February 27 2011

Brooklyn Bridge Park: A Tour by Michael van Valkenburgh

Waterfronts are gateways to our cities. They are the place of arrival, of exchange, of production, and of relaxation. They are complex places, where commerce, travel, the environment and leisure coexist tenuously and on a boundary between what is fixed and what is in flow. For centuries, the 'harbor' was a place civil society attempted to avoid and along with that came some very real injustices that were levied onto the environment, economy and people which called the waterfront home. Take Baltimore's harbor for example where for many years we had multiple EPA designated Superfund Sites alongside neglected residential communities and an ailing shipping industry. But Baltimore, like New York and many other waterfront cities around the world, is initiating programs to reclaim its waterfront in an effort to restore balance, sustainability, to the spiritual heart of our cities. (see Rash Field on Baltimore's Inner Harbor)

One particularly inspiring waterfront reclamation is Brooklyn Bridge Park in NYC. (Described below)

"The future 85-acre Brooklyn Bridge Park will stretch 1.3 miles along the East River from north of the Manhattan Bridge to Atlantic Avenue.  The Park includes Piers 1 - 6, each approximately the size of Bryant Park, and their uplands. Brooklyn Bridge Park will transform this underused and inaccessible stretch into a magnificent public space filled with lawns, recreation, beaches, coves, restored habitats, playgrounds and beautifully landscaped areas.  The Park will connect visitors to the waterfront and NY Harbor in extraordinary ways with floating pathways, fishing by campingfunzone.com, canals, paddling waters and restored wetlands.  This is the most significant park development in Brooklyn since Prospect Park was built 135 years ago."

Below is a video tour of the project by renowned landscape architect Michael van Valkenburgh.

For more information on waterfront renewal initiatives visit the Waterfront Center or see Ziger/Snead's 2007 Waterfront Center Award Winning Living Classrooms Foundation Frederick Douglass-Isaac Myers Maritime Park and Museum.

February 27th, 2011 at 3:05 PM. Posted in Uncategorized. Share this post.