Friends of the Review,
We are happy to announce we have published our new issue, No. 16, managed by Alex Klimoski. Graphic designer Drew Litowiz tested the possibilities of our format, and Maxfield Schnaufer wove the issue together with a beautiful set of drawings.
If you are a subscriber, you should already have your copy - tell us if you do not so we can check your mailing address. If you are not a subscriber, subscribe today. You will be supporting our contributors, and we will mail you a copy.
To better entice you, find below some excerpts from the articles.
(And below that, events for this week!)
Our Forgotten Civic Grounds, by Alicia O. Ajayj
In recent months, a sense of urgency has reactivated the public domain as space for civic discourse. At a time when there is momentum to radically reclaim our streets, we must also acknowledge the civic spaces that have been erased and forgotten — in particular, places of remembrance.’
The Death & Life of Urban Public Space, by Palmyra Stefania Geraki
Despite old and recent failures, the Lindsay administration’s aspiration for a diverse and inclusive democratic society realized in part through better public space remains in the collective subconscious. While Mogilevich stops short of advocating for a radical rethinking of collective ownership and democratic deci-sion making, calling such proposals revolutionary even within the framework of public space, her final message is one of cautious optimism.
Review of: Mariana Mogilevich, The Invention of Public Space: Designing for Inclusion in Lindsay’s New York. University of Minnesota Press, 2020.
SKYLINE, ed. by Samuel Medina
“So much writing in architecture is devoted to density, but I like to sprawwwl,” Kate Wagner said in an address to Yale School of Architecture students. In speech, however, the McMansion Hell creator is zippy. She barreled through her captivating Brendan Gill Lecture, rarely stopping to catch her breath until reaching her conclusion: “What I see as necessary to a radical transformation of architectural criticism is an attitude adjustment.” A criticism better suited to our black-pilled times, she advised, would aim to be “radically accessible and gloriously irreverent.” Apropos of everything and nothing, Wagner announced that union mascot “Scabby the Rat is personally my favorite architecture critic.”
A Taxonomy of New York City Dystopias: 1985, 2020, or 2035? by Zazu Swistel
The local Greek diner is only 25 percent full. The six people in this cold suspicious space browse hastily for employment while drinking their blue-cup coffees. One customer begins clanking silverware together as another stands up in protest, “Dear Lord! Can this place be any louder!?”
Banking on the Green, by Dante Furioso
If the hipster with his fixie is synonymous with gentrification, bike lanes usher in waves of upwardly mobile professionals, changing the economics of neighborhoods in New York and beyond. Debates about bike lanes rage at community meetings and online. ¶ Yet, despite all this visibility for bikes, it’s actually a quite marginal form of transportation. In 2015, biking accounted for one percent of commutes in New York City. Its prominence on blogs like Bloomberg CityLab, Streetsblog NYC, and 6sqft — and even in the mainstream press — points to the high visibility of an issue that, on the face of it, affects a very narrow subset of the population.
Review of: John G. Stehlin, Cyclescapes of the Unequal City: Bicycle Infra-structure and Uneven Development. University of Minnesota Press, 2019.
Again, subscribe today and we will mail you a copy!
Events this week!
12/01 | TUESDAY
Brittani Orona: We are the Land: Challenging California Planning Laws through Indigenous Environmental Praxis
5:00pm | Cornell AAP
Fighting the Flood: Innovative Approaches to New York’s Climate Challenges
6:00pm | New Amsterdam History Center
JORDY ROSENBERG, METABOLICS OF THE BOOK
7:30pm | Cooper
12/02 | WEDNESDAY
Material Transfers: Metaphor, Craft, and Place in Contemporary Architecture with Françoise Astorg Bollack
1:00pm | CFA
Essex Crossing with Dana Getman and Isaac Henderson
5:00pm | NAC
The 2020 Stanford White Awards Reception with Samuel G. White
6:30pm | ICAA
CURRENT WORK | WEISS/MANFREDI: RECIPROCAL HORIZONS
7:00pm | Cooper Union
12/03 | THURSDAY
Design Impact: Homelessness – Ethics / Policy / Action
11:00am | GSD
Design Impact Vol. 2: Straight-Up Talk: Homelessness – Ethics / Policy / Action
11:00am | GSD
The Black Reconstruction Collective
6:00pm | MIT
DINNER WITH DESIGNERS: Michael K Chen
7:00pm | DWD
FF – Distance Edition: AGENCY
7:00pm | Architectural League
12/04 | FRIDAY
Siqi Zheng: Air Pollution, Avoidance Behaviors, and Neglected Social Cost: Evidence from Outdoor Leisure and Commuting Behaviors
10:10am | Cornell AAP
Cocktails & Conversation: Frida Escobedo
6:30pm | CFA
—
If you would would like to write up an event for us - do it! See an example writeup here. Most write ups are incorporated into the column ‘SKYLINE,’ some become larger articles. All correspondents receive $30 and their name in the paper. Ask to cover an event: editor@nyra.nyc.
—
For those observant readers of our letter who also follow our instagram - yes, we had originally set our cutoff for buying a subscription as yesterday. We had a delay with putting together our weekly e-mail, so we moved it to today. Avoid all this confusion by simply purchasing a subscription, to receive both this issue, and future issues with our first mailing.
—
If someone forwarded you this newsletter, sign up here.
If you want to support our contributors and receive the Review by post, subscribe here.
If you want to pitch us an article, write us at: editor@nyra.nyc