Urban Design Week: By the City / For the City Blog

Jun 15

Connectivity: Let’s Get Together [Part II]

Perhaps we privileged it by including “Wouldn’t it be great if there were an easier way to get from Queens to Brooklyn?” as one of our sample ideas, but New Yorkers really took to the idea of better-connecting the only two boroughs to share a landmass. You can read a full list of their ideas on that subject here, but as we were sifting through the results we noticed an interesting, related trend. Mass transit aside, Connectivity-related ideas in the two boroughs at the tip of Long Island were mostly focused on connecting neighborhoods by removing existing physical barriers.

In Queens, Ange from Woodside proposed that the borough’s notorious Queens Boulevard be turned into one long, continuous public space scaled for pedestrians and cyclists, and “serving as a connector and safe route between neighborhoods.” Out in Maspeth, another Queens resident suggested that the LIE trench be decked over so that the neighborhood could be “connected, not divided by highways.” Farther out, Mike from Douglaston thinks it would be great if the Cross Island Expressway were closed and turned into a waterfront park, linking the neighborhoods along Little Neck Bay with one continuous green space.

Down in Brooklyn, Raymond from Bensonhurst called for neighborhoods along the Gowanus Canal to be better linked with a system of greenways and bike paths. Martin from Ditmas Park suggested a footbridge at Albemarle Road to connect the east and west parts of his neighborhood. Chris from Park Slope would like to see the BQE buried in North Clinton Hill to create better connectivity for pedestrians, and another Park Sloper named Sam suggested that Grand Army Plaza be better-designed to connect the Slope and Prospect Heights to Prospect Park (a sentiment shared by Dina on the Heights side of the plaza).

[Click here to read Part I, which focuses on citywide trends in connectivity.]

Have a great design solution for one of the ideas listed above? Click here to register for the By the City / For the City design competition today! Entries are due by midnight (EST) on Sunday, July 31st, 2011. We can’t wait to see what you come up with!

Connectivity: Let’s Get Together [Part I]

The ideas that New Yorkers shared for increasing connectivity in their city generally fall into one of three groups: physical connectivity, and transportation-related connectivity, and social connectivity. Here are some of the most interesting ideas from those groups.

1. PHYSICAL: One Lower East Sider thinks it would be great if the public space along Allen Street were reconfigured and connected with shops along the sidewalk, rather than isolated in the middle of the street. Tristan from NoMad suggested burying the FDR to connect Manhattan to the East River, and one of his neighbors called for the removal of parking lots near Murphy Park with the same goal. Lourdes in Inwood wants to see Dyckman Street’s role as a connection to recreational opportunities for her neighbors highlighted. IfUD Fellow Rosemary Wakeman suggested linking the many arcades in Midtown West to create an urban corridor. Someone also suggested bridging the sole gap in the Aqueduct Walk, which traces the path of the Croton Aqueduct, at Burnside Avenue.
2. TRANSPORTATION: You can see lists of the many great, specific ideas for expanding the city’s mass transportation system here and here. But here are a few that are more open-ended, for your pondering pleasure. Brooklynite Edward would like to see smarter connections between transit lines at Atlantic and Jamaica Avenues. Margaret would like her neighborhood, Snug Harbor, to have better transit connections to the rest of the city, a sentiment echoed by Lee from Castleton Corners, who wants to see a new subway line connecting Staten Island to Brooklyn. Another New Yorker issued an especially open challenge: find a better way to connect Greenpoint to Manhattan and Queens.
3. SOCIAL: New Yorkers aren’t just looking for ways to get from A to B—they’re also looking to connect more with each other. Out on Staten Island, Reza suggested that Charleston should create a memorial to commemorate its history as Kreischerville. Robby from New Springville would like there to be some better way for people to understand connections between the physical and virtual, noting that “the digital world is becoming today’s culture, connecting us in a global way.” In an interesting parallel, Steven suggested a public space around Times Square where people from around the world could share messages with New Yorkers. And while suggestions for physical mass transit connections to the city’s airports were popular, Libby from Brooklyn Heights sees the trip home from the airport as an opportunity for social connections, too, suggesting that there be some way for people to connect with others looking to get home from the airport at the same time as them.

[Click here to read Part II, which focuses on neighborhood connectivity in Brooklyn & Queens]

Have a great design solution for one of the ideas listed above? Click here to register for the By the City / For the City design competition today! Entries are due by midnight (EST) on Sunday, July 31st, 2011. We can’t wait to see what you come up with!

Jun 14

Beauty: Making New York Easier to ❤ [Part II]

Especially given the current public debate on the merits and drawbacks of historic preservation, it was interesting to see that many New Yorkers equated historical architecture with Beauty. We noticed an especially-high level of interest in the preservation and re-use of historic structures in two boroughs: Queens and the Bronx.

1. QUEENS: In Astoria, Michael wished for someone to come up with a dynamic public use for the Italianate Steinway Mansion, which is currently on the chopping block. In Jackson Heights, Rosemary hoped that an old house along 34th Avenue could become a community asset. In Bayside, Kelly expressed dismay about the demolition of older homes and the lack of “respect for maintaining the unique beauty of Queens neighborhoods.” Just to the east, Michael suggested the restoration of the historic Bayside Hills neighborhood.
2. THE BRONX: Ace from Pelham Parkway suggested the re-use of some of the larger apartment buildings along the Grand Concourse to add more hotel space in the South Bronx, and noted that one of their lobbies could serve as a wonderful museum on the history of the borough’s main thoroughfare. Glenn from Pelham Bay called for the restoration and celebration of the Bathhouse at Orchard Beach. Brendan wished for a High Line-like renovation of the Aqueduct Walk, a linear park that follows the original path of the Croton Aqueduct. Fazal from Yorkville proposed the commemoration of Concrete Park’s industrial heritage with the installation of a restored train.

[Click here to read Part I, which focuses on citywide trends in beauty.]

Have a great design solution for one of the ideas listed above? Click here to register for the By the City / For the City design competition today! Entries are due by midnight (EST) on Sunday, July 31st, 2011. We can’t wait to see what you come up with!

Beauty: Making New York Easier to ❤ [Part I]

When people talked about adding beauty to the city, they mostly thought on the local, neighborhood level. Here are a few trends in the ideas that people shared for beautifying their corners of the city.

1. INFRASTRUCTURE: Getting the most out of small, cramped spaces is a competitive sport in New York. That’s true not just of interiors, but extends to the public realm, as well. Many people submitted ideas for re-imagining functional infrastructure to add beauty to the city. Lauren from Bushwick wonders whether something could be done to brighten and beautify Broadway under the JMZ, while Marissa in Country Club would like to see elevated tracks and subway stations styled to look “less industrial.” Anandi of Richmond Hill thinks the abandoned LIRR tracks in her neighborhood would make a great High Line-style park for Queens, and Manuel from Crown Heights thinks the underused spaces alongside the Franklin Shuttle train could be used to beautify the area. Lisa from Roosevelt Island wants murals decorating the exterior of the island’s tram stations. Thinking on a different scale but along the same lines, James from Astoria wants street lights redesigned to add beauty to the city.
2. STREETS: New York is a pedestrian’s city, meaning that as we move through the streets we have time to actually appreciate the beautiful ones. John from Astoria would like to see 21st Street in his neighborhood boulevard-ized. Another Queens resident suggested “unpleasant” Northern Boulevard for beautification, too. Joanna in Park Slope proposed a clever scheme for using parking spaces to create more beautiful streetscapes. IfUD Fellow Rosemary Wakeman wants Sixth Avenue to become a grand entrance to Central Park, while another Fellow, Tony Hiss, suggested that parkland be restored to the median of Park Avenue!
3. PARKS: Half of the people who listed beauty as a motivation behind their idea were calling for the addition or improvement of green space somewhere in the city—a very strong correlation, indeed! One Harlemite suggested that street corners where overloaded sewers created troublesome puddles be turned into bioswales, and someone suggested turning the golf course at Dyker Beach Park into more versatile parkland. There were plenty of sites suggested for new parks, including Christina’s at Brown & 69th in Middle Village in Queens, Dan’s at Nostrand & Avenue I in Midwood in Brooklyn, Victoria’s at Hudson & Chambers in Tribeca in Manhattan.

[Click here to read Part II, which focuses on borough-specific trends in beauty.]

Have a great design solution for one of the ideas listed above? Click here to register for the By the City / For the City design competition today! Entries are due by midnight (EST) on Sunday, July 31st, 2011. We can’t wait to see what you come up with!

Jun 13

Accessibility: Opening Up The City [Part II]

Accessibility means different things depending on where you are: what one borough may have plenty of, another may lack completely. Here are a few trends that we noticed in how residents of three different boroughs thought about access.

1. QUEENS: It gets leafier as you get further out, but Queens residents still want more access to green space. Malba Gardener wants to see Francis Lewis Park, located under the towering Bronx-Whitestone Bridge, renovated, while Christinia in Maspeth thinks that the former site of St. Saviour’s Church would make a great new park. Brendan from Astoria wishes that Flushing Meadows-Corona Park were better integrated into the surrounding neighborhoods, and Mike from Douglaston wants to see a better connection between the LIRR and the so-close-yet-so-far-away Alley Pond Park. Back in Astoria, Sarah wants Astoria Boulevard to become a greener and more inclusive corridor.
2. MANHATTAN: Residents of the most densely-populated borough want to use the few underused spaces left on the island to create a bit more breathing room. We saw several requests for increased access to rooftops around the city; whether for gardening or socialization, people see all of that flat, off-limits space as a big waste. Meanwhile, sidewalk congestion has created a desire for whole new levels of pedestrian activity: William from Sugar Hill suggested underground thruway corridors to speed the revitalization of Harlem, while Maureen thought it would be great if a second-story pedestrian walkway could connect busy retail thoroughfares in Midtown. Back on street level, Lydia wants more artists to be given access to use vacant storefronts, and Ryan wants the area around Penn Station  to be less jam-packed. Up in Washington Heights, someone suggested turning the fenced-in terrace at Bennett Park into a more social public space—a sentiment echoed by Steven, who found fenced-in public spaces on the Upper East Side off-putting.
3. BROOKLYN: Residents of Brooklyn want more access to…the rest of Brooklyn. Requests for better intra-borough transportation were frequent: Ned from Sheepshead Bay thinks a train along Kings Highway and Linden Boulevard would be a welcome addition, while another Brooklynite is hoping for an express train, painted like a clown, to speed people to Coney Island in the summer. Bikes were popular, with a request for a bike-share pilot in Red Hook, another for an increase in the number of bike racks at subway stations, and an interesting proposal for the implementation of a system of “rugged, versatile electronic bikes/e-carts.” Alexandra of Cobble Hill, meanwhile, had a more simple request: light installations to make walking under expressways more inviting.

[Click here to read Part I, which focuses on citywide trends in accessibility.]

Have a great design solution for one of the ideas listed above? Click here to register for the By the City / For the City design competition today! Entries are due by midnight (EST) on Sunday, July 31st, 2011. We can’t wait to see what you come up with!

Accessibility: Opening Up The City [Part I]

New Yorkers talked a lot about gaining access to places and things currently beyond their reach when they were sharing their ideas through By the City / For the City. Here are a few citywide trends:

1. WATER: New York City contains more than 600 miles of coastline, and people want access to more of it! Bronx Community Board 7 suggested the development of new public green space along the Bronx side of the East River in the University Heights neighborhood. Melanie from Port Richmond suggested a new waterfront square in her neighborhood, IfUD Fellow Barbara Wilks suggested the reconfiguration of dead end streets to “acknowledge the special place that the water’s edge is in the city,” and Erik from Dutch Kills called for streets to lead seamlessly into the city’s waterways.
2. BRIDGES: It’s our bridges that allow us to think of New York’s waterfronts as places for recreation instead of big wet barriers, but sometimes just getting onto one of them can be a real frustration. Gavin from the LES thinks a staircase should be added to the Williamsburg Bridge to avoid back-tracking for riverfront residents. Downriver, Erik wonders why access to the Manhattan Bridge is so restricted, and Karine thinks that pedestrian access to the Brooklyn Bridge should be more visible. Down at the Verrazano-Narrows Bridge, Cat just wants there to be som pedestrian and bike access, period.
3. FOOD: Across the five boroughs, people want better access to fresh, healthy food. One Staten Islander wondered why an area as busy as St. George, where the Ferry lets out, had so few grocery options. Harlem resident Ulysses suggested the old Bernheimer Brewery in his neighborhood be retrofitted as a market, while one of his neighbors suggested that a market be added to Jackie Robinson Park. A Bed-Stuy resident called for a neighborhood revitalization plan that included the conversion of vacant lots into farmland. Upper-West-Sider Marivic suggested using the terraces of foreclosed penthouses for rooftop farming, while Andrew from Hamilton Heights called for the creation of pop-up food cafes.

[Click here to read Part II, which focuses on borough-specific trends in accessibility.]

Have a great design solution for one of the ideas listed above? Click here to register for the By the City / For the City design competition today! Entries are due by midnight (EST) on Sunday, July 31st, 2011. We can’t wait to see what you come up with!

Jun 03

The Question of Scale

The most common scale selected by New Yorkers was Neighborhood, which was chosen for 56% of the 483 ideas shared. Citywide followed close behind with 54%, while only 28% of ideas were identified as Block-level issues. These were most commonly identified by the IfUD to be related to Streetscapes and Green Space, while Neighborhood and Citywide issues were both most likely to deal with Transportation.

The most common cross-categorization for scale was Neighborhood/Citywide (10.7% of all ideas) while the least common was Block/Citywide (a scant 1.9%). 60.4% of Citywide-categorized ideas were identified by their submitters exclusively at that scale, making this the most likely category to stand alone. 47 ideas (9.7% of the total) were categorized as dealing with all three levels of scale; the most common contextual categories here were Culture/Public Art, Streetscapes, Agriculture/Food, and Green Space. These broadly-scaled ideas were most like to be located in the Bronx, where all three categories of scale were selected for 22.2% of submitted ideas.

Grab Bag: A delightful assortment of offbeat schemes and dreams

Wouldn’t it be great if…

Making Commuting Fun

• There was a slide from the Brooklyn Heights Promenade to Brooklyn Bridge Park. [Brooklyn Heights, Brooklyn]

• A summer express train, painted like a clown, ran to Coney Island Amusement Park. [Coney Island, Brooklyn]

• there were ziplines crossing the east river? [Greenpoint, Brooklyn]

• people could be flung to different parts of the city by trebuchets and land with a parachute. [Citywide]

• the MTA developed a hot air balloon transit system [East River]

• At major subway stops, on weekends, there would be volunteers with boom boxes playing fun dance music. After people get off of the train they dance a little and laugh a lot! [Astoria, Queens]

Re-Wilding the City

• we didn’t have to kill or relocate geese from prospect park? [Prospect Park, Brooklyn]

• We used goats instead of lawn mowers in our parks and to keep vacant land free of debris [Prospect Park, Brooklyn]

• Manhattan’s underground streams were exposed, creating mini canals and overlooking walkways. [Manhattan]

• corporate Manhattan recovered some of its messiness. Everyplace seems to be geared toward seating and eating comfort. [Midtown, Manhattan]

• people could get around on rugged, versatile electric bikes/e-carts with enough power to offset a lack of fitness, getting them as rentals or owned. [Citywide]

So Crazy It Just Might Work…

• our skyscrapers could blast off into outer space. [Citywide]

• we put long greenhouses on supports over the streets (like we already do with trains) to create linear urban farms. [Crown Heights, Brooklyn]

• we could go back to Euclidean geometry? [Citywide]

• Corona Avenue were as fun and unique on the ground as it looks from above in maps? [Corona, Queens]

• the expressway interchange at the south end of Corona Park could be a landmark instead of an eyesore. [Kew Gardens, Queens]

• we could stop creating a continental divide between original New Yorkers and & “New” New Yorkers? No more ostracizing based on income or lack there of? [Citywide]

• zoning was turned upside down, such that sky exposure planes became ground exposure planes, and the public nature of the city could become it’s driving architctural voice? [Citywide]

• invisible gyroscopes stabilized the city from below. [East Village, Manhattan]

…And the Best of the Rest

• there were “Sun Rooms” on top of Libraries, Hospitals, and Schools. We need vitamin D levels up to prevent BX illnesses. [Van Nest, Bronx]

• 50% of advertising in the public realm was replaced with images from NYC-based artists? [Times Square, Manhattan]

• there were a “Walk of Fame” along each neighborhood’s most important Street/Avenue? [Crown Heights, Brooklyn]

• The Gowanus expressway had art integrated on its base rather than that terrible green paint? [Gowanus, Brooklyn]

• there was a dog shower cabana for summer and temporary covered gazebos [Prospect Park, Brooklyn]

• the Gramercy Park gatekeepers developed some sort of scavenger hunt thing where the winner would get an elusive key to the park for the summer. ala willie wonka’s golden ticket [Gramercy, Manhattan]

• there was a better way for people to stay dry during rainstorms than buying so many cheap umbrellas that only last a few uses. [Midtown, Manhattan]

• the Unisphere base was painted with Murals by local artists so it wasn’t just a massive aqua blue circle? [Flushing Meadows-Corona Park, Queens]

Rail Transit: New routes, extensions, and creative uses

Wouldn’t it be great if…

Light Rail

• the Triboro RX ran through at the moment, how about BRT or better yet, streetcars that travel through the same route of the Triboro RX. All subway lines (except G) would be connected! [Bronx, Brooklyn, Queens]

• It would be easier to get across Brooklyn to get to JFK and southern Queens. [Bay Ridge, Brooklyn to JFK, Queens]

• there were a bus terminal where local buses could terminate, even including intercity buses, and a light rail terminal. [Downtown Brooklyn]

• A light rail line ran between Atlantic Terminal in Brooklyn and Lower Manhattan using one lane of Brooklyn-Battery tunnel? [Downtown Brooklyn & Manhattan]

• we had a continuous 42nd/34th Street, river-to-river light rail Midtown Loop, with an auto-free, landscaped and cafe-lined 42nd Street boulevard, linking with all north/south subways and buses? [Midtown, Manhattan]

• 86th street was closed off to cars and had a light rail running across town. [Upper West & East Sides, Manhattan]

Heavy Rail

• the subway connected straight to Laguardia airport and between Astoria and Williamsburg [Brooklyn & Queens]

• an east-west train line along Kings Highway/Linden Blvd were created connecting central/southern Brooklyn neighborhoods and southern Queens? [Brooklyn & Queens]

• A summer express train, painted like a clown, ran to Coney Island Amusement Park [Coney Island, Brooklyn to Times Square, Manhattan]

• The 6 train extended south to the Fulton station. [Financial District, Manhattan]

• The MTA extended the N train across the Triboro to the 4,5,6 under 125th Street to Columbia [Harlem, Manhattan]

• there was a way to cross the city from east to west side by subway without going to 42nd street. [Upper Manhattan]

• they extended the N to LaGuardia Airport? [Astoria, Queens]

• the M were extended to LaGuardia. [Jackson Heights & Middle Village, Queens]

• you could get to St. John’s university more easily, on a train. [Jamaica Estates, Queens]

• you could take a fast, frequent express train directly from JFK to Manhattan like other major world cities have? / there were a subway tunnel across the East River allowing the E train to run to JFK and add impetus to improve the Atlantic Avenue corridor. [JFK, Queens]

• you could get to LaGuardia by subway? [LGA, Queens]

• the G Train connected with something useful in Queens, like all the trains a 1/2 mile away at Queens Plaza? Or ran up the N-W track and across the existing RR bridge to actually connect to the Bronx?! [Long Island City, Queens to the South Bronx]

• there was subway service (or more than one train) on Staten Island? [Central Staten Island]

• The MTA ran a new line from Brooklyn over the Verrazano Bridge into Staten Island? [Eastern Staten Island to Bay Ridge, Brooklyn]

• The North Shore railway was revitalized? [New Brighton & Port Richmond, Staten Island]

• I could walk down the street and board a train to the ferry or a fast-ferry. [Northern Staten Island]

Other uses for transit

• The exterior of the above ground subway stations and tracks were to be repaired and styled to make them look less industrial. [All Bronx]

• An AVAC system that sucks garbage through large underground suction tubes was installed along Second Ave while they are digging the subway. [East Side, Manhattan]

• At major subway stops, on weekends, there would be volunteers with boom boxes playing fun dance music. After people get off of the train they dance a little and laugh a lot! [Astoria, Queens & Citywide]

• NYC listened to its own ads in subways and gave free energy saving lightbulbs to every light in the city and use the energy saved to power the subways [Citywide]

• the ventilation of buildings and subways were not aimed at street level so that pedestrians would be able to breathe. [Citywide]

• 50% of advertising in the public realm (including subway stations) was replaced with images from NYC-based artists? [Citywide]

• MTA’s new raised ventilation grates could incorporate a stormwater management function, to absorb and/or slow down water runoff, as well as diverting it from flowing into subway tunnels [Citywide]

• there were more subway stations as creative as 14th and 8th ave on the A/C/E line. More stations should use their space and surroundings like with the little bronze statues that roam those platforms. [Citywide]

• we could make creative use of the 8(dry day)-13(rainy day) million gallons of water that are pumped out of the NYC subway system each day! [Citywide]

Jun 01

Airport Connections: You can’t get there from here

Wouldn’t it be great if…

• there were a subway tunnel across the East River allowing the E train to run to JFK and add impetus to improve Atlantic Avenue corridor. [JFK]

• you could take a fast, frequent express train directly from JFK to Manhattan like other major cities have? [JFK]

• it would be easier to get across Brooklyn to get to JFK and southern Queens.[JFK]

• an east-west train line along Kings Highway/Linden Blvd were created connecting central/southern Brooklyn neighborhoods and southern Queens? [LGA]

• you could get to La Guardia by subway?[LGA]

• the M were extended to LaGuardia?[LGA]

• the subway connected straight to LaGuardia airport and between Astoria and Williamburg?[LGA]

• the m60 bus between Manhattan and LaGuardia airport was a Bus Rapid Transit Line and had a designated bus lane.[LGA]

• whenever you arrive at JFK, LaGuardia, or Newark you could connect with others who might want to share a cab to the same/nearby destination?[All Airports]