URBAN v.9 is.2 - The Return of the Megaproject by Columbia GSAPP

URBAN COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY’S URBAN PLANNING MAGAZINE

SPRING 2006 VOLUME 9 ISSUE 2

THE RETURN OF THE

MEGAPROJECT

URBAN

RIBBON CUTTING

LETTER FROM THE EDITORS

his issue of URBAN views the world of megaprojects

magazine highlights the planning initiatives undertaken

through many lenses: the awesome power of the

by our fellow students at Columbia University.

Whether

planner, the politics of developing megaprojects, and

traveling around the world to gain new perspectives, winning

the validity of megaprojects as analyzed in case studies.

national competitions, or writing theses, planning students

We hope that these articles spark discussion about the

at Columbia are applying their increasing understanding

trend in planning toward more overarching visions for cities,

to their work and experiences. Second, special features

the evolving role of the planner as master or minion, and the

connecting planning theory and concepts to movies, books,

broader implications of this new reality.

and development projects are interspersed throughout the

Other articles explore timely topics that are ripe for

magazine to broaden our understanding of what constitutes

thought, on such varied subjects as the longevity of suburbia

“planning issues”. We hope that these innovations add to the

and the television show Extreme Makeover: Home Edition.

ongoing planning discourse amongst faculty, students, and

Please also check out the new and improved Kinne spread:

Columbia alumni, and help to raise the general awareness

Around the World, and the entries to our second URBAN

of the critical role of planning in our cities.

photo competition: Master of Our Visual Universe.

We want to thank everyone who helped with the

Additionally, this edition of URBAN takes two content

conceptualization and continuing evolution of this magazine,

initiatives: increasing the amount of planning work presented

especially Leah M. Meisterlin, Liz Kays, and Jennifer Korth. ●

and expanding the range of special features.

First, the

— Amy, Clare, and Candy

BACKSTAGE EDITORS

PHOTO CONTRIBUTORS

ALSO

CONTACT

Amy Boyle

Candy Chang, Josh Benson,

Rob Cunningham, Serena Dang,

URBAN Magazine

Clare Newman

Cate Corley, Rob Cunningham,

Jacob Feit, JP Flaherty,

413 Avery Hall, GSAPP

Rachael Gray Shipkin, Seth Hostetter,

Janina Franco, Jeff Geller, Liz Kays,

Urban Planning Program

Matt Jones, Matt Leavell, Summer Lee,

Jennifer Korth, Anna Kleppert,

1172 Amsterdam Avenue

Christie Marcella, Leah M. Meisterlin,

Lily Langlois, Matt Leavell,

Columbia University

Tatiana Pena, Stacy Radine,

Leah M. Meisterlin, Joe Moreno,

New York, NY 10027

Heather Roiter, Tony Tolentino,

Kate Sargent, Alejandro Triana,

212.854.4728

Dan Wagner, Dayu David Zhang

Dan Wagner, Ana Zanger

urban@arch.columbia.edu

ART DIRECTOR Candy Chang

www.urban.columbia.edu/magazine

URBAN

Generally Speaking

TA B L E O F C O N T E N T S

WHAT’S INSIDE GENERALLY SPEAKING 2

OUR OWN LONELY PLANET

HOME WRECKER

ULI FINALIST: TAIL’S END

DON’T FORGET ABOUT IT

GENERAL TOPICS PHOTO WINNER

Second-year students

Clare Newman

Kate Scott

Amy Boyle

Heather Roiter

BRAZIL BY BUS

SUBURBAN CANNIBALISM

FROM DESIRE TO DISNEY

THESIS TOPICS

Rob Cunningham

Dan Wagner

Brian Tochterman

Second-year students

THE RETURN OF THE MEGAPROJECT 16

INTRODUCTION

DUBAI IS MY SANDCASTLE

THE BUSINESS OF LEISURE

PHONY ISLAND?

FAIR PLAY AND FORCED FOREITURE

ALL CHICAGO IS A STAGE

MEGAPROJECTS THEME PHOTO WINNER

GOLDEN CONCRETE

FERRY GODMOTHER

SCHWARZENEGGER VS. SAN FRANCISCO

SIX DEGREES OF THE HIGH LINE

WTC PATH STATION

SECOND WAVE OF DISPLACEMENT

Editors

Tarirai G.I. Chivore, Jr.

Monica Bansal

Liz Kays

Leah M. Meisterlin

Anna Kleppert

Dayu David Zhang

Deepa Mehta

Dani Touma

Tony Tolentino

Matt Leavell and David Freelander

Rich Barone

Jennifer Jacobs Guzman and Jennifer Korth

ON THE GROUND AND THE ROOF

THE BIG DIG

KARIN’S ISRAEL

IRENE’S ISRAEL

PARADISE DOOMED?

THE NEED FOR STURBAN PLANNERS

SECOND AVENUE SUBWAY

FASTER THAN A SPEEDING DUMPLING

PREPARE FOR TAKE-OFF

MEGAPROJECTS / MEGAMAN

THE FAILURE TO THINK BIG

CLOSE TO HOME

IF YOU COULD

Stacy Radine

Jacob Feit

Karin Sommer

Irene Avetyan

Tracie Goldman

Candy Chang

Rich Barone

Jacob Press

Dayu David Zhang

Lily Langlois

JP Flaherty

Marnie Purciel

Columbia Faculty

URBAN

AROUND THE WORLD

OUR OWN LONELY PLANET Created in memory of a former Columbia architecture student by his parents, William F. Kinne traveling funds help provide each GSAPP student with the opportunity to experience the jet set during their education. We asked the secondyear students where they ventured and if they had any recommended sights to pass along.

ELLA, SRI LANKA

marvels, fascinating cuisine, incredible dancing

I journeyed to India and Sri Lanka over the summer for my Kinne trip. The voyage exposed me to mega-cities, untended ruins, exotic foods, picturesque backwaters, and incredible religious ediﬁces. My favorite place was Ella in the hill country of Sri Lanka where I walked to a stunning waterfall with monkeys and cows, hiked up Little Adamʼs Peak surrounded by tea plantations, goats, and lizards, and ate a labor-intensive garlic curry with 49 cloves of garlic! - Stacy Radine

and traditions, and a sense of “how to live life”. Also, donʼt miss having a surreal transit experience. Catch the paratransit services (“busetas”, “colectivos” or “ejecutivos”) for less than half a dollar because the experience is worthwhile, and, after that, use the bus rapid transit Transmilenio for almost the same price. Itʼs like traveling to the future. How many cities

Photo by Josh Benson

in the US would like to have this mass transit solution?! There is so much possible by thinking out of the box... - Ramón Muñoz-Raskin

BERLIN, GERMANY During our Kinne trip to Berlin, a couple of us checked out the district of Marzahn-Hellersdorf, a former GDR community of 250,000 people

BOGOTA, COLOMBIA

ANTIGUA, GUATEMALA

I spent one of the prettiest months of my life

Five of us traveled to Guatemala in January

in Bogota, where you will learn the meaning of

2006. We visited four cities: Guatemala City,

hospitality, and promise that you will return. Donʼt

Antigua (the old capital), Monterrico (a beach

miss being closer to the stars in the “Mirador

town), and Flores (an island in lake Lago Petén

de la Calera”, especially during a romantic

Itzá and close to the ruins in Tikal). Guatemala

sunset. When the whole horizon is full of lights

has a bit of everything: hiking a volcano, relaxing

and you are 1200 feet above the city, you will

on a hammock on the beach, and viewing ruins.

understand that this is a forgotten universe of

- Heidi Gorman

located on the eastern edge of Berlin. During the 1970s, the GDR constructed large housing projects to relieve the cramped conditions of the inner-city. True to communist architecture, every apartment was identical and each project surrounded its school, playground and grocery store. Of course times have changed, but the buildings still provide a glimpse of communist living. - Cassie Mehlum

SYDNEY, AUSTRALIA Walk

CITY MOUSE, COUNTRY MOUSE

through

neighborhood

Right: Little Adamʼs Peak in Ella, Sri Lanka is surrounded by tea plantations, goats, and lizards. Above right: Every apartment and project complex is identical in this former GDR community in Berlin, Germany.

the of

gorgeous

Paddington,

residential which

was

restored after World War II and still boasts numerous brightly painted victorian houses ﬁlled with thriving local merchants, designers and art galleries. Experience the port by taking the ferry from Sydney harbor to Manly. Walk along the beach, through quiet and hilly residential streets, and dip into the lovely used bookstores. A 6AM walk along the Bondi Beach waterfront path carries you along the coastline surrounded by expansive water, avid surfers, and elegant houses neatly tucked into neighboring hills. Photo by Stacy Radine

URBAN

Generally Speaking

- Kate Scott

MELBOURNE, AUSTRALIA Between Brisbane, Sydney and Melbourne, I enjoyed Melbourne the most because itʼs the only city that has a hint of decay. Queen Victoria market in Melbourne was great fun with cheap produce and ethnic foods, including

IT BELONGS IN A MUSEUM

Indian, Chinese, American/British style stands

The Museum of Anthropology in Mexico City, Mexico features an amazing collection of PreColumbian art.

in the outdoor eatery section. This is where I devoured a bowl of noodles. - Tommy Wu

MEXICO CITY, MEXICO Distrito Federal, aka DF, is an awesome way to spend your Kinne trip, but you deﬁnitely need more than a week to even make a dent. To experience peri-transit, ride one of the peseros, the private green buses that will take you anywhere if you ﬁgure out where it goes (they donʼt have maps). Itʼs super cheap, risky, and actually safer than the subway. Of all the places to go, you have to visit the Museum of Anthropology, which has the most amazing collection of Pre-Columbian art. The historic district is a must see since it

Photo by Christie Marcella

must. Pick up duty-free tequila that you canʼt get

kitchen, a foul smelling toilet, a mother washing

in the US. The difference between 100% agave

her crying baby in a sink, and ﬁnally proceeded

REPOSADO tequila and the stuff that makes

up a narrow set of stairs where we reached the

you sick in NYC bars is astronomical. Leave the salt and lime behind. - Christie Marcella

Palace is an amazing exhibit of Diego Rivera murals (you also get to see the National Police with their black Camper-like boots and white shoe laces). On the weekend, the stop M.A. de Quevedo on the 3 line is a deﬁnite destination. There are numerous outdoor markets which sell everything from Che shirts and traditional

knock-offs so meticulously crafted that in the poor light they almost passed as real.

is sinking and all the building edges are now parabolic. In the historic district, the National

inner sanctum. There, along the walls were

Our guide was now surrounded by three

SHANGHAI, CHINA

other sales people, each thrusting various

Although we are taught from a young age never

products at us. I reached to examine a Prada

to follow strangers down dark alleys, the promise

wallet. “Best quality! Best quality!” they all

of bargain knock-offs proved irresistible. As we

barked in unison. To prove it, one of them pulled

entered Shanghaiʼs Xiangyang market, a small,

out a lighter and began to burn the leather.

shifty-eyed man muttering “DVD, DVD, DVD”

Does lighting something on ﬁre demonstrate its

caught our attention and motioned us to follow

quality, we wondered to ourselves. Perhaps the

him. We wove through dense rows of stalls

wallet was made of asbestos.

overﬂowing with cheap immitation handbags,

The premium knock offs, we learned, were

watches, and jackets. Along the way, shameless

substantially more expensive than the ordinary

vendors purporting to sell “best quality” goods

fakes out on the street, but with a little patience

offered up items so shoddily constructed that

and a lot of negotiation we were able to score a

also has indoor mini-bazaars that sell pricey

their prestigious labels had already started to

few gems. Perhaps the ﬁnd of the trip was Joeʼs

but unique artisan pieces and is the area

peel. We sensed that something better was out

remarkably accurate imitation Dunhill bag,

to see Frida Kahlo and Diego Riveraʼs joint

there, that surely there was more to Chinaʼs

something he initially balked at, but eventually

home and respective museums. Day trips to

most infamous knock-off bizarre. It was just as

bargained down to a very reasonable price

the pyramids are worthwhile and can be as

doubt set in that the muttering DVD man took us

and carries with him to this day. The rest of us

short as half a day.

to a higher plane of bargain shopping.

made off with DVDs, sunglasses, watches and

beaded jewelry to artwork by local artists. The neighborhood, Coyocan, has some amazing colonial architecture as it housed a lot of the Spanish military heads back in the day. Coyocan

In gastronomic terms, donʼt even think about

Leading us into an ordinary stall selling

scarves, spending no more than a few dollars

leaving without trying Tacos al Pastor. If youʼre

handbags, he removed a panel in the back wall

per piece. Although we went to Shanghai to

feeling adventurous, try nopales, which is a

and ushered us through a passageway and

study development and planning, Xiangyang

bittersweet very important to Mexicoʼs history.

then carefully covered the hole again. We made

Market converted us into students of bartering.

Tequila shots and spicy tortilla soup are also a

several turns down a dark hallway, passing by a

- Ivanna Dunhill

Generally Speaking

URBAN

YOU ARE U S E z familyʼs T A e WH drigu lown

b Ro The me is the al ho y origin erings b ith ver: to sm e Makeo m rew. e c r t n x E Editio e m Ho

ach week, after a Sunday filled with

family,

football,

shopping,

and

approximately

million Americans tune in to Extreme Makeover: Home Edition (EMHE).1 It’s easy to see why.

First and

foremost, the host of the show is reality celeb Ty Pennington (and, in om oto fr

ABC

case you haven’t watched cable in

R E ECK

R W E M HO

the past ten years, Ty is a dreamy carpenter

and

all-around

good guy). Second, the show features a lot of shopping for shiny new appliances, blinds, etcetera at Sears, the show’s

f official corporate sponsor. ox o d Americans love to shop, a r n re pa o u i t t l i and they really love to u e Ed op c m p o / g H home improve (note in r: lann eove p k N a Home Depot’s rapid e M Th WMA E eme r N t x expansion). Third, E RE

LA BY C

the show capitalizes

on that ever-present and oh-soromantic notion of the American Dream. Each week, Ty, and his friends at Sears, select one needy and deserving, American, land- and home-owning family to be the recipient of a new house about one step shy of a McMansion. Now, while I can’t deny that the show is helping some of these families (the emotional response elicited is comparable to seeing a really cute puppy taken home from the pound), I’m a little disturbed by the fundamental American ideals highlighted by the show’s premise and success and reinforced in its audience every week. Let me begin with a disturbing new trend on EMHE: while the show’s original premise was renovation (albeit substantial), the hour of makeover magic now almost always opens with the demolition of the chosen family’s existing home. This tactic was first utilized in the second season’s finale to the delight of the show’s ad department which saw a huge ratings boom. While good for the bottom line of the show, it certainly reinforces the American mantra “New = Better.” Another equation contributing to the show’s success:

URBAN

Generally Speaking

Bigger = Better. At the time of writing, the most recent

homes that break this mold, homes that provide families

episode featured Ty giving the Kubena family, of East

with space adequate to meet their needs without becoming

Bernard, Texas, a brand-new, 4,200-square-foot home. 2

long-term drains on themselves or their community. This

The Okvath family of Arizona recently received a 5,300-

forgone chance is particularly ironic given that Ty closed

square-foot home (their old home was demolished) ,

the Kubena episode by giving the family a Ford Escape

and the Harpers got a 6,300-square-foot home. 4 These

Hybrid SUV, which “is, like, the most fuel-efficient SUV

homes are, by any standard, enormous.

The Kubena

on the planet” (emphasis EMHE).7 Ty’s a handy guy (and

family consists of two parents and four children. That

the show has a ton of money). Why not give the Kubenas,

is 700 square feet for every man, woman, and child in

living in sunny Texas, some solar panels too? Perhaps the most troubling thing about EMHE is that

the house. Another issue: cost. The New York Times, in a recent

these clearly needy families are being helped by a TV show.

piece on EMHE, estimated that each home “renovated” by

In our country, people in trouble (and we’re talking about

the show costs hundreds of thousands of dollars. This is

families of men and women who have died or been injured

representative of construction hard costs and ignores what

in Iraq, families whose children are severely disabled)

must be a fairly substantial talent and production budget.

must rely on private and corporate entities to come to

While clearly the cost incurred must be worthwhile for

their rescue. Why should families like the Rodriguezes,

ABC, we have to question the costs that will, eventually

the father of which lost his leg to a roadside bomb in Iraq,

and unavoidably, be shouldered by the families. discovered prevents

ABC has

loophole

property

taxes

that on

these substantially improved

Why should families like the Rodriguezes, the father of which lost his leg to a roadside bomb in Iraq, have to hope that they will be one of the 20-someodd families helped by EMHE this year?

homes from increasing (read: tax evasion), but there are still costs incurred in the

have to hope that they will be one of the 20-some-odd

basic upkeep of houses of this size and quality. For the

families helped by EMHE this year? Doesn’t the tragedy

Kubenas, the cost of cooling (just cooling) a 4,200-square-

displayed every week for our viewing pleasure suggest

foot house in Texas is enormous; I got estimates of nearly

that there is something missing in the way we care for

$2,500 a year.6

those who are no longer able to care for themselves? How

All of this brings home just how little we, in our popular

about all the people who don’t have a catchy story, and

culture and day-to-day consumption, consider issues of

instead suffer from the tragedy of being poor in a society

conservation, efficiency, or sustainability. The fact that

governed by an increasingly unregulated market? Almost

EMHE produces, as its ideal, homes that are spatially

34 million Americans live below the poverty line.8 Can

inefficient (both in terms of size and density relative

EMHE give each one their own McMansion? ●

to adjacent homes), homes that are energy-inefficient, and homes that are resource-inefficient, speaks to the vast distance between the environment that the average American idealizes for himself and the environment that would be ideal for America collectively. Further the show does more than make it clear that this discrepancy exists. It also cements the idea that this type of home is what families need and deserve. Rewarding deserving families with homes that are so costly and resource-inefficient misses an opportunity.

15 million

Americans could tune in every week to watch Ty build

NOTES: 1 http://abc.go.com/primetime/xtremehome/bios/113.html 2 http://www.fortbendstar.com/012506/n_East%20Bernard%20family%20will% 20be%20featured%20on%20Extreme%20Home%20Makeover%20television %20program.htm 3 http://www.azcentral.com/home/hb101/articles/ 0206evmakeovermarketing0206-CP.html 4 http://www.beazer.com/extreme/trivia.asp 5 http://www.realityblurred.com/realitytv/archives/extreme_makeover_home_ edition/2004_Nov_05_cost 6 http://www.hvacopcost.com/results.asp 7 http://www.abc.com 8 U.S. Census Bureau, 1999

Generally Speaking

URBAN

COMPETITIONS

ULI FINALIST: TAIL’S END BY KATE SCOTT A student shares her experience with one of urban planningʼs elite interdisciplinary competitions ALL ABOARD One of the boards created by the Tailʼs End team for the ULI Urban Design Student Competition

Image by Tailʼs End team

TEAM MEMBERS: Melissa Dittmer (Urban Design) Alejandro Guerrero (Urban Design) Kleber Salas (Urban Design) Elliot Cohen (Business) Kate Scott (Urban Planning)

ach year, the Urban Land Institute (ULI) holds an Urban Design Student Competition in which teams of students are asked to develop an economically viable design

and planning response for an urban development site. Over

URBAN

within the Graduate School for Architecture, Planning, and Preservation – the competition promised to be the ideal test of the cross-disciplinary laboratory phenomenon espoused in the schoolʼs program materials. My competition team was composed of ﬁve students: three urban designers, one business school student, and one urban planner. The challenge was to work together to deﬁne a framework within which social policy, market perspectives, and design choice could be used to inform adaptive use of our site over time.

the course of ten days, students from diverse backgrounds

REGIONAL CONTEXT

work intensively on a project that applies the expertise

In January 2005, more than seventy interdisciplinary student

of each team member. For the speciﬁc case of Columbia

teams received competition packages from the Urban Land

University – in which the urban planning program is housed

Institute, consisting of maps and economic, social service,

Generally Speaking

and demographic data for two sites. Both were owned by the

In our research, we discovered that historic frontier

Kennecott Land Corporation and located at the eastern base

routes passed through the Northwest Planning Area and

of the Oquirrh Mountains near Salt Lake City, Utah. Each

that the site was embedded with traces of former wetlands

team was asked to select between an urban revitalization

and other markers of ecological signiﬁcance. Together,

project for developable and developed pockets located

these layers became guides for the location of our

within the existing residential and commercial districts of

proposalʼs streets and open spaces. They also grounded

“Magna,” and a long-term growth and development strategy

our ecological vision for the project, ensuring water runoff

for the undeveloped “Northwest Planning Area.”

followed street paths to the greywater park systems. These

After much debate, our team decided to work on

rich historical, ecological, and geological ﬁndings focused

the “Northwest Planning Area” site. We agreed that the

our master planning process and enabled the team to

“Northwest Planning Area” would provide us with the

identify speciﬁc site development requirements needed for

opportunity to establish new design and development

detailed ﬁnancial analysis.

standards for “greenﬁeld” sites that respond directly to local and regional needs.

The urban designers, Dittmer, Guerrero, and Salas, proposed that four nodes, strategically placed throughout

We examined the “Northwest Planning Area” location

the site, could serve as catalysts to initiate the phased

carefully, noting its connections to transportation networks

site development. Each node capitalized on speciﬁc

and regional landforms and its potential as an educational

ecological,

and ecological destination. Regional analysis highlighted

and educational networks

the siteʼs proximity to existing transport connections to Salt

found in the Salt Lake

Lake City and the Cityʼs international airport. Thus, the site

City region. The nodes

was positioned well to connect international travelers to the

grounded

Cityʼs resources and the ecological mountain corridor.

presentation of our master

We were concerned that our proposal should reveal

planning

commercial,

the principles

visual

Civic, commercial, and residential buildings sited on the park at varying levels of affordability activate the parks as social spaces.

and

ways in which the site would develop over time - providing

the teamʼs conceptual design emphasis on the process of

diverse opportunities for local residents, students, and

site growth over time. Elliott Cohen, our business school

businesses while increasing market value for prospective

team member, worked closely with faculty member Peter

developers. Initially, we would attract business travelers

Abeles to establish economically viable estimates for the

with a quick airport connection link and direct access to

number of developable lots, total acreage of parkland, and

Salt Lake City. During this time, infrastructure investments

the percentage of housing types for the ﬁrst of three phases

would be made in phases, readying the site for residential

of development. As planner, my role was to integrate the

and commercial construction. We decided that by attracting

design and business perspectives and to frame our proposal

industries interested in ecological issues, we could develop

in terms of observed regional trends or needs, and existing

a job market for local students, diversifying the experience

theories and developments.

of the site in terms of activity and location. Finally, we felt

For the ﬁnal part of the competition, we furthered our

it important that we position the site in terms of the existing

proposals to establish the site as a social, ecological, and

regional mountain and trail network, to make the project

economical development grounded on an open space

attractive to a diverse community of families, tourists,

network. Civic, commercial, and residential buildings at

students, and professionals.

varying levels of affordability would activate parkland on

RETHINKING THE “GREENFIELD” SITE Conceptually, these ideas position our site as a new regional destination. Yet we still had to figure out how to apply these ideas specifically for this 3,000 acre site. Our faculty advisors, Andrea Kahn and Richard Bass, encouraged us to rethink definitions of “community” and to critically evaluate the existing resources of the site. We visited map rooms on Columbia Universityʼs campus, scoured the Internet for downloadable GIS layers, and considered the existing natural growth of plants on the land. Together, these layers of information established the framework for our master plan.

our site as social spaces. Plantings, solar panels, and water-capture infrastructures obtain renewable energy resources. By maximizing investments and reducing longterm residential costs, the open space network gave our project a clear identity and positioned it as a ﬁnancially conservative and ecologically innovative new development. Our group was selected as one of four ﬁnalists by the Urban Land Institute for our project, “Tailʼs End.” ● The group’s ULI project will be included in the forthcoming publication, entitled “Constellations: Constructing Urban Design Practices,” edited by Andrea Kahn, Charlie Cannon, Phu Duong, and Els Verbakel.

Generally Speaking

URBAN

M AT I N E E

DON’T FORGET ABOUT IT BY AMY BOYLE A movie classic offers insight into the dirty world of planning

he movie Chinatown is a planning classic, set in Los

resource, to enhance the value of land they own. It saddens

Angeles in the 1930s. The backdrop to this murder

me to think that these actions were and continue to be

mystery is the power and greed that led to the

enabled by visionary planners who use power as a means

creation of Southern Californiaʼs water infrastructure. The

to an end that is self-serving, rather than beneﬁcial to the

bold initiative to bring water into the desert enabled the

community in which they work.

rapid growth of many communities in the West. I watched

By the end of the movie, the viewer is left torn. We

Chinatown intending to review a movie about the politics

feel sorry for the people upon whose backs the water

behind megaprojects. However, I left THIRSTY FOR THE TRUTH Jack Nicholson searches for answers in the farm lands of Los Angeles in Chinatown.

the movie overwhelmed by the last line: “Forget about it. Itʼs Chinatown.” Los

Angelesʼ

THE MOVIE

Chinatown

neighborhood only appears in one

TITLE Chinatown DIRECTOR Roman Polanski RELEASED 1974

scene. But it has a strong presence, especially the

when

high-powered

juxtaposed world

with water

politics that runs throughout the ﬁlm.

THE VERDICT

No one wants to go to Chinatown. The characters who had worked in Chinatown say they did as little as

Paramount

An emphatic ﬁve stars out of ﬁve

possible to help the community better itself.

Simultaneously, the audience

senses these charactersʼ guilt and relief for escaping

industry was built: the farmers of Southern California and

Chinatown without doing much.

the people of Los Angeles. We fear the thought of going

In this quintessential movie, much beloved by

to the dreaded Chinatown and pity the people who must

planners, it was shocking to me that the ending would

live amidst its violence and poverty. Yet, we feel a strange

have the characters walk away from a community that is

admiration for the players who had the foresight to plan

so badly in need of help. Yet, this scenario is unsurprisingly

a water system that allowed so many people to live in

reminiscent of the neglect many poor communities have

the desert.

suffered in the United States. The message that these

This, we have learned, is what planning is all about:

actions send is that society should not worry about the

the ability to see the multiple perspectives of the decision

conditions in which some people live, as long as it is

makers and those affected by their plans. But this is not

possible for other people to escape that reality. Through

enough. If we can see the negative externalities of the

gentriﬁcation of previously low-income neighborhoods in

powerbrokersʼ actions and share the fear of being in a

cities and unnecessary growth into rural areas, planners

community like Chinatown, how can we sleep at night if we

and developers have continually promulgated this thought

do nothing to positively change the situation?

since the days of Chinatown.

URBAN

Today, planners are caught in a web of development

In the movie, rich and powerful people manipulate the

and politics, trying to listen to the communityʼs views but not

system to get water to ﬂow where they want. They become

always considering them. We spend so much time working

more rich and powerful by using water, a seemingly public

through bureaucracy and politics that we seem unable to

Generally Speaking

actually create plans that work towards a common good,

addition to talking about justice as a theory, we need to

much less implement them. I contend that planners need

take action in practice.

to be knocked out of this safety zone. The plannerʼs role

While planning school has forced me to think about

needs to be similar to that of Jack Nicholsonʼs character,

how planners ﬁt within the framework of design, policy, and

in Chinatown, a private detective who wanted the world

politics, I started thinking outside this box after watching

to be just. Following his mantra, planners should protect

Chinatown. I am not training to become a paper pusher who

people from harm while getting the job done. We need to

implements zoning changes. I want to proactively address

seek out and empathize with diverse perspectives, create

the needs that I see in the world around me. When faced

solutions to the problems that are brought to light, and be

with communities like Chinatown, I cannot just forget about

resourceful in ﬁnding ways to implement these plans. In

them. Could you? ●

THE 2006 MASTER OF OUR VISUAL UNIVERSE PHOTO COMPETITION

GENERAL TOPICS WINNER NEXT DOOR NEIGHBORS BY HEATHER ROITER THE STORY BEHIND THE PHOTO “The bungalows and large public housing in the background belong to our beloved Rockaways. They are right along the beach, and most of these are one-bedroom owner occupied. The clouds that day really added to the ʻmood.ʼ” - Heather Roiter

Generally Speaking

URBAN

Photo by Rob Cunningham

T R AV E L C R I T I C

BRAZIL BY BUS BY ROB CUNNINGHAM A Transportation Travelogue of Brazilʼs Four Largest Cities ON THE ROAD Above: In the congested center of Rio, over sixty competing bus companies ply the streets. Opposite page: Catching the bus in Sao Paulo is not for the fainthearted.

y ﬁrst transportation experience in Brazil was chaotic,

because the drivers will not slow down or stop unless they

terrifying and exhilarating. I was in the back seat of a

see someone ﬂagging them. And with the huge number of

host-momʼs tiny Brazilian-made automobile, zooming

buses in service at all times, it is not uncommon for two or

along windy, hilly streets. Like most Brazilian drivers, Sonia

three or ﬁve buses to converge on a stop all at once, making

felt the need to drive as fast as conditions would allow. If

the task of identifying the one you need and ﬂagging it down

conditions changed, she would just slam on the brakes.

an interesting challenge.

Intersections, as far as I could tell, were a free-for-all lacking any established right-of-way rules. Sonia seemed conﬁdent swerving in front of any vehicle of any size, despite the fact that her own was in the “VW Bug” weight class and seemed on the verge of crumbling to pieces. As for me, I tried to reassure myself with the thought that if I lived through the experience, it would make a good story.

SALVADOR DA BAHIA

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RIO DE JANIERO In Rio de Janeiro, where I spent the majority of my trip, over sixty competing bus companies ply the streets. As a result, Rio is the ﬁrst city I have been where trafﬁc congestion is often due to public transportation rather than private automobiles. I frequently saw multiple lanes of bumper-to-bumper buses stretching an entire block. Yet the overabundance brings perks to the consumer: most important being the

That adventure in Salvador da Bahia was one of the few

ridiculously short headways, best measured in seconds

times that I sat in a private automobile during my three

rather than minutes. I knew I was becoming a Carioca (Rio-

months in Brazil. Like most of the natives, I almost always

dweller) when waiting three minutes for the bus started to

rode the bus. For those accustomed to riding buses in the

seem long.

United States or Europe, Salvadorʼs bus system seems

In addition to the ofﬁcial buses, an underground

highly disorienting. Rather than operating by numbered

economy of van transportation operates throughout the city.

routes, the buses simply list all the neighborhoods they

As the van pulls up to a stop, a man leans out the window

will pass through on the front window. If you see the place

and yells out the destinations, under-selling the buses by a

you want to go, itʼs your responsibility to ﬂag the bus down

few centavos. The van routes terminate at favelas on the

Generally Speaking

which swells daily with tens of thousands of maids, doormen, street vendors, and other low-wage workers who pour in

ROB’S HANDY BUS RATINGS

from the favelas. With the perpetual gridlock, commutes of up to two hours in each direction are not uncommon. The one time I rode the underground rail, the platform ﬁlled up so much that there were about 30 people at each door when the train pulled up. Oddly, most of the seats on the train were already taken, even though this was the ﬁrst stop.

Apparently, people had started their journey

backwards, just so they could have a seat for the outbound ride. That is the length the poor of Rio will go to get some relief from their commutes.

Photo by Rob Cunningham

AREA COVERAGE WAIT TIME

RIO DE JANIERO

CURITIBA

Curitiba provides a stark contrast to the “anything goes”

Whole damn city

RIDE QUALITY

OVERALL SCORE OUT OF 20

cities. Its bus rapid transit system is famed worldwide for providing efﬁcient, subway-quality transportation at a fraction

A few minutes

of the cost. The passenger pays and enters a tube, which

and unloading. When the bus pulls up, people pour on and

Pulls up to tube; stops; waits

off without any fare collection delays. The buses then zip

or slow down except at stops. I rode several bus lines and

Best measured in seconds

CATCHING BUS

transportation situation found in Rio and most other Brazilian

Ditto

Battle trafﬁc to ﬂag down

Demonic drivers, gridlock trafﬁc

Pretty dependable yet completely psychotic

provides weather protection and facilitates while loading

around the city in dedicated bus lanes, never needing to stop passed everything from high-rises, evidence of Curitibaʼs

Smooth as a babyʼs bottom

coordinated land use/transportation plan, to detached single-family neighborhoods well-served by this adaptive

form of transit. But the joys of Curitiba transportation are not

A shining example of what buses can be

limited to buses; walking is another good way to get around, with several public squares connected by pedestrian streets in the downtown area.

periphery of the City that are not served by ofﬁcial buses. Another interesting element of Rioʼs transportation is the “Bondinho” (little train), which clatters up the hill from Centro (downtown) to Santa Theresa, a quiet artistsʼ enclave. Along the way, stragglers jump on for the ride based on an interesting rule: if they jump on while the tram is in motion, the ride is free; if the tram is stopped, they have to pay full fare. In Rio, the underground rail system stops short of the Zona Sul (southern zone), which includes Copacabana and

Ipanema.

Although

these

neighborhoods

are

synonymous with “beach vacation” worldwide, Zona Sul is actually an extremely dense, urban area of wall-to-wall high-rise apartment buildings and 24-7 street life. Some might argue that Rio has more important problems than providing underground rail transportation in its wealthiest neighborhoods. However, the residential demographics does not account for the daytime population of Zona Sul,

SAO PAULO Sao Paulo is Brazilʼs “megalopolis,” with a metropolitan population that has recently surpassed New Yorkʼs at 20 million, and an urban form that, when seen from the air, appears as an endless sea of skyscrapers. On the ground, Sao Paulo presents an incomprehensible array of traffic, noise, and poverty. As the sun was setting, at the end of my one day there, over the eight traffic-clogged lanes of Avenida Paulista, I descended into the metro station to head to the bus depot and back to Rio. When the train pulled up, it was so full that people were literally falling out when the doors opened. After two more similarly packed trains passed, I decided to brave this mass of humanity. It stayed this crowded for nine or ten stops before finally thinning out. Later, I learned that most residents of Sao Paulo donʼt even think about using the metro during rush hour unless they are boarding at one of the first stops at either end.

●

Generally Speaking

URBAN

ince World War II, planning resources have been

Using the general model of a city as a node that

largely devoted to metropolitan extremes: historic

expands in concentric circles from the center, we can

downtowns and low-density, modern suburbs.

deﬁne the inner-ring suburb geographically. The inner-ring

Unfortunately, other urban areas are in equal need of

suburbs would be the ﬁrst set of cities, while each successive

planning assistance. While planners have devised countless

ring beyond them constitutes a newer suburb. However, the

schemes to save downtown

politics and topography of

from the suburbs, they have

place mean that many cities

simultaneously

ignored

do not readily conform to

growing problems in the

this physical model, and so

gray areas that lie between

descriptors are required to

those two extremes. In order

help deﬁne the inner-ring.

to address the problems of

HOUSING

the gray areas (inner-ring suburbs),

officials

recognize

the

characteristics

Inner-ring

must

defining of

housing.

outside centers.

major

The

urban

inner-ring

suburb was the destination of

the

Photo by Dan Wagner

inner-ring

and jurisdictions to grow

first

commuters

who wanted the benefits of city jobs without the city’s

SUBURBAN CANNIBALISM

cramped spaces. However, in later years, the same policies

that

encouraged

people to move to these cities began to cause city residents to

bypass

them.

Today,

suffering as newer suburbs

BY DAN WAGNER

have supplanted the innerring as the most desirable location. A 2006 Brookings Institute report on these suburbs states that they will be in jeopardy if serious attention is not focused on them, “neither fully urban nor completely suburban, America’s older, inner-ring ‘first’ suburbs have a unique set of challenges.”2 The report draws attention to the difficulty of fully defining inner-ring suburbs’ place in the urban landscape. In response to these problems, groups have formed, such as the First Suburbs Consortium, which lobby for recognition of, and economic assistance for, these unique locations. Support is coming, but the question of how to define an inner-ring suburb remains.

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Generally Speaking

structures

situated on modest lots. Many inner-ring suburbs were built just before or just after WWII. Unlike much

pre-war

post-war

housing,

suburbs

are

typified by cookie-cutter patterns and lower quality construction. Because of this, the older houses often require structural repairs,

Saving the suburbs from the suburbs: How to rescue the at-risk inner-ring

the inner-ring suburbs are

The

are of smaller size and are

plan for their needs.1 suburbs were the first cities

are

a dense arrangement of

these

unique places so as to better Today’s

suburbs

typically characterized by

which forces homeowners to decide between massive, costly repairs and tearing down to build anew.

POPULATION

Many residents of innerring suburbs were baby boomers and have watched their children grow up and move out. This exodus and the inner-ring’s typically higher tax rate have led to a population decline. Therefore, a large portion of the population is elderly, and cities are struggling to create the amenities required for their aging population.

INFRASTRUCTURE Aging infrastructure is another problem in inner-ring suburbs. The older streets, sewers, and utility lines are costly to maintain within the existing network. Coupling this high cost with a shrinking tax base compounds the problem of maintenance. The amount of repair required

for the vast numbers of streets tends to be greater than

RING MY BELL

most inner-ring suburbs can afford. Even though this

Left: Vacant storefronts, such as these on Madison Avenue in Lakewood, Ohio, are reﬂective of inner-ring suburb characteristics. Opposite page: Innerring housing density on Rockway Avenue in Lakewood, Ohio.

problem is highly visible, the budgets of these cities are often stretched so thin that repairs are not always made, thus reinforcing the decline.

SCHOOLS The changes in local public-schools tend to be similar throughout inner-ring suburbs. Typically the scores of the students in specific schools will change over a number of decades, indicating the change in demographics of a place. Scores and graduation rates in inner-ring suburbs tend to decline. This phenomenon is a reflection on the changing population of inner-ring suburbs. Additionally,

Photo by Dan Wagner

school budget cuts lead to overcrowding and a decline in

CRIME

maintenance are common. Together, these factors can

As blighted areas grow within inner-ring suburbs,

lead to a devastating impact on the reputation of the

crime tends to follow. Social, racial, and economic

school system, which further compounds the downward

diversification, weak economic climate, and poor schools

spiral of the area.

are all contributors to rising crime.

ECONOMIC PATTERNS Business cycles affect every city, but inner-ring suburbs have had greater volatility in recent years. Vacant storefronts and generally blighted areas are common. Inner-ring suburbs, which don’t have greenfields and generally have high tax rates, cannot lure companies looking to locate in the region. Just as with the innercity, companies bypass the inner-ring suburb to locate elsewhere.

FINANCES AND BUDGET

HIGHER POVERTY Unemployment and an increase in low-income residents require aid programs that inner-ring suburbs have not been accustomed to providing. These needs are new to the city, and, as such, they often struggle in setting programs up properly.

PHYSICAL LAYOUT Certain circulation patterns are typical of inner-ring suburbs. Long and narrow streets were laid out years

The high taxes and stagnant business climate contribute to

ago to maximize space, and perhaps to accommodate

the difficult situation these cities’ governments are facing.

streetcars and other now-obsolete public transportation.

The budgets are already stretched thin, and with the lack of new development there is little revenue coming into the

Although there will always be exceptions, these

city. Given the already high tax rates, governments can

qualities are characteristic of inner-ring suburbs. Many

rarely raise taxes to pay for new reinvestment strategies.

residents and government officials in inner-ring suburbs

New capital improvements are almost impossible due to

do not realize the changes as they are occurring and the

these circumstances. The city’s paralysis, again, reinforces

implications that can come along with them. Recognizing

the place’s rapid decline.

the symptoms and appropriately addressing them can

RACIAL DIVERSIFICATION

help a place mitigate the typical negative impacts while embracing the positive qualities of this unique urban

Initially the inner-ring suburbs were over 90% white

landscape. It is up to each individual suburb to recognize

and predominantly middle-class. Today there is greater

the changes in time. ●

diversity of races, ethnicities, and incomes. Partly due to these changes, many problems associated with the inner-cities of 30 and 50 years ago are now present in the inner-ring suburbs. This change can be embraced as an opportunity, or rejected and ignored as a sign of decline.

NOTES: 1 Article utilizes authorʼs previous work: Wagner, Daniel. 2002. “Addressing the Difﬁculties of Inner-Ring Suburbs: A Case Study of Lakewood, Ohio.” http:// lkwdpl.org/focus/wagnerstudy.pdf. (Last Visited: 17 February 2006). 2 Lambert, Bruce. 2006. “First Suburbs Growing Older and Poorer, Report Warns.” The New York Times. 16 February 2006.

Generally Speaking

URBAN

BOOKWORM

FROM DESIRE TO DISNEY BY BRIAN TOCHTERMAN The liberal and conservative views of Times Square redevelopment

hough published a year before the Bush v. Gore/Red

community developed as a product of public sex. He laments

v. Blue state dichotomy began to dominate American

the old stomping grounds of Travis Bickle and Joe Buck:

political discourse, the title of Samuel Delanyʼs Times

the stretch of 42nd Street between 7th and 8th Avenues

Square Red, Times Square Blue suggests or, moreover,

slated for condemnation and Disneyﬁcation, whose various

foretells the urban vs. rural/liberal vs. conservative backlash

theaters, from the late 1960s to the early 90s, proffered

of the post-Boom/post-Monica landscape. In the backlash

freewheeling masturbation and fellatio among patrons. On

Thomas Frank reminds us, “culture outweighs economics

Delanyʼs “thousands” of visits he encounters, and sexually

as a matter of public concern.”1 If this

and intellectually engages, a diverse array

is indeed the case, and with 20/20

of characters - hustlers, homeless men, the

hindsight, then Delanyʼs tales of sodomy

deranged, working and middle class alike

in the city may be ﬁrst read as an effort to

- who, like many celebrated communities,

shock the bejesus out of humble, loyal,

offer mutual aid and safety in numbers.

reverent red-staters (not that they would

Thus, the porn theater represents Delany

stumble across this title at the local Wal-

and friendsʼ authentic “right to the city” in

Mart) who in ﬁts of post-9/11 nationalism

the Lefebvre sense: “[the] right to freedom,

visit Disneyʼs Times Square in droves,

to individualization in socialization, to

and second, perhaps, as an attempt to

habitat and to inhabit...to the oeuvre, to

spill a latte or two of the complacent,

participation and appropriation” of space.2

supposedly-urban,

It functions as a secure place for pleasure,

Starbucks-sipping

blue-staters who cannot get enough

THE BOOK

of the neo-liberal sanitized cityscape constructed essentially with both of them in mind. Delanyʼs book is a pair of mutually exclusive essays – distinct in style, form, and content – that operate jointly

TITLE Times Square Red, Times Square Blue

AUTHOR Samuel R. Delany PUBLISHED 1999 (Univ. Press)

ethnography concerning the experience of pleasure, desire, and community structured around public sex acts in the straight porn theaters of (old) Times Square. The oral history of “Blue” sets up Delanyʼs forceful theoretical polemic - a dose of memory added - between public interaction in urban space and Times Square redevelopment in the second entry “...Three, Two, One, Contact: Times Square Red.”

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or a beer if youʼre down and out, and presents public sex that - against popular conceptions - is non-commercial. While “Blue” works as an elegy, “Red” is a full-ﬂedged theoretical reaction to the neo-liberal

speculative

redevelopment

of 42nd Street that razes community

in a broader urban discourse. The ﬁrst, “Times Square Blue,” is a mixture of memory and

an orgasm, and maybe a sandwich

spaces in favor of a locale intended for conspicuous

tourist

consumption.

Such

development

displaces the working class residents of old, residents that co-opted, constructed, and appropriated the city in their own image and hypothetically for their own good. In the sterile “glass and aluminum graveyard” of the “postmodern superslum” lesser classes are ﬁscally unﬁt for survival, and generally unwanted.3 Times Squareʼs new shape represents

In the Red v. Blue narrative, blues are northeastern

what Mike Davis calls “the architectural policing of social

and mid-western liberal urbanites who embrace (deviant!)

boundaries [that became] a zeitgeist of urban restructuring”

popular culture, live in dense cities, and confront each other

in the early 1990s.4 The fortress aesthetic presents itself

on the street or in public space. “Blue” offers a faded sepia

in a variety of forms including increased security (Giulianiʼs

snapshot of such a place that no longer exists; a place where

squashing of “quality of life” crimes), concealed panopticons,

Generally Speaking

and the anti-public, inside-out architecture of standardized

might have proved more sympathetic to the aspirations

shopping malls writ large.5 A contemporary stroll down

of nearby residents and less transformative of the cityʼs

Delanyʼs beloved block exhibits such easily coded palaces

fabric.”14 Instead he attacks architects like Robert A.M.

of consumption-kitsch as Madame Tussaudʼs, McDonalds,

Stern and urbanist Marshall Berman (though Bermanʼs

B.B. Kingʼs, Chevyʼs, and two behemoth AMC and Loews

support of the Times Square project is indeed curious and

theater complexes (in fact the AMC 25ʼs vertical mall has an

troubling), and relies solely on personal experience and

interior food court featuring Cinnabon, Starbucks, Sbarros,

observation, which neglects to sufﬁciently probe the psyche

and more and is seemingly only accessible to exiting

of his comrades. Are they really going to miss the Eros, or

moviegoers).6 For Delany, this tourist-driven development

are they simply going to follow it to the westside waterfront

aimed at rural red-staters and suburbanites is “designed

or industrial Queens?

to look safe...[but] promotes precisely the sort of isolation, inhumanity, and violence that everyone abhors.”7

Despite any shortcomings, Times Square Red, Times Square Blue is an important piece of Americana. For

At the heart of Delanyʼs argument is his cross-class

historians and urbanists, it does for 42nd Street life in book

contact vs. networking dichotomy. The Disneyﬁed Times

form what Taxi Driver and Midnight Cowboy did on ﬁlm. It is

Square of consumption screams networking, i.e. its public

a window into a world of public pleasure, desire and fantasy

interactions are typically indoors, impersonal, untrustworthy,

before Times Square was transformed into a simulacrum, a

and motive-driven.8 Inherently anti-urban visitors are safely

Disney-endorsed urban amusement. In the words of Michael

seduced by the urban spectacle, but their

sanctimonious

morals

remain

unharmed and intact. “[W]hat I see,” Delany writes, “lurking behind the positive

foregrounding

Inherently anti-urban visitors are safely seduced by the urban spectacle, but their sanctimonious morals remain unharmed and intact.

ʻfamily

valuesʼ (along with, in the name of such values, the violent

Sorkin, “the theme park presents its happy regulated vision

suppression of urban social structures, economic, social

of pleasure...as a substitute for the democratic public realm,

and sexual) is a wholly provincial and absolutely small-town

and it does so by stripping troubled urbanity of its sting,

terror of cross-class contact.”9

of the presence of the poor, of crime, of dirt, or work,” or

Delanyʼs cross-class contact is evident in the sociability

what assigns cities authenticity.15 As the Red v. Blue culture

he witnessed in the porn theaters of yesteryear, “contact

wars intensify, Delanyʼs polemic functions as a “cry and

tends to be more broadly social and appears random...[and]

demand”16 to the cultural prudes on both the right and left

is associated with public space and the architecture and

who refuse to live in cities, yet posses tremendous power

commerce that depend on and promote it.”10 This concept

over urban redevelopment. ●

is heavily borrowed from Jane Jacobs who notes, “the trust of the city street is formed over time from many, many little public sidewalk contacts. It grows out of people stopping by at the bar for a beer,” or getting a blowjob from a stranger.11 This informal social contact is a main reason cities are appealing to so many. As Delany argues, “cities are attractive to people because of the pleasures [socially, sexually] the city holds.”12 Delany is foremost a Marxist (“Red” features structural meditations) but for the purposes of Times Square, he, like Jacobs, is a pragmatist. Also ala Jacobs, whose writings have been included in anthologies of conservative thought,13 he does not offer any grand social restructuring, insisting instead on the mixing of all classes in urban space - a maintenance of the structural status quo. He fails to delve into the speciﬁc public-private partnerships that drove Times Square redevelopment, which Susan S. Fainstein accomplishes so well in The City Builders. As she concludes, “Times Square is a product of big capital in alliance with government. A different development scheme

NOTES: 1 Frank, Thomas. 2004. Whatʼs the Matter with Kansas? How Conservatives Won the Heart of America. New York: Henry Holt Publishing, 6. 2 Lefebvre, Henri. 1995. Writings on Cities. Eleonore Kofman and Elizabeth Lebas trans. New York: Blackwell Publishers, 173-174. [emphasis in original]. 3 Delany, Samuel R. 1999. Times Square Red, Times Square Blue. New York: New York University Press, 96. 4 Davis, Mike. 1991. City of Quartz: Excavating the Future in Los Angeles. New York: Random House, Inc., 223. 5 ibid., 223-263. 6 Based on personal observation and memory. 7 Delany, 155. 8 ibid., 129. 9 ibid., 153. 10 ibid., 129. 11 Jacobs, Jane. 1961. The Death and Life of Great American Cites New York: Random House, Inc., 56. [emphasis added]. 12 Delany, 169. 13 Fishman, Robert. 1982. Urban Utopias in the Twentieth Century: Ebenezer Howard, Frank Lloyd Wright, Le Corbusier Cambridge, MA: The MIT Press, 272. He notes that William F. Buckley includes her work in his collections. 14 Fainstein, Susan S. 2001. The City Builders: Property Development in New York and London, 1980-2000, Second ed. Lawrence, KS: University Press of Kansas, 135. 15 Sorkin, Michael. 1992. “Introduction” in Michael Sorkin, ed. Variations on a Theme Park. New York: Hill and Wang, xv. 16 Lefebvre, 158.

Generally Speaking

URBAN

Megaprojects

THE RETURN OF THE MEGAPROJECT I

t’s impossible not to notice the way city development

The articles assembled here use cases of specific cities

has changed in the past years: moving from the

and specific projects as a springboard for addressing larger

individual pursuit of disconnected projects to the

issues. One theme that recurs throughout this edition is

coordinated investment in a cohesive vision of the city.

public participation – the possibility of, and the framework

Example: a city uses its power of eminent domain to

for – in these large-scale partnerships. Also implicit in all

allow private redevelopment of 40-some-odd city blocks

the articles is an evaluation of the positive and negative

into a mixed-use megacomplex. Example: a city rezones

consequences of megaprojects and larger city visions (i.e.

two large neighborhoods to facilitate private, residential,

will we get a Vancouver miracle of sustainable downtown

waterfront development. Moreover, these projects are key

revitalization or a mess of high-cost, misdirected projects

nodes in a plan for the city as a whole. We are trending

as suggested by Flyvbjerg?).2 3 Who do these investments

towards big (in size and budget), coordinated, public-

benefit? What are the long-term consequences of these

private collaborations for urban economic development.

projects? How can planners direct these processes and/

This edition of URBAN magazine seeks to explore the

or mitigate their consequences? However we understand

meaning and potential impact of the recent resurgence

these questions, they make clear that megaprojects, with

of large-scale, city-endorsed, planning and development

their enormous impact on the city and the planning

projects. Does this, as Fainstein questions, signal well-

profession, need to be confronted.

●

planned growth or does it imply a corresponding return to the policy and process of the Urban Renewal period?1 Are these megaprojects similarly targeted to the corporate/ suburban/upper-class agenda? Will these megaprojects similarly exclude the public from decision-making? Will we, 50 years from now, look at this “Megaproject Period” with the same we know better now, air with which we view Urban Renewal?

NOTES: 1 Fainstein, Susan. 2005. The Return of Urban Renewal. Harvard Design Magazine. Spring/Summer, <http://www.gsd.harvard.edu/hdm>. 2 Sandercock, Leonie. 2005. An Anatomy of Civic Ambition in Vancouver. Harvard Design Magazine. Spring/Summer, 36-43. 3 Flyvbjerg, Bent. 2005. Design by Deception: The Politics of Megaproject Approval. Harvard Design Magazine. Spring/Summer, 50-59.

Megaprojects Megaprojects

URBAN

DUBAI IS MY SANDCASTLE Delving into the consequences of one cityʼs choice to become its own megaproject

BY TARIRAI G.I. CHIVORE, JR.

t has become a common saying that you cannot turn in any direction without seeing a construction crane in Dubai. Fifty years ago, Dubai shared the mediocrity

of its fellow emirates: a Muslim City inhabited by a small indigenous population in the desert. Situated in what was predominantly barren land on the Arabian Peninsula, Dubai City is now the fastest growing city in the world, and the landscape has been transformed nearly overnight. 1 From the bucolic mosques off the waterfront in Al Hudheiba to the serene church row in Umm Hereir, the City has embraced the past and future to manifest its culture in an explosion stretching well beyond its boundaries. This, in part, was due to the Sheikh Zayed’s early attempts to open up and diversify the economy to compete with regional hubs such as Abu-Dhabi and Tel Aviv. In 1966, the City began to evolve into a modern, 20th-century city through the expansion of the Dubai Municipality. Plans were revealed for the construction of the largest man-made port in the world, named Jebel Ali, which would make Dubai an important port-of-call for western manufacturers.2 This change was largely driven by the discovery of abundant oil reserves 120 kilometers off the coast of Dubai. By 1980, the Arabian Emirate was beginning to realize the benefits of international trade, successfully propelling the Kingdom’s economy into the 21st Century. The Dubai Municipality adopted a strategic vision to become an international tourism destination based on its central location between Europe, Asia, Africa, and the Americas. Private golf clubs, sports clubs, and beach resorts began to spring up along the coast, giving rise to the advent of Dubai as a major shopping stop.

Image from skyscrapercity.com

URBAN

Megaprojects

A new wave of megaprojects has gripped the small

Arabian Emirate. A string of over 20 projects of mammoth

emphasis on coordination from the biggest international

proportions are rising out of the desert sand, redefining

players in the industry connected to each city.

the Dubai skyline once again. These public and private

Academic City will be a district of higher learning

megaprojects average a hefty price tag of $1.5-billion each,

consisting of over 20 research institutions. Healthcare

and have shaken Middle Eastern architecture to its core.3

City

Examples include the 100-storey sail-shaped Jumeirah

groundbreaking

Hotel off the shore of Dubai City and the world’s first

research hosted by premiere

underwater hotel located in the Arabian Gulf (the $750-

world health institutions

million, 220-room luxury aquatic resort will be submerged

such as Harvard Medical

in the Arabian Gulf boasting its own underwater monorail

International and the Mayo

system and various water-themed complexes).

Clinic. Humanitarian City

What is most interesting about this city is that

will

home

medical

A string of over 20 projects of mammoth proportions are rising out of the desert sand redeﬁning the Dubai skyline once again.

will be a diplomatic hub

the international expatriates outnumber the local

for global educational and communication operations,

UAE Emirati nationals. Many a traveler has sought

housing various worldwide unilateral organizations, such

refuge in this emirate thanks to Dubailand; the world’s

as the United Nations Joint Logistics Center.

biggest and most varied leisure, entertainment, and

The municipality has also approved the construction of

tourism attraction. The much anticipated megaproject

projects of massive proportions to establish Dubai as a hub

will compete with world-class megaresorts such as

of business parks and office development. The Knowledge

Las Vegas, Disneyland, Monaco, and Sun City. It will

Village is the centerpiece of this vision, a 50-acre site that

not only consist of the world’s third largest mall, but will also be home to its own Olympic standard sports

ACTIVATE IN THE FORM OF

megacomplex, theme park, world-class race track, and

Left: Palm Jumeirah is one of three islands built in the shape of a date palm tree that feature luxury hotels, residential villas, marinas, water theme parks, shopping malls, and entertainment facilities. Opposite page: The proposed Burj Dubai will be the worldʼs tallest building.

the world’s first desert-based ski resort, at a total cost of $21.5-billion. 4 The

latest

phenomenon

Dubai’s

craze

for

megaprojects is the “City” theme: themed cities each with a strategic purpose contributing toward a larger vision for the Emirate. It almost seems as if the Dubai Municipality’s Planning and Construction Department has brought a new purpose to zoning. The projects on the map already include Academic City, Internet City, Healthcare City, International City, Festival City, Humanitarian City, and Media City each with an average cost of $2.5-billion. 5

Each city is built with great

Photo from trip101.com

Megaprojects

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will act as a center for learning and innovation through its

part of its vision to bring new understanding to urban

training programs sponsored by global corporations. This

design, planning, and infrastructure within this growing

facility will be adjacent to Internet City, Media City, and

Middle Eastern City. The Dubai Municipality is also taking

Silicon Oasis. Located within the free zone, established

strides in the fields of urban planning through various

by the government to attract foreign investment and

initiatives such as student participation, e-Government,

development through its zero tax and foreign ownership

Geographic Information Systems, and the Thermal

incentives, Internet City, Media City, and Silicon Oasis will

Insulation System.9

act as application platforms for research from knowledge developed in the Knowledge Village. The newest hot topic in Dubai is the 110-acre Dubai

of empowering indigenous populations for the sake of

International Financial Center, due to open in fall.6 Also

securing an intact macroeconomy. There have been reports

located MY BUILDING IS TALLER THAN YOUR BUILDING A computer image of the Burj Dubai in the United Arab Emirates, which will be the worldʼs tallest building when completed in November 2008.

With a majority wealthy expatriate population, authorities in Dubai seem to be abandoning the vision

zone,

in the

the

free

Financial

additional

economic

socio-

problems

Center will be a cluster

apparently arising from

international

business

conglo-

(mainly

merates, housing its

western)

own

infiltrating the central

internationally

ideologies traditions.10

traded stock market.

Muslim

The vision is creating

Rising rates of divorce,

financial

late

harness

corporate and

district gigantic

addiction,

influence

competing

marriage,

domestic

violence, and sexual

with

harassment

are

major world business

sparking new concerns

markets such as New

within

York

national population.

City,

London,

the

The government of

plementing this urban

Dubai has embarked on

world’s tallest building, called the Burj Dubai, is being built minutes away. This mixed-use tower

will

contain

Image ffrom AFP Imageforum

Though it may seem from ﬁrst glance that this new vision seems to be steering the Dubai landscape to arch form over function, its planners seek the exactly opposite effect.

the much-anticipated

the most lavish national shopping

spree

history, spending well over $200-billion to redirect the economy.11 It is very rare that for even a large country

Armani Hotel, residences, and office space, with a total

to undertake projects of such gigantic proportions. In

construction cost of $8-billion.7

essence, it seems as if the Dubai Government plans on

One of the most prominent housing projects as of yet is the Dubai International City, an 800-acre development

building a corporate fortress of capacities never attempted before. ●

that will house international traders, investors, retailers, and expatriates from across the globe. International City was designed to create internationally themed districts, each characterized by urban design and architecture drawn from its home country. The development will house over 60,000 residents from around the world.8 Though it may seem from first glance that this new vision seems to be steering the Dubai landscape to arch form over function, its planners seek the exactly opposite effect. The Dubai Local Government has begun hosting international fora and conferences around the world as

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UAE

and Hong Kong. Comfinancial cluster, the

drug

Megaprojects

NOTES: 1 http://www.guardian.co.uk/g2/story/0,,1708287,00.html 2 http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/facility/jebel-ali.htm 3 http://www.hvsinternational.com/Content/1630.pdf 4 www.dubailand.ae 5 http://www.trendwatching.com/trends/2003/09/NATIONS-LITE.html 6 www.difc.ae 7 http://www.gowealthy.com/realestate/news/946/detail.asp 8 http://realestate.theemiratesnetwork.com/developments 9 http://www.dubai.ae 10 http://vgn.dm.gov.ae/DMEGOV/dm-metro-news01 11 http://skyscrapercity.com/archive/index.php/t-247468.html

Photo from www.desertadventures.com

T R AV E L A N D I N D U S T R Y

THE BUSINESS OF LEISURE BY MONICA BANSAL How Dubai is building a horizontally-equitable world

f there is one thing we have learned as a civilized society,

coral reefs, oyster beds, and sea grasses (on which the

it is that people of the same means should have the same

economically worthless ﬁsh and sea turtles depend) with

things; if a rich socialite has their own private island, then

the results of the endless dredging for the new standard in

a rich prince, of some small, negligible unheard of country

luxury living (for only a few weeks out of the year, that is).

should as well. Having learned this lesson, we can now revel

This is most likely of trivial consequence given that 33 of the

in the glory of unevenly distributed wealth. Rather than trying

223 islands of The World have already sold for between $7

to redistribute resources to the poor (and undoubtedly lazy

and $35 million each, and the project is not even slated for

and undeserving) we should focus our natural and economic

completion until the end of 2008. Also of little-to-no concern

resources on ensuring that every obscenely rich individual

are the detrimental effects upon the natural beachfront of

has their own private place of leisure.

Dubai. The constructed islands will continue to erode the

And lest we run out of such necessary havens, we can

natural beachfront by blocking and shifting natural currents.

follow in the visionary footsteps of the United Statesʼ hopeful

But who needs natural nature when we can make fake

new gatekeeper, the United Arab Emirates (UAE). Its model

nature? Even the sea life will have artiﬁcial reefs with which

emirate, Dubai, has made its own. Rather than wasting

they too can revel in the wonder that is manʼs creation.

more time and money on ameliorating the often hopeless

Once again, we will prove that everything nature can do

problems of the existing world, Dubai scrapped the whole

man can do better.

thing and made a whole new world, The World in fact. The

Seriously though, the economic potential of this

World is made up of 223 little islands clustered strategically

monstrosity proves the brilliance of Dubaiʼs current

to form the outline of the world map. Each is 3.4 miles long

leadership.

and wide, totaling 60 million square feet. It is populated only

trap that consumes much of the Middle East and have

with the people we wish we were: the rich and bored; and

reinvented Dubai in the image of another of the worldʼs

it provides only the amenities that really matter: ten million

model cities...Las Vegas. Realistically, the environmental

square feet of white sand beach, views of Dubaiʼs now

concerns and their corresponding economic costs are

eroding natural beachfront, and “guaranteed sunshine.”

relatively minor compared to the short-term economic

THE UNREAL WORLD The World is made up of 223 little islands clustered strategically to form the outline of the world map. It provides ten million square feet of white sand beach, views of Dubaiʼs now eroding natural beachfront, and “guaranteed sunshine.”

They have managed to circumvent the oil

If providing places of leisure for the rich is our goal,

gains of billions of dollars of commercial investment in

then clearly the Dubai model makes sense: bury existing

the form of endless hotel chains and other awe-inspiring

Megaprojects

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megaprojects. After all, we only really need to examine the

natural gas and other energy resources are an issue, the

short-term. No one actually believes in that intergenerational

UAE visionaries will no doubt have an equally masterful

equity rhetoric, right?

plan B. It should be noted that the UAE is trying to conserve

The real estate boom that is feeding urban development

water through drip irrigation—a noble effort given that a

throughout Dubai is continuing at a brisk rate, thanks in part

whole 2% of Dubaiʼs gross domestic product is generated

to the failure of foreign

The constructed islands will continue to erode the natural beachfront by blocking and shifting natural currents. But who needs natural nature when we can make fake nature?

buyers

by agricultural production

understand

In the end, The World is but a reﬂection of the priorities

the risks involved in their

and direction of our increasingly capitalist and globalized

purchases.

world. And imitation is the best ﬂattery. That is all Dubai is

Sheik

Although

Mohammed

has

really trying to become—a sanitized and easy-to-consume

allowed the sale of Dubai

receptacle for all possible replicas of world wonders and

property

foreigners

even of the world itself. The new Dubailand will have fake

since 2002 (speciﬁcally

pyramids, an Eiffel Tower, a Taj Mahal, and many more

to help incite the boom),

attractions for one-stop tourism.

the decree has never been ofﬁcially sealed in UAE law.

But maybe David Beckham will get bored on his new

So, there is no guarantee that foreign investors ownership

fake island. Not bored enough to leave, but bored enough

status will hold.

that he might ask for his island to include a fake slum

The emirate itself is equally unlikely to care about

(the instinct being similar that which drives the tour buses

these risks given the revenue guaranteed by the 20,000

carving through the Hurricane Katrina disaster). How can

plus apartments and houses, the 100 hotels and marinas,

you appreciate what you have if you donʼt see what youʼve

the theme parks, the restaurants, and, of course, the

been lucky enough to avoid or negligent enough to ignore?

shopping malls.

But this is unlikely to happen. The point of the islands

And this is just the beginning of the

colossal megaproject that is Dubai itself.

There is an

is to maintain the ultimate in exclusivity and escapism.

underwater hotel, the worldʼs new tallest tower, a theme

They are the quintessential gated community with access

park (Dubailand) that will reportedly be as large as Dubai

only available by marine transport, rather than direct road

itself, and an indoor winter wonderland. Iʼm sure it at least

linkages, so leave those stretch Hummers at home. ●

makes economic sense to create indoor ski slopes in a country where there are no rivers and little rainfall. They have managed to keep pace with the slopeʼs astronomical water demands through increased usage of an extensive, gas-ﬁred desalination program. By the time the supply of

NOTES: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/7051051/ http://www.internationalreports.net/middleeast/ dubai/2003/3theworld.html http://www.trendwatching.com/trends/2003/09/NATIONS-LITE.html

FOOD FOR THOUGHT

PHONY ISLAND? BY LIZ KAYS Shoot the Freak, the Mermaid Parade, and Nathanʼs hot dogs...all at your doorstep? The ﬁfty-year discussion on how to revive Coney Islandʼs former glory days seems to have boiled down to an argument over housing. Should luxury condos sit atop the freak show, and should AMC and The Gap ﬁll in the vacant spaces between the arcade booths and bumper cars? The Coney Island Development Corporation, along with eager developers, insist that creating a year-round destination is the key to a bright future. However, others in the community fear that housing and a proposed indoor mall will transform our anything-goes Photo by Candy Chang

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Megaprojects

Coney into a sad clone of Times Square.

●

Photo credit

FAIR PLAY AND FORCED FORFEITURE BY LEAH M. MEISTERLIN

everal

buildings

several blocks, various uses and their varied

How Atlantic Yards developer Bruce Ratner has kept the public out of the game

understanding, community benefits agreements, lawsuits, hearings, and press releases from every angle have forged alliances with some while alienating others. Here, I would

users, multiple stakeholders

like nothing more than to employ a witty basketball

with

stakes:

analogy. However, the better comparison is to any top-

these are the things that

notch competitive reality television show: the grand prize

characterize a megaproject,

greatly exceeds a million dollars, and several could be

an undertaking so complex

voted off the metaphorical island.

that

multiplied

its

coordination

itself a thing of wonder. Its

realization

requires

The Atlantic Yards development project is a mixedPhoto from www. nolandgrab.org

use megaproject planned for the intersection of Atlantic and Flatbush Avenues in Brooklyn. Adjacent to the FCR

untangling a patch of urban

Atlantic Terminal Mall and designed to cover the Vanderbilt

fabric and crafting a navigable network of physical, social,

Rail Yards, the project includes a basketball arena for the

economic, and political infrastructure. The connectivity

transplanted New Jersey Nets, a couple million square

of this network defines the success of a megaproject. In

feet of office space, a few hundred thousand square

short, people do not build megaprojects. Connections do.

feet of retail space, and a few thousand housing units

Over the course of the past two years, New York City

— some affordable and some market-rate. The specific

has watched the network behind (and before) Forest City

numbers have fluctuated since the preliminary design

Ratner’s (FCR) Brooklyn Atlantic Yards project define

was announced in December 2003, and different sources

and refine itself. While the physical connections of Frank

still report different development plans.1 The reasons for

Gehry’s design comprise the center of the debate, they

this fluctuation and variation are many and one: the FCR

are not the center of the action. Instead, memoranda of

Atlantic Yards network is fighting not to buckle under

Megaprojects

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IF IT LOOKS LIKE A DUCK The Brooklyn Standard is a publication that resembles a public newspaper but is in fact created by Forest City Ratner.

the pressure of the connections it lacks. The

questions,

arguments,

contro-

versies, rumors, and gossip

Whether the community beneﬁts agreements can be trusted is debated on the grounds that FCR either preys on cashstrapped groups or creates them from grassroots scratch.

few opportunities for formal public response devolve into heated name-calling sessions. For example, last October’s Environmental Impact Statement Draft Scoping meeting was extended by three hours as it “became a referendum

the Atlantic Yards are

on the proposal’s myriad flaws and virtues.”3 FCR’s

truly the stuff reality

opposition and supporters alike endured heckling at what

TV executives dream

was predicted to be a “pro forma throw-down.”4 Public

of. They are too great

outrage was rooted in both their complaints about the

plan and their inability to effectively complain.

enumerate

here,

(or may not) amount

BEARING WITNESS

to conspiracy theory.

The second form of public exclusion is a lack of

Instead, I propose one

transparency in the decision-making process. Local

reason for the three-ring show: the missing connection

community members are permitted neither their usual

between the developer and the residents his project

avenues for participation nor access to witness the

impacts.

participation of others. From the moment the FCR

VOICING OPINION

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the borough president, or the City Council. As a result, the

surrounding

and much of it may

not call for a recommendation from the community board,

proposal was chosen over an option more amenable to the community, Bruce Ratner’s work in Brooklyn has been

The orchestration of power, finances, land, and politics in

characterized as “informational sorcery.” 5 He and FCR

the process of the Atlantic Yards development has been

produce The Brooklyn Standard, a “publication that just

no small feat.2 Instead, the project’s logistic construction

about everyone is tired of not calling a fake newspaper”

resembles that of the largest endeavors of the Urban

(emphasis in original), and have sustained accusations

Renewal era. If FCR decision making is not as centralized

of placing journalist names on pieces they have not

as its megaproject predecessors, it is most definitely not

written. 6 Whether the community benefits agreements

public. In fact, the public — comprised of an informed

can be trusted is debated on the grounds that FCR either

citizenry of affected community members — is the only

preys on cash-strapped groups or creates them from

connection the Atlantic Yards network has lacked.

grassroots scratch. 7

The method of public exclusion from the planning

The lack of transparency has prompted investigation,

and development of the Atlantic Yards has been two-

leading to dangerous charges of corruption in the

fold. First, the project is exempted from the public review

development process. For instance, a memorandum of

process to which most communities are accustomed and

understanding between the ESDC, FCR, and the New York

most redevelopment projects are subject. New York City’s

City Economic Development Corporation was uncovered in

Uniform Land Use Review Process (ULURP) is the typical

August 2005, outlining plans for additional development

and formal means by which any non-as-of-right project

rights contingent upon the success of the Atlantic Yards

seeks public approval and permission to move forward.

project. This memo was dated 18 February 2005, months

Essentially, ULURP is how the City – the municipality and its

before FCR had secured project rights from the MTA.8

citizens – legitimizes land uses unauthorized by the Zoning

Though these findings include discussion of ESDC’s use

Resolution. Therefore, bypassing ULURP means remaining,

of eminent domain and its ability to override the Zoning

at least symbolically, illegitimate in New York City.

Resolution, their volatility lies less in their content and

As the development is partially financed through the

more in their secrecy. The questions continue: “If Ratner

Empire State Development Corporation (EDSC), it will

intends on developing a project with benefits for the entire

skip ULURP for a less stringent state review. ESDC will

community, why doesn’t he share his plans with them?”

Megaprojects

Additionally, the information to which the public is privy has been challenged as biased,

incomplete,

The questions continue: “If Ratner intends on developing a project with beneﬁts for the entire community, why doesnʼt he share his plans with them?”

Being an active part of any network – like being an active part of any discussion – involves two fundamental abilities: the ability to speak and the ability to listen. Community members are fighting this development because they can do neither. Even if the community

or incorrect. Norman

is given no formal decision-making ability, even if

Oder’s investigation

alternative plans are to be ignored,13 and even if tax-payer

into the relationship

funding does not constitute tax-payer power, still these

The

New

two simple concessions could have prevented the circus

Times

and

this development has become. Although voicing opinion

revealed

may only give the semblance of legitimizing inclusion

not only undisclosed

and input, the opportunity to bear witness would have

between York FCR

has

conflicts of interest,

Photo from www.msnbcmedia.msn.com

but what borders on

DAVID AND GOLIATH Local organizations and community members protest the FCR Atlantic Yards project.

provided the accountability without which the Atlantic Yards network could crumble. ●

faltering journalistic integrity.9 As for explicit conflicts of interest, recently a court ordered ESDC to “remove an environmental review expert from the project because his prior work for Ratner ‘tainted’ the process.”10

CRASHING THE PARTY Community organizations – a listing of 53 were available at the time of writing – have banded together and have been fighting against the Atlantic Yards network since December 2003.11 Their outreach strategies include meetings, events, websites, and blogging...lots and lots of blogging. Their current strategic implement, the lawsuit, however may be proving more effective. A suit to enjoin the intended demolition of six FCR-owned properties led to the ESDC conflict of interest finding, which has posed a temporary set-back for the development. Reports that FCR is “hemorrhaging $4 million in carrying costs every month” implies that with each lawsuit comes another set-back that opposition lawyer Jeff Baker described as “financial Armageddon for Ratner.”12 The irony for the FCR network is that any instability it has is rooted in its exclusion of the public – that the network’s connections are based in the power of each node and FCR underestimated Brooklynite determination

toward

self-empowerment.

The

committed blogging, prying investigations, and constant barrage of community meetings are only attempts at providing the forum for discussion and access to information that exclusion deprived.

NOTES: 1 For descriptions of the project and its process, please see www.fcrc. com, www.buildbrooklyn.org, www.developdontdestroy.org, and www. brooklynpapers.com. 2 For the most user-friendly chronology of events, search “Ratner” at www. curbed.com. 3 Nicholas Confessore. “The People Speak out (Shout, actually) on Brooklyn Arena Project.” The New York Times. 19 October 2005. <http://www.nytimes.com/2005/10/19/nyregion/19yards.html?ex=1141621200& en=895a7e685c42b3b4&ei=5070> 4 “Atlantic Yards ʻPro Formaʼ Throw-Down Tonight.” Curbed. 18 October 2005. <http://www.curbed.com/archives/2005/10/18/atlantic_yards_pro_forma_ throwdown_tonight.php> 5 Brian J. Carreira. “Memory and the Atlantic Yards.” The Brooklyn Rail. <http://www.brooklynrail.org/LOCAL/memoryofatl.html> 6 ibid. 7 For comments on FCRʼs contribution to BUILD, see Juan Gonzalez. “Snake in the ʻgrassroots.ʼ” New York Daily News. 29 September 2005. <http://www. nydailynews.com/news/local/story/350740p-299190c.html>. For BUILDʼs IRS form 1023, see Develop – Donʼt Destroy Brooklyn. <http://www. developdontdestroy.org/BUILD/IRS/index.php>. 8 For the Develop – Donʼt Destroy Brooklyn press release and links to two Memoranda of Understanding, see <http://www.developdontdestroy.org/mou>. 9 Norman Oder. The New York Times and Forest City Ratnerʼs Atlantic Yards: High-Rises and Low Standards. 1 September 2005. <http://www.dddb.net/ times/TimesReport.pdf>. Additional information can be found at Oderʼs past blog, www.timesratnerreport.blogspot.com. Current information can be found at his new blog, www.atlanticyardsreport.blogspot.com. 10 Gersh Kuntzman. “Full Court Press.” BrooklynPapers.com. 25 February 2005. <http://www.brooklynpapers.com/html/issues/_vol29/29_08/29_08nets1. html>. 11 A list of organizations in opposition of the Atlantic Yards project can be found at Develop – Donʼt Destroy Brooklyn. <http://www.dddb.org/opponents. php>. 12 Kuntzman. 13 The FCR proposed plan was chosen over an Extell bid which was largely based on a community-based alternative plan. This plan, named the Understanding Imagining and Transforming the Yards (UNITY) plan, can be found at http://www.developdontdestroy.org/public/AYDWS.pdf. A comparison of the proposals can be found at http://www.dddb.net/bids.

Megaprojects

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BOOKWORM

ALL CHICAGO IS A STAGE BY ANNA KLEPPERT How planners lost the romantic shroud they once possessed

rik Larsenʼs engrossing depiction of the chaos of

reports, tales that will be told for years to come, and piles of

Chicagoʼs attempt to outdo the world and “out-Eiffel

smoldering wood.

Eiffel” with its 1893 Worldʼs Fair is a romantic and

The point, of course, was the pride. Chicago architects,

quixotic description of the days when cities were run by

designers and politicians could say they had accomplished

a few wealthy, politically-connected, white men. Before

a great thing. The elite group of well-connected men had,

the notions of public interest and social

against all odds, succeeded in wowing

justice were fashionable, there existed

the world (notwithstanding the thousands

pride, and the men of Chicagoʼs fair

of newly unemployed men and the now-

aimed to prove the superiority of man

staggering city debt). Larsen touches on

through their built works. The men (and

the absurdity of such megaprojects only

they were all men) who designed and

slightly. The tone throughout the book is

built the fair were proud and eager to

one of awe, and for good reason. But as a

show other cities, like New York City and

21st-century planner looking back on the

Paris, that Chicago wasnʼt just a town of

project and imagining the consequences

slaughterhouses and indecency. Chicago

of such a plan, I cannot help but question

instead emerges as a somewhat human

the net effect of the fair on the Cityʼs

machine, alternately exhibiting spite,

residents. The fair was never planned

courage, tranquility, and resourcefulness

primarily to serve Chicagoans; rather, it

in its people and its buildings. Devil in the White City follows two parallel stories in the heady, hectic Chicago of the late-nineteenth century. From a wealth of primary and secondary sources – and, to a large extent, his imagination – Larsen deftly weaves a narrative that offers a nearly omniscient view of two different but related tales: one, of Daniel Burnham, the fairʼs chief

THE BOOK TITLE Devil in the White City AUTHOR Erik Larson PUBLISHED 2003 (Crown)

THE VERDICT A solid four stars out of ﬁve

visionary and the other of H.H. Holmes, a

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was touted and structured as a showcase of Chicagoʼs, and Americaʼs, superiority. Today,

the

closest

get

endeavors of worldʼs fair proportions are the mammoth efforts of Olympics host cities. Rarely do cities attempt so many large projects at once. Rarely do cities so concern themselves with the worldʼs opinion of their infrastructure systems, buildings, and general city character. But, even the civic glory and pride that

man with a penchant for collecting afﬂuent

helped the metamorphoses of cities like

young virgins and dilapidated apartments.

Atlanta, Athens, and Barcelona as Olympic hosts pales in

Larsen seems enthralled with creations of mankind,

comparison to the city-wide support Larsen writes existed at

particularly those that are unexpectedly ﬂeeting. In his tale

all stages and in all elements of the Chicago fair. Burnham

of Chicagoʼs grand affair, Larsen subtly questions the worth

and others could access nearly any resource and tap any

of temporary projects. As the men of the fairʼs planning

budget simply by invoking the cause of dignity and honor,

board watch the demise of fair buildings mere days or weeks

which would be lost in the event of failure. Thus the project

after the fairʼs end, an image of burning rubble is conjured

moved forward in a way that looks downright autonomous

several times. In the end, millions of dollars and man-hours

compared with todayʼs megaprojects, where usually a more

have been reduced to ephemera: forgotten newspaper

democratic and contentious process prevails.

Megaprojects

The most striking difference between Burnhamʼs world

and others) had carte blanche over 600 acres of city land,

and the world of modern day planners is ego. Megalomaniacs

and held nary a public meeting or charrette. But, oh for

with “visions” are still developing large individual projects

the days when cigar smoke shrouded the top hats, three-

all over the country (see: Larry Silverstein or Paul Allen),

piece suits, and pocket watches in city-planning meetings.

but today more checks and balances restrain those egos,

Planning careers these days are considerably less sexy

which have far more competition thanks to our ostensibly

than those of Daniel Burnham and his collaborators, but

free market. Burnham and his carefully selected cohorts

hopefully theyʼll result in something more likely to beneﬁt

(Frederick Law Olmsted, John Root, Frank Lloyd Wright,

the common good. ●

THE 2006 MASTER OF OUR VISUAL UNIVERSE PHOTO COMPETITION

MEGAPROJECTS THEME WINNER PEDESTRIAN PLAZA BY DAYU DAVID ZHANG THE STORY BEHIND THE PHOTO “In the city famous for its tourism, entertainment, and Portuguese style architecture, Macao Tower, which roars at a height of 1,109 feet, was completed as part of the Macao Tower Convention and Entertainment Center complex in 2001. I took this picture on the observation deck of the tower, looking down onto the pedestrian plaza of the development complex, all of which were built on a reclaimed island on the south end of the Concelho of Macau.” - Dayu David Zhang

Megaprojects

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Photo from skyscrapercity.com

The pros and cons of Indiaʼs largest infrastructure investment since independence

BY DEEPA MEHTA

n 1957, journalist Harold Isaacs described American perceptions of India as “scratches on our minds.” Missionary reports of, and superficial glances at,

the bewildering Indian streetscape shaped much of the American understanding of a young post-independence India. Throughout the 20th Century, India struggled to create a homegrown economy that could compete with similar states. It was not until India’s economy liberalized and invited foreign investors that the nation began to see sharp economic gains. Today, India’s economy is literally

GOLDEN CONCRETE INDIA’S AUTOBAHN The Golden Quadrilateral is the ﬁrst new road construction project undertaken in India since Muslim emperor Shershah Suri built the famous Grand Truck road in the 16th century.

booming, with projections of 8.25% growth for the years 2006 and 2007.1 India is hardly a scratch on our minds, an Orientalist reverie. Its massive growth, coupled with rapid urbanization, have put India at the forefront of international news. In fact, the Government of India has embarked upon the National Urban Renewal Mission, as part of a $30-billion “megablueprint” to plan and manage its cities.2 As public and private investors bring goods and services to India’s growing population, the megaproject has become en vogue. From multitower luxury housing colonies that resemble magnified barcodes upon cityscapes to diversified power plants harnessing new types of energy to meet the growing demand, India’s solutions are being built in a big way. Today, there are hundreds of large-scale projects appearing on the Indian landscape, with many more slated

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Megaprojects

to begin. One project initiated by the Indian government

THE EQUATION

that is especially striking is the Golden Quadrilateral.

The Golden Quadrilateral (GQ) runs for over 3,600 miles and connects four of Indiaʼs largest cities: Mumbai, Delhi, Calcutta, and Chennai.

THE CONNECTION IS MADE I visited India twice this year, and both times I spent a considerable amount of time on a highway called the

DELHI

Golden Quadrilateral (GQ), the official name for the first phase of the largest expressway project in Indian history. The four-lane superhighway creates a diamond-shaped route connecting four of India’s megacities (Mumbai,

INDIA

Delhi, Calcutta, and Chennai) over 3,625 miles of smooth concrete. The motorway is scheduled to be complete in December.3 The project also includes two new corridors

CALCUTTA

MUMBAI

spanning beyond the GQ cities and an upgrade of the existing national highways.4 Up to 250,000 laborers have worked on this project on a given day.5 In total, the National Highway Development Project

CHENNAI

will amount to the redevelopment of 40,000 miles of roadway. With a budget of $60 billion,6 the project is funded by public and private investment, user tolls, and the World Bank.7 The idea originated in 1998, and, now, Image by Candy Chang

only seven years later the Golden Quadrilateral is nearly complete. It is worth noting that this project is the most ambitious national infrastructure project since the British

ROADBLOCKS

laid India’s impressive rail system a century ago. In fact,

The GQ is a major boon for India. Driving along at 60 or

this is the first new road construction project undertaken

70 miles per hour feels like progress in comparison to the

in India since Muslim emperor Shershah Suri built the

slow, bumpy, stomach-churning rides characteristic of

famous Grand Truck road in the 16th century.

India. However, with the benefits come the costs, which are

The National Highways compose about two percent of

being borne by the Indian people. While the government

India’s roadways, but they carry 40% of the nation’s road

is claiming there are no actual cost overruns, there have

trafﬁc. These concrete improvements will account for “some

been several delays that have pushed back completion

$1.5-billion a year in savings, by one World Bank estimate,

of the GQ. There have also been service failures due to

on everything from fuel costs to faster freight delivery.”

admittedly hasty construction.11

Currently, the roadways are utilized by truckers, motorists,

Protests over land acquisition, mainly purchased using

two-wheel drivers, and the general mix of trafﬁc on Indian

eminent domain, have been common in the project.12 The

highways - ranging from bullock carts to rickshaws.

highway has cut through farms, tribal lands, and ancestral

The notion of a highway hardly sounds genious in the

homes. Truckers who regularly utilize the motorway also

United States, which is connected by the largest web of

protested the high uniform user taxes, as they are being

asphalt of any nation. The highway investment that took

forced to pay six percent of their total freight values for

place in the US in the mid-20th Century mirrors India’s

using the road (these costs feel especially burdensome

current construction. India now ranks second to the US with

given the high taxes on fuel). The toll charge of a typical

its own 1.4 million miles of road and highway networks.10

trip on the expressway is $1.33, an amount higher than

As the government, investors, and contractors create

the wage that 300 million Indians earn in one day. 13

this golden labyrinth, other businesses are also seeing

Although short-distance travelers can utilize these

the gold, so to speak. Indian powerhouse Reliance Group

roads informally in between tolls, this concrete path

has its own series of rest stops and gas stations along the

solidifies the increasing divide in India between the

highways, paving the way for more competitors. Reliance

haves and have-nots.

is even considering buying out the original Indian dhabas, (“roadside restaurant” in Hindi).

There are also environmental ramifications to the national highway system. While India can boast

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thousands of miles of smoother connectivity, it has also

sensitive to the historical roots and financial burdens of

created thousands of miles of impervious surfaces which

India’s people. As the Indian government changed its age-

will inevitably produce polluted run-off.14 There is also

long paradigm of state-controlled development into free

an increasing craze for car

market development (and in turn has seen substantial

ownership.

Driving along at 60 or 70 miles per hour feels like progress in comparison to the slow, bumpy, stomach-churning rides characteristic of India.

are

economic growth), it can also create innovative ways to

only eight million passenger

While

include considerations of the long-term impacts of their

vehicles in a country of more

megaprojects. This way, India can sustain its growing

than one billion inhabitants,

population, reduce economic, social, and environmental

congestion

costs, and continue its prosperity. ●

and

there

uncontrolled

traffic patterns persist in city centers and highways. When the

government

recently

reduced its taxes on small cars, the Center for Science and the Environment, a leading think-tank, determined that this tax break led to an increase in car sales.15 The new highways and new vehicles on the roads will produce even more pollution across India.

LOOKING FORWARD As India’s passages are now turning into neat and efficient motorways, one wonders whether the costs outweigh the benefits. The simple answer is no, the National Highway is a necessity for progress, but the form it takes ignores the issues it creates. As the Indian government leapfrogs to this superhighway megaproject as a way to link the nation, import cars, and promote highway culture, it should take into account the difficulties that nations like the US are now facing with increased dependence on cars, highways, and fuel. The government can also be more

NOTES: 1 “Indiaʼs economy to grow 8-8.25 pct in 06/07.” Reuters India. http://in.today. reuters.com/. March 13, 2006. 2 “Indiaʼs cities to get a much-needed facelift.” Times of India. March 3, 2005. 3 “Golden Quadrilateral still has miles to go.” The Financial Express. August 26, 2005. 4 National Highway Authority of India. http://www.nhai.org/index.asp. 5 Jyotsna Singh. “India En Route for Grand Highways.” BBC News. May 26, 2003. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/south_asia/3043235.stm. 6 John Elliot. “On the Road to Repair.” Fortune Magazine. October 20, 2005. 7 John Lancaster. “India Moves to Get Out of a Deep Rut.” The Washington Post. September 15, 2002. 8 Jyotsna Singh. “India En Route for Grand Highways.” BBC News. May 26, 2003. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/south_asia/3043235.stm. 9 Amy Waldman. Mile by Mile, India Paves a Smoother Road to Its Future.” The New York Times. December 4, 2005. 10 http://auto.indiamart.com/user-manual/roads.html 11 “New stretch of NH-6 comes crashing down.” Times of India. February 10, 2006. 12 Jyotsna Singh. “India En Route for Grand Highways.” BBC News. May 26, 2003. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/south_asia/3043235.stm 13 “Truckersʼ Strike on June 20 to Protest Toll Charges.” The Hindu Business Line. June 15, 2005. 14 Lance Frazer. “Paving Paradise: The Peril of Impervious Surfaces.” Environmental Health Perspectives. Volume 113, Number 7. July 2005. 15 “Budget 2006 is short-sighted, says CSE.” http://www.cseindia.org/aboutus/ press_releases/press-index.htm.

FOOD FOR THOUGHT

FERRY GODMOTHER BY DANI TOUMA The Lower Manhattan Development Corporation has plans in motion to transform a two-mile stretch of the lower east side waterfront into a public esplanade with plenty of “commercial, cultural, and community destinations.” However, this area lacks adequate transportation access, making it difﬁcult to ensure a bustling corniche product. The expansion of a ferry service in lower Manhattan or along its eastern shores could be a solution. This would not only help to transport New Yorkers to the esplanade quickly, but also alleviate the existing congestion and Photo by Candy Chang

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Megaprojects

travel time spent maneuvering throughout the City.

●

SCHWARZENEGGER VS. SAN FRANCISCO Can the City revive the link between transportation cost and development proﬁt?

BY TONY TOLENTINO

he Golden Gate Bridge. The Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) system. The Pan Pacific Exposition. The San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge. Pacific Bell Park. The San Francisco Bay Area has had

a long history of developing megaprojects ranging from engineering marvels to costly mistakes for taxpayers. Most of the Bay Area’s largest

SKYLINE IN PROGRESS The San Francisco Bay Area has proposed a new transit center to link the major transportation systems that provide service in the City.

projects have centered on transportation and the movement of people. As a continuation of this long tradition, San Francisco has created a plan to develop a transit terminal that, if completed, may rival the transit terminals of Europe and the East Coast of the United States. With 101 municipalities, 9 counties, and over 20 different transit operators, the Bay Area has always struggled in creating linkages between Photo by Tony Tolentino

its balkanized transportation networks. In an attempt to link the major transportation systems that provide service to San Francisco, the City has proposed building a new transit center in downtown San Francisco, a replacement for the Transbay Terminal, a former rail hub which is now used as a bus depot. The current proposal envisions a $4.35 billion transit center linking all the region’s primary transit providers and creating a new residential neighborhood in downtown San Francisco.

HISTORY

Terminal was converted to a bus-only terminal linking Greyhound buses and commuter buses from the East Bay, North Bay, Peninsula, and other parts of San Francisco. Throughout the 1970s and 1980s, the Terminal fell into disrepair. After the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake, local and state

The existing Transbay Terminal was completed in 1939, along with the

transportation officials began to question

San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge. The station served as the terminus

the seismic safety of the existing structure.

for rail lines coming from the East Bay and Sacramento, with nearly 26

Plans to rebuild the station were created

million people passing through the terminal each year. As automobile

during the 1990s, including one which

use rose in popularity, the rail systems utilizing the Bay Bridge were

proposed to move the terminal two blocks

dismantled and railways were converted to lanes for automobile traffic.

east and building an indoor arena or office

Buses became the main form of public transport, and the Transbay

towers on the existing site. In 1999, San

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Francisco voters passed Proposition H, making it official city policy to

WHAT’S THERE NOW

extend the Caltrain commuter rail from its current terminus two miles

The Existing Transbay Terminal and surrounding area

from San Francisco’s Financial District to a new downtown terminal.

THE PROPOSAL As originally conceived in 1999, the plan only included a new transit terminal with a commuter rail extension. To build on this large public investment in the region’s transportation infrastructure the Transbay Terminal Improvement Study Panel released an ambitious plan that included the redevelopment

Placing all of the Bay Areaʼs transportation providers under one roof will be a major step forward in creating seamless transfers for residents, commuters, and tourists alike.

of the vacant and blighted blocks

surrounding

proposed

terminal.

the The

hope of the redevelopment was to create a transitoriented

development

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land surrounding the terminal, creating San Francisco’s first high-rise residential

adjacent to the new center

neighborhood. Modeled after Vancouver,

that would add much needed housing to San Francisco’s limited supply

British Columbia, the 40 acres around the

and provide funding for the new station. As a result, by the end of 2001,

terminal would be sold to private developers

the plan now had three important aspects that needed to be accomplished

and transformed into a neighborhood with

for the others to succeed.

mid-rise residential buildings, punctuated

The centerpiece of the plan is the rebuilt transit hub, which would

with slender residential towers. The funds

be renamed the Transbay Center. The first stage of the plan calls for the

generated by the sale of this donated

construction of a temporary bus depot on land adjacent to the existing

state land would be used to pay for the

terminal, left vacant by the removal of the Embarcadero freeway after

new terminal. Upon completion of the

the 1989 earthquake. The new Transbay Center would be built on the

development,

site of the existing terminal and include two above ground levels for

envision 3,200 new housing units (35%

commuter and Greyhound buses, an underground level for rail service,

of which will be affordable), an expanded

and a mezzanine with retail. The new center would also include an

and improved public realm with parks and

underground pedestrian tunnel, linking the center with the Embarcadero

landscaped sidewalks, and a mix of new

BART/Muni rail station one block away.

retail which would serve the neighborhood.

planners

Although construction

the Peninsula and Silicon Valley. This extension will also serve as the

towers, the most dramatic change to San

route for a proposed high-speed rail system, which will link downtown

Francisco’s skyline may be the proposed 925

San Francisco with Los Angeles and the Central Valley. This extension

feet, 70-storey tower adjacent to the new

will run in a 1.3 mile tunnel under Rincon Hill from its existing terminal

terminal. The mixed use tower, including

near AT&T Park to the basement of the new transit center.

office, residential, and hotel space, would

plan seven

calls

politicians

As noted, the primary component of the new center calls for the

Megaprojects

the

and

extension of the existing Caltrain commuter rail system, which serves

The third component of the plan calls for the redevelopment of the

Photo from The New York Times

new

for

the

residential

become San Francisco’s tallest skyscraper,

surpassing the iconic Transamerica Pyramid. Like plans drawn up

WHAT’S IN STORE

in Boston and Philadelphia in recent years, the primary objective of

The proposed Transit Center and neighborhood plan

planners and political leaders is for the proposed tower to mark the importance of the new terminal and serve as an icon for San Francisco in the decades to come.

POLITICAL DRAMA AND FUNDING As with any megaproject, the Transbay Center plan is in the center of a statewide political slugfest that has pitted Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger and the California State Legislature with Bay Area political leaders and transportation advocates. Currently, the proposed transit center would be partially funded through the use of $475 million from a proposed $9.95 billion high-speed rail bond. The bond, which has been postponed since the 2004 election and is on the California ballot for this November, would fund the first phase of a high-speed rail network, linking California’s largest population centers, Los Angeles Image from Transbay Joint Powers Authority

and the San Francisco Bay Area. However, Governor Schwarzenegger announced a 10 year, $222 billion infrastructure bond that will be placed on the November 2006 ballot. The proposed bond would fund the reconstruction and maintenance of highways, prisons, courthouses, and schools across the state. The proposed bond does not include funding for the new transit center in San Francisco. The governor and his supporters in the California State Legislature have signaled their desire to remove the high-speed rail bond from the 2006 ballot, fearing voters may not want to approve both bond measures in the same election year. If the high-speed rail bond is removed or is not approved by California voters, a large part of the transit center’s funding is in doubt.

FUTURE PROSPECTS

Center is far too important for the region’s transportation network to be abandoned. Placing all of the Bay Area’s transportation providers under one roof will be a major step forward in creating seamless local and

regional

transfers

for

residents,

commuters, and tourists alike. In addition, the development of 3,200 housing units would be a major step forward for San Francisco, which has struggled for years to build an adequate supply of housing to meet demand. If each aspect of the plan

If all goes as envisioned, project supporters hope to begin construction

is developed as envisioned, the Transbay

of a temporary terminal in 2007 with the new transit center being

Center may rival the Golden Gate Bridge

completed in 2013. Under a recently released phased implementation

and cable cars to become San Francisco’s

of the plan, the new transit center and adjacent landmark tower

next big landmark. ●

would be completed by 2013, and the commuter and high-speed rail extension would be completed in 2019. Many have criticized the phased implementation plan because they fear San Francisco may be left with a multi-billion dollar bus terminal but no rail extension. Many obstacles still plague this megaproject, including the lack of specific financing and political infighting. However, the Transbay

NOTES: Image sources Jim Wilson of The New York Times in the article, “Trying to Build the Grand Central of the West” by Lisa Chamberlain. December 28, 2005. Transbay Joint Powers Authority (TJPA)

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Joel

Hired highlig HL, th aroun to the

THE HIGH LINE F

SIX DE

E S E R O G

High Line Design Competition

BY MATT LEAVELL AND DAVID FREELANDER

n 1999, a freelance writer named Joshua David sat next to a man named Robert Hammond at a meeting of Community Board 4. The Community Board was

Zaha Hadid Architects

discussing plans to demolish an abandoned elevated rail viaduct, known as the High Line, that runs across 22 city

TerraGRAM: Michael Van Valkenburgh Assoc.

Stephen Holl Architects

Field Operations and Diller, Scoﬁdio + Renfro Winning design for Design Competition

blocks on the West Side of Manhattan. The men, strangers to each other, started talking and decided to start a group that would rally to save the structure.

MoMA

When they started, a demolition order was in place to reduce the historic structure to bits, and the wrecking balls were practically lined up to take aim. The High Line, which was built as a part of the West Side Improvement Project to ferry goods into and out of the Meatpacking District, had been free of rail trafﬁc since 1980. In the absence of industry, nature reclaimed the line, a wilderness of grasses, native ﬂowers, and small saplings grew amidst the forgotten train tracks. Shortly after meeting, Hammond and David founded Friends of the High Line. Saving the abandoned trestle became the cause du jour of New York glitterati, with Ed

Chelsea Property Owners

Organization of local businesses that wanted to tear down the HL originally, but changed their minds once the rezoning proved that its continued existence would be beneﬁcial

Exhibition of FO and DF+S winning design that expanded the projectʼs visibility to a broader audience

Edison Properties

CSX

Jerome Gottesman

original owners of the HL

Property Development

Norton, Diane von Furstenburg, Martha Stewart, and Kevin Bacon, among others, signing on. Incredibly, Friends of the High Line was able to rally the community around their cause and bend the Cityʼs leaders to their will. Developers, housing advocates, park advocates, the Mayor, the City Council, and preservationists all came together to transform

The Related Companies

developers of major projects along the HL

the High Line from a post-industrial relic to a post-modern

Community Board 4

Introduced afforadable housing as an integral component of West Chelsea rezoning initiative

promenade. “The creation of the High Line was really about everybody playing their best roles—the community, government, planners, developers,” said Claire Weisz, the former Executive Director of the Design, “it was acted out in Chelsea but it was a uniquely New York kind of idea that ran counter to a lot of professional wisdom.”1 Listed here are some of the hands involved—the famous and the infamous, the self-interested and the merely interested, the six-degrees-of-Kevin Bacons who refashioned rusted ruins into high-rise landscape architecture.

●

NOTES: 1 From 21 December, 2005 interview with author. In graphic: 2 http://www.thehighline.org/newsletters/052804_pr.html 3 http://www.railtrails.org/about/default.asp 4 http://www.thehighline.org/newsletters/080405_clinton_pr.pdf 5 Ibid.

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Megaprojects

Congressman Jerrry Nadler

Senator Hilary Clinton

“I am proud that, along with my colleagues Senator Chuck Schumer and Representative Jerry Nadler, we have been able to secure funding for this project, including $18 million in the transportation bill just approved by Congress. The High Line is one of my top priorities, and I am glad that we have fought for and secured funding for the project every year over the past three years.”4

Senator Charles Shumer

“The High Line is a key piece of the puzzle to what we need to move West Side development ahead and break the culture of inertia that has plagued New York City.”5

Celebrity Supporters

Sternfeld

Board of Directors

by FHL to take photographs ghting the natural beauty of the he photographs were exhibited nd the City to bring awareness e issue of the HLʼs demolition

includes many other high proﬁle and inﬂuential people beyond those listed here

Robert Hammond Joshua David

Friends of the High Line

Design Trust

FHL founders; met randomly at a community meeting about the HL

Center for Architecture

Rails to Trails

Creating a nationwide network of trails from former rail lines and connecting corridors to build healthier places for healthier people3

Lynden Miller

City Councilman Gifford Millerʼs mother; NYC parks advocate

Arts and Advocacy

Local Government

The High Line

Burough President Virginia Fields Parks Dept

City Council

Gifford Miller

City Councilman; college roommate of Robert Hammond

Federal Government City Planning

Vishaan Chakrabarti

Early proponent of Chelsea rezoning; former head of City Planning; on the FHL board and now working for Related, major developers in the city with property going up around the HL.

Amanda Burden

Former Columbia planning graduate and current Director of the Department for City Planning, Burden says “transforming the High Line into a unique and accessible elevated park will be one of the most important things we will do for future generations in New York City.”2

Mayor

Rudy Guliani

Christine Quinn

One of his last acts as mayor was signing the order to demolish HL, this galvanized an organized response

Michael Bloomberg

Strong focus on increasing the housing stock of NYC

Kevin Bacon, Actor Andre Balazs, Hotelier Elizabeth Barlow Rogers, Cityscape Institute Sandra Bernhard, Actress Mary Boone, Gallery Owner Dominique Browning, Editor, House & Garden Lynne Cooke, Curator, Dia Center for the Arts Robert Caro, Historian and Author Christo and Jeanne-Claude, Artists Glenn Close, Actress Paula Cooper, Gallery Owner Barry Diller, Chairman & CEO, IAC/ InterActiveCorp Joan K. Davidson, Philanthropist Barbaralee Diamonstein-Spielvogel, Author and Philanthropist Edie Falco, Actress Ian Falconer, Author and Illustrator Tom Fontana, Television Producer Elizabeth Gilmore, Philanthropist Joel Grey, Actor and Performer Kitty Carlisle Hart, Performer and Philanthropist Steven Holl, Architect Celeste Holm, Actress Kenneth T. Jackson, Historian Sebastian Junger, Author and Neighborhood Business Owner Harvey Keitel, Actor Leonard and Evelyn Lauder, The Estée Lauder Companies Matthew Marks, Gallery Owner Murray Moss, Owner, Moss Richard Meier, Architect Lynden B. Miller, Public Garden Designer Bette Midler, Actress and Performer John Cameron Mitchell, Actor and Performer Cynthia Nixon, Actress Ed Norton, Actor Todd Oldham, Designer Amanda Peet, Actress Warrie Price, Conservancy for Historic Battery Park Alexis Rockman, Artist Charlie Rose, Television Host Tom Sachs, Artist Kyra Sedgwick, Actress Cindy Sherman, Artist Martha Stewart, Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia Alan and Donna Stillman, Smith & Wollensky Restaurant Group Marilyn Jordan Taylor, Architect Bernard Tschumi, Architect Jean-George Vongerichten, Restaurateur Diane von Furstenberg, Designer Alexandre von Furstenberg, Financier William Wegman, Artist

Megaprojects

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6 0 - S E C O N D E D U C AT I O N

WTC PATH STATION BY RICH BARONE New York is currently undertaking efforts to create a world-class transit hub in lower Manhattan. The World Trade Center (WTC) Transportation Hub, designed by architect Santiago Calatrava, will replace the former PATH station, which was severely damaged on 9/11. The underground concourse, mezzanine, and platform levels will have vast, open floor plans. The station will also have a retractable ceiling that will open 30 feet allowing views of the sky and fresh air flow throughout the station. The WTC Transportation Hub will provide totally unified transit connections downtown: the Photo from The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey

PATH station will connect to the World Financial Center, allowing for an easier transfer for those

who work and live in Battery Park City, the tunnel will provide access to the Hudson River Ferry Terminal, and everything will connect to the twelve subway lines running to lower Manhattan. The projectʼs expected completion date is 2008. ●

Photo from The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey

PHOTO COMPETITION FINALIST

RUSH HOUR UNDER WASHINGTON HEIGHTS BY RACHAEL GRAY SHIPKIN

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Megaprojects

Photo by Tatiana Pena

SECOND WAVE OF

DISPLACEMENT New Orleansʼ housing crunch may further exclude the Cityʼs poorest residents

BY JENNIFER JACOBS GUZMAN AND JENNIFER KORTH

n 1999, over half of New Orleans’ housing units were occupied by renters.1 Renters are usually among the poorest residents in a city and have little to no safety net. The National Low Income Housing Coalition estimates that 92,000

of the total 302,000 units of housing stock that were destroyed or damaged in Hurricane Katrina were rented to very low income households (households earning 50% or below the area median income).2 Those whose homes were damaged or destroyed in Katrina are still dealing with the uncertainty of where they will be living. Will emergency assistance subsidies allow them to stay in their temporary

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shelters? Will it be possible to eventually return to New

to address this issue. An estimated 26,000 evacuees are

Orleans? If so, will there be sufficient housing and work?

presently placed in hotels around the country, unable to

While it is clear that those whose dwellings were

return to New Orleans and attempting to establish some

destroyed by Hurricane Katrina will need to seek

degree of normalcy in their lives.3 By terminating this

other options (other cities, hotels, extended family and

aid for evacuees, FEMA is taking away one of the most

friends, trailers), it is difficult to fathom why tenants

basic and essential lifelines for Katrina refugees. Without

of sound, unharmed housing are also facing the threat

housing, it will be exponentially more difficult for evacuees to find stable work, enroll their children in school, and stay afloat.

DEAR TENANT: YOU ARE EVICTED! Tenants in and around New Orleans who were not in the direct path of Katrina were relieved when their homes were spared from major destruction. Despite this good fortune, many tenants now find themselves facing a second wave of displacement due to increased rents and speculation. The Department of Housing Photo by Leah M. Meisterlin

HOMES UNDER SEIGE

and Urban Development (HUD) recently acknowledged this, estimating that rents in New Orleans have increased 25-30% since

Above: Boarded-up windows reﬂect the different levels of damage to homes, all with uncertain futures. Right: Common Ground organizes meetings to help residents of New Orleanʼs 9th Ward defend their homes.

Hurricane Katrina.4 In recognition of the rise in rents, HUD has recalculated Fair Market Rents for New Orleans: increasing them 35% from $696 to $940 for a two bedroom apartment.5 6 The threat of being priced out has created a new wave of fear for tenants. An influx of public and private contractors to the area has increased demand for housing in a market already suffering from reduced Photo by Stacy Radine

supply, leaving the lowest income tenants especially vulnerable. Leonard Samia, a notorious Boston, MA landlord who also

displacement.

Federal

Emergency

Management

owns buildings in New Orleans, has attempted to cash

Association (FEMA) policy, coupled with real estate

in on the Katrina disaster. He has sent out two hundred

speculation and greed, are together creating a second

eviction notices to his tenants living in undamaged

wave of displacement and disaster for New Orleans’

apartment buildings.7 Additionally, in spite of estimations

tenants.

that about half of all New Orleans’ public housing is

DEAR KATRINA EVACUEE: GET LOST! FEMA recently announced that on March 1, 2006 it

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ready for occupancy, or could easily be made ready for occupancy, thousands of public housing residents have been unable to return to their homes.8

would stop providing hotel subsidies for people displaced

After Katrina, an eviction moratorium was put in

by Hurricane Katrina. After the deadline, evacuees who

place by Louisiana’s governor in an attempt to prevent

weren’t able to pay would presumably have to leave their

widespread evictions, but the moratorium was lifted in

temporary homes. Many of those receiving assistance

late October, creating new masses of displaced tenants.

have nowhere to go and will be stranded in unfamiliar

It has been reported by court clerks that landlords have

cities and towns across the country. At press time, FEMA

filed over 100 evictions per day since the moratorium

had extended the deadline to March 15th in an attempt

was lifted. 9

Megaprojects

WHAT TO DO?

PHOTO COMPETITION FINALIST

and re-imagining of New Orleans, it is essential to

WINDOW & NIGHT

consider the experiences of low income residents. Several

BY SETH HOSTETTER

As planners contribute to strategies for the rebuilding

redevelopment proposals have been put forth, each relying on a vastly different approach to reviving the area. The City of New Orleans Urban Planning Committee has offered a proposal that would give residents in each neighborhood of the City four to twelve months to prove that it has the potential for re-growth or it would be bulldozed. Under this plan, returning to New Orleans would be taking a big risk.10 The national organization Color of Change, founded in the wake of Hurricane Katrina, produced a plan that would fund residents’ return to New Orleans, job training, temporary housing, and the rebuilding of neighborhoods.11 These plans reflect two radically different views of how post-disaster New Orleans can and should revive. The process of rebuilding New Orleans is unprecedented and complex. As plans for rebuilding continue to be put forth, planners must evaluate each of them and question whether or not they respond directly to the needs of New Orleans’ most vulnerable residents. Louisiana risks a great deal more than they have already lost in the coming months and years if longtime New Orleans renters and low-income people are not given the opportunity to return home. Without creating opportunities for tenants to return, New Orleans may not be a city worth rebuilding.

●

NOTES: 1 US Census, 2000 2 National Low Income Housing Coalition 3 Hart, Lianne. 2006. “Evacuees Face an Eviction Deadline” LA Times Online, 13 February. <http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-nahotels13feb13,0,72791.story?coll=la-home-nation> 4 Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD). “Final Fair Market Rents for the Housing Choice Voucher Program and Moderate Rehabilitation Single Room Occupancy Program for Fiscal Year 2006; Revised.” <http:// www.femaanswers.org/images/f/f0/3-3_HUD_FMRs.pdf> 4 March 2006. 5 ibid. 6 National Low Income Housing Coalition, “Affordable Housing Fund Included in Newly Introduced Hurricane Recovery Bill.” <http://www.nlihc.org/mtm/ mtm11-9.html#20> 5 March 2006. 7 Pfeiffer, Sacha. 2006. “Landlord with Boston Ties Lashed for Katrina Evictions.” The Boston Globe. 29 January. <http://www.boston.com/realestate/ news/articles/2006/01/29/landlord_with_boston_ties_lashed_for_katrina_ evictions/?page=1> 8 Muhammad, Ismael and Sonia Kahn. 2005. “New Orleans Residents Face Eviction from Homes as Rents Skyrocket and Legal Protections Remain Weak.” interview by Amy Goodman. 16 December. <http://www. democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=05/12/16/1457242> 9 Finoki, Brian. “Eviction Moratorium Stalls Rush of Evictions in New Orleans.” Archinect. <http://archinect.com/news/article.php?id=29456_0_24_0_M248> 5 March 2006. 10 Rivlin, Gary. 2006. “Anger Meets New Orleans Renewal Plan.” New York Times. 12 January. <http://select.nytimes.com/search/restricted/article?res=F 00617F93D5B0C718DDDA80894DE404482> 11 Color of Change. <www.colorofchange.org> 4 March 2006.

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Photo by Stacy Radine

PLANNERʼS JOURNAL

ON THE GROUND AND THE ROOF BY STACY RADINE The need for ﬁrsthand experience of the areas devastated by Katrina RAISE THE ROOF Stacy and friends roll out the felt as they help build roofs in Biloxi, Mississippi.

or planners and planning students, disaster relief, recovery, and preparation are certainly topics du jour. Many of our classes at Columbia integrate lessons

learned and discussions about the current state of planning in the Gulf Coast and New Orleans. We debate the right planning decisions, critique current plans, and actively seek

work in Biloxi, Mississippi. With only one skilled construction worker among us, we connected with a local faith-based organization to strip roofs and apply new rooﬁng. While our roofs took longer than they would with professional experience, they look fantastic and will keep houses dry. Once their roofs are stable, residents can begin the process of treating the mold in their stripped

Living in New York City, distanced from the regionʼs chaos, it is often hard to remember the level of destruction and daily frustrations for the thousands of Americans in the Gulf Coast.

houses. Along with rooﬁng, we cleared piles of debris from yards to help the houses look and feel more like home. Helping families, one house at a time, fostered relationships with residents and through these interactions we heard

ways to understand the political and personal obstacles that residents of these devastated regions face. Rather than read newspaper articles and host visitors from New Orleans and the Gulf Coast, we should make the effort to experience these challenges ﬁrsthand. A visit to the region will help planners and students comprehend the vastness of the destruction from Katrina and Rita as well as offer an opportunity to assist the residents with manual, volunteer labor in the rebuilding process. Over winter break, I joined 70 students from universities in New York, Massachusetts, Connecticut, and California to

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personal stories of loss and hope for the future. After seeing the devastation along the entire coastline of Mississippi, I wanted to do more with these communities. Living in New York City, distanced from the regionʼs chaos, it is often hard to remember the level of destruction and daily frustrations for the thousands of Americans in the Gulf Coast. To apply my burgeoning planner skills, I registered for a data visualization class on New Orleans. Our class, along with two architecture studios and a class from Teacherʼs College, journeyed to New Orleans for a weekend of exploration and deeper

understanding. Unlike the grassroots experience in Mississippi, this trip included presentations from key policy advisors for the Mayorʼs Bring New Orleans Back Commission. Leadership and cohesion among community members were not as evident in Louisiana as Mississippi, but the love of a unique and exciting city emanated from those who had returned. While the magnitude of destruction in New Orleans

Photo by Stacy Radine

was just as shocking, the feeling in this city differed greatly

HOW YOU CAN HELP

from Mississippi where the question of rebuilding was moot. New Orleans residents, on the other hand, were unsure of their future. Should they return? Should they invest more money? Is the City resilient? Will the rest of America support the rebuilding? Will their homes be marked for destruction? As planners, we can assist residents and officials to find answers for these concerns and advocate for residents whose voices may not be heard. However, the anger and frustration need to be experienced firsthand before solutions can be proposed. Traveling to the region to volunteer time and collaborate with residents is the most effective way to influence decisions responsibly.

There are many ways you can help out with post-Katrina efforts. One way is through campus organizations, such as Hillel, that provide trips for students to help rebuild in the Gulf Coast area. There are also many non-university organizations that provide organized ways to donate or volunteer your time. Examples include Common Ground, a non-proﬁt housing and community development organization, and Hands On USA, a non-proﬁt organization dedicated to disaster response and relief. For more information, please visit the websites below.

COMMON GROUND

HANDS ON USA

www.commongroundrelief.org

www.handsonusa.org

●

PHOTO COMPETITION FINALIST

UNTITLED BY CATE CORLEY

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Images from www.masspike.com

congestion running through downtown Boston.

The

adjoining Inner Belt‘s approval was delayed as a result of opposition from residents in neighborhoods where it would have been located. In 1970, Governor Sargent’s moratorium on interstate highway construction in Massachusetts ended any hope for building the Inner Belt project.

THE BIG DIG T

Even before construction of the Central Artery was completed, the highway proved problematic.

Additionally, the traffic flow was confusing and inefficient. By the time the Central Artery was dismantled, it carried 190,000 vehicles per day, though only designed to carry 75,000 vehicles per day with six to eight hours of congestion every day. Unless this problem was addressed, the elevated

15 years and 15-billion dollars: Does beauty know no pain?

NEVER ENOUGH Above right: The Central Artery comfortably carried 75,000 vehicles a day. By the time it was demolished, the Central Artery carried 190,000 vehicles a day, leading to 8 hours of congested trafﬁc daily.

highway would have had congested conditions for 15 to 16 hours every day by 2010.3 Therefore, it is no surprise that the accident rate on the elevated highway was four times the national average for urban interstate highways.4 Receiving federal funding was the critical issue which allowed the project, called the Big Dig, to proceed. In 1986, Congress overrode President Reagan’s veto of the transportation bill, guaranteeing that the federal government would pay for 90% of the Big Dig, whose total

elevated

highway

cost was estimated to be $2.4-billion in 1984. The current

downtown

Boston,

price tag for the project is estimated $14.625-billion, over

known as the Central

A project the size and magnitude of the Big Dig is

transportation planners in

bound to create controversy, some of which is legitimate

the 1940s as part of a larger

and deserves to be addressed. Mr. Lou Silano, Bechtel/

was

conceived

scheme to relieve anticipated

Parsons Brinckerhoff’s project manager for the Big Dig,

traffic congestion.1 The Massachusetts Department of

believes that there are three factors contributing to, and

Public Works (DPW) proposed a “highway in the sky,” an

mitigating the criticism of, the rise in cost. 6 The first is

elevated highway through the heart of downtown Boston,

almost twenty years-worth of inflation, accounting for

understanding that the car would be instrumental in

$6.4-billion of the added cost. 7 The second factor was

bringing people back into the City.

numerous transportation infrastructure upgrades, not

Construction on the elevated highway began in

originally included in the project. This increased the cost

1950, and the highway was fully functioning by 1959.

of the Big Dig by approximately 30 percent. The third

Construction of the elevated highway through downtown

factor is that there had previously not been a project of

Boston displaced more than 20,000 residents and

this kind and magnitude in the United States from which

demolished more than 1,000 structures.2 As shortcomings

to learn.

of the elevated highway became apparent, a proposal to depress the Central Artery surfaced in the early 1970s. The elevated highway was intended to have been integrated with an Inner Belt which would prevent

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six times the original cost.5

Artery,

BY JACOB FEIT

was unsightly and a barrier between neighborhoods.

Megaprojects

While tax-payer sponsored projects are always subject to scrutiny, the benefits of depressing the Central Artery justify the increased cost. The elevated highway system was not capable of handling existing traffic. As there was

no room to widen the old elevated

the public transit system in Boston,

highway without demolishing more

already one of the most comprehensive

buildings and creating a bigger

visual blight on the City’s skyline,

the highway construction nearing

there was no alternative but to

completion, Massachusetts has not

demolish the highway and rebuild

yet lived up to its commitment.12

it underground.

These improvements to public transit

country.

However,

with

are required to fulﬁll the multimodal

The other complaint was the Image from Haglund, 2003

system. Despite

complaint, the Big Dig’s planners

the

large

price

tag

took every precaution to mitigate

and ever-changing traffic patterns

the negative impacts of constantly

during the prolonged construction

changing traffic patterns. Even so,

period, the Big Dig is a necessary

a large breach in the Interstate

and beneficial transportation project

93 tunnel flooded the roadway on

In 1950, construction of the elevated highway through downtown Boston began, displacing more than 20,000 residents and demolishing more than 1,000 structures.

September 15, 2004, resulting in a 10-mile traffic jam, an incident currently

under

The images to the left were originally part of an epigram circulated in a glossy, full color brochure in the Boston Globe and Herald in 1989 as part of the marketing campaign for the Big Dig.

potential of Boston’s transportation

traffic nightmare it created during construction. While this is a valid

the

MAGIC HOUR

investigation.

Mr. Silano maintains that “it does appear to be related to construction rather than engineering design.” 8 However, these traffic problems

for the City of Boston. It repairs the

are a small price to pay for a vastly

damage done by, and improves on

improved transportation system

the shortcoming of, the old elevated highway.

which needed to be upgraded. The Big Dig’s benefits are apparent beyond the immediate

Image from Haglund, 2003

Supplemented

with

improvements in the public transit system, the Big Dig can prove to be

transportation improvements in metropolitan Boston.

a model for future transportation projects. Concern over

One is the improvement in public health. Aside from

the cost of the project, when placed in proper context,

a 12% reduction in citywide carbon monoxide levels,

should not deter any metropolitan area from attempting a

dismantling the elevated highway created more than 260

project of this magnitude in the future.

●

acres of open land. More than 150 acres will be new parks and open space.10 In addition to the transportation improvements, the Big Dig also generated thousands of jobs. At the peak of construction employment in 2000, about 4,000 construction workers were employed on the project. Including designers, construction managers, and other support personnel brings the number of full-time workers employed by the Central Artery project and its contractors to about 5,000 at the height of the project.11 Still, one component of the Big Dig program has yet to be realized. As part of the original funding agreement, the Commonwealth of Massachusetts agreed to upgrade

NOTES: 1 The history of the old Central Artery is based on the Big Digʼs website history section, http://www.bigdig.com/thtml/history.htm 2 The history of the Big Dig is based on “Inventing the Charles River,” by Karl Haglund, the MIT Press, Cambridge, MA. 2003. 3 http://www.masspike.com/bigdig/index.html 4 ibid. 5 ibid. 6 In an e-mail interview. 7 “The Big Dig: Key Facts About Cost, Scope, Schedule, and Management,” Bechtel/Parsons Brinckerhoff, 20 February, 2003. 8 In an e-mail interview. 9 http://www.masspike.com/bigdig/index.html 10 ibid. 11 ibid. 12 “Transportation Promises,” Boston Globe Editorial, November 15, 2004.

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Photo by Summer Lee

STUDIO REFLECTIONS

KARIN’S ISRAEL BY KARIN SOMMER Seven students travel 5,700 miles away to provide a master plan for a city of 130,000

he City of Bat Yam, Israel seems to have all of the ingredients for a prosperous city.

Located on the

Mediterranean Sea, it possesses one of the most

beautiful stretches of beach in Israel. A twenty-minute drive from Tel Aviv, it is part of a major metropolitan center. With affordable housing and easy access to Tel Aviv, people should be ﬂocking to Bat Yam. However, as seven Columbia University urban planning students are discovering, thereʼs more to a successful city than its location. The students, participants in a graduate level studio

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led by Richard Bass and Guri Nadler, are working on a master plan for the City of Bat Yam. Hired by the municipal government to aid growth and development in the City, the studio traveled to Israel in January to meet with government ofﬁcials, academics, and other professionals familiar with the planning process of Bat Yam. They visited Bat Yam and other cities in Israel, including Jerusalem, Haifa, and Tel Aviv, as a way to understand the City in relation to its surroundings. Upon returning to New York, the studio has been analyzing and interpreting their observations and

IMAGE READY

research, while maintaining a working relationship with

Opposite page: the Bat Yam skyline. This page, bottom left: Located on the Mediterranean Sea, the City possesses one of the most beautiful stretches of beach in Israel. Left: the studio team says cheese from the Mount of Olives in Jerusalem.

their contacts in Israel. They have also been reaching out to community groups in Bat Yam as a way to include the residents in their plan. The Columbia students have found that, though it has many things going for it, Bat Yam has significant hurdles to overcome. Many of these obstacles can be traced to the history of Bat Yam. Founded in 1926, Bat Yamʼs history reflects the ongoing conflicts of Israel. Before being declared independent in 1948, control over Bat Yam was exchanged between Britain and Palestine several times. During the decades of the 1950s and 60s, as a wave immigrants from North Africa moved to Israel, Bat Yam absorbed a large number of these immigrants. This immigration had a negative effect on Bat

Photo by Summer Lee

Yamʼs image, and the community began to be viewed as an undesirable place to live. Decades of corrupt leadership in the 1980s-90s led to financial difficulties in Bat Yam and further increased the negative image of the city. The fall of the Soviet Union brought another wave of immigration to Bat Yam, further solidifying the Cityʼs negative reputation. In 2003, the tides began to turn as a progressive mayor, Shlomo Lachiyani, was elected. Mayor Lachiyani, a native of Bat Yam, has a strong rapport with its residents. In his tenure, he has attempted to combat the years of neglect the City has experienced by increasing revenues, improving social services, and turning Bat Yam into a tourism destination and business-centered city. Plans are currently underway to build a light-rail system connecting Bat Yam to Tel Aviv. This venture, developed by the Metropolitan Mass Transit System, is viewed by some in the City as insignificant. However, the students feel it represents a great opportunity for Bat Yam by ensuring fast and easy transportation between Bat Yam and Tel Aviv for years to come.

Despite these promising advances, the City is facing considerable challenges. A major issue is the housing stock, most of which was built over 50 years ago to accommodate the growing immigrant community. Today this housing is in poor condition and generally smaller than those in the Tel Aviv District. Approximately 44% of the apartments in Bat Yam have less than 2.5 rooms, while only 38% are this size in the Tel Aviv District. Similarly, only 3% of the apartments in Bat Yam have more than 4.5 rooms, while this ﬁgure is

By using the waterfront as a way to attract people to Bat Yam, the City would generate money from an increase in tourism and business.

11% in the Tel Aviv District. For the City to retain and attract residents, the housing must be comparable to the surrounding cities. The students in the Columbia studio are working to ensure that their Master Plan for Bat Yam will address these issues in the Cityʼs housing stock. The Cityʼs negative image is a major challenge that must be overcome to aid Bat Yamʼs growth. The process to improve this image will be long and not entirely direct. By working with the assets of Bat Yam, such as its waterfront, the students in the Columbia University studio are planning to slowly improve the City. Though still in deliberation at the time of press, the studio is planning to recommend improved accessibility to and increased commercial development on the land near the waterfront. By using the waterfront as a way to attract people to Bat Yam, the City would generate money from an increase in tourism and business.

This

money could be used for the betterment of the City, such as the improvement of the housing stock. Slowly, Bat Yam would be transformed into a beautiful seaside community Photo by Summer Lee

with a strong economic base. ●

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STUDIO REFLECTIONS

IRENE’S ISRAEL BY IRENE AVETYAN Tel Aviv and New York: A Tale of Two Ports

he trend of abandoned port revival projects is fascinating, with cities around the world just beginning to rediscover recreational uses for their waterfronts.

While the transformation in the shipping industry to containerization happened decades ago, many downtown industrial waterfronts have been slow to change. Over the course of the past two decades, large metropolitan cities have struggled with how to best reuse these unique areas. The old port of Tel Aviv has undergone its own share of transformations. In January, seven students visited Israel

Are old ports in major cities around the world becoming just giant, open malls?

as part of their studio project to create a master-plan for the City of Bat Yam.

Photo from www.namal.co.il

A coastal town located immediately South of Tel Aviv-Jaffa municipality, Bat Yam is considering development of its waterfront. To understand the

impact of such a big project on local tourism the students visited the nearby Port of Tel Aviv. Tel Aviv is recognized as one of the liveliest cities on the Mediterranean Coast. A glimpse at Time Out -Tel Aviv reveals that the Tel Aviv port has become a destination for some of the best restaurants, bars, nightclubs, designer boutiques, and art galleries in the City. If you had walked around the grounds of the Tel Aviv port twenty years ago, you

would have found rundown garages and storerooms on small dirty roads. Not anymore. In the summer and fall the place is bustling with people from all over Israel who want to get a bite, watch the ocean, or take a stroll through one of Israelʼs fastestgrowing entertainment centers. The port was founded in 1936 after the British Mandate approved the construction of a harbor to receive goods and immigrants to the Jewish settlement. The port ceased commercial activity in 1965 as cargo began to dock in Ashdod and Haifa. For the next 35 years, the port was neglected, its infrastructure deteriorated, and criminal activities in the abandoned site ﬂourished. In 2000, the Marine Trust Company, a government

UNDER THE BOARDWALK

entity, decided to upgrade the infrastructure (sewage,

Tel Aviv port has become a destination for some of the best restaurants, bars, nightclubs, designer boutiques, and art galleries in the City.

electricity, water) and lease the property to carefully selected restaurants and entrepreneurs. The project was planned to proceed in small incremental steps with the revenue generated from the ﬁrst phase invested in the next phase. As a result of this plan, the Tel Aviv Port project is not entirely complete, although some parts of it are fully operational. Orit Arfa recently described the Tel Aviv Port in Jerusalem Post as “indeed esthetic but the branding it has undergone gives it the feel of a spacious outdoor mall.”1 The description is reminiscent of another port revival project: the South Photo from www.namal.co.il

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Street Seaport in New York. In early 2003, The New York

City Department of City Planning,2 in conjunction with the

waterfront development.3 Does this mean that competition

New York City Economic Development Corporation, laid out

between major cities is driving city administrations to

plans to redevelop the two-mile area along the East River,

implement very similar plans? Or is this a good idea that

stretching from Battery Park to the southern edge of East

has extended into every world-class city? Can Tel Aviv and

River Park. Like the Tel Aviv Port project, the future uses

New York really become the same city located in different

of this historic area are going to be primarily entertainment

parts of the world? ●

and tourism. Are old ports in major cities around the world becoming just giant, open malls? Peter Newman and Andrew Thornley in their recent book Planning World Cities talk about how city centers, skylines, and waterfront developments now appear similar – from Londonʼs Docklands to Tokyoʼs

NOTES: 1 “Tel Aviv Pert Little Port”, by Orit Arfa, Jerusalem Post, Arts, p.12, September 2, 2005. 2 http://www.nyc.gov/html/dcp/html/erw/index.shtml 3 Newman, Peter and Andrew Thornley. 2004. Planning World Cities. England: Palgrave MacMillan.

PHOTO COMPETITION FINALIST

THE HIGH LINE BY MATT LEAVELL

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Meadowlands Xanadu is sending out shockwaves whose impact is felt well beyond the bounds of the project

PARADISE DOOMED? BY TRACIE GOLDMAN

he story behind Meadowlands Xanadu, a $1.4billion, 4.8-million-square-foot, multi-use sports, leisure, family entertainment, shopping, hotel, and

office complex is even more complicated than its longwinded description. Over the past four years numerous politicians, developers, environmental groups, state agencies, financial institutions, lawyers, judges, sports teams, community organizations, and even stock analysts have been involved in a quest to facilitate or obstruct this Image from Business Wire

FLY ME TO THE XANADU The Meadowlands Xanadu plans include a 26-screen, 6,500-seat, 160,000-square-foot megaplex movie theater with a rooftop terrace, 60-foot outdoor screen, and a helipad.

New Jersey megaproject. It all started in 2002 when the New Jersey Sports and Exhibition Authority (NJSEA) took action in response to the impending loss of the NJ Nets and Devils from their home at the Continental Airlines Arena. The agency issued a request for proposals for the Meadowlands site, hoping to create what former Governor James McGreevey called a new “economic engine” for Bergen County. The response from developers was positive. Bids included ideas for a mixed-use “urban village,” family-centered theme parks (with and without monorails), NASCAR-type raceways, a new convention center and extensive hotel space. After five months of deliberation, the advisory committee — made up of environmentalists, local business people, elected officials and sports authority staff — narrowed the field down to three finalists and eventually selected a winner.

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Megaprojects

The Mills Corporation (a mall developer based in

of products in the Entertainment zone, and people of all

Virginia) and Mack-Cali Realty Corporation of New Jersey

ages can visit Cabela’s hunting, fishing, and outdoor store

(a major national office building and office park developer)

in the Sports zone to see its 40,000 fresh water aquarium

submitted the winning proposal. Prior to NJSEA’s request

and mountain replica, replete with running streams and

for proposals, Mills had purchased a 600-acre wetlands

trout pond.

site on the Meadowlands property and had been embroiled in an extensive battle to obtain a permit to develop a

THE BACKLASH

mall on the land, known as “Empire Tract.” As part of its

Behind this glamorous proposal lies a host of controversial

Xanadu deal, Mills offered to give up the Empire site to

planning issues, lawsuits, ethical concerns, and financial

the state for permanent preservation. This offer impressed

questions. Prior to breaking ground on Phase I of Xanadu,

the sports authority, as did

Mills/Mack-Cali’s

agreement to pay $160 million upfront towards the 75-year lease. If the

The initial Xanadu plan sounds like any child or adultʼs dream. A partial list of its promised features include an indoor skiing dome, surﬁng wave pool, Formula One racetrack, roller coaster, and a Ferris wheel overlooking the New York City skyline.

New York Giants could finalize a deal to build a new Giants Stadium, NJSEA pledged to use the funds

NJSEA made Mills/Mack-Cali pledge that “family

to pay off existing debt on the current stadium, saving

entertainment” would never be overshadowed by retail,

taxpayers $90 million in future interest payments.

so that the complex would not turn into just another New Jersey megamall. Shortly after the developer

THE VISION

selection process ended, one of the losing finalists, Hartz

The initial Xanadu plan sounds like any child or adult’s

Mountain Industries, brought NJSEA to court accusing

dream. A partial list of its promised features include an

the authority of conducting an unfair selection process

indoor skiing dome, surfing wave pool, experimental

and being blinded by Mills/Mack-Cali’s deceptive plan.

miniature play city, luxury spa, Formula One racetrack,

Hartz also argued that Mills/Mack-Cali unfairly disguised

roller coaster, a range of dining establishments, state-of-

the extent of its retail component which, even ignoring

art cooking schools, museums, music and sports hall of

the “shoppertainment” space, is actually bigger than most

fame, underwater world experience, and a Ferris wheel

shopping centers and malls in the country.

overlooking the New York City skyline. Benefits to the

Meanwhile, a number of major features of the

community include an estimated 20,000 construction

original deal are now in jeopardy, including the highly-

jobs, 19,000 permanent jobs, a minor league ballpark, a

praised minor league baseball stadium. Documents have

central facility for the Meadowlands Area YMCA, and an

surfaced which reveal that Mills has no obligation to build

expansion site for Bergen County Community College.

Phase II of the Xanadu plan if the market does not call

But the ideas don’t stop there. Mills envisions

for it. This phase includes the stadium, hotels, and office

this complex being divided into five distinct “Lifestyle

space. Mills/Mack-Cali claims they will not back down on

Zones”: Fashion, Food and Home, Entertainment,

their commitment to build the stadium, but has already

Children’s Education, and Sports. The goal of these areas

dismissed initial rental agreements with Steve Kalafer,

would be to create dynamic interactive experiences for

owner of the minor league baseball team the Cliff Hawks.

visitors by expanding traditional retail into what Mills

Speculation also exists around whether or not Mills/Mack-

calls “shoppertainment.”

Cali will complete the other community spaces, which

ELLE magazine will run the

Fashion zone, where consumers can experience fashion

cannot be built until the new Giants Stadium is finished.

shows, multimedia presentations, and exhibits on the

The amount of traffic that Xanadu will create is a

latest trends. Circuit City will host a digital playground

growing concern of the local residents, environmental

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activists, and the New York Giants. Attorneys for the

the previous summer at $66.44. Numerous class

Sierra Club, Environmental Defense Fund, N.J. Public

action lawsuits have since been filed based on alleged

Interest Research Group, and the Tri-State Transportation

violations of the federal securities laws. Mills has

Campaign argue that the traffic studies performed by

released 14 top executives and canceled 10 of its large-

the developer were inadequate and do not account for

scale projects, leading to another $72 million loss.

weekday commutes or traffic from Route 3; nor do they

Mills’ financial partner, the Kan Am Group, has also

address air quality impacts. The Giants are worried that

frozen assets on a fund backing a number of Mills’

the new traffic will make life very difficult for their fans,

projects.

and believe that closing Xanadu on game days is the only

accompanied by rumors of sale of the Mills operation,

solution. Mills/Mack-Cali disagrees, holding that the

or at least the Xanadu venture.

All of these threatening events have been

project includes major road improvements and a $150

As it stands, almost half of the project’s estimated $1.4-

million rail link to New York City to ease congestion. They

billion price tag is secure, but skeptics fear that completion

have assured the Giants that the team will have a two-year

will not be possible with all of the promised attractions.

window to sue over trafﬁc and parking issues and that the

An emergency meeting called by NJSEA in February

developer will not seek to repeal Bergen County’s blue laws,

left officials confident that the plan will be complete by

which ban retailing on Sundays.

2007, but many of the entertainment facilities, retail

The tale of Xanadu recently took an unexpected turn

leases and partners have yet to be finalized. The future of

when Mills Corporation’s stock dropped dramatically

Meadowlands Xanadu is unclear, and only time will tell if

in January 2006 to a low of $36.38. The stock peaked

NJSEA’s efforts will truly pay off for the state. ●

FOOD FOR THOUGHT

THE NEED FOR STURBAN PLANNERS BY CANDY CHANG I was watching a “starchitect” share his work at Columbia one day when I noticed a pattern. One building: beautiful. Multiple buildings: creepy. As more architects are being hired to work their magic on large swaths of land, more swaths of land are looking like repetitive compounds that smack of Le Corbusierʼs Radiant City. Where are the urban planners in these large-scale projects? Theyʼre missing because top-down masterplanning has become a dirty Image from www.2blowhards.com

word that conjures up an image of a cranky old man sitting high in a tower (or, as in Arnold Newmanʼs famous photograph of Robert Moses, standing like a

puffed-up rooster on a construction beam), disregarding the poor, bulldozing over grandmaʼs house, and loving the public but hating people. While singular visions have led to some unrighteous planning in the past, it is not inherently incompatible with democracy. In fact, it could be the ticket to community involvement that planning needs today. Concrete visions establish a larger goal, provide something tangible for discussion, and get people excited to participate in the ﬁrst place. Our profession relies on our ability to market our ideas and “stir menʼs blood” so people not only provide feedback, but become aware of the existence and importance of urban planning. Challenging modernist planning was a natural outcome of the social reforms during the 1960s. Today itʼs just a knee-jerk reaction. Imagine what we might gain by better balancing the present day commitment to community involvement with the past tradition of the masterplanner. As places like the Gulf Coast area seek direction, New Urbanism has been brought in out of default because planners have provided few other concrete options. “It depends” is not enough. Itʼs time to roll up our sleeves and get down and dirty with what “diversity” looks like. Residents and developers are not looking at the bigger picture. Politicians come and go. Masterplanning on a regional scale is not only our right, but our responsibility. If we donʼt have a vision of tomorrow, what exactly are we planning today?

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6 0 - S E C O N D E D U C AT I O N

SECOND AVENUE SUBWAY BY RICH BARONE The Second Avenue Subway refers to a series of public works undertaken to construct a subway running under Manhattanʼs East Side. The project was initially conceived in 1929, but has yet to see signiﬁcant traction. The approved study of the project consists of 8.5 miles of track and 16 new stations. The new line will connect Manhattanʼs Upper and Lower East Sides, run from 125th street to Hanover Square and provide two new services. The projectʼs budget totals $16.8 billion. New York voters approved bond acts for the lineʼs construction in 1951 and in 1967. However, money from the 1951 bond measure was diverted to buy new cars, lengthen platforms, and maintain the existing Subway system. While the proceeds of the 1967 bond act were partly used to begin Image from www. mta.org

tunneling under Second Avenue. During this time a total of four sections were completed; two of which are nearly ten blocks in length. This past November, voters in New York State passed the 2005 Transportation Bond Act, which will

partially fund the construction of the Second Avenue line. Its passage was seen as critical to the construction of the line as it was the ﬁnal piece of state aid required. The MTA now needs to look to the Federal government for the remainder of funding. As of press time the project is up for consideration as a line item in the Presidentʼs 2007 budget.

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PHOTO COMPETITION FINALIST

MASSIVE HOUSING IN GUANGZHOU BY DAYU DAVID ZHANG

Megaprojects

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Photo by Matt Jones

PLANNERʼS JOURNAL

FASTER THAN A SPEEDING DUMPLING BY JACOB PRESS A group of Columbia students experience the pace of Chinaʼs development ﬁrst-hand

even intrepid travelers set off to China in search of

with towering, non-descript apartments whose facades blend

planning wisdom from a country undergoing the

seamlessly into the hazy sky. While some of Shanghaiʼs

largest and most rapid industrial transformation in the

glimmering robot-like skyscrapers served to remind us that

history of mankind. And what did we ﬁnd? Steamed buns.

we were visiting a country with its eye to the future, the

And also those delicious pancakes with scallions and egg.

City seemed to be moving forward somewhat confusedly

And we canʼt leave out marinated pine needles. These

and with at least a bit of reluctance. Whether negotiating the labyrinthine back alleys of

While some of Shanghaiʼs glimmering robot-like skyscrapers served to remind us that we were visiting a country with its eye to the future, the City seemed to be moving forward somewhat confusedly and with at least a bit of reluctance.

stand shoulder to shoulder with gaping structures halfway demolished, or making oneʼs

way through train stations where hundreds of encamped

trafﬁc, and ubiquitous sound of construction that, to this

migrant laborers, newly arrived from distant provinces,

day, we associate the worldʼs most populous country almost

await work, one cannot help but wonder whether a

exclusively with its wondrous cuisine. However, that having

quarter century is an adequate amount of time for an

been said, even our stomachs could not divert our attention

entire country to embrace modernity.

are altering Chinaʼs cities.

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well-kept homes and shops

fantastic culinary discoveries so overshadowed the smog,

entirely from the awesome transformative processes which

neighborhoods where simple,

From a planning perspective, China stands out as a remarkable example of what can be accomplished when

Although we all harbor hopes of one day reuniting with

a centralized decision making body harnesses the vast

our favorite dishes, none of us have much expectation that

resources of an entire nation and determines a course of

the places we visited in Beijing or Shanghai will be even

action. In both Shanghai and Beijing, huge, shining municipal

remotely recognizable to us should we have the opportunity

museums tout each cityʼs accomplishments in areas such as

to return. The traditional single storey neighborhoods known

housing development, transportation construction, waterfront

as hutongs, which until fairly recently were the predominant

revitalization, and even sewer infrastructure. While neither

urban form in Beijing, are quickly being plowed over, replaced

museum was overﬂowing with patrons during our visit, the

Megaprojects

fact that these institutions occupy prime locations alongside major cultural landmarks in their respective city centers indicates that urban planning is a pursuit which, much more so than in the United States, is appreciated. And yet, as China continues to grow, one wonders if even the most efficient planning can accommodate such overpowering changes for long. Already, Beijing and Shanghai each have an estimated four to five million “floating” inhabitants, nearly all of whom

FINE DINING

have ﬂed the countryside and the collapsing rural economy

Adventurous Kinne travelers sample fried bees and larvae at a Hunan restaurant in Beijing.

in search of work. Besides the social tensions engendered by the profound disparity of wealth (city dwellers earn, on average, three times as much as people from the country), the issue of economic and environmental sustainability

Photo by Jacob Press

looms large in the minds of planners and politicians. Well

citizens for political accountability. From our limited tourist

over half of Chinaʼs population still resides in rural areas, but, if urbanization continues apace, the flood of migrants will undoubtedly swell its major cities well beyond their capacity. In Beijing, whose traffic gridlock dwarfs that of Los Angeles or New York, even the five additional subway lines slated to open in the next decade will hardly make a dent. Much has been written about whether Chinaʼs cities will be able to withstand the combined pressures of population growth, industrialization, and increasing demands from its

perspective, we could only observe very generally that these forces do not show any sign of abating, making for a most unenviable development assignment. For many years to come, urban planners will travel to cities like Beijing and Shanghai and undoubtedly take at least a moment or two to consider the awesome challenges faced by their Chinese counterparts, after which they will go back to enjoying their scallion pancakes and steamed buns and perhaps a cold bottle of Tsing Dao. ●

PHOTO COMPETITION FINALIST

HOUSING DENSITY IN INNER-RING SUBURBS BY DAN WAGNER

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PREPARE FOR TAKE H

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ong Kong, a 1,100 square kilometer (420 square

All these issues gave rise to a vision of a multi-

mile) mountainous city of over 6.8 million people,

megaproject program: the Airport Core Program (ACP).

was governed by Britain for more than a century

The ACP consists of a new airport on an artificially

before it was returned to China in 1997.1 As one of the

reclaimed island, a new town development and a

four “East Asian Tigers”, Hong Kong enjoyed a significant

transportation system linking the area to a 34-kilometer

economic boom from the 1960s to the 1980s, benefiting

(21-mile) heavy-rail line, two bridges, one cross-harbor

from initial investment in education and inexpensive

tunnel, and two new expressways. Construction began in

access to world markets. Rapid industrialization caused

1991, and ACP’s major components (the airport and its

a major increase in immigration and overall population.

transportation link) were completed in 1998.

An increased demand for land development and upgraded

The capital intensity of the ACP project provided

transportation infrastructure followed. Limited land

opportunities for the Hong Kong government to exercise

resources forced efﬁcient land-use and transportation

innovative financing methods. The ACP’s estimated cost

planning. In the late 1970s, the New Territories Development

was HK$155.3-billion (US$20-billion) in 1991 dollars.

Department designated nine new towns to provide housing

The Government provided $111 billion in the form of

to the exploding population. Meanwhile, the aging Kai Tak

direct funds for works projects, and equity injections for

airport in downtown Hong Kong had become incapable of

the Airport Authority (AA) and the Mass Transit Railway

handling increasing air cargo, while it continued to inﬂict

Corporation (MTRC).2 3 The remaining third came from

environmental burdens on its downtown neighbors.

private sector participation: commercial lending for the

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Photo montage by Dayu David Zhang

OFF

Hong Kong is building a new airport. Can this trigger development throughout the City?

BY DAYU DAVID ZHANG

airport and Airport Railway, the franchise for the handling

Airport Express and a local service. The Airport Express

REGIONAL GRASP

of air cargo, aviation fuel supply, aircraft catering and

was designed as a business class service to carry passengers

aircraft maintenance, and the franchise for the Western

between the airport and the Central District of Hong

Harbor Crossing.4 An executive agency, the New Airport

Kong. Two intermediate stops — at Kowloon and Tsing

Projects Co-ordination Office, was created to oversee the

Yi — provide check-in facilities for airline passengers.

projects and coordinate a huge number of players: the

Kowloon consists of one million square meteres of new

Works Bureau, the Highways Bureau, the AA, the MTRC

mixed-use office development, while Tsing Yi offers

and over 180 international contractors.5

mixed-use community space.

Above: Taken from the peak of the Lian Hua Mountain, the panorama displays the massive development in the newly designated Central Business District (CBD) of Shenzhen, a city in close proximity to Hong Kong. The public transit under the CBD will be built by a public/private partnership of the city government and the Mass Transit Railway Corporation Limited (MTRC) in Hong Kong. This Build-OperateTransfer agreement is a strategy similar to that used to ﬁnance the construction of the Airport Railway in the ACP project.

The property development associated with the

The local service is a mass transit commuter service

airport and Airport Railway provided opportunities for

between Hong Kong Island and Tung Chung New Town.

public authorities to use private capital to finance public

To integrate land use and transit development, the local

activities. The government’s goal of enhancing land use

railway project involved five major property developments

efficiency by integrating land use and transportation

of over 35-million square feet of residential, office, and

planning was embodied in the airport railway link’s

commercial space.6 Property development was coordinated

property development.

and designed by the MTRC, using value capturing and

As the world’s first railway built specifically to serve

tax increment financing to compensate the high cost

an airport with an integrated design for stations and

of the railway development, which was supported by

equipment, the railway project consists of two services, an

government subsidies on a limited scale. Additionally, a

Megaprojects

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SKYWARD Two International Finance Center was one of the integrating developments of property and transit for the Airport Express line project. The 416-meter tower is the tallest ofﬁce building in Hong Kong, but it is soon going to be the second, passed by a 484-meter tower at Kowloon station, which is also part of the integrating development.

Photo by Dayu David Zhang

reclaimed part of west Kowloon was designated to be a

Hong Kong has ambitious future expansion plans—it

new cultural center to benefit the region’s cultural sector

is investing some $13 billion (US) in five new rail lines,

and tourism industry.

to be completed by 2007, and another $13 billion for

The ACP multi-megaproject upgraded Hong Kong

six projects between 2008 and 2016. Together, these

with convenient, modern transportation facilities and

projects will create a 250-kilometer railway network and

added growth capacity, but it also imparted several other

bring 70% of the population and 80% of the jobs within

benefits to Hong Kong residents. 380,000 residents no

walking distance of a rail station.8 With other significant

longer have to live in

infrastructure such as the 30-kilometer bridge link with

the old airport’s flight

Macao and Guangdong Provence in mainland China,

path and several new

Hong Kong is expecting upwards of

mixed-use

investment in its megaprojects to further enhance its

To integrate land use and transit development, the local railway project involved ﬁve major property developments of over 35-million square feet of residential, ofﬁce, and commercial space.

growth

centers were created to options, boosting many regional industries and partially relieving the shortage.

connection

between

Lantau Island and central Hong Kong provides more opportunities for future development. 7 Moreover, the ACP project helped build a modern and positive image of Hong Kong; not only due to the airport development, but also its convenient and reliable service. Finally, the landmarks and cultural districts are mutually beneficial

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Megaprojects

important role in China’s fast-growing economy. ●

be served by new transit

housing

to the City and the public.

US$77-billion in

NOTES: 1 Hong Kong Annual Report: Hong Kong 2004. Government Publications of Hong Kong 2 Resource: Hong Kong Government Information Centre, http://www.info.gov. hk/napco/index-e.html 3 At the time of ACP, Mass Transit Railway Corporation was a public authority which builds and operates urban railway systems. In 2001, around 25% of the corporation was listed in Hong Kong Stock Exchanging and changed its name to MTR Corporation Limited. 4 Resource: Hong Kong Government Information Centre, http://www.info.gov. hk/napco/index-e.html 5 Ibid 6 MTR Corporation limited, Property Development for the Airport Express Line, MTR Corporation Limited. 7 Resource: Hong Kong Government Information Centre, http://www.info.gov. hk/napco/index-e.html 8 Hong Kong 2030, Planning Vision and Strategy, http://www.hk2030.gov. hk/eng/inception/

PEOPLE

MEGAPROJECTS / MEGAMAN BY LILY LANGLOIS Robert Moses represents the efﬁciency and tyranny of a leader with nearly absolute power

obert Moses is the most infamous name in New York

COCKLE DOODLE DOO Robert Moses unwaveringly stands in front of the city he shaped in this famous photograph by Arnold Newman.

City planning. And the projects he championed are mega indeed. The scale, (miles and miles of high

capacity highways plowing through low-density residential neighborhoods), the cost $27 billion in public works projects, in 1968 dollars), and the quantity (40,000 acres of state parks, 658 playgrounds, 416 miles of parkway, and 13 bridges) of these projects have left a mega imprint on our urban environment. Robert Moses successfully manipulated both the physical and political landscape to construct new roads, bridges, tunnels, parks, housing, beaches, Worldʼs Fair infrastructure, sports stadiums, and public buildings. However, it is no secret that the construction of these megaprojects contributed to the destruction of New Yorkʼs urban fabric and the deterioration of residential neighborhoods. Jones Beach for the wealthy, slums for the poor: the inequities resulting from this monstrous wave of topdown planning are evident. Jones Beach provided miles of coastline, but the beaches were not accessible to the poor or the lower-middle class. The Long Island Rail Road was purposely not extended to the beach and the height of the overpasses above highways leaving the inner-city was designed just low enough to prevent access to public buses. Accommodation for the automobile and restriction of public transit was the mantra of Mosesʼ planning. Ironically, the “Master Builder” himself never had a driverʼs license. A man, who never learned to drive, aided the suburban revolution by constructing countless miles of causeways, parkways, and roads. Perhaps the only Moses project not designed to satisfy the demands of the automobile was the

Photo by Arnold Newman

Moses could not have accomplished what he did without the ability to seize political power. Self-created and self-sustaining, Moses held government positions through the terms of ﬁve New York City mayors and six New York governors. His appointment to countless positions under countless leaders speaks to his ability to position himself as an indispensable technocrat. However, the faith he inspired in politicians was not shared by the public; in 1934, Mr. Moses ran for Governor and was defeated by 800,000 votes, the largest margin in New York State history. While, as present day planners, we strive to promote bottom-up planning and equitable outcomes, during the period of urban renewal one man in government had nearly absolute power over countless large-scale, publicworks projects in New York. This urban dictatorship elicits the strongest of planning opinions. We are in awe of his progress and outraged by his process. Do we love him or hate him? Do we condone or condemn his actions? Can we discount his work? One thing is certain, it is impossible to forget Mosesʼ legacy. ●

conversion of Manhattanʼs 116th Street from a well-trafﬁcked thoroughfare to the pedestrian path known as College Walk on Columbia Universityʼs campus.

NOTES: Municipal Art Society Exhibition, New York, N.Y. (1988) The Livable City. 12/2. Caro, Robert. 1974. The Power Broker. New York: Random House.

Megaprojects

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hen I read this semesterâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s URBAN flyer, I immediately noticed the magazineâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s theme: The Return of

the Megaproject. What return I thought? Sure, there is lots of talk about megaprojects around the City, but virtually nothing is actually being built. There are a grand total of two mega infrastructure projects under construction today in New York City. From an optimistic perspective, you could say that this is one more megaproject than was under construction two years ago. But, from a pessimistic perspective, things are still pretty depressing when it comes to building big infrastructure projects in New York, a city which became great by investing in infrastructure to fuel economic and population growth. Projects like the Erie Canal, the city water system, the subway system, and the great bridges that connect

THE FAILURE TO

the boroughs helped propel New York to its status as the capital of finance and commerce, twice as populous as the next largest city in America. Yet, the most recent of those mega infrastructure projects, the Verrazono-Narrows Bridge, was built over

THINK BIG 40 years ago. The last major subway line

New York needs megaprojects and those megaprojects need champions

BY JP FLAHERTY

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Megaprojects

in New York was completed in 1940. In the intervening

supply tunnels to be turned off for the first time since they

years, dozens of large-scale infrastructure projects have

were activated in the early twentieth century. But despite

been proposed, but nothing has been built.

the project’s grand scope, its continued construction is

Why are so many megaprojects proposed in New York

not a sign of great leadership. It is a sign of desperation.

but never built? And why are the megaprojects we are

New York City has to build a third water tunnel because

trying to build today the same projects that New York has

it cannot turn off either of the existing water tunnels

been trying to build for forty (or more) years? How is this

for repairs without also depriving half the City of water.

paralysis the case when New York City is growing

And, as these two tunnels age, (the first tunnel

faster than at any point in the past

was completed in 1917 and the second

fifty years, is wealthier than

in 1936) the need for a new

ever before, and is standing unchallenged

the

tunnel to allow repairs to

How is this paralysis the case when New York is growing faster than at any point in the past ﬁfty years, is wealthier than ever before, and is standing unchallenged as the ﬁnancial and political capital of the world?

financial and political capital of the world? How is it that the leaders of today have learned nothing from the obvious lesson of the past, which is that New York’s greatness and

the old ones becomes ever more pressing. The other project under construction is the new PATH Terminal

the

World Trade Center. Surely this grand, $2billion

subway

terminal

prosperity are directly related to

is a megaproject worthy of

its ability to build big and bold?

accolades? Not really. This project is

When asked these questions, New York’s city and

being built because terrorists decided to attack and

state politicians have said there

just is not enough

destroy the World Trade Center. The money to rebuild the

money to complete all the

projects on the

PATH train terminal came from the federal government,

drawing board, or any projects

for that matter.

which generally pays to replace infrastructure that has

But is that really

t r u e ?

The city and state

been destroyed in areas affected by federally declared

governments

have plenty of money and have

“disasters”. The only real leadership shown here was by

the

to raise plenty more. It’s just a

New York and New Jersey’s four senators, who convinced

matter of priorities. And to make a project a

the Federal Emergency Management Agency to allow the

ability

priority, it needs a champion. Money, despite

Port Authority to rebuild the PATH terminal as a beautiful

what politicians say, is not the problem. The problem is a

new terminal, rather than following the law which

total lack of leadership, from those same politicians, when

requires that an exact replacement be built. But visionary

it comes to funding and building mega infrastructure

leadership was not required to convince the public of the

projects.

project’s necessity or to raise funds for the project. If it

New York is finally building megaprojects again,

wasn’t for 9/11, nothing would be happening at all. That’s

as witnessed by the two under construction today: City

not leadership, that’s just reacting to events beyond our

Water Tunnel #3 and the World Trade Center PATH

control.

Terminal. But is the construction of these two projects a

So, of the two megaprojects being built in New York

sign that the politicians of New York get that the City’s

City today, one is being built out of desperation and

greatness has been, and will be, based on building bigger

the other is being built in reaction to destruction. Not a

and grander than anywhere else?

positive picture.

City Water Tunnel #3 has been under construction

But maybe, just maybe, the three major transportation

since 1970 and will be completed in 2020, fifty years

projects on the drawing board at the Metropolitan

after the start of its construction. When completed, it will

Transportation Agency (MTA) signal a return to the era

have cost six billion dollars and will supply water to every

of building big in New York. On the other hand, there are

corner of the City. This will allow the two existing water

also ominous signs that things could remain status quo

Megaprojects

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without a new push by our region’s

politicians

insure that these projects are built. The

closest

construction, Side been

East

Access

(ESA),

proposed

has various

of the project, the 63rd Street East River

City Water Tunnel #3 has been in construction for over thirty years and will be completed in 2020.

A map of the East Side Access project shows what has been built and what has yet to be realized.

scaled

not enough money to start construction

within

the

next two years. So, 78 years

are no closer to having a subway on Second Avenue.

1989, but only for the F train’s access to Queens. The

sometime in the near future is the #7 Flushing line

lower level, destined to allow the Long Island Rail Road

subway extension. This project will extend the Flushing

access to Grand Central, has sat unused since then. For

line from 7th Avenue and 42nd Street to 11th Avenue and

years the MTA has said that the project will start any day.

34th Street in Manhattan. Originally proposed as a part

In 2003, they optimistically dug a giant hole in the ground

of the Far West Side Redevelopment Stadium proposal, it

to allow access to the tunnel and to prepare the Queens

was scheduled to start construction this spring. However,

site for construction; since then,

construction has not started.

nothing has happened. Except,

More ominously, now that the

during this time the project

stadium component of the Far

has ballooned in price from

West Side plan has been rejected

$2.2-billion in 1998, to $4.3-

and New York’s Olympic bid

billion in 2000, to an estimated

lost, the City seems to have lost

$7.9-billion today. Despite the

interest in the project. The City

increase in cost, the project has

was supposed to release the

not expanded in either capacity

details of its financing package

MTA

for the extension by winter of

recently announced that they

2005. However, nothing has been

convenience.

The

Photo from www.ﬂatrock.org.nz

released, and the City and the

federal funding by October and

MTA have studiously avoided

start construction soon after.

discussing anything about the

Next in line for construction

project in recent months.

is the Second Avenue Subway.

New York City has three

The original plan for the Second

mega infrastructure projects

Avenue Subway was announced

scheduled to start construction

in 1929. At the time, it was

within the next two years.

scheduled to cost about $800-

This is an historic moment

million ($8.6-billion in 2005

in the modern history of the

dollars),

City, a moment that should not

run

the

length

and have from four to six tracks. Amazingly,

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massively

down plan, there is still

The third MTA project scheduled for construction

Second Avenue in Manhattan,

that

tunnel, was started in 1969. It was finally completed in

hoped to sign an agreement for INACCESSIBLE?

the near future. Even with

after the initial proposal, we

configurations since 1968. The heart

TUNNEL OF LOVE?

actually feasible to be built in

Of the two megaprojects being built in New York City today, one is being built out of desperation and the other is being built in reaction to destruction.

this

project

Image from www.pbbulletin.com

was

be squandered. It is vital that the political leaders of New York City and New York State

actually started in the 1970s, when two short segments

see the value in these projects, find the money to fund

were built. But the money and leadership ran out, and

them, and convince the public that they are absolutely

the project was stopped. Today, the planned Second

necessary for New York City to grow and become a more

Avenue Subway has two tracks, three-fourths as many

livable city. If all three of the projects currently on the

stations, and will take an indeterminable number of years

drawing board actually begin construction by the end

to complete in a series of phases. The estimate of $16-

of 2007, New York City will once again be in a league

billion is twice the original cost. Due to a lack of funds,

of its own. It would be a tragedy for New York if that

only the first segment (2.5 miles and three stations) is

does not happen.

Megaprojects

●

The ﬁght over Manhattanville is happening in our own backyard. Is it time for Columbia students to throw some punches?

CLOSE TO T HOME

Photo by Candy Chang

his is a great time to be a planning student at Columbia. We are about to become both developer and community in our very own megaproject. As

the University proceeds with plans to build an expansion campus (the proposed Manhattanville Campus) in West Harlem, we are simultaneously placed into the roles of the large-scale project-pusher and the resistant community. Our planning curriculum includes lessons about all the planning principles that this project embodies, which are being played out against a backdrop of race, class, and power

BY MARNIE PURCIEL

struggle in Manhattanville. This proposal provides us with an opportunity to apply the skills and theory we are learning in school to a project in our own backyard.

Maybe we are torn given this conflict of interests. Maybe we do not care what the eventual outcome is. Maybe we think it is a done deal and that the developer, as always, will triumph. Maybe we want (guiltily) for Columbia to have its ideal new campus. One thing is certain: justice is not served by our inaction. Whether we want the project to succeed or not, we have to admit that the interests of the community are not being represented either by supporting Columbia’s role as benevolent dictator, or by allowing the “neutral” processes established to ensure planning results that are desired by all. It is ironic that the institutions and requirements that planners rely on to check the actions of developers and facilitate democratic processes - the complex and bureaucratic review procedures, decision makers, timelines, and community groups - can make it hard to understand what is really going on. Communities rely on the bureaucracy to prevent large institutions like Columbia from taking advantage of them. However, it is questionable whether or not these procedures are effective in protecting communities like West Harlem.

Megaprojects

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THE BENEVOLENT DICTATOR The University has an “all or nothing” stance towards the development, as the proposed academic and research activities would necessitate the assembly of contiguous space where businesses now operate. The proposal also requires a rezoning to accommodate the new uses and large buildings planned.

Image from Columbia University

Columbia believes and insists that this development

WHAT’S THE PLAN

will be good for the surrounding community. Jobs will be created, the area will be improved aesthetically, and more services will be available. While Columbia has committed to an open dialogue and believes it is possible to develop the campus in partnership with the community. Given the school’s all or nothing stance, can we trust that the community will have a genuine influence on the plan that is implemented?

THE SITE 17 acres from 125th Street to 133rd Street between 12th Avenue and Broadway

CURRENTLY

PROPOSED

60% owned by Columbia 20% owned by the MTA 20% owned privately

100% Columbia owned Zoning: mixed-use, commercial, dorms, labs, theatre, etc.

THE RESISTANT COMMUNITY The community concerns center around two major

the evaluation of proposed projects. They also allow for

issues. The first is displacement. In order for Columbia

public hearings, which ostensibly provide the space for

to meet its objectives, it must displace current residents

community participation. As we shall see, the structure of

and businesses. One such minority-employing, woman-

the processes often thwart their intentions.

owned business has been in operation for 30 years. In addition, one of the buildings in the area is part of the Tenant Interim Lease Program, which means its residents are working towards ownership of their units as allowed for by this city program. The second issue is the misalignment of the needs of the current and potential future residents.

There will be a slow increase in

property values and general cost of living accompanying the encroachment of Columbia students and faculty into Harlem. As planning students, we should question whether these economic changes in Manhattanville will serve its current residents or merely facilitate their swift removal from the neighborhood.

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THE ULURP Columbia will finalize the scope of the project and submit its application for ULURP. The approval, approval with changes, or disapproval of the ULURP application is left up to the City Planning Commission, the City Council, and/or the Mayor. While the community can review and weigh in on the application via its Community Board, it has no power beyond that of making recommendations. ULURP may not be the appropriate forum for the school and the community to work out their contentions and present them for approval.

THE NEUTRAL PROCESSES

THE EIS

There are a number of procedures in place in New York City that are intended to help planners make impartial decisions when non-as-of-right projects are on the table and when the desires of the community and developer do not line up: the Uniform Land Use Review Procedure (ULURP), the environmental impact assessment, and the community-initiated 197-a plan. In theory these processes provide decision makers with the guidelines, methodologies, content, and parameters for

The Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) assessment proceeds independently of the ULURP; therefore the reviewers will not have the benefit of the final EIS to help them evaluate the ULURP request. Moreover, the EIS is merely a disclosure document, so there are no up or down votes associated with its findings. While EIS hearings result in suggestions of impacts to examine and mitigate, the EIS would not stop a project from moving

Megaprojects

forward (even if significant adverse consequences are

ways diametrically opposed. It seems the University cannot avoid displacement, which is antithetical to the city charter-mandated, community board-produced 197a plan. Moreover, the 197-a plan stipulates that future development be financially in line with what residents (a low income community) can afford. 197-a plans and the Community

Boards

How do you balance the need for growth and economic development with equity and inclusion?

that produce them create a potential for community-determinism, but they are not binding and, as in the case of Manhattanville, could be ignored.

THE ESCAPE PATH Enter eminent domain. About a year ago, it was discovered that the University entered into a several hundred thousand dollar contract with the Empire State Development Corporation (ESDC) in which the University asked the ESDC to assess the feasibility of using eminent domain to secure the land it needs to build the project it wants. Currently, the University is not actively pursuing this option, but it has not been officially taken off of the table. The conflict could conceivably come down to a decision to evict the remaining businesses and residents of Manhattanville to allow the University’s plan to move Photo by Seth Hostetter

found and mitigations offered). Finally, the EIS’ technical complexity and massive size makes it difficult for a

forward. The decision would not be made by the City, but by the State under a completely different set of review procedures.

community group or lay person to use the document as

OUR ROLE

a tool or resource.

These observations raise questions that we, as planners,

THE 197-A PLAN

must think about. How do you balance the need for growth and economic development with equity and inclusion?

Community Board 9’s decade-long process of developing

Where and how does a decision maker get to review all the

a 197-a plan (a plan to realize the community board’s

options within the existing bureaucratic framework? It is

visions for the neighborhood) recently concluded with the

unclear where and how these conflicts will be mitigated.

plan’s submission to the Department of City Planning in

Columbia has buckets of money and countless networks of

August 2005. The plan calls for future development that

influence to use to its advantage. The community has little

is compatible with the current neighborhood personality,

more than its passion to maintain its physical space and

the creation of jobs for existing residents, housing and

livelihood and the desire to not feel totally helpless in the

services that the community can afford, the preservation

face of decisions being made about their land. A careful

of the present business and demographic character, and

look at the megaproject in our backyard reveals that there

the protection of existing people and businesses from

are some critical gaps in the bureaucratic framework for

displacement. It is not hard to see how the University’s

the legitimate exercise of community participation in the

(197-c) and the community’s (197-a) plans are in some

planning process. ●

Megaprojects

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TEACHERSʼ LOUNGE

IF YOU COULD Nora Libertun de Duren said it best: megaprojects both excite and scare us. Providing a window into their planning hopes and dreams, faculty of the urban planning department described what megaprojects they would plan if they had carte blanche over the world.

JASON CORBURN

My proposed program is an extension of the intelligent transportation

My mega-project would be a constitutional amendment creating a right to affordable housing, health care, and healthy food. We might take one year of the military budget to fund initial projects. This would not only create a fairer, more just society, but it would create jobs for urban planning graduates. Where would we site all this new affordable housing? How might we upgrade existing neighborhoods? Where are health clinics needed? What open space might need to be claimed for local farms? What zoning reforms might be needed to ensure neighborhoods stay affordable, healthy and have yummy food? What participatory planning processes are needed to answer these questions in a democratic way that draws from professional and local experts?

(IT) concept, which, at its basic level, should be able to monitor systems, facilities, and networks at all times and provide useful information to people who are contemplating a trip or are en route, as well as manage trafﬁc controls. These efforts would be overlaid by a comprehensive and sensible program of inescapable user charges on public rights-of-way. All motor vehicles in the United States would be equipped with electronic transponders (identifying each vehicle with a number). All metropolitan areas and long-distance highways would be covered by a network of monitoring stations (say, 1⁄4 mile apart), so that only very local trips would escape detection. All automobile owners will receive a bill at the end of the month, similar to that from any utility company. The technology is already there to develop the system; the idea itself is not new, but it would require political boldness to implement.

MICHAEL FISHMAN WTC: The mega project should not be on the site itself, as planned, but in the form of a tunnel to bury through-movements between Brooklyn and

FLOYD LAPP

New Jersey once and for all. By linking the Battery and Holland Tunnels

A major planning and transportation challenge is to introduce transit to

we free up Canal Street, Delancey Street, Flatbush and Atlantic Avenues

the landscape of low density suburbs. When the Tappan Zee Bridge

and the Brooklyn and Lower Manhattan CBDʼs for local activities. The

was built more than 50 years ago the focus was only on automobiles.

air-rights to this tunnel south of the WTC can accommodate mixed use

Shortsightedness resulted in few engineers and planners seeing the

structures that would free up the site for its best and highest use.

future of suburban gridlock. At the dawn of the 21st century, 98% of the

Even without the 2012 Games, NYC stood to win if we could

persons crossing the bridge use an automobile with a vehicle occupancy

deliver on some of the megaprojects considered in planning the event.

of one!

In addition to boosting our chances in 2016 or beyond, ﬁnishing Long

Options under consideration for a new bridge are one or more forms of

Island City, bolstering our waterborne capabilities, investing in recreation

transit such as: commuter rail, light rail or bus rapid transit. The challenge

in Greenpoint/Williamsburg and restoring Flushing Meadows for boating

of this transportation megaproject is to properly connect with and even

and ecology can deliver on many of the local hopes that the planning

inﬂuence the land development pattern rather than just constructing a

process represented to our communities, NY should not abandon these

piece of infrastructure in a vacuum as was the case in the 1950s.

As a result, there is the obvious massive daily congestion.

simply for losing the games.

KAJA KUHL

SIGURD GRAVA

I would plan the free distribution of communication technology worldwide.

If you think that street congestion must be drastically reduced, if not eliminated, the use of surface networks should be properly managed and prioritized (as rail systems are), pollution loads have to be cut and eventually eliminated, and revenues must be found to support adequate

I believe that free access to information and the ability to contribute to

public transportation and serve non-drivers even in low density areas,

wireless infrastructure to reach urban as well as rural places and the

then be of good cheer! There is an overarching solution.

distribution of hardware to public institutions, schools, municipalities

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Megaprojects

the information accessible is a mobilizing power and a starting point to solving many of the worldʼs problems - poverty, hunger, global warming, and terror. As a megaproject, I would plan the worldwide deployment of

to be accessible to the general public. To ensure the operability of this system, hardware would be backed by solar power generators in order to be independent from existing or non-existing power-infrastructure. As a ʻhumanʼ back-up to the system, I could see a worldwide crew of educators and computer scientists who can introduce the masses to this new tool for learning and distributing information.

peopleʼ are, while aiming to balance our technical expertise with our respect for individualsʼ right of self-determination. How should we then take advantage of this awesome opportunity? I believe that legitimacy is megaprojectsʼ ultimate challenge. Therefore, as I would like to see all peoples of the world counting with the basic infrastructure for their development, the decision of which infrastructure to build should be left to the local community. I imagine launching a participatory process where locals produce their vision of development,

NORA LIBERTUN DE DUREN Megaprojects excite me and scare me at the same time. They multiply all the blessings and threats of being a planner. How could anyone not succumb to the desire of playing a benign Pharaoh, at least once? And yet, how could we deny that dictating what is ʻbest for the peopleʼ gives us a distinctive planner-uneasiness? We struggle with deﬁning who ʻthe

and deﬁne a road map to get there. After that, I would provide them with the infrastructure of their choice (e.g. water and sewerage, internet connections, heath services, paved roads...). Hopefully, the collection of these local experiences becomes the basis of a binding global agreement on what development ʻrightsʼ entail.

●

PHOTO COMPETITION FINALIST

HOMAGE TO AVERY BY RACHAEL GRAY SHIPKIN

Megaprojects

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IN THE IVORY TOWER

THESIS TOPICS Our graduate school studies culminate in a grand ﬁnale called “The Thesis.” Second-year students shared the planning passions that have been keeping them up all night.

MARSHALL ADAMS

to identify any direct parallels between the two

The New Jersey Transit Villages Initiative was started in 1999 by designating ﬁve towns for development in the model of transit oriented planning. The program has been cited in the literature as a model for the rest of the country, but has the program produced concrete

approaches by asking one speciﬁc question: Does

Floridaʼs

new

growth

management

legislation, enacted by Senate Bill 360, promote the principles of Smart Growth in the planning and development processes being used in Floridaʼs regions, cities, and communities?

developers, and I am looking at some data on housing and population to answer it. Calling all transit-oriented development mavens and policy wonks – tune in for the exciting conclusion!!

thesis

JEFF GELLER My thesis will examine the relationship between public housing rebuilt through the federal HOPE VI housing program and nearby real estate to demolish decaying (usually high-rise) public

explores

the

potential

the

transportation conformity provisions of the Clean Air Act to facilitate the linking of land use and

housing and build new townhouses in its place. Using regression analysis, my thesis attempts to determine whether HOPE VI redevelopment

transportation planning at the regional level.

has led to a greater rise in property values in

JACOB FEIT

each city.

the surrounding area than in other parts of

residential neighborhood. As my primary case study, I am using the Seaport Public Realm Plan, which is the proposal for the South Boston waterfront where the Port of Boston meets the residential neighborhood of South Boston. For comparison, I am also studying Port Newark and Port Elizabeth in New Jersey, and Port Los

Using the Senegalese community in New York as a case study, my thesis examines the mechanisms by which migrants remit money back to Africa and explores some of the development impacts of these ﬁnancial ﬂows. Remittances primarily support household

ROBERTA FENNESSY

the housing sector in Sub-Saharan Africa. My

increasingly such transfers fund investment in thesis explores the intersection of migration

should be regulated via growth management

and

systems. I am using the state of Florida as a

sending

case study. More speciﬁcally, the thesis aims

analysis of remittances.

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Generally Speaking

economic

include industry trends, location quotients, and case studies of New Hope, PA and Montclair, NJ.

closures are measured in various ways. Studies by the National Bureau of Economic Research and the Rand Research Corporation concluded that closing a base does not cause an economic shock to a community, as was once assumed. The purpose of this study is to test the two methodologies that show the economic effects of military base closure. My thesis will focus on the Naval Air Station in Brunswick, Maine as a case study to test the methods.

Louisiana to identify the primary determinants of

JENNIFER TRASKA GIBSON

consumption in developing countries, but

tourism,

My thesis is examining coastal wetland loss in

Angeles and Port Long Beach in California.

My thesis looks at whether or not smart growth

culinary

development, and planning. Research areas

GREGORY HARTMAN

I am writing my thesis on whether or not a modern cargo port can exist next to a

restaurants,

The economic consequences of military base

prices. HOPE VI provides cities with funding

TIM BALLO

My thesis explores the relationship between

HEIDI GORMAN

results over the last six-plus years? This is my question, and I am talking to local ofﬁcials and

TRACIE GOLDMAN

economic

development

countries

through

in a

migrantqualitative

this loss and its environmental consequences. I am using the Mississippi River Gulf Outlet as a case study to determine whether the shipping channel should remain operational or be closed. Trafﬁc on the channel has decreased 80% since 1978, and there is speculation that storm surge was funneled through the channel during Hurricane Katrina which exacerbated ﬂooding in St. Bernard and Orleans parishes.

ERIN HYLAND My thesis investigates the broader question of how successful the New York City Watershed Management

Program

and

the

1997

Memorandum of Agreement have been. The results should highlight and provide insight into the programʼs weaknesses and how they might be strengthened to ensure continued success in New York (as well as other cities where urbanrural conﬂicts arise over water rights).

JENNIFER KORTH With energy consumption rising everywhere in the world, fossil fuels are depleting rapidly, causing geopolitical conﬂicts, pollution, global warming and health problems. According to the US Department of Energy, the number one voluntary program for renewable sales in the US is Austin Energyʼs GreenChoice program in Austin, Texas. This municipally-owned utility has held this position for the last three years. Last January, the unbelievable happened: without subsidies, renewable energy sales became cheaper than traditional forms of energy. With such a high demand, Austin Energy is currently holding a lottery ticket! Through an empirical study of supply, demand and regulation, this study uncovers why Austin Energyʼs green pricing program is successful.

ERIC MANDEL Using regression analysis, my thesis will study the effect that light rail has on single-family residential property value. My case study is Portland, Oregon.

CASSIE MEHLUM Sports stadiums are popularly described as engines of economic growth through the creation of jobs and the expansion of the municipal tax base. However, current analytical tools used to predict the direct and indirect beneﬁts are scrutinized by economists and academics who warn the true multiplier effect is overstated, and thus the actual beneﬁts realized are much less than those predicted. Using the proposed NASCAR race track on Staten Island as a case study, my thesis examines the results given by one popular impact analysis model and analyzes how incorporating additional layers of study can provide a more accurate prediction of the economic impacts.

LEAH M. MEISTERLIN

the city. To battle this problem, lawmakers are

Iʼm writing on the application of professional ethics in NYC plannersʼ treatment of information. As planners use quantitative data and qualitative description to inform decision making and affect opinion, and given that such uses require interpretation and representation, one central question of this thesis is the extent to which information is manipulated by professional necessity. Through interviews, the research hopes to ﬁnd the plannersʼ perceptions of their practical ethics, the similarities or differences in these perceptions between types of practice, and the level of coincidence between formal ethical prescription and on-the-ground ethical

currently looking at holding the overﬂow in large retention tanks until the sewers are clear. In this thesis, I hope to show that green roofs can provide a public-private alternative that can save the City money while improving air quality and mitigating the urban heat island effect.

ALISON SILBERMAN My thesis looks at the changing model of waterfront development and the shift in focus from industrial to commercial to residential. This thesis is a means to better understand the implications these changes have for our cities waterfronts, particularly in Greenpoint and

assessment.

Williamsburg.

RAMÓN MUÑOZ-RASKIN

MICHELLE SORKIN

My thesis is entitled “Accessibility to Bus Rapid

My thesis is about Urban River Restoration

Transit: Does it affect property values? The

Initiatives and how planning for economic

case of Bogota, Colombia.” The research will

development and ecological restoration can

analyze the effects of accessibility to Bogotaʼs

happen simultaneously. The Gowanus Canal

Bus Rapid Transit system (Transmilenio) on

and the LA River efforts are looked at as

property values in the areas within walking

new models of using urban rivers to connect

distance of the system. The results of the study

recreation,

will serve as a tool for understanding the effects

development in sustainable ways.

environment,

and

economic

of Bus Rapid Transit corridors to inﬂuence residential property values in large cities in developing countries.

My thesis explores the role and effects that community groups have had on the

JACOB PRESS My

thesis

examines

DAN WAGNER

the

Central

Park

Conservancy and its relationship with the City of New York. While this highly successful publicprivate partnership has established a new model for park management, many concerns remain about the authority a private entity should have over a public resource. This thesis looks at how decisions are made by the Conservancy and to what degree it remains accountable to the

neighborhood identity of Huntʼs Point, in the South Bronx.

TOMMY WU For my thesis, I will examine the political, socioeconomic, and cultural conditions that helped establish and continue to drive night markets in Taiwan. The paper will reveal the structure of Taiwanʼs night markets and bring

public.

forth a discourse on the economic and social

STACY RADINE

with a discussion of the feasibility of night

My thesis analyzes how New York City can utilize green roofs as a storm water management tool. New York uses a system of combined sewer overﬂows that dump untreated sewage and storm water about half the time it rains in

impacts of night markets. The thesis will end markets in New York Cityʼs Chinatown and the ensuing ramiﬁcations.

ADAM ZARANKO My thesis examines speedhumps. ●

Generally Speaking

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UNTIL WE MEET AGAIN

SEE YOU IN STUDIO

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Generally Speaking

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