A Challenging Documentary about Land Development Controversies in Brooklyn
DIRECTED BY KELLY ANDERSON & JAY ARTHUR STERRENBERG/2024
Emergent City is a compelling civic documentary that transports viewers to the heart of Brooklyn’s Industry City, where the forces of transformation and resistance clash in a single community.
Focusing on the city’s largest privately-owned industrial site, the film invites us to witness the decade-long struggle between developers aiming to convert the area into an “Innovation District” and the local residents—primarily Latino and Chinese immigrant families—who see their way of life under threat.
Through a careful and immersive approach, Emergent City doesn’t tell us what to think; rather, it offers us a complex, multifaceted view of the battle over gentrification, urban change, and the delicate social fabric of Sunset Park.
What sets Emergent City apart is its raw, unfiltered portrayal of this battleground. Rather than presenting a lecture on urban renewal or a moralistic lesson on gentrification, the film allows viewers to experience the messy, sometimes hostile interactions that define the debate. It’s filled with flawed yet deeply human characters—developers, city council members, and residents—each with the power to drastically affect lives, yet none fitting cleanly into categories of “hero” or “villain.”
The film leaves space for interpretation, like a documentary Rorschach test, challenging audiences to confront their own beliefs about housing, climate, and community. By allowing us to see each side with “warts and all,” Emergent City sheds light on the nuanced reality of a neighborhood in flux, forcing us to question our assumptions and ask what role democracy and collec