruction and violence of two world wars and then the Cold War on Berlin’s urban fabric. VIEW PUBLICATION

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New York City Water Supply: animated history

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This film uses time-lapse cartography from the 19th-century to the present to highlight the city’s ongoing struggle for clean water amidst growing urban challenges. New York City supplies unfiltered drinking water to nine million people, sourcing it from 2,000 square miles in Upstate New York through extensive aqueducts. This vital infrastructure, while integral to the city, remains largely unnoticed and buried just beneath our feet. VIEW PUBLICATION

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California Waterscape: time-lapse history of water supply

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This time-lapse film visualizes the evolution of this state’s water delivery infrastructure from 1913 to 2019 through geo-referenced data on aqueducts, reservoir capacities, and land use. The animated film showcases population growth, urbanization, and agricultural demands, presenting cartographic snapshots that reflect the state’s increasing water needs over the decades. VIEW PUBLICATION