New York City’s Office of Policy and Strategic Planning is a group of tech-savvy and civic-minded number crunchers analyzing city statistics for solutions to some pressing and convoluted problems.
New York City DOT plans to add coordinated wayfinding maps on sidewalks and at bikeshare stations citywide to promote walking and local business.
“We have a great system of signage for cars, but we don’t have a good system of signage for people,” said Jeanette Sadik-Khan, NYC’s Transportation Commissioner. Starting in March, New York City will install 150 ‘wayfinding’ signs on sidewalks in Manhattan, Brooklyn and Queens.
The Science Barge greenhouse is a prototype of sustainable urban farm floating on the Hudson River. The greenhouse grows an abundance of fresh produce including tomatoes, melons, greens, and lettuce with zero net carbon emissions, zero pesticides, and zero runoff.
More at Groundwork Hudson Valley
(via urbangreens)
Timelapse video of artist Patrick Vale drawing the view of the Manhattan skyline from the Empire State Building. Music - Moanin’ by Charles Mingus.
“Look around you. Bikes are everywhere: in glamorous ads and fashionable neighborhoods, parked outside art galleries, clubs, office buildings. More and more city workers arrive for work on bikes. The future is visible in the increasing number of bikes you see all over the urban landscape. This simple form of transportation is about to make our city more livable, more human and better connected; New Yorkers are going to love the bike-share program; culturally and physically, our city is perfectly suited for it.” - David Byrne, New York Times
EXIT TO CHAMBERS ST. (by m.joedicke)
New York City, 1979.
A piece of the West Side Highway collapsed in 1973 and for more than a decade they argued about plans and funding for a bigger and better superhighway replacement. In the meantime, whole sections of the unsound elevated structure sat abandoned. Eventually they just tore the damn thing down and replaced it with a boulevard.
(via titularhumour)
Functional Active Design in NYC
New York City commissioned this study to provide a means to mitigate excess storm water from flooding the subway system. This solution comes equipped with benches and bike racks. Check out more pictures of this and other innovative projects by Grimshaw Architects.
Photo Credit: Grimshaw Architects
Brooklyn Receives First DOT Sanctioned “Pop-Up” Cafe
Photo: Pattern Cities
I love this! New Yorks DOT has enhanced the liveablity of local neighbourhoods by reclaiming parking space and creating an inexpensive opportunity for people to stop and participate in their city. These pop-up spaces also create a facility that has the potential to enhance the economic position of local businesses.
Not to be outdone, NYC took the cue and has since added their own “pop-up” cafes, which are typically placed in front of restaurants where sidewalk widths preclude outdoor sidewalk seating. While the seats are open to restaurant patrons and non-patrons alike, intelligent business owners surely see the benefit to making space for people to linger in front of their establishments. Since last fall, several pop-up cafes have been built in Manhattan, adding much needed places to sit and enjoy the City’s wonderful street life.
(via rpgsa)
Pop-up pianos. Nyc, 18th June - 2nd July 2011.
Pianos adorned by local artists appeared 3 days ago around the five boroughs of New York City including City Hall Park, the Staten Island ferry terminal and Tribeca Park, for the public to freely showcase their talent. Sing for Hope hosts 88 pianos for its second annual Pop-Up Piano event. The non-profit organization that strives to mobilize professional artists in volunteer programs for the community decided to start the event in 2010, hosting 60 pianos. After being played by the public for two weeks, the pianos will be donated to various schools, hospitals or community groups. Each piano will be “buddied” with the organizations as another step of community involvement.
randomlyrational: Whoa, this is incredible. This photographer from Quebec went to 5 major cities (Quebec, Montreal, Toronto, Chicago, and New York) and created a timelapse video showing the “duality between city and nature.” These pictures are so incredible! 1,000,000 views in a week!
