In this episode, we chat with the filmmakers and subjects of the new documentary “Emergent City,” which offers a rare window into what it's like to be part of an urban planning fight over displacement and development.

“Emergent City” documents the 10-year saga of how Brooklyn's Sunset Park community came together to fight a rezoning wanted by deep-pocketed developers. Against all odds, residents won. Filmmakers were there from the very beginning, when developers proposed transforming Industry City, a sprawling industrial site on the Brooklyn waterfront, into a high-end retail and office complex – or, as some residents put it, a “mall.” They were there when Sunset Park residents protested that the the Industry City complex, if it won rezoning, would accelerate gentrification and displacement in a neighborhood where about 70% of households are renters. They were there for some 200 days of public meetings.

To learn more about how zoning became a battleground for environmental justice, anti-displacement efforts and community vision in Sunset Park, listen to the episode below or subscribe to the Next City podcast on Apple, Spotify or Goodpods. Or read Next City's senior economic justice correspondent Oscar Perry Abello writeup on the film.

By the way – this is our 100th episode! Thank you to everyone who has listened over the years and please consider pitching in to help sustain our work. 

This post was originally published on Next City.