New York is an urban landscape that is forever in transition. Restaurants and
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Warehouse redevelopment, Brooklyn
bars change hands and names, churches becoming nightclubs or shopping centres, vacant warehouses become cool apartment blocks or trendy markets. Barren streets and gritty neighbourhoods become shimmering shopping and dining destinations. The cool kids may move on but the areas has a new polished sheen. Dramatic make overs are part of the course in New York; the gentrification of grimier neighbourhoods.
Numerous buildings have risen in recent years, but the current trend is reinventing- taking existing urban spaces and making them something new. The following were my favourite examples-
The High Line www.thehighline.org
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The Highline, NYC
A once abandoned freight rail structure has been transformed into an asset with an obvious appeal. Beginning in the Meatpacking District (once home to slaughterhouses and meat packing works zone now cool boutique galley district), running through wonderful Chelsea, this long narrow landscaped park offers neat perspectives of the city.
The High Line is a park soaring above the streets. When it was announced the line was to be demolished, a conservation group formed and fought to save it- the idea of it as a park was initially as dismissed as outright fantasy. The first section of the line opened in 2009. With more than 2 million visitors in the first six months, it was an immediate success. The highline is cultivated landscape of wild native beaut, with stunning views of the Hudson, amphitheatre spaces and a sun deck with wooden loungers facing the River.
Green Docklands- Hudson River Park.
The Hudson River Park is a couple of blocks over from the High Line. Begun in 1999 and only 80% complete in 2010, the park stretches 5miles on Manhattans west shore. Formally a no go area the site was redeveloped into a long green-way, with decks jutting out over the river, providing space to laze on the grass, stroll or run along the river (the cyclelane is separate from the pedestrian path) play ball or watch the kids in the playground. During summer theres open air concerts and film screenings. On Oct 28th was a primo spot to watch the fireworks over the Hudson to celebrate Statue of Liberty’s 125th anniversary)
Brooklyn Bridge Park www.brooklynbridgeparknyc.org
On the othersided of the Hudson, Brooklyn Bridge Park has lawns, continuous
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Brooklyn Bridge Park, stream habitat.
bike paths, playgrounds, sports facilities, newly established ecological habitats for stormwater treatment and detention and rotting piers serving as reminder to the decline of the City’s shipping industry. Stretching 1.3miles from the Manhattan bridge the Park transformed the areas waterfront and reconnects people with the new york harbour. The Park also won a design award at this years Urban Waterfront Conference (NYC 27-30th Oct)
Other less dramatic transformations around the city include different stretches of Broadway having traffic lanes removed and replaced with bike lines and pedestrian zones complete with café tables and planter boxes and gardens. The move by the Mayor is intended to encourage more alternative modes of transportation.
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Street narrowing for cycle lane provision, NYC
Times Square has also been narrowed to create wider pedestrian spaces. People can mingle and linger safe from the zooming traffic, there are café chairs and tables and amphitheatre seating from which to watch the one to the worlds most famous squares- seas of taxis, crushing crowds and larger than life billboards.
These spaces have a positive effect on visitors and tourists alike. Its exciting to see the city from a new perspective and discovering beauty in surprising places- on top of a disused freight rail line. Repurposing the city ties in with the pursuit of more sustainable design. Reusing rather than tearing down and building new or clearing countryside contributing to more sprawl. Creative solutions to meet an ever growing population.