The Story of the BQE Full Documentary

Posted April 30, 2026

The Story of the BQE is a mini-documentary tracing the history of the Brooklyn-Queens Expressway by Adam Paul Susaneck of Segregation by Design and produced by the Institute for Public Architecture and NYU Schack Institute of Real Estate in 2025. Using archival footage and photography, this 40 minute video shows how the construction of the 35-mile-long BQE demolished historic neighborhoods in Brooklyn and Queens, divided communities, and displaced hundreds of thousands of New Yorkers across the two boroughs.

More info on the documentary, the larger project to "reimagine" the BQE, as well as past and upcoming live screenings here: https://instituteforpublicarchitecture.org/bqe2053-TSOTBQE

Thanks to everybody who came out to our screenings in NYC over the past year and a half! Here's a nice writeup on two of the events: https://brooklyneagle.com/303109/the-story-of-the-bqe-documentary-showcases-epic-neighborhood-destruction/