Houses on Hudson: Using Documentary Film to Explore Exclusionary Zoning and Affordable Housing Development in the New York Suburbs

In this thesis, I use the medium of documentary filmmaking to examine efforts to develop fair and affordable housing in Hastings-on-Hudson, New York. Hastings is an affluent, predominantly white suburban town located in Westchester County; increasingly high housing prices and exclusionary land use practices uphold local housing segregation, mirroring many other suburban communities across the country. Specifically, this thesis explores how stated values of inclusion and progressive ideology come in tension with underlying desires related to homeownership. The result is a short documentary, “Houses on Hudson,” and an accompanying narrative outlining the motivation, process, and takeaways from this artistic intervention.

Name thesis:degree_name

Master

Department dc:contributor.department

Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Urban Studies and Planning

Grantor dc:publisher

Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Year dc:date.issued

2021

Author dc:creator

• Gourevitch, Ruth

Advisor dc:contributor.advisor

• Bunten, Devin Michelle

Statement dc:rights

• In Copyright - Educational Use Permitted
• Copyright retained by author(s)

Licence dc:rights.uri

• https://rightsstatements.org/page/InC-EDU/1.0/

Handle dc:identifier.uri

https://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/139211

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:dspace.mit.edu:1721.1/139211