The Case for Greening the Great White Way

In an opinion piece, Jeff Speck lays out his case for pedestrianizing Broadway throughout Manhattan. Portions of the street have already been given over to public space, so why not expand the conversion and introduce more green into the city?

1 minute read

April 15, 2013, 8:00 AM PDT

By Jonathan Nettler @nettsj


"Ironically, it is New York’s very density and lack of natural interruptions to its urban grid that make it so walkable — and therefore so sustainable," says Speck. "The city’s largely continuous intensity of shopfront after shopfront, lobby after lobby and stoop after stoop invite walking like no other, turning its residents into our country’s greenest citizens. Yet, most of New York remains resolutely, well, gray."

"This doesn’t seem fair," he continues. "A city with such a green footprint deserves more green spaces, spaces that could be enjoyed by its citizens on an everyday basis, without having to make the trek to Central Park. If only there was a way to dramatically increase the supply of natural landscape in Manhattan without interrupting its tremendously walkable grid."

"There is a way. It’s called Broadway."

Sunday, April 14, 2013 in New York Daily News

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