iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Reposted by Carolyn Swope

Harvard Joint Center for Housing Studies @harvard-jchs.bsky.social · 30/09/2026

𝗙𝗿𝗶, 𝗢𝗰𝘁 𝟮 @ 𝟭𝟮:𝟭𝟱 𝗽𝗺 𝗘𝗧: More than 23 million homeowners are energy insecure, sacrificing food, medicine, or safe indoor temperatures to pay utility bills. Renos could lower those costs, but mostly higher-income households make them. @sophiawedeen.bsky.social www.jchs.harvard.edu/calendar/fix...

jchs.harvard.edu

Fixing the Wrong House: Disparities in Homeowner Energy Insecurity and Energy-Related Remodeling

Sophia Weeden and Diana Hernández will present new research drawing on multiple data sources to describe disparities in energy use, energy insecurity, housing affordability, and home renovation activi...

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Carolyn Swope @cbswope.bsky.social · 26/11/2025

That's so kind, thank you so much! I always appreciate your thoughts and would love to connect sometime about the joys and challenges of working at this intersection!

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Carolyn Swope @cbswope.bsky.social · 24/11/2025

This paper originated in a class taught by Wright Kennedy, now my co-network chair, and I gratefully recognize his generative feedback and encouragement!

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Carolyn Swope @cbswope.bsky.social · 24/11/2025

I find that while disease was indeed high in alley communities, this was explained mostly by higher disease burden among Black residents overall, not by alley conditions themselves. Reformers’ paternalistic racism led to the discursive production of Black space as pathological.

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Carolyn Swope @cbswope.bsky.social · 24/11/2025

In the article, I examine how Progressive reformers in DC weaponized health disparities to urge clearance of Black inhabited alley communities, promoting a shift from micro- to neighborhood-level segregation.

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Carolyn Swope @cbswope.bsky.social · 24/11/2025

I'm deeply honored to have received the Founder's Prize for the best article of the year in Social Science History. It's especially meaningful because SSHA has been such a generative and welcoming community for me as the co-chair of the Historical Geography and HGIS network.

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Reposted by Carolyn Swope

Pam Herd @pamherd.bsky.social · 01/11/2025

The US is the purple line bottoming out. Our economy may still roar, but we’re killing ourselves. Hoarding wealth, refusing to even ensure our kids have enough to eat. That line is an indictment. It reflects our warped values.

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Carolyn Swope @cbswope.bsky.social · 04/09/2025

Part of a special Journal of Urban Affairs issue edited by @lkb-pdx.bsky.social on “Stopping a Tsunami: learning from and beyond emergency tenant protections during the Covid-19 pandemic” - looking forward to the dialogue!

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Carolyn Swope @cbswope.bsky.social · 04/09/2025

We look instead toward the transformative potential within tenants’ collective capacity and mobilization to challenge the exploitative rent relationship

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Carolyn Swope @cbswope.bsky.social · 04/09/2025

Stories we heard from many tenants reflected the bounce back to the same conditions of housing insecurity once ERA funds dried up, even among tenants with the most positive ERA experiences

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Carolyn Swope @cbswope.bsky.social · 04/09/2025

We build on @davidjmadden.bsky.social's argument on the urban process under “Covid capitalism": state policy responses prioritize protecting interests of property owners, with more tepid and temporary protections for renters

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Carolyn Swope @cbswope.bsky.social · 04/09/2025

A profit-seeking, exploitative capitalist housing system, which produced crisis before Covid-19 and continues to do so after ERA has largely wound down.

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Carolyn Swope @cbswope.bsky.social · 04/09/2025

We argue that ERA programs (although they did provide important short-term relief to many tenants!) ultimately lacked transformative potential. They failed to disrupt—or even meaningfully challenge—the root cause of the housing crisis:

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Carolyn Swope @cbswope.bsky.social · 04/09/2025

...and that reform to address this crisis was possible within the structure of the current housing system

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Carolyn Swope @cbswope.bsky.social · 04/09/2025

We interrogate how the framing of Covid-19 as an aberrant emergency moment of housing “crisis,” and the creation of solutions narrowly targeted toward addressing it, imply that the housing status quo before Covid-19 was not a crisis...

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Carolyn Swope @cbswope.bsky.social · 04/09/2025

Most work on ERA to date focuses on evaluation and identifying opportunities for improvement (necessary and important questions!). But we wanted to ask: Was ERA the right kind of program in the first place?

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Carolyn Swope @cbswope.bsky.social · 04/09/2025

514 state and local ERA programs helped low-income tenants pay rent during the Covid-19 pandemic. We explore how 3 Connecticut programs were designed, how they were rolled out, and how they were experienced by housing-insecure tenants

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Carolyn Swope @cbswope.bsky.social · 04/09/2025

What better way to start a new semester and return from maternity leave than to share a new paper with my brilliant co-authors! We examine Emergency Rental Assistance (ERA) through a critical urban theory lens

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Brian Goldstone @brian-goldstone.bsky.social · 20/08/2025

During the 1970s, an arson wave ravaged poor communities across the US. Some lost 80% of their housing. Residents were blamed. In reality, landlords—paid by insurers and enabled by the state—drove this arson-for-profit epidemic.   I reviewed @benchansfield.bsky.social's revelatory BORN IN FLAMES:

nytimes.com

When the Bronx Burned, Tenants Died and Landlords Got Rich

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Reposted by Carolyn Swope

Dan Immergluck @danimmergluck.bsky.social · 16/05/2025

New from me on scholarship by @cbswope.bsky.social et al. "As the Trump Administration attempts to eviscerate fair housing...regulations...we need to recognize the persistence and resilience of racial-capitalist exploitation and dispossession, and not view it only as some relic of an earlier era."

dans-newsletter-cfccf2.beehiiv.com

What if the Home Owners Loan Corporation (HOLC) Redlining Maps Were Not Actually the Root Cause of So Much Modern Health (and Other) Inequality?

Seeking more complete—but still highly racialized—explanations of urban spatial inequities.

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Scott Markley @snmarkley.bsky.social · 15/05/2025

Glad to see this piece out! In it, we trace the explosion of HOLC redlining studies in public health research over recent years and propose that scholars widen their focus to include some of the myriad other discriminatory processes that have generated racial health inequities.

Articles About Redlining by the Home Owners’ Loan Corporation (HOLC), by Discipline: United States, 2001–2023. Output increases substantially post-2016, especially in the public health literature.

Table showing select other racialized processes affecting neighborhoods that scholars could focus on in addition to HOLC "redlining"

How and Why Does Redlining Matter for Present-Day Health? Critical Perspectives on Causality, Cartography, and Capitalism

Abstract:
Recent years have seen an explosion of public health research on associations between historical redlining maps created by a US government agency, the Home Owners’ Loan Corporation (HOLC), and present-day outcomes. Yet precisely how and why HOLC’s surveys help us understand the underpinnings of present-day racial inequities remains unclear.

We apply an interdisciplinary perspective to assess the contributions and limitations of this literature, particularly with regard to causal mechanisms and theoretical explanations. While research often frames HOLC redlining as a measure of structural racism that directly shapes present-day outcomes, we look instead to racial capitalism to understand how and why racialized housing policies are implemented.

We argue that the HOLC maps represent symptoms, not causes, of systematic disinvestment in Black communities, that redlining was not produced by the federal government in isolation but was shaped by public‒private collaboration and infused with capitalist logics, and that redlining interacted with many other forms of racialized housing dispossession to shape present-day riskscapes. We conclude by offering conceptual and methodological recommendations for public health researchers, including suggestions for data sources other than HOLC maps.

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Reposted by Carolyn Swope

Dan Immergluck @danimmergluck.bsky.social · 15/05/2025

🧵A much-needed corrective to the “HOLC redlining was the primary/root cause of everything bad” literature that has exploded since the HOLC maps were digitized. A more complicated, but still heavily racialized story. Lots of other private and public discriminatory policies & practices involved.

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Carolyn Swope @cbswope.bsky.social · 14/05/2025

Also check out this response by @lwinling.bsky.social on the importance of recognizing intervening processes and mechanisms leading to the present day - ajph.aphapublications.org/doi/10.2105/... 10/10

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Carolyn Swope @cbswope.bsky.social · 14/05/2025

But it means that racial differentiation and exploitation structures housing markets and policies in fundamental ways that go beyond any one process or actor. 9/

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Carolyn Swope @cbswope.bsky.social · 14/05/2025

All this does not mean that HOLC redlining wasn’t racist, that the federal govt wasn’t complicit in racism, or that the maps aren’t significant sources of information about disinvestment and discrimination! 8/

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Carolyn Swope @cbswope.bsky.social · 14/05/2025

We offer suggestions for how researchers can align conceptual frameworks, research questions, and study design, including use of alternative data sources beyond HOLC grades 7/

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Carolyn Swope @cbswope.bsky.social · 14/05/2025

…3) redlining interacted with many other forms of racialized housing dispossession (urban renewal, gentrification, zoning…) to shape present-day riskscapes 6/

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Carolyn Swope @cbswope.bsky.social · 14/05/2025

We argue: 1) the HOLC maps represent symptoms, not causes, of systematic disinvestment in Black communities; 2) redlining was not produced by the federal government in isolation but was shaped by public‒private collaboration and infused with capitalist logics… 5/

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Carolyn Swope @cbswope.bsky.social · 14/05/2025

…but are continuously being reproduced by a political‒economic system that devalues Black property and personhood 4/

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Carolyn Swope @cbswope.bsky.social · 14/05/2025

Rather than understand the maps as strictly causal (evidence suggests otherwise), we use a racial capitalism framework to argue that persistent racial health inequities are not the outcome of one discriminatory program from the 1930s… 3/

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Carolyn Swope @cbswope.bsky.social · 14/05/2025

Although there’s been an explosion in use of HOLC maps as a measure for structural racism in public health research, how and why, precisely, they help us understand the underpinnings of present-day racial inequities remains unclear 2/

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Reposted by Carolyn Swope

Nathan Kalman-Lamb @nkalamb.bsky.social · 03/05/2025

“The issue is that Khalil and the others who have been abducted in recent weeks are being jailed because they were dissident protesters, student organizers, op-ed authors, and anti-genocide activists. In other words, they have been targeted for their political views. They are political prisoners.”

Setting aside the fact that there have always been political prisoners in the United States, I am in a position to know what we’re looking at. And let me tell you—it is the same worn textbook.

The issue is not that Mahmoud Khalil holds a green card, nor is it only that his arrest violated “due process,” though many liberal Americans indeed wish us to take issue with only that. The issue is that Khalil and the others who have been abducted in recent weeks are being jailed because they were dissident protesters, student organizers, op-ed authors, and anti-genocide activists. In other words, they have been targeted for their political views. They are political prisoners.

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jon ben-menachem @jbenmenachem.com · 18/04/2025

1. Every Dem Senator should be doing this, at minimum, for their constituents. 2. Why won't my Senators in New York do this for my fellow Columbia students incarcerated in Louisiana? It's a quicker flight.

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jon ben-menachem @jbenmenachem.com · 20/03/2025

It is also notable that Georgetown immediately put out this statement defending their community member. Columbia still has not mentioned Mahmoud or Ranjani by name.

“Dr. Khan Suri is an Indian national who was duly granted a visa to enter the United States to continue his doctoral research on peacebuilding in Iraq and Afghanistan,” a Georgetown spokesperson said in a statement. “We are not aware of him engaging in any illegal activity, and we have not received a reason for his detention. We support our community members’ rights to free and open inquiry, deliberation and debate, even if the underlying ideas may be difficult, controversial or objectionable. We expect the legal system to adjudicate this case fairly.”

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Student Workers of Columbia @swcolumbia.bsky.social · 18/03/2025

SWC stands by Ranjani Srinivasan, yet another union member targeted by the Trump administration and abandoned by our employer Columbia University. Columbia WAS complicit. Read more:🧵

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Carolyn Swope @cbswope.bsky.social · 17/03/2025

Columbia must protect its students, defend their academic freedom, and safeguard their ability to study and work without fear! Read her story here: archive.today/vnrbm

archive.today

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Carolyn Swope @cbswope.bsky.social · 17/03/2025

This attack on students by the US government is a blatant violation of the right to “protected political speech” and sets a dangerous precedent for the broad and unjustified targeting of international students.

archive.today

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Carolyn Swope @cbswope.bsky.social · 17/03/2025

Columbia University PhD student Ranjani Srinivasan had her visa unjustly revoked without explanation and was forced to flee the US. Despite being in academic good standing, Columbia withdrew her enrollment and her legal status was terminated without due process.

archive.today

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Laura Seay @texasinafrica.bsky.social · 15/03/2025

Before Mahmoud Khalil's detention last week, ICE came for a Columbia PhD student. She had nothing to do with the Gaza protests, but was arrested last spring during a roundup while trying to walk home. Charges were dismissed. The State Department still revoked her visa.

nytimes.com

How a Columbia Student Fled to Canada After ICE Came Looking for Her

Ranjani Srinivasan’s student visa was revoked by U.S. immigration authorities. That was just the start of her odyssey.

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Reposted by Carolyn Swope

Chanda Prescod-Weinstein 🌌 @chanda.blacksky.app · 12/03/2025

Research from 2022 that every Democrat apologist should chew on: “We do not find any evidence that accommodative strategies reduce radical right support. If anything, our results suggest that they lead to more voters defecting to the radical right.“ www.cambridge.org/core/journal...

cambridge.org

Does accommodation work? Mainstream party strategies and the success of radical right parties | Political Science Research and Methods | Cambridge Core

Does accommodation work? Mainstream party strategies and the success of radical right parties - Volume 11 Issue 1

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Mike Boylan-Kolchin @mbkplus.bsky.social · 12/03/2025

This is really, really bad. Columbia made the mistake of thinking that placating the administration would spare them. Other universities made the mistake of thinking it would stop with Columbia. It won’t stop without disciplined pushback; it’s an existential question for American universities.

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W.E.D.em Boyz @leftistwonk.bsky.social · 11/03/2025

One might think that Columbia would want to put out a statement defending its students and making sure they feel protected. Instead, it wants to clarify that there are circumstances in which they will open the door for ICE to enter and snatch international students.

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jon ben-menachem @jbenmenachem.com · 09/03/2025

My union @swcolumbia.bsky.social has created a resource to support international students who are experiencing increasingly higher risk of immigration enforcement. We have done this on our own time while the University has remained silent and complicit. docs.google.com/document/d/1...

docs.google.com

Info for international student workers

What is this document? This is a living document maintained by SWC’s International Students Working Group and Cops Off Campus Working Group. We will keep adding to it as the situation develops and as...

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Student Workers of Columbia @swcolumbia.bsky.social · 09/03/2025

SWC condemns the ICE/DHS raids on Columbia's campus. We call on President Armstrong to protect international students from immigration enforcement and reinstate Columbia as a sanctuary campus. Statement: docs.google.com/document/d/1...

On Saturday, Department of Homeland Security (DHS) officers detained Mahmoud Khalil, a Palestinian recent Columbia graduate and lead negotiator for last spring’s Gaza solidarity encampment. Khalil held a green card at the time of his arrest and remains in detention as thousands petition for his immediate release. We are also aware of multiple reports of ICE agents accessing or attempting to access Columbia campus buildings on Friday and Saturday, including undergraduate dorms.

The presence of immigration enforcement agents in Columbia Housing buildings coincides with Columbia’s publication of a new protocol which reverses the school’s sanctuary campus status and states that “exigent circumstances may allow [ICE] access to University buildings or people without a warrant.” Columbia has abandoned its nearly decade-long commitment to being a sanctuary campus. This development also closely follows the Department of Justice’s announcement on the same day that it plans to cancel $400 million of grants and contracts with Columbia in retaliation for students protesting Columbia’s investments in Israel.

By allowing ICE on campus, Columbia is surrendering to the Trump administration’s assault on universities across the country and sacrificing international students to protect its finances. We call on faculty, staff, postdocs, students, and all other workers at Columbia University to stand against the administration’s cooperation with the Trump administration.
Student Workers of Columbia (UAW Local 2710), whose unit includes many international student workers, demands that President Armstrong reinstate Columbia as a sanctuary campus; refuse to provide information to immigration authorities investigating Columbia affiliates; order Public Safety and private contractors to cease surveillance of Columbia affiliates; destroy all existing records of such surveillance; conduct “know your rights” trainings;

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Jonathan M. Katz @katz.theracket.news · 08/03/2025

“The president of the United States is illegally impounding critical research funds in an attempt to silence members of the Columbia community. As a university committed to free inquiry, free expression and the rule of law, we categorically reject these efforts and will see him in court.”

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Chanda Prescod-Weinstein 🌌 @chanda.blacksky.app · 07/03/2025

But seriously Columbia how did anticipatory obedience work out for you

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