The Story of the BQE
Introduction
The Story of the BQE Film and Oral History Project, produced by the Institute for Public Architecture (IPA) with NYU Schack Institute of Real Estate, expands upon IPA’s ongoing effort since 2020 to highlight the institutional segregation and environmental impacts created by the highway and help raise awareness of the historical exclusion of disadvantaged communities in decision-making about their physical space.
The documentary, by architect Adam Paul Susaneck of Segregation by Design, uses archival footage and photography to show how the construction of the 35-mile-long Brooklyn-Queens Expressway demolished historic neighborhoods in Brooklyn and Queens, divided communities, and displaced hundreds of thousands of New Yorkers across the two boroughs.
The oral history project, led by StoryCorps veterans Mitra Bonshahi and Adriana Gallardo, records intergenerational audio interviews between families, friends, and neighbors in Brooklyn and Queens, providing opportunities for those affected by the BQE to preserve memories of their lives, community, and stories of living near the highway, as well as their hopes and dreams for the future.
Audio interviews will be archived online and shared at an upcoming Community Listening Event.
If you or someone you know has stories to tell about growing up near the highway, please reach out to info@the-ipa.org
Check here for updates and subscribe to our newsletter so you don’t miss a thing!
The documentary, by architect Adam Paul Susaneck of Segregation by Design, uses archival footage and photography to show how the construction of the 35-mile-long Brooklyn-Queens Expressway demolished historic neighborhoods in Brooklyn and Queens, divided communities, and displaced hundreds of thousands of New Yorkers across the two boroughs.
The oral history project, led by StoryCorps veterans Mitra Bonshahi and Adriana Gallardo, records intergenerational audio interviews between families, friends, and neighbors in Brooklyn and Queens, providing opportunities for those affected by the BQE to preserve memories of their lives, community, and stories of living near the highway, as well as their hopes and dreams for the future.
Audio interviews will be archived online and shared at an upcoming Community Listening Event.
If you or someone you know has stories to tell about growing up near the highway, please reach out to info@the-ipa.org
Check here for updates and subscribe to our newsletter so you don’t miss a thing!
Documentary
Free Public Screening
We held the first public screening of The Story of the BQE at St. Paul’s Lutheran Church in Williamsburg in partnership with Segregation by Design. Missed it? Another screening is planned for the Fall.
The Story of the BQE is a documentary tracing the history of the Brooklyn-Queens Expressway (BQE) by Adam Paul Susaneck of Segregation by Design and produced by the Institute for Public Architecture (IPA) and NYU Schack Institute of Real Estate. Using archival footage and photography, this 30 minute mini-documentary shows how the construction of the 35-mile-long BQE demolished historic neighborhoods in Brooklyn and Queens, divided communities, and displaced hundreds of thousands of New Yorkers across the two boroughs. The screening included a brief Q&A with Adam Paul Susaneck as well as audio excepts from The Story of the BQE oral history project. This event was free and open to the public with registration.
It’s now been 70 years since the highway was completed and its age is showing. Now is the perfect time to reimagine the BQE and repair the damage it continues to inflict on the community.
–Segregation by Design
| It was an incredible evening, featuring inspiring speeches by Diana Reyna, Founding Principal of Diana Reyna Strategic Consulting LLC, former Deputy Brooklyn Borough President for Brooklyn and former NYC Council Member for the 34th Council District; Emily Gallagher, Assemblymember for Assembly District 50, representing the North Brooklyn neighborhoods of Greenpoint and Williamsburg; and Daniela Castillo, Program Director of the Green Light District at El Puente; with a special appearance by Winston, an eighth-grader at Brooklyn Urban Garden School, who participated in the oral history project. Tiffany-Ann Taylor, Vice President of Transportation at the Regional Plan Association (RPA), moderated an engaging discussion and audience Q&A with the filmmaker, architect Adam Paul Susaneck of Segregation by Design. The Story of the BQE is made possible by a generous grant from the National Endowment for the Arts and by public funds from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council. We also extend our heartfelt thanks to our partner NYU Schack Institute of Real Estate and sponsors Big Oh Bijoux, KVL Audio Visual Services, Sasaki, Simons Hardware, and the Municipal Art Society Enduring Culture Initiative. If you missed this event, don't worry! Another documentary screening and oral history listening event for The Story of the BQE will be held in the Fall—details to come. Stay tuned for upcoming events by following the IPA on social media. |
Tiffany-Ann Taylor is the Vice President for Transportation at the Regional Plan Association (RPA). Prior to working at RPA, she served as Deputy Director of Freight Programs, Education and Research for the Freight Mobility unit at the New York City Department of Transportation and as an Assistant Vice President at the New York City Economic Development Corporation.
During her time in New York City Government, Tiffany led transformative passenger transportation projects, freight policy, and truck safety and compliance initiatives. Prior to her time with the city, Tiffany focused on suburban and regional planning efforts while working for the Suffolk County Department of Economic Development & Planning on Long Island, New York where her primary projects were centered on passenger transportation, open space, and economic development. She holds a B.A in Government from The College of William & Mary and a M.S in City & Regional Planning from Pratt Institute.
Tiffany is a first-generation American, the brainchild of the Hindsight Conference and former President of the New York Metro Chapter of the American Planning Association. Tiffany is an alum of the Coro Leadership New York Program, the Urban Design Forum’s Forefront Fellowship Program, the NYU Rudin Center Emerging Leaders in Transportation Fellowship program and is a former mentor of Transit Center’s Women Changing Transportation Mentorship program.
During her time in New York City Government, Tiffany led transformative passenger transportation projects, freight policy, and truck safety and compliance initiatives. Prior to her time with the city, Tiffany focused on suburban and regional planning efforts while working for the Suffolk County Department of Economic Development & Planning on Long Island, New York where her primary projects were centered on passenger transportation, open space, and economic development. She holds a B.A in Government from The College of William & Mary and a M.S in City & Regional Planning from Pratt Institute.
Tiffany is a first-generation American, the brainchild of the Hindsight Conference and former President of the New York Metro Chapter of the American Planning Association. Tiffany is an alum of the Coro Leadership New York Program, the Urban Design Forum’s Forefront Fellowship Program, the NYU Rudin Center Emerging Leaders in Transportation Fellowship program and is a former mentor of Transit Center’s Women Changing Transportation Mentorship program.
Adam Paul Susaneck is an architect and urban planner researching how transportation and housing policy have been used as instruments of physical division within urban areas, and how we can reconnect communities divided by the infrastructure choices of the past. His ongoing project, Segregation by Design, aims to catalog the destruction caused by mid-century urban renewal and highway projects, and to highlight the work advocates are doing to heal the divide. Adam has written for The New York Times, The Architect's Newspaper, and others. He is pursuing his PhD in urban planning at the Delft Institute of Technology in the Netherlands and earned his Masters of Architecture from Columbia University. He is a Project Manager at AECOM working on transportation projects both in the Benelux and in the Northeast US.
Support
The project is supported, in part, by a generous grant from the National Endowment for the Arts; by public funds from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council; NYU Schack Institute of Real Estate and private donations.
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About the IPA
The Institute for Public Architecture, based in the historic Block House on Governors Island, uses design to address social, physical, and environmental inequities in the city through its signature Selected Topic Fellowship and Independent Project Residency programs, and related public lectures, symposia, exhibits, and publications. For more information, contact: info@the-ipa.org.
Oral History Facilitators
Mitra Bonshahi is an editor and producer living in Brooklyn, NY. In addition to making films, Mitra edits everything from short docs, web series, and commercial projects. When she’s not working in the visual medium, Mitra produces radio stories for several podcasts including Latino USA and StoryCorps. She holds a MA in Media Studies from The New School.
Adriana Gallardo is a journalist and educator based in Brooklyn, NY. She covers gender for ProPublica, a national investigative newsroom, and teaches at the Craig Newmark Graduate School of Journalism at CUNY. Previously, she spent over a decade working in public media, including as a traveling facilitator for StoryCorps, an oral history project dedicated to preserving the stories of everyday Americans.
Urban Historian
Adam Paul Susaneck is the founder of Segregation by Design (SBD), a project using data and remastered historical photography to document the destruction of communities of color in cities across the United States. Adam has a Masters of Architecture from Columbia University and is pursuing a Ph.D in architecture and the built environment at the Delft University of Technology.
IPA Fellows
Catherine Ahn is an architectural designer and researcher, based in New York and Seoul, whose work intersects materials studies, ecology, and social infrastructure. She was a 2020 IPA Fellow, developing ideas for sustainable manufacturing hubs along Newtown Creek, as part of the BQE! team.
David Cunningham is an architect and educator with a practice in Brooklyn. He was a 2022 IPA Fellow, working on Prospect Trace, a project to transform the Prospect Expressway from a noisy, dangerous and polluted utilitarian corridor that is strictly vehicular into a welcoming civic space.
Marcus Wilford, a Brooklyn-raised architect born in Trinidad & Tobago, is an experienced designer of socially just, ecologically conscious spaces. He was a 2020 IPA Fellow on NYC LOOP, using a portion of the BQE Right of Way as a new mass transit line from Jackson Heights to Downtown Brooklyn, reducing commute times and increasing job accessibility.
Severn Clay-Youman is an architect living and working in Brooklyn. He was a 2022 IPA Fellow, working on Prospect Trace, a project to transform the Prospect Expressway from a noisy, dangerous and polluted utilitarian corridor that is strictly vehicular into a welcoming civic space.