In addition to the two pieces of writing that I’ve asked for next week, there is some reading to do. The principal piece is the E.B. White essay that I mentioned, “Here Is New York.” Here it is:
We will discuss this in class next week.
Not critical, but interesting, is this look at how various Manhattan neighborhoods got their names. We could do something comparable for the whole city, but for now here’s Manhattan:
And this is something for a few weeks from now, but you might as well watch it as soon as you can. It’s an hour-long video on a classic study done by William H. Whyte (not to be confused with E.B. White). It’s called “The Social Life of Small Urban Spaces.” What it does is something I would like you to do at some point this semester: observe how people use public spaces — what works, what doesn’t, and why. This is from 1980, as you’ll see from the way folks are dressed, but while wardrobes change, human behavior doesn’t necessarily. Here it is:
And here are a few reference items on mass transit, none of which involve heavy lifting, to get our discussion of transportation rolling:
Here’s a history of the NYC subway:
And here are a couple of sets of facts and figures on subway and bus ridership from the MTA:
Do we want car-free streets? Here’s a brief look at how Montreal does it:
It took nearly a century to get even this short leg of the 2nd Ave. Subway up and running:
And is this stub of a 2nd Ave. Subway worth the vast expense? Not everyone is so sure:
Mayor de Blasio has proposed a streetcar to run along the waterfront in Brooklyn and Queens. It’s still very much a work in progress because, among other things, various groups must first sign off on it. But we haven’t had a street car in this city in many decades, so this is interesting and warrants a look. Here’s a New York Times story on this idea:
