Francine S. Romero, professor of public administration at the University of Texas at San Antonio, will discuss her recent book Not for Sale: Kelo v. New London and the Modern Debate over Eminent Domain (2026). Through legal scholarship and first-hand accounts, the author reexamines one of the most notorious chapters in New London history, showing how the city became the site and symbol for a national property rights movement at the turn of the millennium.

FREE.

An analysis of the power behind local policies in New London and an explanation as to how the system works, who the players are, and where they stand on renter issues. We will discuss the pathway to building tenant power in New London–from our apartment buildings to our neighborhoods to the city as a whole.

FREE. LIMITED CAPACITY. RSVP REQUESTED.

Join us for the launch of a revised and expanded edition of Mapping Urban Renewal in New London, 1941-1975, a digital publication chronicling a tumultuous time in the history of New London when 104 acres downtown were cleared and redeveloped under the Winthrop Urban Renewal Project. The revised website includes new historical photographs, new narratives based on resident recollections, and an interactive map of the demolished neighborhoods–a collaboration with Bill Morse, author of Lost New London (2026).

FREE.

Michael Glass, associate professor of history at Boston College, will discuss his award-winning book Cracked Foundations: Debt and Inequality in Suburban America (2025), which examines how home mortgages and municipal bonds built suburbs in the decades after World War II while also making suburban life financially fragile and deeply unequal.

FREE.

First of the two-part conversation series that invites the community to explore the history of land and housing, the systems that shape who gets to own and control them, and what becomes possible when communities imagine something different. Through film, panels, and facilitated conversation, we’ll create space to learn, question, and imagine more equitable approaches to land, housing, and community ownership.

FREE. LIMITED CAPACITY. RSVP REQUESTED.

Second of the two-part conversation series that invites the community to explore the history of land and housing, the systems that shape who gets to own and control them, and what becomes possible when communities imagine something different. Through film, panels, and facilitated conversation, we’ll create space to learn, question, and imagine more equitable approaches to land, housing, and community ownership.

FREE. LIMITED CAPACITY. RSVP REQUESTED.

The symposium will feature presentations by outstanding graduate and advanced undergraduate students from programs across New England in the history, theory, and criticism of architecture, art history, urban studies, historic preservation, and related fields. This year’s event is broadly themed around housing. Full schedule of speakers and topics to be announced.

FREE.

Leading local housing experts, advocates, officials, and industry professionals will assess the housing landscape in the city and region today. This event pays homage to historical Housing Forums hosted by The Day, New London’s newspaper of record, in decades past. Proceedings will be published in a special section of the newspaper.

FREE.