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"Nostrand Avenue Research Project"Aviva Zeltzer-Zubida Nostrand Avenue Research Project In fall semester, 2005, the Brooklyn Economic Development Corporation (BEDC) approached the Center with a request to study possible strategies for the revitalization of the Nostrand Avenue shopping corridor between Lenox Road and Fenimore Street in East Flatbush. Professors Sharon Zukin and Aviva Zeltzer-Zubida saw this as an opportunity to create a research project for sociology students that would bring together the study of urban cultures (Prof. Zukin) with sociological methodology (Prof. Zeltzer-Zubida). Because our courses were scheduled to meet at the same time, we set a number of joint sessions. At some of these sessions we viewed documentary films and photographs of different urban settings and spoke with the film makers or photographers. At other sessions, the students learned how to access U.S. census data and met together in cross-class research teams to work with the two professors. Some of Prof. Zeltzer-Zubida’s students carried out a survey of shoppers on Nostrand Avenue that included questions about people’s perceptions of the quality of services being offered in the area and their preferences for new businesses. Most of the respondents complained about the quantity and quality of services and hoped there would be more food and clothing chains opening on the strip. The survey also included questions about the respondents’ sense of safety in the area and their opinion of the neighborhood in general. In general, the respondents felt that during the day, the strip is somewhat gloomy but rather safe, but that after dark it does not feel very safe. Several students in the methodology class did individual research projects comparing the Nostrand Avenue site with shopping streets in other neighborhoods. In contrast to Prof. Zukin’s students, who viewed the site as an ethnic shopping street for the Caribbean residential community, one of Prof. Zeltzer-Zubida’s students found that there were fewer ethnic signs on the stores and restaurants on Nostrand Avenue than on 8th Avenue in Sunset Park, which is a shopping street for Chinese, especially Fujianese, business owners and residents. In contrast, Prof. Zukin’s students carried out ethnographic observation that confirmed the ethnic qualities of Nostrand Avenue, suggesting that merchants could revitalize the street by emphasizing even further the commercial concentration of ethnic goods and services. However, the ethnography also pointed out physical disadvantages in the management of the site, with garbage on the street, some graffiti, and gated stores during the daytime. Interviews at the local police precinct, with residents and with shoppers, focused attention on perceptions of crime, mainly from young men who use the street at night. Although crime rates have declined in recent years, residents are still cautious about using the street at night. Shoppers and residents also compared the shopping and eating opportunities on Nostrand Avenue unfavorably with nearby Church Avenue and with 34th Street in Manhattan, leading to specific recommendations about improving the product mix and variety of stores. This sort of collaboration will continue with research on the Flatbush-Nostrand Junction when Prof. Zukin teaches a different urban sociology course and Ms. Mason will teach the methodology course. For more information, visit the Nostrand Avenue Project Website |