Stacks Image 19
Stacks Image 22
Stacks Image 25
Grandma's Windowsill

Grandma's windowsill 1

It seems to be an indisputable fact that cities all over the globe to be " softened " so they increasingly meet the recreational community's demands for recreational activities , absence of noise , and minimizing traffic pressure. The city as a figure of thought is changing. It is probably most of the old ( western ) world, the transition from the creative to the recreation spaces are a topic of discussion . But lurking me if the idea is spreading.
We can quickly agree on the good that the city does not represent a constricting or unsafe framework for the individual's life , but that it can accommodate very many ways of living. But maybe that with the growth of leisure culture spread unintentional simplification of just living the ways of the city in recent years . It seems that life now more than ever is divided into work and leisure . The transitions between the two types of life are few and weak . Most important is that the work is spreading into the private sphere through mobile phones , emails and iPads with the same accessibility requirements as if you were physically sitting in his office . That is to say : not a new merge of the two time similarities in our lives, but working life conquest of leisure pursuits.

Now the time has come to attempt a softening of the most byagtige city I can think of , namely New York. Or at least New York's historic core Manhattan. For it is incidentally always use the most historic city centers that get a " Extreme Makeover " . Suburbs and production areas over gåes , even after all still there, we spend most of our time . The signal here could read as follows: leisure is high quality , work is mortally ill .

Grandma's windowsill 2

Manhattan has for years been characterized by traffic continual alternation between avenuernes nordsyd movement and streets østvest movement, alternating as a giant relay with lyskurvenes synchronous switching from green to nordsyd direction to green for østvest traffic. This is a clear urban space with productivity, bustle , transport and high speed motor and base. And that is what has drawn all of us who at some point in life would stay over there and be a part of " the beat of town" as it was called in the 1980s .

In Manhattan , the beat changing. Leisure Culture is slowly gaining ground in the "city without benches ." The city opens up gradually for bicycle culture. Those who dare , can bike or skateboarding in the streets among the cars. And some of the avenues are there with opstribnnger on the roadway established separate lanes for bikes and cars. In the more obscure parts of New York - which is most - the bicycle has long been a means of transport . But the branding of the city as a tourist destination , the city government will have to ally with urban planners and advertisers with the soft city as a specialty. It is apparently a change in the cityscape, as fully caters to the outside world, as the local New Yorkers .

Grandma's windowsill 3

The fire-safety best bet right now on this development in New York is undoubtedly the elevated park " Highline " , created by Diller , Scofidio Renfro and on a former railway track in 2nd floor level on the west side of Manhattan. A truly beautiful, clear and intelligent contribution to a city park , which takes into account the city's changes and settles beautifully in the city where it reveals an entirely new - and New York - very hushed room at the rear of the buildings ( But the city 's dynamic , so now the buildings by investors help by turning against High Line green bystreg ) . The aesthetic grip in the project is raw , simple and direct - that New Yorkers call BOLD . But the "tender crevice " in the urban space , the High Line is supposed to be the city's population , is suffocating in its own success. It is about getting the most unhappy fate , something artwork can get : It is becoming a tourist attraction. On a sunny Sunday is now as close as you do all the weekdays in the subway on the way to work.

In a sense, the High Line's location in the 2nd floor level symptomatic of the kind bytiltag . They are not closely interwoven with city life (such as Thompkins Square Park is on the Lower East Side ) . It is a recreation picture, but not really a reinterpretation of the relationship between work and leisure. For oversize is a sceneopbygnng on the route in 2 floor level , where one can sit in a theater and look down on the 8th . Avenues everyday traffic, but protected from its sound and smell of a large glass.

Grandma's windowsill 4

The big fuck -up will be when this amenity idea spread to Manhattan's other urban spaces. The streets of West Chelsea around 14 street, which is the High Line's lower source , fitted with colored asphalt and flower pots , so the neighborhood now looks like grandmother's windowsill . The pace drops dramatically from busy trot to lethargic saunter . Very far from the fierce and glorious dynamics , as the city is known for.

The soft city is good and necessary , so we can have space to organize our lives, as it suits us, no doubt about it. But it seems that so far is only one way to define its spaces on . For leisure consumption and experience palatability . And one must ask themselves whether it is the same , almost Scandinavian model to be used in any city regardless of its own mood and starting point. It is certainly clear to this blogger that Manhattan loses some of its character and dynamics when caffelatten spreading.

I know the creative underground in New York well. Like it knows that too much rekreativitet stands in the way of creativity. Therefore move it to Brooklyn. To find dynamic places , and to find a rent to pay , whether it is for home , studio or factory . There you cycle , there are community gardens, there you build a bench if you need one , and establishes bookcases on the street so people can exchange books on the fly - fortunately even without fire DRAWING yoke upon the neck.


MS 130413