Grab Bag: A delightful assortment of offbeat schemes and dreams
Wouldn’t it be great if…
Making Commuting Fun
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There was a slide from the Brooklyn Heights Promenade to Brooklyn Bridge Park. [Brooklyn Heights, Brooklyn]
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A summer express train, painted like a clown, ran to Coney Island Amusement Park. [Coney Island, Brooklyn]
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there were ziplines crossing the east river? [Greenpoint, Brooklyn]
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people could be flung to different parts of the city by trebuchets and land with a parachute. [Citywide]
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the MTA developed a hot air balloon transit system [East River]
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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
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we didn’t have to kill or relocate geese from prospect park? [Prospect Park, Brooklyn]
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We used goats instead of lawn mowers in our parks and to keep vacant land free of debris [Prospect Park, Brooklyn]
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Manhattan’s underground streams were exposed, creating mini canals and overlooking walkways. [Manhattan]
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corporate Manhattan recovered some of its messiness. Everyplace seems to be geared toward seating and eating comfort. [Midtown, Manhattan]
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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…
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our skyscrapers could blast off into outer space. [Citywide]
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we put long greenhouses on supports over the streets (like we already do with trains) to create linear urban farms. [Crown Heights, Brooklyn]
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we could go back to Euclidean geometry? [Citywide]
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Corona Avenue were as fun and unique on the ground as it looks from above in maps? [Corona, Queens]
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the expressway interchange at the south end of Corona Park could be a landmark instead of an eyesore. [Kew Gardens, Queens]
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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]
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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]
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invisible gyroscopes stabilized the city from below. [East Village, Manhattan]
…And the Best of the Rest
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there were “Sun Rooms” on top of Libraries, Hospitals, and Schools. We need vitamin D levels up to prevent BX illnesses. [Van Nest, Bronx]
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50% of advertising in the public realm was replaced with images from NYC-based artists? [Times Square, Manhattan]
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there were a “Walk of Fame” along each neighborhood’s most important Street/Avenue? [Crown Heights, Brooklyn]
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The Gowanus expressway had art integrated on its base rather than that terrible green paint? [Gowanus, Brooklyn]
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there was a dog shower cabana for summer and temporary covered gazebos [Prospect Park, Brooklyn]
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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]
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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]
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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]
4 Notes/ Hide
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