Vision 2020 New York City Comprehensive Waterfront Plan for Public Review
Designing a new h2o's edge for the Upper East Side and Harlem
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The East River Esplanade, a 2-mile-long city-owned public park that runs from 63rd to 125th Street, was already existence criticized past residents equally being a bleak and poorly maintained public space when Hurricane Sandy hit, exposing the vulnerability of the entire waterfront. Swollen harbor waters swamped the upper section of the park and done into East Harlem; now, attention turns to a complete reimagining of the shoreline along this neglected stretch of Manhattan.
Preliminary plans for renovating the Esplanade were really in the works before the tempest; the Department of Metropolis Planning drew up a proposal for redevelopment of the Eastward River Esplanade as a role ofVision 2020, which aims to improve access, enhance pedestrian connectivity, and create waterfront civilities for public enjoyment and recreation, while bolstering the city'south resilience in the face of extreme weather events.
To add momentum to the public drive for a new park, CIVITAS, a community-led organisation focused on neighborhood quality of life in the Upper Eastward Side and East Harlem, recently held an all-encompassing panel word on the future of the East River Esplanade; the talk was presented at the National Academy on Fifth Avenue.
CIVITAS has long been an advocate for a better waterfront park, hosting several customs visioning events and, during 2012, a notable design competition, for which the winning entries were exhibited at the Museum of the Metropolis of New York. (Particular from the offset identify concept, by Joseph Woods, is shown at pinnacle of this folio.)
The group on stage at the October panel included architects, planners, designers, artists, and environmentalists, who shared sometimes competing ideas for ways a new public space can serve the city and the natural environment.
The CIVITAS console discussion began with a presentation by Store Architects founding partner, Gregg Pasquerelli. Shop has waterfront projects in ii locations—Mitchell Park and its Camera Obscura sculptural installation (in Greenport, NY), and the East River Esplanade S and Eastward River Waterfront/Pier 15 (South Street Seaport in Manhattan)— which were shown as examples of how a waterfront site tin provide social and recreational space and be adventurous at the same time.
SHoP'south work shows clever space utilization in the double-decker green-roof piers at Pier 15, too as attractive lighting strategies and seating arrangements—red ceiling lighting which help to create a more romantic space at nighttime, and waterfront bar-stools that appeal to patrons who may wish to read, consume and drink, or only converse with friends over a stunning view of Brooklyn and downtown Manhattan.
In Greenport, NY, a new boondocks park encouraged community interaction and participation, added residential appeal, and fostered a real-manor boom. Store's work relies on mixed-use design strategies to help concenter a wider audition, fitting the recreational needs of a more than diverse population. The examples besides showed smart funding strategies, specifically in the East River Esplanade South project, where air rights located under the FDR Drive are existence sold in order to help pay for project development.
[pullquote align="left"]Panelists praised experimentation, and cultural awareness[/pullquote]
Charles Birnbaum, Founder and President of The Cultural Landscape Foundation, followed SHoP'southward presentation by request: how do we measure success in a mail service-Sandy state of affairs? There is always an emphasis on environmentalism and aesthetics, but Birnbaum argued that culture should have an as important place in the conversation; that people should exist looking at development with the goal of turning a project into a "new 'World Heritage site"; and that attention to civilization in development is the deviation between a successful projection and just an average projection.
Birnbaum warns the states of the homogeneity of landscapes and development, but also praises the level of experimentation that seems to exist occurring in the concluding decade where developers, designers, and architects are increasingly moving away from homogeneous designs and concepts. He asks designers, architects and planners to incorporate civilization and history into their projects, as to teach people "how to meet and value landscape and landscape architecture in a way that they are hardwired to wait at architecture in the built surround."
Birnbaum ended his comments with the "4 – C's"—Collections, or the living and non-living in a given area; Community, or the context in which these collections work and play with each other; Containers, the buildings in these spaces; and Context, the physical and historical setting—the elements he believes are important for successful landscape developments.
Customs involvement and participation became the next area of focus as the Director of Waterfront and Open Space of New York Metropolis's Section of Urban center Planning, Michael Marrella, took the floor.
"Do we have the waterfront that we want going forward?" In order to go the correct answer to this question, according to Marrella, community participation is completely necessary. And as a result, the Department of Metropolis Planning'due southVision 2020: New York City Comprehensive Waterfront Planwas created from a year-long public planning process that entailed going out to each community in proximity to a NYC waterfront and inviting them to participate in organized workshops, where the communities were not only asked what they want out of the waterfront, but also what information technology would take to get at that place.
[pullquote align="right"]Why does it take then long to build a park in NYC? Multiple agencies, just also public review.[/pullquote]
Marrella emphasized that public outreach works tochallengethe planning process to serve the customs best, rather than assembling the public for the purpose of creating lengthy, impossible wish lists. Marrella also brought up the thicket of ecology and waterfront regulations and the "horror stories" that come with them, where 6-month projects on newspaper turn into 8-year projects in reality due to let wait times and other delays, and how there needs to be a more anticipated, reliable, and efficient process that avoids these unwanted setbacks while making certain not to lower our environmental standards.
As in all well-rounded panel discussions, Al Appleton, former Commissioner of the New York City Section of Environmental Protection and Manager of New York City Water and Sewer system, presented contrasting viewpoints on how to manage the E River Esplanade. Instead of focusing on building and development, landscape architecture and housing (function of the City'south master program for the waterfronts too includes waterfront housing), Appleton urges that we repossess the waterfront; merely that we reclaim it not to serve real-estate purposes or improved apartment views, but rather to reintroducenatureto the waterfront.
[pullquote align="left"]A call for reintroducing nature to the waterfront forth the Upper East Side.[/pullquote]
Appleton believes that, if resiliency is a priority, planners volition recognize that reestablishing nature at the water'due south edge is the about effective method available. Appleton submits three mandates on how to deal with the East River Esplanade (and the residual of the city'southward waterfront, for that matter): 1) there should be absolutely no new high-rise development on the waterfront, ii) natural areas on the waterfront should be reproduced and restored, such every bit Jamaica Bay and the Rockaways, and 3) the FDR Bulldoze should exist transformed and retrofitted in social club to make way for a more natural coastline—he even suggests getting rid of it all together, which is a remarkable suggestion as nearly plans accept the Robert Moses-era roadway as a given.
Appleton also critiques Marrella'due south reference to the "horror stories" of the regulatory process, where 6-calendar month projects turn into 8-year projects. Appleton argues that the political process is necessary; added expect times usually include more than community participation and involvement, and that communities should be wary and skeptical of fast, steam-rolled evolution projects, as they tend to ignore civic consensus.
As the final presenter, Cecilia Alemani, Curator at High Line Fine art, spoke of the importance of art in public spaces. She updated the audition on the multiple types of media that are currently circulating in the Loftier Line Park, as well as how the High Line is creating new concepts for parks and reinventing the art infinite. Along with commissioned work, the High Line has introduced a number of performance works, also as interactive and engaging video projections — all of which, Alemani suggests, should be taken into consideration in the new Due east River Esplanade. And with the incorporation of art into the park, the esplanade can ameliorate address the cultural needs that Birnbaum mentioned earlier in what truly makes a successful waterfront space.
To wrap up the entire panel discussion into i coherent message, it might sound something like this: In order for the Eastward River Esplanade that runs from 63rd to 125th Street to get a truly successful public space that serves the needs of the customs, information technology must have a daring notwithstanding smart blueprint that integrates art and culture, and meets the concerns of the community and the surroundings. Given the new realities of climatic change, this space must play a function in coastal protection, only also should simultaneously attract and appeal to all people in a social and recreational context.
The vitality of the word and the depth of the ideas on the table testify how New York continues to relish a renaissance in the confident and inventive design of public infinite.
If these weights and measures are taken during the redevelopment of the East River Esplanade, it seems that the Upper Due east Side and Due east Harlem will have a new, visionary way to go to the h2o'southward edge in their neighborhoods, with a public amenity that volition stretch for miles upwardly the East Side, perhaps fifty-fifty restoring a glimpse of the natural landscape, and habitat, that graced the island in one case upon a time.
Source: https://newyork.thecityatlas.org/lifestyle/reimagining-waterfront-dialogue-comprehensive-plan-east-river-esplanade/
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