“Undesign the Redline” Exhibit on History of Redlining and Housing Discrimination

Interactive Installation Explores History of Housing Segregation, Connection to City’s Current Housing Crisis 

Department of City Planning (DCP) Director Dan Garodnick today unveiled an installation in the City Hall Rotunda of “Undesign the Redline,” an interactive installation on the history of redlining and racial housing segregation in New York City. Created by the design studio Designing the We, the exhibit connects the history of New York City’s racial housing segregation to the city’s current housing crisis. As the city faces a generational housing crisis, with racial and socioeconomic segregation, a historically low 1.4 percent rental vacancy rate, and half of New York renters paying more than 30 percent of their income in rent, the exhibit educates viewers on one of the root causes of the ongoing crisis. Members of the public can visit the installation by joining a public tour of City Hall.

Designing the We originally launched the Undesign the Redline exhibit in the Bronx in 2015. Now celebrating nine years, the exhibit has traveled across the city and country, elevating stories of how structural racism and inequality were designed into places through policies like redlining, urban renewal, and exclusionary zoning. The exhibit has been used in campaigns for fair housing legislation, zoning reform, and community wealth building. The exhibit has also been displayed across the city — from Brownsville and Gowanus to East Harlem and the Bronx to the Financial District — as well as across the country. New Yorkers have engaged with Undesign the Redline, collaboratively telling the story of how the city reached a housing crisis. Telling the story of why neighborhoods look the way they do today, and why New Yorkers deal with so many crises — from housing to health to wealth — is as vital as ever. 

Department of City Planning
The Department of City Planning (DCP) plans for the strategic growth and development of the City through ground-up planning with communities, the development of land use policies and zoning regulations applicable citywide, and its contribution to the preparation of the City’s 10-year Capital Strategy. DCP promotes housing production and affordability, fosters economic development and coordinated investments in infrastructure and services, and supports resilient, sustainable communities across the five boroughs for a more equitable New York City.

In addition, DCP supports the City Planning Commission in its annual review of approximately 450 land use applications for a variety of discretionary approvals. The Department also assists both government agencies and the public by advising on strategic and capital planning and providing policy analysis, technical assistance and data relating to housing, transportation, community facilities, demography, zoning, urban design, waterfront areas and public open space.