Office Of Community Studies Projects
Land, Community and Local Control
During the Spring 2019 semester, students in a community-engaged research course in the Urban Studies Department studied how communities around the United States are using community land trusts, community bills of rights and similar mechanisms and strategies to acquire control over local land and land use decisions. Using a variety of methodological approaches, students researched such broad concepts as where community bills of rights and community land trusts have been created, the specific issues that have led to their creation, and if, and the degree to which, those efforts at gaining local control over community assets have proven successful.
Hitting Home: Student Homelessness and Housing Insecurity
This study is the work of the Urban Studies Department’s Spring 2018 Community Engaged Research Class. It explores the topic of homelessness and housing insecurity among college students in general, and at Queens College in particular.
Access-A-Ride Exploratory Project for Griot Circle
This survey and research report, conducted in collaboration with Griot Circle, describes the experiences that people with disabilities, elders and others face in navigating transportation offered through Access-A-Ride, the demand/response transportation system operated in New York City’s five boroughs by the Metropolitan Transportation Authority.
A Community Needs Assessment of Creative Learning Opportunities in Sunnyside and Woodside, Queens
This study, conducted in collaboration with Re-Create Queens, a not-for-profit community-based creative arts and learning organization, and with the financial support of the Clarence Stein Institute at Cornell University, examines existing and potential creative learning opportunities in the Queens neighborhoods of Sunnyside and Woodside. The ultimate goal of the report is to provide a detailed understanding of the neighborhood conditions as they relate to Re-Create Queens’ goal of establishing a new multi-use community creative learning and arts center.
A Community Needs Assessment of Creative Learning Opportunities in Sunnyside and Woodside, Queens
A Community Impact Study of Proposed Uses of the Rockaway Beach Branch Right of Way
The abandoned Rockaway Beach Branch line of the Long Island Railroad represents an important, and in many ways unique, redevelopment opportunity in the heart of Queens. Decisions to be made regarding what that redevelopment entails will reverberate for decades with potentially far-reaching ramifications for residents of nearby neighborhoods and the borough as a whole.
This study examines the potential community impacts of these redevelopment options.
A Community Impact Study of Proposed Uses of the Rockaway Beach Branch Right of Way
QueensWay Diversity
This report documents existing demographic and socio-economic diversity in the 22 census tracts along the path of the QueensWay, a proposed 3.5-mile linear park in central Queens. Follow these links to see the summary report.
To access all 22 of the individual census tract profiles contact Scott Larson, Associate Director, Office of Community Studies, Urban Studies Department, Queens College, by e-mail, scott.larson@qc.cuny.edu, or phone, 917-664 0950.
Solar Flushing
Students in a multi-course sequence from the Fall of 2011 through Spring 2012 studied environmental conditions in Flushing, Queens, including its designation as a potential environmental justice neighborhood. Solar Flushing discusses recommendations for solar energy implementation in the economically and ethnically diverse neighborhood.
Chinatown Gentrification: A Multi-City Study
In the Fall of 2011, students in Prof. Tarry Hum’s Urban Problemscourse, in collaboration with the Asian American Legal Defense and Education Fund, conducted a study of gentrification trends in Boston, New York and Philadelphia. The full report is available here; select data tables here.
North Shore Staten Island Environmental Justice Profile
In the Spring of 2011, students in the course The Changing Urban Environmentworked with residents on the North Shore of Staten Island to research, compile and map data regarding environmental and demographic conditions. The full community environmental justice profile is available here.
Community District Profile Series
In 2002, Community Studies of New York, Inc., received a grant from the New York City Department of Youth and Community Development to prepare a series of profiles of the city’s community districts, including the Bronx Community District 1(Melrose/Mott Haven). The Office of Community Studies is currently gathering and updating data used in the hopes of having a new series available in 2013.