International Traveling in Times of the Pandemic Shen Xin

Advocating for Public Space in a Pandemic

Sharvari Raje, Tal Fuerst, Einat Lubliner, and Kunal Mokasdar M.S. AUD

Not many would know that Eastern Queens is home to beautiful parks rich with natural resources. While the parks are geographically close to each other, they are physically isolated and many existing pathways are disconnected. While a few plans to connect these parks were drawn in the 1970s and 1980s, neither were fully implemented.

Upon conducting research and community outreach, the value of this network of parks to the surrounding communities became evident. Residents use them for sports, leisure and family time, and essential day-to-day activities. However, massive highways and infrastructure systems built in the 1970s resulted in multiple gaps and barriers between the parks. They not only altered the physicality of the space, but also left inconsistencies in a landscape that was meant to be for people and ecology to flourish in the city. Many inaccessible and accident prone zones have immediately excluded parts of the community – mostly the elderly, children and disabled. For the last few years, caring members of the community have been advocating to address these inconsistencies and create a continuous, protected and accessible trail that serves walkers, joggers and cyclists along the historically-proposed greenway. The proposed pedestrian routes and bike lanes would encourage sustainable modes of transportation and walkability, significantly improving public health. At a time when access to open public space is especially important, it is crucial to think about its quality and long term feasibility. Our process began when concerned community representatives sought to expand their advocacy efforts. The cancellation of their annual event, Tour de Flushing, in July 2020, instigated the rethinking of their advocacy methods. Prior to the pandemic, the event raised awareness and garnered incredible support for the Eastern Queens Greenway (EQGW). We collaborated with local activists and Transportation Alternatives

(a non profit organization) to design and visualize a cognitive map, supporting their vision. Sagi Golan, Senior Lead Urban Designer at NYCDCP and our Summer Studio faculty from GSAPP, mentored us. The project’s potential to implement a bottom-up approach to urban design was especially exciting. Additionally, we saw it as an opportunity to inspire the residents around the area and the entire city to recognize the Greenway network’s capacity to benefit the economy of surrounding neighborhoods, promote inclusion and equal opportunities, and, thereby, enhance the livelihood of future generations, specifically in Queens, which houses one of the most ethnically diverse and underserved population in the city.

Framework and Site Visit

After our initial meeting with community members, we identified our main goal: creating a virtually accessible tool, with a tangible product, that can be easily used by the residents. This tool could potentially aid future advocacy and speak to safety and accessibility in their neighborhoods. A compelling visual map would be a useful output to reach out to the communities around the greenway as well as key stakeholders. Next, we visited the site accompanied by two community members familiar with the trail and its history. With complete safety measures and physical distancing, we experienced the fragmentation and discontinuity caused by the highways bisecting the parks, while also observing the rich ecology and transformative landscapes along the route. Interacting with the community members allowed us to see the greenway through their eyes and to share their vision. This experience set the tone for the virtual collaborative work going forward.

Process and Collaboration

We arranged bi-weekly meetings with the community and Transportation Alternatives. We also conducted virtual meetings with neighborhood residents, to better understand their perspective and interactions with the EQGW. Upon publishing the first version of our work, we were contacted by a HUD politicians team to brainstorm planning policies for the coming term that would enable greenways like the EQGW to come to life. All of these meetings aided our holistic understanding of the realities of the EQGW, particularly its undeveloped potential.

Presenting the EQGW

The map was created to increase awareness, accessibility and orientation around the EQGW; outlining the experiential route of the greenway, highlighting hidden gems and attractions, and revealing the diverse ecologies existing along the trail. The trail is divided into segments to demonstrate time based on different means of movement: cycling, walking and running. The map introduces historical anecdotes, wayfinding guidelines, and amenities. It contains 4 main layers—Highlights, Activities, History and Ecology—referring to different components throughout the trail. We used a pamphlet and a story map to support the community advocacy effort. The pamphlet, a folded letter format, is used as a guiding map to explore the trail, and its hidden magical spots while marking the dangerous intersections in real time. As a complementary tool, the storymap* gives the community and other visitors context of the trail history, recommends sites to visit and offers videos from existing cycling paths. Both tools provide information for new visitors while, at the same time, improving accessibility for current users and local communities.

*To access the storymap use this link: https://storymaps.arcgis.com/stories/1dc9a82c6bf54650a3fd25eff196cfe3

Conclusion and Future Vision

The pandemic highlighted the vitality of open public spaces in the city. It pushed to advocate for their existence and their quality — sustaining themselves and creating space that are contiguous and pleasurable for all. We should be rethinking how we use open space to improve community life, environmental sustainability, and improved health and quality of life. In the same way that past afflictions were a catalyst for improved infrastructure, we must similarly reform open space to make it a viable infrastructure. This concept may sound basic to an urban designer or an architect, but it has been proven to us that public open space is integral to the community as well, and residents are willing to participate actively in order to move forward. As designers, we began envisioning what the greenway could be and were fortunate to be able to explore our skills for a worthy cause. Spatial analysis and mapping tools were successful in engaging with the locals in a straightforward manner that resonated with them and their aspirations. This collaboration has taught us that small steps and gradual processes can be the seed for immense change – one that is more contextual, grounded, and achieved only over time. As we wait for this big change to come, we can enjoy what the Greenway has to offer and hope that more people will come together to make a change, and imagine what the EQGW can become, together.

Einat, Kunal, Sharvari and Tal are graduates from the MSAUD program at Columbia GSAPP. Post-graduation, they volunteered with a community in Eastern Queens to advocate for a safe, accessible and inclusive greenway, mentored by their former faculty Adjunct Assistant Professor Sagi Golan, Senior Lead Urban Designer for NYC Department of City Planning. Since the community’s biggest advocacy event was cancelled, they came together to design an illustrated map, a pamphlet for navigation and an online tool for the community in order to maintain ongoing outreach.