New York’s Future as a Community – Daniel Levin

The future of New York City lies in the city’s ability to foster both a sense of community and shared goals amongst its citizens. By examining different projects in this city as well as in others, we can mold an environment that breeds an educated, safe, and socially responsible populace.

The installment of Probation Resource Hubs in New York City aimed to create a friendlier environment for those awaiting services in probation offices. Designed by Oliver Munday, Carin Goldberg, James Victore, Paul Sahre, and Biber Architects, the Resource Hubs are a major step in establishing better relationships with would-be prisoners. Because the NYC Department of Probation sees thousands of people everyday, the waiting rooms were often clustered, stressful, and very little attention was put into their aesthetics. This project redesigned these rooms by, amongst other things, adding motivational posters, allowing more face to face time between staff and clients, adding an arts program, and streamlining the process to lower waiting times. The hope is that, by creating friendlier environments for people on probation, the hubs will make them feel like the system is working with them instead of against them, which hopefully will keep them on the right path.

The D.C Neighborhood Libraries project was designed by TEN Arquitectos, Bing Thom Architects, Perkins Eastman, Davis Brody Bond, The Freelon Group, Adjaye Associates, Wiencek + Associates Architects + Planners, Mecanoo, Martinez + Johnson Architecture, Franck & Lohsen Architects, Hord Coplan Macht, Moody Nolan, Vines Architectur, BELL Architects, HMA2 and CORE. This project involves massive renovations and redesigns of the Washington D.C library system. As a work in progress, it is creating modernized libraries that also function as social hubs which connect people around the city. It is also creating a wider circulation of books and information, helping to create a more well read populace. The project is aimed to be completed by 2020, at which point the designers hope that public schools will once again be established as a popular institution for learning.

Although the project is taking place in another city, I believe that it would be beneficial to replicate it in New York. While the New York Public Library system has always been an instrumental part of this city, certain libraries are outdated, understaffed, and underfunded. Modernizing the NYPL system would foster greater community involvement with educating the city’s youth. This would be especially important in poorer and underprivileged neighborhoods, where children tend to face a lack of high quality education combined with a slew of socioeconomic pressures. The modernized libraries could serve as an escape from these problems and perhaps can eventually fix these issues. By providing a safe place for people to learn and become connected to one another through shared interests, the NYPL can help foster communities that work together towards shared goals.

The Raleigh Denim Workshop, which was created by Victor Lytvinenko and Sarah Yarborough, is a North Carolina based project that designs and distributes denim jeans that are made to be environmentally sustainable. By making important design choices, like using older sewing machines, the organization aims to help reduce our carbon footprint and waste of materials. Because the United States contributes a disproportionate amount to global pollution, projects like these are needed in order to combat the impending damage that will be caused by climate change. However, I would argue that it would not be beneficial for New York City to invest in an organization like this. NYC has a vibrant fashion district and high demand for a variety of clothing. As a result, I do not think that an organization like Raleigh would be able to compete with more affordable clothing offered by companies both here and abroad.  It would be wasteful for the city government to invest in a project like this if there isn’t a strong market demand for it.