Reurbanization May Change Our Long-held Preconceptions about Safety

Link: Reurbanization May Change Our Long-held Preconceptions about Safety

A generation of movies have made us think that the American city is an inherently dangerous place. But a new study shows that you’re more likely to die violently in the quiet countryside

"Ditching" the Brooklyn–Queens Expressway

So Gothamist and The Brooklyn Paper posted plans of covering the open cuts of the Brooklyn–Queens Expressway with parks, gardens, or high-tech trellises.

Image courtesy of The Brooklyn Paper

Image courtesy of The Brooklyn Paper

Image courtesy of The Brooklyn Paper

I.M. Pei's Hyperboloid vs. Grand Central Terminal

Take I.M. Pei's plans with a mix of relief and regret.

So imagine a fictitious, 'alternate history', 'parallel universe' version of New York City. Here a hyperboloid skyscraper, a narrow, vase-shaped tower, stands proudly over the Midtown skyline. It stands haughty, unique, and unforgettable—and right on top of what used to be Grand Central Terminal.

Red Hook Trolley Redux

So, a few weeks ago there was once again talk of reviving the old Red Hook trolley plan.

This was a plan that I had seen come and go for years, but now there could be real hope that it'll come to fruition. And that's mostly due to the credibility of NYCDOT Commissioner Janette Sadik-Khan's ability to actually get things done.

Walkability and the Le Corbusier superblock

Streetsblog brings up the topic of increasing walkability in NYC.

One project towards that goal is the restoration of 129th Street through the St. Nicholas Houses:

One agency that's doing some interesting work to connect housing policy with urban design is the New York City Housing Authority. NYCHA General Manager Mike Kelly pointed to a site where enhancing walkability is also helping to add and improve housing. At the St. Nicholas Houses in Harlem, NYCHA plans to restore the street grid to a towers-in-the-park superblock, extending 129th Street from Frederick Douglass Boulevard to Adam Clayton Powell, Jr. Boulevard.

IMO, restoring the road without restoring the "streetwall" would be better for cars than people.

People have opinions about the whole mission of public housing, however Le Corbusier's saving grace may be all that green space. They're extra lungs for a neighborhood, before which there was none.


In a "satellite" photo of Downtown Brooklyn from 1924—long before Cadman Plaza and MetroTech—the area is thick with buildings with little if any greenery:

Plus they provide a shelter, for those within, from the demolition derby of the road.

They're very pedestrian friendly, but if we want walkability then allow the ground floor the buildings to be rented out for shops. Or if we're going to restore the road, then restore the original streetwall.

Lost Parks of New York: Parade

Now this would have changed the nature of Midtown. Imagine everything from Madison Square to Herald Square and from Murray Hill to Penn Station—all park land. All that remains of it is Madison Square Park. As it's name implies, Parade would have served primarily as parade grounds for military exercises, drills and pageantry. Like armories they would eventually be used by cities for more civilian purposes. Like "Market Place", I like the name "Parade". It seems down-to-earth and to-the-point. Perhaps later on some bombastic committee of city patricians would successfully petition to have it renamed.

Lost Parks of New York: Market Place

All that remains is Tompkins Square. Would've added a lot of green to the Lower East Side. I rather like the name Market Place, it seems to hearken back to the pre-modern tendency to name parks and commons to be descriptive or even utilitarian rather than commemorative. Makes me imagine merchants, artisans, hucksters, itinerant performers and such, all gathered under the eaves and lanes of Market Place.

More on Tompkins Square Park at NYC Dept. of Parks & Recreation.

Lost Parks of New York

Behold the greenery that could have been had the corrupt politicians out of Gangs of New York not run this city.



The NYC Dept. of Parks & Recreation website had the foresight to present "Parks for the New Metropolis (1811–1870)" to inform and enlighten us on the history of parks in NYC.

IND Second System Map 1929 plan

So this will be my first post for Ego Trip Express. I'll begin this blog as a means to display the Google Maps I've made that lay out the bygone plans in New York City.

I'll start with the most famous of them, the "IND Second System". A very comprehensive entry in Wikipedia goes into detail about it.

The map below is interactive, if you click on a line it'll describe the details of it. You can also click on the link just below it to open it in Google Maps itself and turn on "Transit" to compare it to the existing system. Unfortunately Google Maps has yet to allow embedding of it's Transit overlay into sites outside of Google Maps.



I'll be going into detail on the features of the plan and post other maps and links to Google Books as time goes by. Thank you and enjoy.