Brooklyn Stadium Project Controversy Continues
The controversy surrounding a proposed $4 billion sports arena and residential project on 22 acres in Brooklyn provokes questions about the area's future that are national, as well as local.
As the U.S. prepares to increase its population to 400 million by 2040—-absorbing a predicted 100 million people to its population—-new concerns are arising about how communities will provide affordable housing and adequate infrastructure. For some, the proposed high-density Atlantic Yards project in Brooklyn has become a case study for the future of cities in America and how they handle these issues.
It is also raising questions about whether the use of eminent domain to claim the property for the project is serving a primarily private, or public, interest. Also at stake is whether the promise of 2,250 units of affordable housing is a worthwhile tradeoff for radically reshaping the streets of brownstones and storefronts into a landscape of skyscrapers.
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Atlantic Yards, Pedestrians, and Frank Gehry
This article ignores one important controversy about Atlantic Yards: its failure to improve conditions for pedestrians.
This area contains the most dangerous intersection in Brooklyn (Flatbush-4th Avenue-Atlantic Avenue), and the train yards get in the way of pedestrian movement.
Frank Gehry's design makes no effort to knit together the urban fabric so it works for pedestrians. As usual, Gehry is interested in designing icons that call attention to themselves - not in designing good places for people.
The developer's response to complaints about traffic was: no problem, we will just widen the street - which, of course, will make the area even more hostile to pedestrians.
For more info, see the comments of the Project for Public Spaces at http://www.pps.org/info/newsletter/new_york_city_commentary/borough_oppo....
A quote from these comments:
"Instead of a development that enhances the public realm of the borough, we have before us yet more concessions to traffic and carte blanche for the architect's ego. ... All Gehry's creations are interesting from a distance, but up close they lack the multitude of uses that are essential to real urban destinations. They are objects, not places."
Charles Siegel