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December 4, 2006
Progress in Brooklyn
The debate over Bruce Ratner's Frank Gehry-designed Atlantic Yards project has spawned an intellecutal slugfest in the online letters section of n+1. Author Jonathan Lethem explains the false choice faced by Brooklynites, while Jonathan Liu continues to criticize the strategy of discussing "context" (link).
Meanwhile, Brooklyn Views dismantles Jonathan Liu's conclusion in n+1 that, "to reject Gehry on the basis of 'context,' seems a disavowal of the progress of urban life itself.”
Well, here’s some breaking news: the so-called “progress” of urban life has not been a history of unequivocal success. Left to their own devices, the forces of business expedience in urban areas have often overwhelmed quality of life issues, the possibilities for meaning inherent in existing structures, and the potential that existing structures have for adaptive reuse.
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We do want progress in Brooklyn, and we should know how to get it right: there is such a thing as a design process that could bring us the development we deserve. It typically begins with planning. Perhaps Mr. Liu could speak with the development team about that?
NoLandGrab: Funny, but the more Liu disavows criticism of "context," the more he talks about it.
In reality, "context" is but one of the issues in the mix. Liu has overlooked taxpayer-financing of arenas, eminent domain, immitigable traffic, lack of public process, no release of an actual financial analysis, 19 towers plus an area all designed by Gehry (that's "progress"?), lack of a terrorism and security analysis, infrastructure overload, super-duperblocks... we'd go on but we had to come up for breath somewhere. All this effort on the part of Ratner and the ESDC is to create one of the largest, most-concentrated real estate empires that we've come across.
Posted by lumi at December 4, 2006 9:24 AM