irishboyinlondon

Posts tagged "NYC"

The High Line - New York (December 2011)

I love this place.  Such a simple idea - a disused rail line turned into a park!  It is now so successful that at times they have to close it due to overcrowding! An inspiring example of what communities and city halls can do together!  Visit their website here.

The High Line is a public park built on an historic freight rail line elevated above the streets on Manhattan’s West Side. It is owned by the City of New York, and maintained and operated by Friends of the High Line. Founded in 1999 by community residents, Friends of the High Line fought for the High Line’s preservation and transformation at a time when the historic structure was under the threat of demolition. It is now the non-profit conservancy working with the New York City Department of Parks & Recreation to make sure the High Line is maintained as an extraordinary public space for all visitors to enjoy. In addition to overseeing maintenance, operations, and public programming for the park, Friends of the High Line works to raise the essential private funds to support more than 90 percent of the park’s annual operating budget, and to advocate for the preservation and transformation of the High Line at the Rail Yards, the third and final section of the historic structure, which runs between West 30th and West 34th Streets.

The High Line is located on Manhattan’s West Side. It runs from Gansevoort Street in the Meatpacking District to West 34th Street, between 10th & 11th Avenues. The first section of the High Line opened on June 9, 2009. It runs from Gansevoort Street to West 20th Street. The second section, which runs between West 20th and West 30th Streets, opened June 8, 2011.

05/6/12

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cities for living  cities for people  high line  livable cities  liveable cities  nyc  parks  people first cities  public realm  urban design  urban development  urban environment  urban living  urban planning  urbanism  the high line 

Esquire: Janette Sadik-Khan: Urban Reengineer

Photo:Olugbenro Ogunsemore via Esquire

A great piece on NYC DOTs, Janette Sadik-Khan in Esquire at the moment as part of The Brightest: 16 Geniuses Who Give Us Hope …

Whereas most city officials and past DOT commissioners would have insisted on capital funds for something like, say, a bike lane, Sadik-Khan teases them out on the cheap. When you use capital funds for a project, you need approval from a few different places, and it takes months, sometimes years. So she takes a bunch of guys already painting double lines and gets them to dot a bike lane with the extra paint. Where she wants a plaza to swallow a car lane, she convinces abutting stores and the local business-improvement chapter to pay for the cleaning and to take the chairs and tables in every evening and set them out every morning. She tells them that shutting down the street will actually help their business, the way it did in Times Square. She shows them the numbers and where once they may have been against her, suddenly they are footing her bill. She doesn’t even need to check in with Bloomberg. Like a high school a cappella group trying to get to Ibiza for spring break, Sadik-Khan finds money between seat cushions. She uses her guile and glamour to get what she needs, craftily but lawfully.

More downright rebelliously, she sometimes circumvents the community by experimenting with test swatches called pilots, like little harbingers of the future. With a pilot change, you don’t necessarily need community permission, since the idea is that you may end up just taking it down. For example, with the DUMBO parklet, a past commissioner might have educated the residents first, tried to get them to buy into the plan. But it takes months to convince a neighborhood to agree to a change. Instead, she just painted. She did the same thing in the Meatpacking District, when she drummed up a plaza next to the Apple store, and again on Willoughby Street in Brooklyn. She’s figured out a quiet way to get her way without getting the pesky public in her face.

11/21/11

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urban planning  urbanism  urban development  urban design  NYC  new york  NYC DOT  city  cityscape  city  city planning 

Cities in Focus | New York City

New York’s Mayor Michael Bloomberg and Department of Transportation are on a mission to make the Big Apple the “greatest, greenest big city in the world” by ramping up bicycle infrastructure across the city, introducing bus rapid transit to the Bronx, and pedestrianizing Times Square, among other bold transportation initiatives.

10/6/10

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nyc  new york  public space  public realm  town planning  urban planning  urbanism  urban design  urban environment  public transport  pedestrian space  cycling 
SoHo New York - Mixed Use, Density and the power of the Myth

Interesting article on the emergence of SoHo - interesting piece about myth building in cities

08/30/10

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SoHo  nyc  new york  mixed use  density  urban planning  urban development  urban design  town planning 
“
A poem compresses much in a small space and adds music, thus heightening its meaning. The city is like poetry: it compresses all life, all races and breeds, into a small island and adds music and the accompaniment of internal engines. The island of Manhattan is without any doubt the greatest human concentration on earth, the poem whose music is comprehensible to millions of permanent residents but whose full meaning will always remain elusive.
Excerpt from “Here is New York” by E.B. White 
08/30/10

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E.B. White  nyc  new york  city  cities  urban planning 
Restoring New York Streets to Their Cobblestone Pasts! Interesting article in the New York Times…Im not an avid conservationist but I like this!  Cobbles add subtle texture to a street and its surrounding environment! As long as they are laid properly they are just as good as concrete!   In the mid-to-late 19th century, cobblestones began to be phased out as a primary material, in favor of less expensive concrete. Much of the city’s old surface has been dismantled, or paved over. But the current reconstruction projects provide cobblestone a second life, in some cases, even giving observant passers-by a living history lesson.

Restoring New York Streets to Their Cobblestone Pasts!

Interesting article in the New York Times…Im not an avid conservationist but I like this!  Cobbles add subtle texture to a street and its surrounding environment! As long as they are laid properly they are just as good as concrete!

 

In the mid-to-late 19th century, cobblestones began to be phased out as a primary material, in favor of less expensive concrete. Much of the city’s old surface has been dismantled, or paved over. But the current reconstruction projects provide cobblestone a second life, in some cases, even giving observant passers-by a living history lesson.

07/19/10

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conservation  restoration  neighbourhood  new york  NYC  town planning  urban planning  urban design  cityscape  city vibrancy  city planning  en  Environment 

Amazing tiltshift, timelapse video of life in New York entitled ’The Sandpit’ which was directed and compiled by Sam O’Hare.

Its amazing what humans have evolved and built since our very first settlements! Some great urban scenes in it as well!


northwestfive:

Just found this amazing video. Makes me looking forward to my next NYC visit in October so much.

06/20/10

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New York  NYC  city life  cityscape  urban design  urban planning 
Source: northwestfive
 The Greenwich Village Society for Historic Preservation’ proposal for historic district designation! Really interesting reading!

 The Greenwich Village Society for Historic Preservation’ proposal for historic district designation! Really interesting reading!

06/18/10
new york  nyc  neighbourhood  city planning  conservation  urban planning 

New Yorks Green Spaces - State of the City’s Housing & Neighborhoods

Interesting reading in the New York Times!

This spring, the New York University Furman Center for Real Estate and Urban Policy released its annual housing report, which included a study on the proximity of residential buildings to parks in New York City. In 2000, the report said, 93.7 percent of Manhattan’s housing units were within a quarter mile of a park. But of the housing that was built between 2000 and 2008, only 70.2 percent was within that distance of a park. 

See more here and read the actual report here

Whilst access to green space is of paramount importance in urban areas, it is also critically important that we examine how we use other public spaces such as squares, lots and streets so that we exploit them to their fullest potential and really create a vibrant urban city. See some examples of ingenuity here

06/4/10
green spaces  public space  urban environment  city planning  city vibrancy  vibrant  urban planning  urban design  new york  nyc 

Urban Camping in NYC!

Rangers and kids in front of tents

Over the summer New Yorks Urban Park Rangers are running camping events in city parks! There will be cookout and activities such as stargazing and night hikes. Opening up public spaces fully to people!! Brilliant idea!  Imagine this in London! Read more here and here

06/4/10

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new  nyc  cities  urban  vitality  vibrancy  vibrant  city planning  city life  urban  urban planning  camping  urban camping  public space  city parks 

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