UNEVEN GROWTH (2014) by Miguel Robles-Durán & Cohabitation Strategies (CohStra)
Cohabitation Strategies (CohStra), a Rotterdam- and New York City-based nonprofit co-op for the research and development of urban social space, was founded in 2008 by urbanist Miguel Robles-Durán, together with his work partners Lucia Babina, Emiliano Gandolfi, and Gabriela Rendón. Using various methods that target racism and lack of equity in deteriorating urban spaces, CohStra has facilitated over a dozen grassroots-based projects in cities in Europe, Asia, and North and South America.
The documentary Uneven Growth was created for the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) exhibition, Uneven Growth: Tactical Urbanisms for Expanding Megacities. The twenty-four-minute video consists of interviews with scholars, activists, and journalists, is an exposé of how the political process in New York City created more vacant apartments than the existing homeless population in 2014. Robles-Durán works against displacement and gentrification; one such example is his Cooperative Housing Trusts NYC, a project commissioned by MoMA, proposing an alternative affordable housing model for New York City.