1. How do places change?
2. What role does the connection between people and the environment play in these changes?
3. How can we learn from these connections to best respond to the current challenges of climate change and sustainability?
What drew me to this day-long forum was the recent work of Eric Sanderson and the Mannahatta Project. A fascinating and visually stunning "Natural History of New York City", the project's broader contextual references, virtual reconstructions, and subsequent implications provide me with the narrative for one of my more recent explorations throughout the five boroughs.
The implications for the world, but more specifically for New York City are immense, complex and perhaps even a little frightening. However, as the City in North America that relies the least on the automobile for transportation there is hope for a brighter tomorrow. With that in mind I reflect on a more recent cycle excursion through upper Manhattan - 125th Street in Harlem, through to West Harlem Piers Park at the Hudson Rivers edge, and home through Riverside Park. .
Moving north from the confines of affluent anal retentives of the upper east side I slowly find myself being enveloped by the more lively environs of Harlem. What's most shocking is the generosity of the sidewalks that line both Malcolm X and Clayton Powell Jr Boulevards on either side of 125th street. The rich and colourful facades of the residences and businesses epitomize "decayed authenticity". There presence only heightened by the expanse of concrete that serves to allow observation from a distance. Easily two to three vehicular lanes in width, these 20-30' sidewalks seemed to be oversized for their level of activity. In fact they exhibited the spatial qualities one would expect of their more historical ecological roots - that of open grass/scrub-land (see map below).
(Malcom X and Adam Clayton Jr Boulevards)
(Mannahatta Project)
As I make my way west to the Hudson, where a newly constructed West Harlem Piers Park sits as a modern day terminus to the outfall from an historical tidal creek, I am cognoscente of the powerful impact topography has on our built environment. The historical ecologies that once ruled this island have evolved through anthropocentric succession to manifest themselves in the built environments that exist today. Not only does 125th street simply follow the once rippling pathways of the tributaries that previously fed this tidal estuary, it serves as a transportation corridor for it's modern day inhabitants to move from city to edge - recreating at the areas much needed West Harlem Piers Park. This corridor is further emphasized by the natural threshold that effectively separates the two neighbourhoods of Morningside and Hamilton Heights.
(Mannahatta Project)
(Google Maps - Terrain)
Arriving at West Harlem Piers Park may best be described as arriving at the proverbial 'pot of gold' at the end of the rainbow. Forward movement through the topographical threshold, comprised of not only the neighbourhoods mentioned above but also Riverside Park, reveals sweeping views to the north and south along the Hudson River and beyond; much as the early Dutch or Lenape peoples may have once seen. The park itself stands out nearly as strongly as I - new and exuding life - in a neighbourhood that is hardened and beautifully weathered. In fact, there are a great many people reading, fishing, and simply watching the waves lap at the piers' structural timbers.
(View Looking West from Pier 1)
(View Looking South)
Designed by W Architecture here in New York, the park has all the necessary elements of program to provide a destination as well as a pit stop for cyclists speeding north and south along the Hudson River bikeway. What I am most drawn to, however, is not the curiously placed remnants of granite or 'strategically placed' pieces of public art, but the placement and bi-sectional severing of the piers that cast themselves into the Hudson River. It is obvious these arms frame ones view at the terminus of 125th street. However, it was not until today's serendipitous attendance at Hunter College that I find myself truly "In the wake of the Half Moon".
As Henry Hudson certainly would have seen this location upon arrival to Mannahatta, the landscape architects attempted to recall this historical ecology by attempting to suggest a "design (that) is based on the idea of the valley form as a place for deposits". However, upon further investigation I would go even further to suggest that, in addition to the ecological elements, the geological realities of this place have, in fact, been clearly and metaphorically represented in the displacement of these two piers and the physical manifestations of the park's overall design. This deliberate split may very well represent the 125th Street Fault Line - a further layer of history, and present reality, that lies across this section of Manhattan.
(View Looking Northwest)
Apart from the single restorative feature of this park's design - habitat creation through the use of 'reef balls' - there appears little evidence of landscape urbanism rapidly finding its way into the design ethos of New Yorkers elsewhere throughout the City. In an attempt to summarize the lessons gleaned from the inspiring talks of today's forum, it is that in order to develop effective sustainability solutions to our current and future challenges, it is necessary to embed these efforts - our designs - more fully in an historical and locally specific context. Be it ecological or geological history, learning is always more comprehensive in reverse; even on a bike ride.
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