WELCOME TO THE NCSG NEWSLETTER

Dear NCSG community,

Over the last 18 months since I started my job as director, I have had the incredible opportunity to see the work done in community by NCSG staff, students and partners. This work has given me a lot about which I can be hopeful, despite the number of prevailing winds impacting all of our work. Many of us have been working to build a world beyond neglect and intentional harm in communities for decades because planning and community power-building are long-game activities.

This academic year has brought some incredible momentum to that work. The Purple Line Corridor Coalition (PLCC) has conducted two community-led walks to connect community members to decision-makers to improve the connectivity between neighborhoods and stations. Partnership for Action Learning and Sustainability (PALS) has supported more than 30 projects for 14 organizations or agencies who worked with classes in 6 schools and colleges across campus. The Small Business Anti-Displacement Network (SBAN) will be opening a call for sessions for their fall conference in November after hosting a successful virtual summit on community ownership this past fall and just opened a call for case studies on Climate Gentrification. The Transportation Policy Research Group (TPRG) will release the 2024 Maryland Commuter Survey this spring, and director Chester Harvey has been awarded a grant to support new multi-mobility work in the region. At the same time, this year we have focused on developing research that cuts across our programs, including one on Studentification of College Park and another that supports a local initiative to understand the risks to unsubsidized but affordable housing along the Purple Line. Through these projects, we are blending our internal resources with existing partnerships and community-based knowledge.

The work at NCSG across our programs is focused on how we work collectively to imagine a better world. Partnering to create the policies, coalitions, processes and research that get us to that place is how we actualize that work. I challenged my NCSG colleagues to keep pushing the boundaries of the possible. I look forward to working with our partners on campus and across the state to keep that work moving forward. I hope to get a chance to meet folks at the PALS Showcase and NCSG Community Happy Hour on May 8th. 

-Kathryn Howell, Director

Graduate Assistants Nzingha Campbell and Cole Shultz presented their preliminary findings on studentification in relation to the incoming Purple Line at the February NCSG faculty-staff-student monthly meeting. The concept of “studentification,” introduced by Darren P. Smith, distinctly captures the transformations within university towns driven by an influx of students. This phenomenon fundamentally differs from traditional gentrification, where wealthier residents typically displace existing communities. Instead, studentification leads to increased property values, the conversion of single-family homes into rentals, and significant shifts in the local business environment, resulting in negative social repercussions such as noise complaints and cultural disruptions.

College Park, home to the University of Maryland, has long been labeled a poor college town but is resolutely pursuing revitalization through ambitious projects like the Greater College Park Initiative and the Purple Line light rail system to enhance connectivity. (NCSG found that the Purple Line is projected to increase student transit accessibility by just under 650%, driven by an 830% increase in students within five minutes of a rail station and a 1200% increase in students within 10 minutes.) While these developments aim to create a vibrant community, they also raise urgent concerns about the displacement of long-time residents and surging housing costs. Furthermore, local businesses that have historically catered to commuters are at serious risk of being pushed out by rising rents tailored to student markets.

The goal of this ongoing project is to look closer at UMD's approach to development and student housing, how that may change with the incoming purple line, and what is the responsibility of the UMD community to mitigate the impacts of displacement. 

• Purple Line Corridor Coalition’s 2024 Year End Report: A Year of Connection, Collaboration, and Growth (Link)

• Gentrification and Business Closures in Maryland’s Purple Line Corridor by Nicholas Finio (Link)

• PaRIT: A Planning Support System to Cope with a Network of Plans and Regulations by Cyrus Chimento, Nicolas Finio, Lewis D. Hopkins, and Gerrit-Jan Knaap (Link)

• Opinion: DC has been a leader in residential tenant protections. Here’s how it could better protect small business tenants by Katy June-Friesen, Willow Lung-Amam, and Lauren Meyers (Link)

Join HAND and Enterprise Community Partners to learn more about the long-standing, collaborative work to ensure that Purple Line communities remain affordable and welcoming places for people living there now and in the future.

In collaboration with the Takoma Langley Crossroads Development Authority, PALS is hosting a beautification day. The event will take place on May 3rd from 11 am-2 pm at the archway at Takoma Langley Crossroads. The beautification day will include face painting, recycled material printing press, planter painting, and live music.

NCSG invites our community partners to celebrate the end of the semester with faculty, staff, and students. Small bites will be provided.

Interested in being more involved with NCSG?

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