Hello readers of the Review; this is Edward Palka. I am an Architect living in Brooklyn and am very excited to be guest-editing the pitch sheet for this week!
As you may recall from last week’s pitch sheet, the NYRA will be hosting an event ‘IS THE FUTURE FLAT?’ with Tod Williams, Billie Tsien, and Vivian Loftness this Wednesday, September 23.
With this event on my mind over the past week, I’ve been thinking a bit deeper about the profound changes we’ve seen to the utilization of our public realm. Through a devastating public-health emergency and continued protests, the strength of our streets and public spaces have been one silver-lining.
Since June, restaurants across New York City have claimed parking spots outside their doors, with a wide array of pallet and 2x4 based dividers. These have provided for al fresco dining which has added new life to streets which had been largely quiet – except for protests – for the previous 3 months. These spaces are not only transformative for a city in lock down, but have forged a new type of urbanism which was previously only ever seen on Park(ing) Day; a program where one day a year, parking spaces are taken over to demonstrate the potential of these parking spots to be used as extensions of pedestrian space and the sidewalk.
In addition to taking over parking spots, by way of the Open Streets program, 87 streets across NYC have now been closed to cars on weekends as additional spill-out space for restaurant dining. Beyond serving as additional seating space for restaurants with no indoor seating, the closed streets have doubled as expanded bike lanes, busking space, and pedestrian space, providing an additional layer of vibrancy to the public sphere. Still, the closure of these streets have not been without their own share of criticism as their unequal distribution skewed towards affluent neighborhoods has been noted.
The lockdown has also shed light on some of the environmental benefits – particularly related to air quality – of reduced vehicular and air travel, as noted by researchers as the University of Minnesota. With clear benefits to streets for people, many op-eds have been written regarding an NYC without cars in the future: “I’ve Seen a Future Without Cars, and It’s Amazing” and “Streets Should Be Car-Free During Lockdown. And After.” just to name two from the New York Times. Despite these, the future of our streets and the place of cars in it remains to be seen.
As NYC heads towards opening indoor dining (currently slated to begin at 25% capacity on September 30) and the seasons change, the novel life of these outdoor spaces will face a new challenge. Will the renewed vibrancy of these spaces endure the colder, shorter, and darker days of the months to come, or will our streets revert to their subservience to the car and begin to look more akin to their pre-pandemic selves?
If you have additional thoughts about how the pandemic and protests will, or will not, leave indelible marks on the physical make-up of our urban spaces, we want to hear from you!
- Edward Palka
Caption. Outdoor dining along 5th Ave. in Park Slope. Photo Credit: Claire Breyen.
A Book. ‘Geostories: Another Architecture for the Environment’, by Rania Ghosn and El Hadi Jazairy of the practice ‘Design Earth.’ Rania will in fact be in conversation with Elisa Iturbe, on Monday evening - if you would like to review the book, and write up the event, tell us.
Events!
This week is ‘Climate Week NYC’ and there are a wealth of high level conversations around it at both the Cooper Union as part of “COOPER UNION X CLIMATE WEEK 2020” and Pratt as part of “PRATT EARTH ACTION WEEK.” Our discussion this Wednesday, ‘IS THE FUTURE FLAT?’, does its part, with a spirited focus on the potentials and pitfalls of the ground plane.
9/21 | MONDAY
Women In Type: Alice Savoie
12:30pm | Cooper Union
Lecture by Bryan C. Lee, Jr. Response by Lee Altman
6:00pm | GSAPP
Preserving Activism Beyond and Between Pratt's Gate
3:00pm | Pratt
Art in a Time Of Crisis: Excavating the Past, Confronting the Present, Imagining the Future: Firelei Báez, Adam Khalil, & D’angelo Lovell Williams
5:00pm | Cooper Union
It's Always for Our City: Stories of Art And Identity in Detroit, Michigan
5:00pm | Cooper Union
North America: Ronald Rael in Conversation with Ersela Kripa
5:00pm | NJIT
Gloria Cabral: Our Construction
5:30pm | Spitzer
Kassler Lecture: Darell Wayne Fields
6:00pm | Princeton
Carbon Fictions: Elisa Iturbe in Conversation with Rania Ghosn
6:00pm | Cooper Union
2020 Gil Oberfield Memorial Lecture: Inc Architecture & Design
6:00pm | CFA
9/22 | TUESDAY
Social Justice and The AEC Industry: Justin Garrett Moore
12:00pm | Columbia/CBIPS
Yale Mental Health Symposium: Architectures of Mental Health with Christopher Payne & Hannah Hull
1:00pm | Yale
Webinar: Adventures with Châteaux, Timothy Corrigan
8:00pm | ICAA
Nicholas Galanin, "Shadow On The Land"
7:00pm | Cooper Union
Ramp 2.0 Community Resilience Collaboration Station
5:30pm | Pratt
Become A Climate Voter And Make Polluters Pay
12:30pm | Pratt
Greenovation: Joan Fitzgerald
1:00pm | GSAPP
What About Learning? The Road Trip Symposium: Sam Jacob, Neal Shasore, & Roberta Marcaccio
9:00am | Yale
Community Dialogue: Latinidad
12:00pm | Pratt
9/23 | WEDNESDAY
Keynote: Environmental Racism Discussion: Samara Swanston, Priya Mulgaonkar, & Peggy Shepard
12:00pm | Pratt
Design Innovation: Resilient Cities Learning for Science: Areti Markopoulou
12:00pm | NYIT
Relocating A Swedish City: Kiruna Forever: Carlos Mínguez Carrasco & Elisa María López
12:00pm | CFA
AIANY Community Design Challenge Expert Panel: Illya Azaroff, Erick Gregory, Grayson Jordan, & Stefan Knust
6:00pm | CFA
REBELLION IN DESIGN: DEVELOPING A BLUEPRINT FOR THE FUTURE WITH Oana Stănescu, Join Virgil Abloh & James Wines
6:00pm | Cooper Hewitt
Ana María León: You Are Standing on Occupied Land
7:00pm | Rice
Is The Future Flat?
7:00pm | NYRA
The Language Of Ornament: Part I with Andrea Keller
8:30pm | ICAA
Entanglements | Janette Kim + Lydia Kallipoliti: Beneath The Dome And The Closed World
6:30pm | Cooper Union
9/24 | THURSDAY
Global Green New Deals: Mary Robinson, Rhiana Gunn-wright, & Osita Nwanevu
12:15pm | Cooper Union
Paul Vanouse: Making Difference
1:15pm | Cornell AAP
The City Panel—Mental Health and The Right to The City: Bryan Lee, Molly Kaufman, and Nupur Chaudhury
6:30pm | Yale
9/25 | FRIDAY
What About Learning? The Road Trip Symposium: Mel Dodd, Beatrice Galilee, Alicia Pivaro, and Nelly Ben Hayoun
9:00pm | Yale
Planning Beyond Covid-19: Panel + Discussion
3:30pm | Pratt
Post-Radical Design Pedagogy Lecture Series: Designing Futures Through Omni-Specialized Design: Ari Melenciano
4:00pm | Pratt
Imbuing Optimism Amid Interconnected Crises
6:00pm | Pratt
To see the complete list, go to nyra.nyc/events.
If you would plan to attend one and would like to write it up for us - do it! Sign up by e-mailing editor@nyra.nyc
—
If you were 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