This summer, I’ve been researching housing affordability in Morningside Heights from 2010 to 2019, with a specific focus on the role of Columbia University. To best understand this, I’ve been using both quantitative analysis tools and spatial representations to visualize the quantity, type, and extent of affordable housing. I had assumed that Columbia would have a large real estate presence in the area, but I hadn’t realized quite the extent. Columbia University and its affiliated institutions own nearly 65% of the buildings in Morningside Heights, and this makes up less than 20% of the university’s  total landholdings. 

This project has given me the opportunity to officially begin learning programs like R and Python, which has been exciting and new. Outside of learning programming, some of my projects have included cleaning up bibliographies, detailing items in Zotero for the professor I’m working under, and creating timelines of Columbia University actions and related housing justice movements in Morningside Heights. If you’re curious about those projects before they're officially published, check them out at these links.

Columbia University and Housing in Morningside Heights Timeline: https://cdn.knightlab.com/libs/timeline3/latest/embed/index.html?source=1w0e82gQZrVEcWhBiDma5Z95qahwmm9UDaRKEPvCpFB0&font=Default&lang=en&initial_zoom=2&height=650

Resistance and Housing Justice Movement in Morningside Heights: https://cdn.knightlab.com/libs/timeline3/latest/embed/index.html?source=1wHFO8D56Gmw2mB8tllxpRvNSalNhgyKsbLx2LmrDQ48&font=Default&lang=en&initial_zoom=2&height=650 

I’ve had a great summer of research so far, and I’m so excited to share more with you soon.