LEGAL GEOGRAPHIES--THE RIGHT TO SPACES FOR SOCIAL DANCING IN NEW YORK CITY: A QUESTION OF URBAN RIGHTS.

As municipalities have enforced laws meant to enhance "quality of life" in gentrifying neighborhoods, controversies have erupted over the legitimacy of such laws. This study investigates one such controversy in New York City. It focuses on how the denial by the courts of social dancing as constitutionally protected mode of expression has led to the judicial endorsement of the municipality's cabaret law regulating the spaces for social dancing, despite the questionable legitimacy of this regulation. The study also draws out two implications for urban activism associated with movements making claims for "the right to the city": first, that we should take seriously activities such as social dancing and the spaces that enable them, which are invaluable to urban life but are not constitutionally protected; and second, that we may use the notion of "urban rights" as a principle to protect these activities and spaces from gentrification and questionable governmental regulations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]