The New School Responds to COVID-19, Reimagines a Brighter Future

As COVID-19 cases continue to rise in the United States, researchers, faculty, staff, and students across The New School have responded to the global pandemic in various ways. From in-depth research projects and reports to events and panel discussions to opportunities to reimagine and remake the world after COVID, our community of thought leaders hasn’t missed a beat.

The following are a just a few of the many examples of ways The New School continues to use innovative and creative thinking to make an impact in New York City and across the world.

URBAN SYSTEMS LAB

The Urban Systems Lab is celebrating the launch of RESILIENCE, a new quarterly publication and forum to share strategies in design, data visualization, and interdisciplinary scholarship on urban ecology, environmental justice, and sustainable cities. Its first issue asks the question, “Is this America?” and then asks readers to reimagine the country in the age of coronavirus. The Urban Systems Lab is currently accepting submissions for RESILIENCE, and is looking for collaborations from scientists, designers, scholars, students, and more.

Urban Systems Lab also offers a hub full of information, resources, and new analysis on potential impacts of COVID-19 on vulnerable communities in NYC, and the interdependent risks of COVID-19 and climate.

CENTER FOR NEW YORK CITY AFFAIRS

“For a more just and humane New York City. Let’s come back from the COVID-19 crisis stronger and kinder” — Center for New York City Affairs

The Center for New York City Affairs (CNYCA) recently launched REMAKING NYC, a website featuring research and ideas from The New School that focus on creating a more just and humane New York City. Highlighting work from faculty, staff, students, and community partners, REMAKING NYC’s intent is to bring together urbanists, scholars, policy makers, and practitioners to shape a better future.

James Parrott, CNYCA’s Director of Economic and Fiscal Policies, published the report, Reforming New York State’s Partial Unemployment insurance Program The Urgency Now is Greater than Ever Before, which focuses on the COVID-19 pandemic’s impact on unemployed workers in New York.

Since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic earlier this spring, CNYCA’s Senior Manager Tamara Oyola Santiago has been spending her weekends with Bronx Móvil, a harm reduction collective that believes harm reduction should be available 24/7.

“We provided vital health services, but more than anything we humanized, we triaged, we referred, and we provided love, unconditional love,” she says.

Schwartz Center for Economic Policy Analysis

The COVID-19 recession accelerated unemployment and involuntary retirement among older workers, increasing the risks of downward mobility in retirement, the Schwartz Center for Economic Policy Analysis (SCEPA) reports. In addition, COVID-19 and the resulting recession has made older workers — especially older people of color and low-income seniors — even more vulnerable to the systemic flaws of the United States’ failed retirement system. Because of this, SCEPA created a policy agenda for the President-elect Joe Biden’s administration. The agenda, titled, Protecting Older Workers & Strengthening Retirement Security, addresses older workers’ short-term needs and provide comprehensive reform to prevent the upcoming retirement crisis.

TISHMAN ENVIRONMENT AND DESIGN CENTER

Over the summer, Ana Baptista, Director of the Tishman Environment and Design Center (TEDC), spearheaded a landmark environmental justice bill that was stalled for over a decade. Signed by New Jersey Democratic Governor Phil Murphy, the legislation seeks to curb new sources of pollution, including sewage treatment plants, landfills, and incinerators that have affected certain communities more than others. Advocates of the bill said nationwide protests over racial injustice and the COVID-19 pandemic were catalysts for the bill’s passage.

“When this bill was finally passed, I had a moment where I just had to shed a tear of disbelief,” Baptista, who grew up in Newark where the polluted Ironbound neighborhood is located, told Reuters. The Ironbound is home to New Jersey’s largest garbage incinerator and more than 100 sites contaminated by dangerous chemicals, including dioxin and pesticides.

Along with the work they’ve done in passing the bill, Baptista and TEDC have created a hub with information and resources related to COVID-19 and the intersections of climate change and environmental justice. Click here to learn more.

ZOLBERG INSTITUTE ON MIGRATION AND MOBILITY

The Zolberg Institute on Migration and Mobility responded to the harsh and unprecedented measures migrants, refugees, and other displaced persons are facing during the crisis by sharing 14 principles to inform and guide State action, to assist international organizations, and to provide a basis for advocacy and education. You can read more about these 14 principles here.

The Zolberg Institute also launched Entry Denied, an eight-episode podcast that explores the Trump Administration’s immigration policies and offered a free online course called Human Rights and Migration that presented multiple perspectives on mobility and human rights.

VERA LIST CENTER

From virtual programs and events to emergency grants and funding for those in need, the Vera List Center for Art and Politics created a COVID-19 Resource Toolkit for artists as a way to continue supporting their community of artists, writers, and arts organizations.

INDIA CHINA INSTITUTE & THE JULIEN J. STUDLEY GRADUATE PROGRAMS IN INTERNATIONAL AFFAIRS

The Julien J. Studley Graduate Programs in International Affairs and the India China Institute partnered to create Pandemic Discourses, a blog and lecture series that aims to foster an interdisciplinary and global dialogue on the historical, social, and political dimensions of the pandemic. Pandemic Discourses provides diverse perspectives from different corners of the world, and especially the Global South, bringing to the forefront variable and contested understandings of disease, science, and society.

The International Affairs program also created a digital hub that gathers research, analysis, student work, community resources, class listings, and more all focused on the COVID-19 pandemic.

Upcoming events

On December 10, 2020, join TEDC and the Urban Systems Lab for a virtual discussion: Resilience Roundtable: Re-imaging the City in the Age of Coronavirus. As the pandemic continues to impact communities across the U.S. and world, what is a just and equitable response? How do we implement new and progressive approaches to design, urban planning, city governance, and climate justice? This Virtual Roundtable will bring together experts and practitioners across disciplines to reflect on the future of cities in the context of the current health and climate crises.

Are you a part of The New School community and doing work around the COVID-19 Pandemic? We want to know! Share your work with us on Twitter: @TheNewSchool.