There’s More to Public Art than Sculptures and Statues

In By the City / For the City many residents spoke up for the need to beautify New York through color, light, and other non-traditional (read: not-a-sculpture-in-a-plaza) public art. One resident wants people to find new ways to add beautiful color to their neighborhoods.Leni in the West Village hopes that strategically located vacant lots could be filled with light. Laura simply wishes that art could be freely exhibited, so that the city could be “full of life and expressive of the people using such spaces.” Together, these ideas provoke the consideration of new and inventive ways of incorporating art into the cityscape.

The Storefront for Art and Architecture’s latest exhibit, Painting Urbanism, showcases the favela paintings with which the artistic duo Haas&Hahn has blanketed slums of Rio de Janeiro over the last several years, transforming dense blight into beauty. The exhibit hopes to inspire a similar color-intervention in New York City. Creative lighting is growing in popularity as an effective art form in both large and small-scale installations. Nuit Blanche New York is having an October showcase called Bring to Light, and longer lasting installations have popped up in parks around the city. Physically unobtrusive as well as being relatively cheap to install and maintain, light is an ideal artistic medium for the city. Art in Odd Places functions on an even more ad-hoc scale, promoting small installations, performances, and a variety of un-categorizable artwork in places where they are perhaps most unlikely to exist. Art can adapt to any environment, complementing or contrasting spaces which otherwise would not have caught the attention of passersby.

Some of the most prominent examples are publicly funded. The NYC DOT recently held a design competition for a temporary re-think of Times Square while a more permanent re-design for the pedestrian plaza there is being developed by IfUD Fellow Craig Dykers’ firm, Snøhetta. The winning design, “Cool Water, Hot Island” by artist Molly Dilworth, involved painting the street with a splashy sequence of blues. This project not only adds beauty and color in an unexpected place but has a utilitarian function too: separating pedestrian from transportation space. Another initiative spearheaded by the city is Arts for Transit, an MTA program that funds projects that create links to neighborhoods with art that echoes the architectural history and design context of the individual stations. The art makes use of non-traditional spaces like subway station walls, gates, windscreens, as well as ad space in the trains and buses themselves, resulting in projects like the bronze statues that inhabit the 14th Street ACE station.

Public Art runs the gamut of scale, and the opportunities for implementation are endless. One resident wants to see the passage along 138th Street under the Grand Concourse in the Bronx made more open, inviting, and colorful. Cat in Bushwick wishes the Unisphere base was painted with Murals by local artists so it wasn’t just a massive aqua blue circle. Finding clever places to add art to the cityscape is both a creative and practical challenge, but the result can be the creation of a meaningful place where there wasn’t one before.

Want to take on the challenge of adding art to New York City? 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!

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Better Buses: Going Where the Subway Won’t

In 1998, Mayor Giuliani proposed a $1.2 billion package that would build an airtrain to JFK and extend a subway line to La Guardia. The airtrain surived; the N line connection to La Guardia was scrapped. By 2003 the project had been shelved: short on funds, the city succumbed to “Not Above My Backyard” opposition from residents and local political leaders who organized to block elevated track construction. Even those residents, however, acknowledge that better access to the airport should be one of the top priorities in transportation planning. Tali in Astoria shared her idea for addressing this issue through By the City / For the City: a Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) line between Manhattan and La Guardia.

New York is projected to add another million residents by 2030, straining an already overworked and overcrowded public transportation system. While some subway extensions are in the works, the MTA’s limited capital resources will likely prevent them from keeping pace with passenger demand. BRT provides a proven option that can be quickly implemented with lower capital costs and integrated into an already existing network: our streets. There are no tunnels to be dug, no track to be laid. With dedicated transit lanes, green-light traffic priority and off-board fare payment, these express buses can maintain a fast and steady rate of transportation and represent a very viable alternative to trains.

The BRT transportation system was conceived in Curitibia, Brazil. In response to burgeoning population growth, Jamie Lerner and a team from the Universidade Federal do Paraná developed the Trinary Road System, which placed adjacent express bus-only lanes between those for regular traffic. The Rede Integrada de Transporte opened in 1974, and BRT was quickly replicated and implemented in cities all across the Americas. In Curitibia 75% of the population uses the system to commute to work.

New York City is in the middle of Phase I of its Select Bus Service pilot program - routes are running on Fordham Road in the Bronx and on Manhattan’s First and Second Avenues; the Nostrand avenue line will open later this year. The MTA is already claiming that the East Side bus lines have sped up trips by 19%. Initially met with a little public resistance and confusion over new payment systems, the Select Bus Service is now poised to alleviate some of the burden on the city’s subway system. BRT is cost-effective, an environmental improvement over old bus systems, and unobtrusive to the neighborhoods through which it runs. Best of all, it offers a reasonable, feasible way to make new transit connections around the city.

Have a brilliant idea for implementing BRT in NYC? 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!

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A Stroll Through Herald Square

Several years ago, New York pedestrianized Times Square. In 2009, Broadway was closed to traffic between 42nd and 47th streets as part of the DOT’s “Green Light for Midtown” pilot project. The plaza-ization of Times Square included the initial installation of chairs and tables and painting of the pavement, while IfUD Fellow Craig Dykers’ firm Snøhetta works on a more permanent re-design. The DOT reported that the steps they had taken for the project were a success on multiple fronts, improving traffic, safety, and pedestrian satisfaction.

Just to the south, at the intersection of Broadway, 6th Avenue, and 34th Street, Herald Square sees a comparable amount of daily pedestrian traffic—according to the 34th Street Partnership, about 75,000 pedestrians pass through Herald Square every hour during peak times—and slightly more vehicle traffic. Penn Station is the busiest transportation hub in America, shuttling more than 640,000 commuters through its doors each day. This is an overwhelming density of movement, and the results can be unpleasant, with the neighborhood sometimes difficult and even dangerous to navigate. 

It is reasonable to want to be able to “walk safely and comfortably [in the area around Penn Station], not be forced to walk in the street, and access the train and subway stations in a more friendly environment,” as Ryan asked through By the City / For the City. David in Brooklyn would have Herald Square  “turned into a pedestrian walkway,” and another suggested leveling Madison Square Garden, located atop the train station, to make way for “a truly large public gathering space for demonstrations and celebrations.” Leni in the West Village wants to transform exterior spaces around Penn Station with inspiring light forms so that people could “feel a sense of belonging.” 

Large, open plazas are rare in Manhattan, as is recreational space attached to transportation hubs. Rethinking the area around Penn Station and Herald Square is an opportunity to prioritize pedestrians and create an inviting, pleasant space. This would improve pedestrian safety and, simply and certainly, make Herald Square more enjoyable.

Have a great idea for re-designing Herald Square? 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!

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Harlemites Call for Social Spaces

Harlem

Harlem is well-known for its strong sense of community, but its physical landscape is divided by imposing features from towering housing projects to the elevated commuter rail line along Park Avenue. Many Harlemites submitted ideas to By the City / For the City for knitting the neighborhood more tightly together by creating public spaces geared toward building up the existing community and involving its current residents—an especially important challenge at a time when Harlem is changing so quickly.

Ness in Spanish Harlem wishes that the “Taino Towers had parks that were actually playable in.” Designing functional green space for public housing would provide refuge for kids and adults alike. Similarly, Stanley in Sugar Hill would like to “break down the boundaries of superblock housing with community programming,” which could perhaps be achieved by accessible and engaging parks with frequent programming. Obviously this would be a smaller ordeal than the events at a place like Bryant Park, but the idea can be scaled to match, and would provide ideal community interaction space: Steve in Harlem suggests a “graffiti park” for artists to implement approved art on a rotating basis, and Sheryl hopes for one wall of an abandoned building to be transformed into a movie screen overlooking a kept field.

The Lincoln Square Neighborhood Center is a successful example of how multipurpose social space can be used to strengthen and expand the public realm, offering events targeted across age groups and spanning a wide variety of interests. Danielle in East Harlem would take this space a step further, instituting “a coworking space in East Harlem for innovation, sustainability, poverty alleviation, social justice and urban renewal.” Coworking spaces have been popping up all over New York, and with the right funding a space dedicated to community action and education of those types could be extremely successful - getting inspired and motivated Harlem residents together in the work place could be an opportunity for real, in-person social networking and could increase community connectivity.

There were also a number of original ideas for small venues of artistic exhibition or social engagement. Andrew from Hamilton Heights suggested “pop up food cafes,” which would “provide community access to fresh, delicious and healthy food and give entrepreneurs opportunities to provide service at reduced costs,” while Ulysses hopes that “a traditional open air market place [could be] created on the site of the old West Harlem Bernheimer Brewery and stables.” Creating flexible, attractive marketplaces could turn grocery shopping into an opportunity for social engagement. There are a number of ways and degrees to which community interaction can be encouraged and amplified in Harlem, and ample spatial opportunities to put ideas into practice.

Are you up to the challenge of designing an engaging social space in Harlem? 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!

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Linear Parks: Emergent Opportunities For Green Links

Due to the recent redevelopment of the High Line and Hudson River Parks, great attention and excitement is heating up around the idea of linear parks. These spaces are particularly interesting in that they often augment or re-use existing infrastructure of different scales and types, like railroad tracks, canals, natural waterways, highways, and arterial roads. This often has long-standing economic, social and environmental implications.

Designers of Hudson River Park and the High Line took areas that had been at the heart of the city’s manufacturing-based economy and retrofitted them to serve as nodes for recreation, a form of “soft” infrastructure for the city, making it more attractive to new information-economy workers. Linear parks are also unique in that they do not just turn underused paths into pedestrian-friendly green space, but they also serve as great catalysts for change and investment in large stretches of the city, benefiting multiple neighborhoods along their routes.

Several By the City/For the City ideas highlighted corridors prime for the redevelopment into linear parks. Anandi in South Ozone Park wants to see “the old, abandoned LIRR running from Forest Park to Rockaway Beach turned into a simpler version of the High Line with native plants, an edible garden, along with a bike and pedestrian path.” The Long Island Rail Road traveled south along the Rockaway Beach Branch from Rego Park all the way to the Rockaway Peninsula as late as the early 1960s. Today, rusty trestles remain, with tracks elevated along much of the route. This could serve as a prime location for a linear park that capitalizes on the line’s old, industrial foundation.

Tony from Greenwich Village wants to see “the parks restored to Park Avenue,” a thoroughfare with a long history of oscillation between serving as a major arterial for traffic and an accessible green space for pedestrians. As of today, the medians of the malls have been narrowed to accommodate for greater car access, but with adequate design attention the malls could be restored to their 1920s grandeur, not only beautifying existing infrastructure, but also incentivizing activity.

More than a few New Yorkers expressed interest in seeing parks along the East River linked and expanded to create an accessible recreational waterfront, following the model of Hudson River Park to the west. Prior to the 1930s, the East Riverfront was dotted with slaughterhouses, glass factories, power stations, and railroad yards. While the stretch along the Lower East Side was redeveloped into the 57-acre East River Park following the construction of the FDR and a string of public spaces exists up the river, connections between them are often tenuous, creating a huge opportunity to improve the city.

Want to take on the challenge of designing a new linear park for NYC? 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!

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New York’s Industrial Past: The Foundation for a Smarter City

Around every corner, under every bridge, and in your community, New York City’s industrial history can still be seen and felt. Many New Yorkers asked architects to develop more innovative, adaptive, functional strategies for reusing these old industrial spaces so they can match the social, ecological and economic climate of today.

The students at CUNY’s Spitzer School of Architecture couldn’t be more spot on when they said they wanted to see “the degraded industrial infrastructure around the city reclaimed, remediated and re-utilized for a civic purpose, activating a new social, spatial, and ecological awareness.” Their proposed site is Gowanus Canal and its areas in proximity. Another entry submitted by Brendan calls attention to the Aqueduct Walk in the neighborhoods of University and Morris Heights. He thinks the aqueduct path should be “renovated to create a beautiful new linear park.” Michelle in the Upper West Side thinks, “The 69th Street Transfer Bridge along the West Side Highway could become a part of the park that residents can access” in an effort to create “a dialogue between cutting-edge, new forms and what has come before.” Lastly, Regina wants to see the armories all across the city used for “arts and cultural activities, like the one on Park Avenue.” 

The adaptive reuse of these and other industrial sites will allow us to celebrate and understand the value and importance industrialization played in the rise of New York City while at the same time creating a more aware, more innovative city from those lingering spaces.

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!

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Social Equity: We’re All in This Together [Part II]

New Yorkers concerned with increasing Social Equity often spoke about increasing the richness of the public realm: bringing communities together more frequently and in a more concerted fashion, and creating more opportunities for sharing with their neighbors. The kinds of community spaces and what they wanted to share differed by borough.

  1. BRONX: Residents of the Boogie Down want to see more safe & nurturing spaces for young people in their neighborhoods. Bronxite Ashlee wants teen centers featuring affordable classes and recreational activities around Bainbridge or Gun Hill Roads, while another suggests the Fordham and Norwood neighborhoods as ideal spots. Sheridan from Van Nest thinks a similar arrangement would increase safety and neighborhood appreciation in her corner of the borough, too. Prudence from Grand Concourse would like to see more YMCAs in the northernmost borough. Brendan wants to see the city develop library parks with ample community program, like those in Medellín, Colombia, in the South Bronx and other neighborhoods that are “used to disinvestment and neglect.”
  2. MANHATTAN: Sharing underused spaces to promote cross-cultural exchange is a priority for Manhattanites. Lydia from the Upper West Side wants artists to be allowed to take over empty storefronts and stalled developments to create publicly-accessible studio space. In East Harlem, one resident wished that there were more gastronomy festivals and events to celebrate the Latino community. Steven from Harlem would like there to be a graffiti park where street artists could go to show off their best work. Nearby, Sheryl suggested that an outdoor movie theater be set up on the blank side of a building next to an empty lot. And in Washington Heights, someone called for the forlorn Audubon Terrace to become a more vibrant public space.

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

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!

Enjoyment: So Much to Do, So Little Time [Part II]

Exactly what New Yorkers are hoping to enjoy more of often depends on which borough they’re in. Here are some borough-specific trends focused on increasing Enjoyment of the cityscape.

  1. MANHATTAN: If you’ve ever walked around Midtown on a business day, you probably won’t be surprised to hear that there were many ideas submitted for making that particular experience more enjoyable. John from the Upper East Side wondered how the many mid-block passages in the business district could somehow be made “less sterile,” while IfUD Fellow Rosemary Wakeman suggested linking these arcades together to create an urban corridor. Someone else suggested creating small mid-block streets to split the long blocks between 5th and 8th Avenues in half! Just a bit north of Midtown proper, Avi from the Upper West Side called for the plaza-ization of the bustling intersections at Amsterdam and Broadway and Columbus and Broadway. Meanwhile, Jeremy from Harlem wants to see efforts made to reduce pedestrian/tourist congestion in business districts like Midtown and Herald Square.
  2. QUEENS: The biggest borough had the highest relative demand for recreation space, by far. Romain from Greenpoint suggested the closure of a block of 46th Street in Sunnyside to create a dynamically-programmed community space for play and relaxation. Malissa from Astoria wants the city to be more fun, and suggested dispatching boombox-equipped volunteers to major subway stations to encourage homebound commuters to stop and dance for a bit. Out in the Rockaways, IfUD Fellow Steven Handel recommended the installation of facilities for renting beach and fishing gear, while another New Yorker called for the creation of a beachfront promenade (a la the one in Dyker Heights) for strolling, fishing, and other activities.
  3. BROOKLYN: Encouraging social interaction and local culture proved to be very important in Brooklyn. Josephine suggested the establishment of a childrens’  cultural district in Crown Heights centered around the neighborhood’s two museums geared toward the under-18 crowd. Just to the south, another Brooklynite wished for a “green and social center” for Flatbush, with local art, info booths, and benches for sitting and chatting with neighbors. Another resident suggested that an incubator combining spaces for local designers and artists with R&D in Gowanus. Alexandra from East Williamsburg wants a public green space that celebrates her neighborhood’s identity. And Mimi from Clinton Hill thinks that it would be great if a large public space along Atlantic Avenue could knit together Fort Greene, Clinton Hill, and Prospect Heights.

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

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!