Vassar College Urban Studies Program

09/29/2026

We're honored to bring Prof. Japonica Brown-Saracino to Vassar College for a lecture open to the public:

"The Death and Life: of Gentrification: How We Use an Urban Term to Talk About Almost Everything"
October 8, 2026, 7pm
Rockefeller Hall 200

Professor and Chair of Sociology at Boston University, Japonica Brown-Saracino will present from her new book, The Death and Life of Gentrification: A New Map of a Persistent Idea. Sociologist Ruth Glass coined the term "gentrification" in the 1960s to mark the displacement of working-class residents in London neighborhoods by the professional classes. Brown-Saracino will trace how the word has far outgrown Glass’s meaning, becoming a socially charged metaphor for cultural appropriation, upscaling, and the loss of authenticity.

08/28/2021

Welcome back to campus for 2021-22! Here’s a new initiative in Poughkeepsie worth watching further.

Climate-adaptive Design Inspiring climate awareness and action via participatory design Advancing research into climate-based adaptation and engagement Working with the next generation of designers to bring socially and ecologically resilient design futures to the world Number of Academic studios Co...

04/23/2021

We are very excited to welcome one of our URBS alumnae, Hillary Angelo ('03), to give a talk about her new book.

This is a virtual event; to register, email [email protected] or click on https://bit.ly/2Qa5Va3.

01/29/2021

Local update from our pandemic report: Poughkeepsie is “back,” perhaps sooner than anyone expected. “Before the global pandemic struck, Kingston was already a very hot housing market. The latest wave of migration from New York City has further tightened that market. It is striking that the housing market in Poughkeepsie appears to be as hot, if not hotter than sales in Kingston over the past half year or so.”

How should city leaders respond to the opportunities of revitalization and the threat of gentrification?

By Josh Simons with kt Tobin The past two posts in this series have described the uptick in the trend of people moving to the Hudson Valley en masse from New York City in the wake of the COVID pand…

06/26/2020

While Poughkeepsie struggles with the pandemic, gentrification is threatening the Main Street apartments in the former Luckey Platt department store building. The mayor says this is the first time the city has had a project that could potentially displace residents on such a broad scale.

(DM us if you can't read this article behind the paywall.)

With new owners and plans for high-end renovations, Luckey Platt residents are being given notices to vacate or renew leases at new prices

02/20/2020

URBS grad Nicole Campo ('03) sends us notice of this fairly entry-level position (requiring a B.A. in urban planning, real estate, public policy, or related field, and 2-3 years of professional experience in economic or community planning and development, or equivalent) opening at the NYCEDC.

https://jobs.jobvite.com/nycedc/job/owPgcfwx

09/12/2019

Don't forget to swing by the OLB today around 5:30 for the Urban Studies Welcome Back Reception! Free pizza, free merch from last year, lots of URBS people to catch up with. See you there!

07/10/2019

An interview with the new professor teaching two URBS-crosslisted courses in the fall, "Architectural Uncanny" and "Modern Architecture and Beyond".

Adedoyin Teriba is an Assistant Professor of modern and contemporary architecture & urbanism at Vassar College and previously worked as an architect in New York, New Jersey and briefly in Lagos, Nigeria. His research interests include the architecture of the African Diaspora in West Africa;

06/09/2019

It was great to catch up with URBS alumnae at this year's Reunion!

05/09/2019

Our 2019 URBS seniors!