Fall in New York

Image by elfis gallery

I've been busy setting up this new office, too preoccupied to blog, but enjoying the urbanist coverage in Streetsblog, The Built Environment (check out the post on the Grand Army Plaza, one of my favorite subjects to wonder at the loss of potential) and Polis. I was sorry to miss attending the Transportation conference, but Gotham Gazette published Enrique Penalosa's speech, thank goodness.

Over the weekend, I met up with a few former and current PPSers and stuffed myself with amazing street food at the 2nd Annual Vendy Awards. The chicken rice dish prevailed. Today, Patee writes in, giving an update on the artificial turf war going on in Silver Spring, MD, following on her tip from last summer. See what happens when a place, no matter how cheaply it may have been completed, becomes fun to hang out in? There's a report from the Venice Biennale, where Ricky Burdett, former LSE Cities Programme director, has directed this year's exposition on Cities.

And this weekend to take a break from it all, I'll be heading out to the very non-urban Lancaster County, PA.

Green homes

A grass roof in Cannon Beach, Oregon

According to yesterday's NYTimes article, only a dozen homes are certified as "green" by the United States Green Building Council. I love how home builders and home owners are thinking through alternatives to conserve energy and recycle materials and there are some good examples in the article. But it does seem that green homes primarily occur as new development, not adaptive re-use.

I still believe that the "green-est" lifestyle is to share lots of resources with neighbors and communities, like the way people live in most non-American cities, with New York as the exception. I don't have numbers to prove this, but I always think back to that New Yorker article by David Owen published a couple years ago, about living in a city as an environmental action. However, if you are going to build a new home, then it should become a requirement to utilize some aspect of LEED for Homes. Hopefully the costs will start coming down as more supply and materials companies continue to tinker with the production process.

A sprinkle of happiness for the weekend

Needing a bit of a pick-me-up after the seriousness this past week, I was warmed by this picture and news. An East Village bakery offers 50% off purchase if you arrive by bike! Marvelous!

Build a Green Bakery is project of City Bakery, who is known for its use of local produce and seasonal ingredients (and unfortunately, for being disorganized with catering orders from non-profits, in my experience). The added transit incentive builds on its sustainability mission. BaGB is made of all green materials, even its staff reputed to be wearing more sustainable hemp and linen. If you can't be bothered to wait for the entire BaGB flash show to run its course, go here.

BrooklynSpeaks

Adding to the ongoing discourse on the Atlantic Yards development is BrooklynSpeaks, a collaboration between neighborhood associations, the Municipal Art Society and the Tri-State Transportation Consortium.

There's a slideshow that summarizes the major points of this initiative. None of the points are that new, really, however the illustrations with plans for the architect and landscape architect are persuasive.

I agree with breaking up the superblocks with smaller side streets to make the experience on the ground more palatable and fitting with the existing neighborhood. However, I don't really agree with massing all the open space together in one park. Even if the buildings and reduced in height, they are going to be much taller than the existing buildings so I think the development would be better served by smaller parks with warm, human furniture and amenities that are in line with its civic and retail program. Instead of a focus on a narrow definition of "open space," it should focus on sidewalks and other pedestrian amenities, which will blossom into useable space, and open by default.(Has anyone seen the little concrete/marble park behind the Sculpture for the Living? It is the coldest thing ever with its marble slabs. It's well-used on warm, sunny days, but I'm curious about ongoing use. Frankly, who would be impressed by the use of marble? No one living in the Sculpture would deign to hang out with the hoi polloi of St. Mark's Street!)

Also, the renderings give us the impression that the building masses go straight up from the street in a vertical, Gehry-esque manner. Why can't there be more of a set-back for pedestrians, so that they experience say, the first six floors and higher floors are set away from the streetview. I'm obviously not a designer, so I'm just asking.

Finally, it does seem that more thought has to be given to the stages of the project so that all the attendant community benefits do not come at the tail end of 10 years. Honestly, the whole project is riding on the acceptance that there are benefits, ultimately. Can't the stages be done more smartly, say in 2-year chunks, instead of in 4-year and 6-year chunks?

Going public: the roundtable

Southern Cross Station in Melbourne mitigates emissions from the diesel trains with its wave-form roof

I love thinking about public buildings, how they get used, how they withstand the test of time, how they fulfill the public purpose, so I went to the Going Public Roundtable at the Center for Architecture last night, the second half of the Going Public exhibit now up in the main gallery through December 30 and part of the AIA New York chapter's ongoing theme this year, Architecture as Public Policy.

Hm...new directions in the form of case studies, yes. I did see some cool images of new public buildings here and abroad. The presentation led me to believe that architecture in public policy is, at least right now, an exploration of how built design can support a policy solution; it does not claim to solve them (thankfully). Except, they can go a long way in mitigating greenhouse emissions, as in the Melbourne station, above. And yes, it means striving for better design in public buildings, with a program initiated by the Department of Design and Construction. I couldn't find any information about the DDC program. Sorry - nothing too enlightening.

Lists and lists

I've been following an amazing discussion on Personism about the exclusion of women in the creative field.

What's incredible is that once the issue was poked, it quickly exposed a gaping ignorance. I guess I was particularly interested in this because a similar but more egregious incident happened to me earlier this year, though my incident dealt with race, not gender. Both are rather shameful given this moment in history and the context of our design work.

Issues of discrimination may not seem directly related to the realm of urbanism, but then again, doesn't it? It takes actual people to push the thinking and do the work in urban development, transportation, architecture, planning, and design, with its many stages from concept to construction. If this is indeed a prevailing atttitude, how can we advise clients and communities that are starting to put together their large-impact, physical expression of identity and culture? How could we claim to perceive their identity and culture in a constructive manner?

I had promised myself this year that I would try to contribute more to other outlets, especially those whose rosters may be more privileged in some way...here goes. And if you want to see the magnificent list of women that Jen Bekman of Personism and many, many contributors have put together to show Tokion that its conference on creativity could have been much more balanced, go here.

Watching over the neighborhood

Vinny Vella Sr., the Mayor of Elizabeth Street

"Eyes on the street" refers to the informal, casual observations made by anyone, but also integral to the success of neighborhoods are the slightly more formal, but still unofficial "Mayors." I was reminded of it by this fun article in the NYTimes. One of my favorite colleagues at the community development organization in Brooklyn was referred to as the Mayor of Meserole Street. The term was new to me, but as I got to know her, it immediately clicked. She got into everyone's business, wasn't afraid to tell someone that they should be in school or at work, swept the sidewalk, picked up and cleared out trash, coaxed a garden out of her cement backyard, fought a War of the Roses with her neighbor (who incidentally did not do the fair share on sidewalk sweeping), and where would the neighborhood be without her?

IDEO's smart pre-planning

There's a fascinating case study documenting some outcomes of IDEO's new-ish division for built environments in this month's Metropolis. One proposition:

IDEO’s approach could be seen as a desperately needed fix to the broken instrument of urban planning, a way to energize a public process that too often skews places to the lowest common denominator

resonates with me, particularly as more planners and organizations jump on the "placemaking" bandwagon for marketing, with high gloss and little else to show for it.

IDEO's approach, in practice, risks being as simplistic as other lowest common denominator alternatives, (e.g., "Now that we've looked at what 18th and Vine needs for establishing itself as a viable neighborhood...how can we differentiate itself from other destinations to attract more people?") but immersion in the neighborhood - people, daily and weekly routines - is something I wish more design companies, planners and architects included, would commit to and incorporate. I mean, what proof does anyone really have that a community needs cafe tables with umbrellas over something else? In the end, suggestions like those smack of paternalism when it is offered without ethnographic research to back it up.

The problem is that words like "community input" and now even in some ways "placemaking" are now political terms used to either sell a new development or deflect potential conflict from the community, rather than really keeping an eye on the overarching purpose for an upgraded or new design. That purpose is still pretty simple: a good place that people want to use, though it sure is hard to get there.

To watch: urban traffic patterns

Fascinating. (via Pruned) From the introduction:

This “Global South Mobility” section of the New Mobility Agenda video collection provides a collection of private views of both the problems (most of which based on the results of the imported car-based, “old mobility” model from the North) and the Global South’s search for new and often original and surprising solutions.

Update: A mash up Google map of heat patterns from traffic congestion! Ooh. Thanks cocoricamo!

Following NYC locals vs chains

Gotham Gazette published statements from the Chelsea Market developer, Irwin Cohen, and the architect at the Small Business Services program to improve local storefronts, Victor Dadras, following the MAS panel discussion about New York City chains.

Vending on NYC Streets

From Smaku's flickr

People who have been reading this blog know that I'm a huge fan of street vendors. They make living in New York and trawling its various neighborhoods all that more enjoyable and affordable.

This week the Street Vendor Project hosted by the Urban Justice Center released a report (pdf) two and a half years in the making on the conditions faced by street vendors. The study focuses on downtown Manhattan south of Canal Street. Among its many findings, it turns out that 96% of street vendors pay taxes and 88% of them support a family with the work, despite the stigma of street vendors as cagey immigrants dodging the IRS to make a quick buck.

It's amazing to me that street vendors are not perceived positively as the low cost, first step that a small business entrepreneur can take. They are instead perceived and treated as a nuisance in the city. In addition to all the policy steps that the Street Vendor Project advocates to protect the street vendor community in New York, changes such as decreasing fine fees and making more public space available, it seems to make sense to create a program within the Small Business Services to oversee and assist entrepreneurs, instead of leaving street vending subject to the whims of multiple agencies. If the SMS can work on improving the aesthetics of storefronts, then why not this? This program can also provide language assistance and other support to make sure that vendors follow regulations. Contrary to popular belief, street vending complement retail stores, and when done well, can generate more income with than without.

This is also a good time to remind everyone that the Vendy Awards are coming up, Oct 22 at 6PM. Tickets are $50, but include food and drink. Hope to see you there!

Update: Sean Basinski from the Street Vendors Project provided a link to a short documentary about how street vendors are treated in New York City. Thanks Sean!

And, I should thank Nick for telling me about this in the first place!

Green New York and other cities

Stuyvesant Cove Park

Lots of news about making cities more sustainable at all levels.

To kick it off, there's a great interview with Majora Carter, founder and executive director of Sustainable South Bronx, in Grist Magazine, where she talks about sustainability as an economic development initiative, not a treehugging one. Her update on bridging the divide between idealistic talk and on-the-ground action is much needed.

How the New York community is trying to be more green, especially in the rebuilding after 9/11.

How Mayors across the country and the AIA are looking setting guidelines towards more sustainable cities across the board (subscription may be required)

And finally, to see some tangible outcomes of green thinking, check out the sustainability portion of Open House New York, taking place across the city this coming weekend. The practice of sustainability is where it's at.

Comparative urbanism

Shimokitazawa, the Tokyo equivalent to Greenwich Village, faces the possibility of having a highway split the neighborhood into two. I've never been to Japan, so I'm not sure about these approximations of neighborhood to neighborhood. But what is interesting is that the announcement has catalyzed a preservationist zeal, when culturally, I've been told that progress in Japanese urban planning is typically perceived as tearing down and building up again with little sense of conservation.

Roger K Lewis on the groundscape of the United States vs. Europe and a call for more walking.

Housing Works Open Air Re-useable Stuff

Image from FoundClothing's flickr photostream

I went to Housing Work's Open Air Book Fair this weekend, a reminder to me that there's nothing like a little market to bring people outside, even in gray weather, and that there is already so much stuff out there to be had. The Used Book Cafe started this fair because there were too many donated books for the store to keep. The usually decrepit block between Houston and Crosby was packed with books, clothing, LPs and CDs, sounds, and masses of people going through them. Cybill, my rescue dog, loves sniffing through the boxes as much as the next person, and she also thrived from all the socialization.

Time Warner Building, 2 years later and the state of local retail

Not my view - image by jamesedmunds

I spent some time today at the Time Warner building. Mostly, I was curious about how the building was doing and wanted to try out the Thomas Keller Bouchon Bakery, and used the opportunity to catch up with a friend. We ordered from the takeaway section and sat at a dining bar that was seated away from the foot traffic and overlooked the atrium, but not the part with a view of Central Park (or of the giant Samsung sign). I had a view of Emporio Armani instead.

How do these businesses succeed when it was so tiresome to be inside the building? Usually my friend and I spend hours catching up; today, we finished our coffee and called it a date. We could have been sitting in any upscale mall in America, and it didn't seem to match the quality of the pastry being served. I wondered last year about the experience of a vertical mall in New York City when the street is infinitely more interesting, and I still contend that it is a shame that the Time Warner Building didn't work harder to get a local entrepreneur into the building. I tried shopping, even bought a housewarming gift at Borders, but I breathed a sigh of relief when I finally worked my way outside where it was immediately more fun to speculate about who were the people sitting on the stool-high metal bollards at the curb.

Fresh from my urban mall experience, I attended a panel at the Municipal Art Society tonight on local retail and how it was holding up against big boxes making their moves into New York. The audience primarily sympathized with local businessowners though the panel was a good mix of commercial developers and brokers as well as independent "alternative" developers lika Irwin Cohen, the developer of Chelsea Market.

Whoever they were working for, everyone agreed that local retail was vital to the success of a development, on all fronts. It's important to developers who want to command high residential rents, since it seems that people will pay to be in a specific neighborhood, and that property values disappear when the eclectic local retail "shifts." Diverse retail is important for existing communities, and for workforce development.

So why isn't preservation or encouragement of local retail more prevalent? One thing that everyone mentioned is the "4-corner bank" syndrome. Typically, no single property owner will sacrifice the rent for a corporate giant just to maintain the ambience of a neighborhood, especially if its competition at the other three corners is reaping the benefits of NOT doing so. Interestingly, most people in the audience seemed to live in or at least be aware of the Upper East Side, where the Duane Reade and bank syndrome is in full force.

A couple panelists advocated letting the private sector come up with creative solutions to fit the urban context, and came out against regulation. A couple of other developers said that it takes a commitment of risk on the developers part, and a partnership with the entrepreneur to come up with a plan that will fit the business and the building. Only two people, Irwin Cohen and Victor Dadras, who works for NYC's Department of Small Business Services on something called the Storefront Improvement Program (here's an example), thought that the city could encourage better private sector coordination to maintain a local retail and neighborhood flavor.

I left before the bitter end of the Q&A, so I remain puzzled: what is going on with the development community and the Planning Department that major mixed-use developments like Atlantic Yards, Flatbush Nostrand Junction, East River Plaza, and Bronx Terminal Market continue to prefer non-New York-based chains when everyone seems to like local? It seems that private and public sectors want local to stay - so is the City's rich retail fabric being unravelled by free market weavers?


Samsung sign with Christos Gates in background, image by la madrugada

Linkies

A few links have been made known to me. Most likely they're not new to anyone but me since I've been out of things, but they're worth your attention.

Built Environment - (via Polis) I agree with Lisa Chamberlain's assessment of this one. And I have a feeling I have met this fellow a couple years ago. Very thoughtful blog (and author).

Claiming Public Space - A robust web site with articles, resources and community from the Hamer Center for Community Design at Penn State. I didn't sign up to access the community part (which I find suspect on most web sites) but I share the vision of the site. What do you think?

City Project - Un-New York related, I just received an announcement that CLIPI (Center for Law in Public Interest) is closing! Very sad, as it has been a revolutionary organization, especially for Los Angeles. Its executive director, Robert Garcia, will instead be heading something called the City Project, which has been a program area at CLIPI. Though not based in New York, CLIPI was providing a service akin to urban space advocacy groups in NYC, and with more legal muscle and a greater social justice bent, combining land-use/urban design decisions with community development. I'd love to see a CLIPI-type group in NYC - not just a think tank or policy engine, which New York has aplenty. The City Project site is not up, yet - I hope.

Agora, Take II in the McCarren Pool

Noemie Lafrance brings Agora II back to McCarren Pool this month. If you went last year and wished that you could have gotten in there and run around with the dancers, this year you can, and this is the last weekend to do so.

The brief:

Inspired by the "agora," the center of town or marketplace in ancient Greece, AGORA II investigates the role of public space in contemporary urban life. Performed beyond the theater walls, this work challenges the interactionss between public space, performance and audience.

Where: McCarren Park Pool, Greenpoint/Williamsburg
Main Arch (Lorimer St. between Driggs & Bayard Ave.)
When: September 13 - 30 2006, Wednesday - http://www.blogger.com/img/gl.link.gifSaturday, 8:00 PM
$20

Of course, Agora II, this summer's McCarren Pool festivities - from the Sunday Pool party to the expensive Clear Channel Communications concerts, beg the larger question about the future of the pool.

For public space advocates who oppose most of Robert Moses's decisions, Moses himself was an advocate of large-scale neighborhood swimming pools to provide healthy recreation for the working class in New York. McCarren Pool was a product of the Works Progress Administration (more on the history of WPA-era swimming pools here.) and sadly, is the only one of 11 pools opened under the WPA that is not open. It was closed in 1984 for reasons unknown though much speculated.

When I worked in affordable housing in Williamsburg, there was a community rumor that there was an opportunity to rehabilitate the pool structure in 2000-2001, but the funding was lost because no overarching plan could be agreed upon. But a less dramatic reality might be that funding was lost due to post-9/11 consequences.

It seems that the Pool has another chance at a second life. Sens production (Noemie Lafrance's dance company) is quite active in securing that life. So is Clear Channel, I would guess. Unfortunately, the mega-media corporation's participation is obscuring the many other community groups like Pool Aid, that have had a hand in keeping the community vision for the pool alive, even overshadowing Sens productions.

As I looked around the pool on a sunny afternoon this past summer, the potential for an amazing, vibrant readaptation of the pool is startling clear. Within the open structure, and even without water, there were plenty of different places to hang out and relax around and in the pool. People were lounging, sitting, standing, watching, playing games, dancing and sleeping. Some families had brought their young children for a day in the sun, complete with wading in kiddie pools.

However, families were scarce compared to the hundreds of hipsters milling around. I'd like to see some plans that showed how this piece of history could accommodate performances, screenings - along with something for the kids and seniors. Given the numerous luxury condos going up in the neighborhood, especially around McCarren Park, it seems that any effort in the direction of anchoring the existing diverse community, instead of tilting it in favor of a higher per capita income level, would help stabilize the neighborhood. It isn't outrageous to pay to see a concert - but it is if the public space has only paid events to offer at the moment.

At this point in the (in)decision process, I think anyone can put on an event in McCarren Pool. And did I hear that a temporary ice rink will be put in this winter?

I've been jumping on the news bandwagon late this entire summer - this and more have been covered already:

Queens Ledger/Greenpoint Star
Brooklyn Rail
NY Times

Take back the street - the fun way

Image by Arthur Leipzig, "Stickball, 1950"

Come Out and Play is this weekend! Hosted by Eyebeam. Sign up for games now!

New nest

As some of you may already know, I have started a new job, helping a major architecture firm start its New York City office. More details to come, but I'm excited by this blend of cities, design, start-up, and management, which covers all that I enjoy about work.

I'll be out of town again this week, but hope to post more regularly next week.

Rudy Bruner Award

The 2007 Rudy Bruner Award is now accepting submissions.

The Rudy Bruner Award is a search for examples of this often overlooked excellence, and a celebration of their contribution to the richness and diversity of the urban experience. Often these places transcend the boundaries between architecture, urban design, and planning. They are born through processes of transformation -- the renewal of something old, or the creation of something new that resonates in the history of community life.

I checked out the 2005 winners and I think that this description of the award's aspirations is very apt.