The museum had a lot to offer regarding historical data. First off the museum was intriguing to me in that it wasn’t like the more typical museums where there are a lot of rules and you can’t touch anything. To an extent touching was encouraged (except for the architectural models), people were sitting on the couches in the ‘apartment’ and Nicholas even got to play around with the chair and make it a ladder. Although the museum gave off a very homey environment and in my opinion fostered a certain amount of learning to an extent, I don’t feel the ideas it was presenting were very practical.

Regarding the small room for one person/community living, personally I thought it was a good idea and wouldn’t mind at all living in a room like that. But, one must take into account the cost of the apartment. Someone who’s in college isn’t going to have enough money to shell out for an apartment. Especially because the real estate agents are going to try and sell off a community aspect to it so they can try and get more money out of the student. With that regard the student might just rather pay for a dorm because he’ll still get that community aspect but he won’t have to pay as much.

As for the elderly, the tour guide mentioned that this type of house can be used for the elderly who’ve lost a spouse and live alone. That sounds like a horrible idea because although there are elderly with apartments to themselves, all that extra room kind of acts like an invite to their grandchildren and family to come visit them. If you take that away and leave them in a small enclosed room some family members might not go visit then because there is simply no place to stay in the room.

Finally, and this relates to the paragraph before regarding the elderly there is no place for visitors. Granted there will probably be a lobby as mentioned in the tour, or a place for the tenant to chill in a community type atmosphere, if one of his friends wants to crash by his house for the night it becomes a hassle to do so. Also, the tour guide mentioned that certain commodities will come with the house such as indoor sports as well as outdoor sports to an extent how much extra will this cost. Even ignoring the money for a moment how will this be organized will the facilities get in the way of everyone’s everyday schedule and how much ‘sport time’ are you allowed to have.

Personally, I would not mind to live in such an atmosphere it looked like a fun place to live from my perspective. However, in order for me to be completely sold on the apartment I’m going to have to learn a lot more about how the house/facilities function and how much the rent will cost for such a place. So, in theory it sounds like a good idea in theory but there still remain a few questions about the apartment that need to be answered.

I found the Making Room exhibit at the Museum of the City of New York to be very interesting. I think micro-apartments such as the ones the exhibit showed off can be a great option for people who want to live alone in an affordable apartment without sacrificing quality. Since there are so many single adults living in New York City, I think building apartments like these are a great way for New York City to evolve to accommodate for its population.

One thing I believe that New York City excels at is offering a variety of options to support its diverse population with different desires and values. The people of New York City have plenty of options when it comes to what to eat, what to do, and where to live. The building ideas shown in the exhibit have smaller spaces that use space creatively to provide the best possible experiences for their residents. These will help to give New Yorkers even more options for where to live. Considering such a large portion of New York City’s population is made up of adults living alone, this new option will likely be a welcome addition.

I enjoyed the way in which the exhibit showed the problems and solutions related to housing individuals living alone. The way the statistics about New York City’s population and the laws that fail to accommodate for them were presented was interesting and easy to understand. The video further explained the situation and how it could be resolved.

I thought the best part of the exhibit was the section with the models presenting how various ideas for managing space could be used in buildings. The actual model of a micro-apartment was my favorite because it really portrayed what the experience of living in that type of space would be like. I did also enjoy the other models that give an idea of how a building could be built to accommodate for these apartments and make better use of its space.

I enjoyed visiting the museum and I think living in an apartment like the ones depicted in the exhibit would be a great, affordable way to have the amenities I would want and need at the expense of extra space that is unnecessary for a person living alone.

I really enjoyed the Making Room exhibit at the Museum of the City of New York. I think that the new plan for innovative housing construction in New York City shows great potential. It is an exciting new idea to design single occupant houses in the city. As a college student, I am familiar with the stressful process of finding affordable living spaces, particularly the need to look for roommates in order to cut costs.

However, even though the main attraction of these apartments was advertised as the fact that they were designed for single occupants, I was particularly impressed by how so many of the designs allowed for communal spaces. I actively support the idea that single people should have spaces where they can afford to live independently. Having such apartment complexes that allow for this function while also providing for social interaction and community building would really make urban living attractive.

I would like to know more about how eco-friendly these houses are. I recently studied abroad in Florence, Italy during the winter intersession and was deeply struck by how environmentally conscious Europeans seem to be. If these modern apartments are to symbolize the future of New York City, then they should definitely take into account the latest eco-friendly practices in design and building. I hope that these new construction ideas will maximize the potential for eco-friendly living.

However, I would say that this mission is already halfway accomplished by the effective utilization of space in these designs. As our tour guide mentioned, “land is actually shrinking” in this age of over population and climate change.  It is essential to find creative ways to utilize available space for maximum utility and these ideas seem to be doing that very well. Thus, I think that this is a commendable direction for the city to focus its planning efforts toward.

I hope that the space conserving and economical apartments grow to be a trend in urban building in the near future. As a member of the target clientele for these designs, I would definitely love to rent or invest in one of these apartments!

I have actually been to the City Museum of New York during my first IDC Class, however we looked at a different exhibit that dealt with Jacob Reiss’ photos, and we focused on that time period. This time, there was a refreshingly new concept, and I liked that this museum wasn’t studying the past, but rather focusing on the future. This concept of fixing the issues we have with population density is relevant, and the solutions were also very exciting.

One thing was that I never realized was how much big of an issue population density was in America. On the news you hear about China, but rarely about America, however as our guide was explaining, more and more people are moving into cities. Perhaps this can be accounted to the fact that people tend to get married and settled down later in their lives, or that as a society we have become more career oriented. Therefore, I think it is important that we address this issue in our new era of architecture by making buildings that are definitely more space efficient.

The idea that these single roomed, small space apartments were already in Mayor Bloomberg construction plans for the cities amazes me, because as an individual that resides in New York City, I often forget how truly crowded it is here. The prototypes of apartment that were to be built, was definitely my favorite part of the exhibit. The tiny apartment was so cleverly built, and ridiculously space efficient. As a college student who would like to live in the city after I graduate, I can truly see myself living in one of these one-bedroom studios. The idea to me seems revolutionary, and I believe it targets the perfect customer base, because many single younger New Yorkers would like to live in the city.

The only issue that I had with this concept is with actual houses. Personally, I feel that there is a small market for people who would want to live in a small single house. A house is looked at an investment for the future, so it doesn’t make sense to buy a single person home. Also, these houses would be located on the outskirts of the city, and single people are more likely to live in the city, and then move out when they have families. However, if there was a large market this single house market could become big in the renting sector. This could work well with older people who haven’t settled down, but want to live outside of the hustle and bustle of the City.

Last, but not least the museum itself was beautiful. I love the chandelier they had in the entrance, and our tour guide was both passionate and informative about the subject matter. Her extra insight really added into the experience and showed me how seriously people are taking this issue. I also like the exhibition because it directly tied into what we are studying.

I found this week’s readings to be quite enlightening. Every urban studies and sociology course I have had so far had taken care to mention Robert Moses, his works and most importantly, the popular notion of his authoritarian style of city planning. Every story has two sides and Ballon and Jackson persuasively argue for the other side of the Robert Moses legend. He may have been the power broker but he was also a great agent of progress. The evidence for this, as argued by both Ballon and Jackson, can be found in the fact that New York City remains one of the few cities to have come out of the post-industrial era as a still thriving metropolis. This was a refreshing point of view from which to understand this chapter of New York history.

However, I liked that Ballon, while making the case for Robert Moses’ actions to be seen in context, also acknowledged that there was some merit to the criticism that is usually leveled at him. Personally, while I am impressed by Mr. Moses’ vision and achievements, I also feel that such an approach is counter-intuitive for any city that seeks to retain or attract new residents. City planning needs to be a democratic process. There is no use in having a city that attains visionary heights if that vision is not shared by all those who live in and contribute to the city.

Hilary Ballon writes Moses did indeed avoid democratic planning meetings in favor of swiftly moving projects along. Her key argument here is that given the context of Robert Moses’ time as the leader of city planning in New York, his approach was perhaps the one that was necessary. Since most of this work was carried out with federal funding, it was necessary to reconcile federal approval requirements with concerns of the private builders who were to be attracted to the city. Ballon argues that far from beng the “commanding general,” Moses was merely a middle man who did what was needed to save the city in tense circumstances.

I think this brings up an important question regarding large scale projects such as the rehabilitation of slum areas that was carried out in Moses’ time. Any such project will have to reconcile the needs of varied groups. To say that federal funding always comes with strings for state governments is understandable. However, this cannot be the reason to somehow expedite city projects without the ‘pesky’ democratic meetings and debates that need to take place before decisions are made.

Overall, I agree with the authors about Robert Moses’ extraordinary and vital contributions to making New York City into the flourishing city that it is today. While we can all be glad that New York itself made it through as a better place, it is also important to note that widespread dissatisfaction and resentment can arise from planning for the future of the city without consulting everyone who will be affected by it, namely the general public. This is especially illustrated by Robert Moses’ work; both authors successfully show that he accomplished extraordinary things, yet we cannot help but note that the popular attitude towards Mr. Moses is not one of gratitude.

This museum trip was very educational. Although I don’t have a personal interest in housing, it was very interesting to learn about. The ideas that really stuck out for me were the statistics of single people living alone in NYC and in the USA, the exhibit of a new idea for single person housing and the asAPT NYC.

Although I knew Manhattan was not a place people usually raise children in, I was surprised at the mass amount of single people in New York. If I recall correctly it was 33 percent of New York City residents live alone. Not only was the number shocking, I never thought that in this percentage old people would be included. I always assumed old people wouldn’t want to live in such a hectic environment but the city does have its own attraction that young and old like to live here.

I wasn’t surprised though that Washington D.C. topped the ranking for the city with the most single people. If you think about it, a lot of people there are probably politicians. While their work is here, I believe for safety reasons and the environment that exists in D.C. that families of the politicians are probably living away from the capital. Most politicians most likely only live in single dwellings when they have work there.

The exhibit that showed how much space could be saved with the right thinking really left an impression on me. The space and the furniture were used so efficiently. The couch can turn into a queen size bed; the chair could turn into a ladder; behind the tv was a wine cooler. Not only that, but city regulations were also kept including the width of the doorway to the bathroom. Even though the space isn’t that big, there is so much stuff for a single person to use there. It was just as interesting as the design competition.

The design competition adAPT NYC is a bold step for New York City. The winner of the competition gets their building design built on an actual piece of land. Given the statistics we learned on the museum tour, I see the reason for Bloomberg holding the contest but didn’t know he would go so far with it. Overall, I learned a lot from this trip and was glad to have went on it.

Making Room: New Models for Housing New Yorkers. This exhibit at the Museum of the City of New York is rightfully titled, as it addresses the issues New York is having when it comes to housing. The exhibit did a wonderful job demonstrating the changing demographics of New Yorkers and showcasing the possible solutions to address this evolving population.

As family dynamics are changing, apartments and homes no longer need to cater towards “nuclear” families. The traditional married couple with two children and a pet once dominated the housing market but singles are now rapidly becoming important players. In order to accommodate such a change, New York has had to create innovative design solutions.

The fully furnished micro-studio apartment was, perhaps, my favorite part of our museum visit. I was pleasantly surprised to see how economical the studio was, utilizing every inch of the 325-square-foot layout as efficiently as possible. From the foldout bed, to the ottoman that transformed into four decently sized tables, the show room truly served as a good example of where the future of NYC apartments is headed. Personally, I would not mind living in a studio like that.

I also greatly enjoyed seeing what other countries are doing/have done in an attempt to remedy their growing populations. Japan, for example, has established living spaces that share common backyards or play areas. Other countries such as Montreal have also successfully begun to reshape their building strategies so as to adapt to a rising single-population. New York, too, has taken a new approach and has started using modular building techniques.

Lastly, I was very happy to see that the city is promoting creative thinking by sponsoring competitions such as Bloomberg’s design contest. The only way our city will be able to adapt to changing times is by encouraging people to be experiment and test tradition.

I knew Robert Moses was thickheaded but didn’t know he was like that his whole life. Some call him thick headed but I might look at it as his determination. If he can’t have what he wants, he will not compromise. He would rather quit than submit to the higher ups. What happened with the swimming team and the public office can show his resolve to not submit to those above him just because they told him to do something.

Robert Moses’ case shows that words without the power to back them up can be futile. It is honestly very sad to that although he means well, a corrupt government stood before him. It resulted in him losing his job with a family to support. I am quite surprised on how he was able to get back up from that. I read a book about Jane Jacobs before and Robert Moses was depicted as an enemy to her ideals. Although people may believe in Jane Jacobs’ ideals, they should respect in Robert Moses’ attitude towards his work.

Even though I knew Robert Moses was the creator of many famous structures such as the Van Wyck Expressway, it is amazing how much he has done. The structures he had constructed are all over New York from beaches to bridges. It is no wonder that he is forever memorialized with his own parks and dams. He did so much for the city that his legacy could never be forgotten, even without memorials.

If I was interested in obtaining mass of amounts I wish I got to know Robert Moses. Although I kid about this, it is quite impressive how many people he has helped and what kind of people he has helped as well. Bankers obviously have a reason to interact with Robert Moses to help deal with financing but to think a hot dog seller was able to have his lifestyle change completely is unbelievable. I wonder what he did that made Robert Moses think to help him.

My opinion of Robert Moses has changed greatly now. I read from Jane Jacobs perspective of the type of neighborhood was best and saw Robert Moses as an enemy to her ideals. However, Robert Moses had the government against his ideals as well during his career. He is not necessarily an enemy to Jane Jacobs for he did what he did for his beliefs just like her. He had the same amount of grit if not more and I respect him for what both Jane Jacobs and he have done for this city.