Olympia Katsi began her lecture with a short excursion into the history of the Institute of Urbanism and Urban Design in general. Urbanism as a discipline originated in the 1960s at Harvard University. In the 1960s, the first school appeared, and 5 years later, the first specialists. In 1978, Urban Design magazine hosted the first National Conference on Urban Design, bringing together experts in the field for the first time. The purpose of the conference was to bring together not only urbanists, but also city planners, landscape designers, developers, politicians. It was a good decision, people met, exchanged opinions, talked about urban design, as well as related issues such as the use of public spaces and brownfields - an urban space previously occupied by industrial enterprises and in need of cleaning. In 1981, Denis Scott Brown and David Lynch organized the first educational Urban Institute, where Olympia Katzi joined in 2007 as CEO.
Urban planning began much earlier than urbanism - in 1923, also at Harvard. Already in 1927, the first Department of Urban Planning was created, which for thirty-one years (until 1968) developed the first plan for New York. This plan was sharply criticized, it did not contain practical solutions for the further development of the city. Therefore, there was a lot of talk about creating the next plan, which only appeared in 2007. It was a voluminous volume that collected all urban planning proposals for New York, divided into six sections: water, air, energy, transportation, climate change, land use. They tried to make this plan very specific, it included 127 initiatives. For its implementation, a new department was created, called the Department of Prospective and Sustainable Development of the City. The new plan's initiatives included planting 1 million trees, creating parks within 10 minutes' walk of every home, increasing public spaces, converting parking lots into pedestrian zones, and creating bike paths throughout the city. To reduce carbon emissions and traffic congestion in the city, it was decided to make the entrance fee to the city - $ 9. Such a system is called "eco-pass" and it has long been practiced in other world capitals. In New York, it was possible to introduce it only in Manhattan. Probably the main reason for this is the underdevelopment of infrastructure and public transport. Another problem - the insufficient number of housing for the rapidly growing population of the city - is supposed to be solved by developing the already mentioned "brown zones" and the previously undeveloped coast of Manhattan.
The New York Institute for Urban Studies also contributed to this plan, bringing in experts to create a city plan. The institute has also published a book that compiles all suggestions from the institute members. It was handed over to the city administration, which uses this book as an action plan.
Now, despite the crisis, most of the multi-billion dollar megaprojects continue to be implemented. New York is accustomed to megaprojects, but earlier they were not exactly famous architects, but now there is a different era of "stars". Financial Times critic Eddie Hitgot, in his "Last 4" article, says that New York has stood apart for several centuries, and now it has become less isolated, since there are "stars" who are building their own not only in New York. but also in all major cities of the world.
One such megaproject in New York is Hudson Yards. It occupies a huge area, 6.5 acres in the heart of Manhattan, and for its implementation it is necessary to build huge farms - overlapping the entire site. The city had to join forces of five private developers, as well as renowned architects and landscape designers. The project program was limited: the architects were required to create a large number of square meters for offices, shops, housing, cultural space and a park. It was impossible to build it all into the city unnoticed. In May 2008, three projects were finally selected: from the architectural bureaus KPF (Cohn Pedersen Fox), Arcitectonics and the bureau of Robert A. M. Stern. Now the construction of Hudson Yard has been suspended due to the crisis, and the flow of private investment has stopped. According to Olympia Katsi, this is even good, because some things in the project can be changed that do not suit the residents.
The World Trade Center (WTC) in Downtown is another Manhattan mega-project. After the tragic events of September 11, there was a lot of controversy over this place. The Twin Towers were leased by the developer Silversting, and after the collapse, the company still had the right to lease the land. After the tragedy, a large empty territory was formed and it was important for the city to know what exactly the developer was planning to build, which initially did not listen to public opinion, which caused a negative reaction from the Americans.
As a result, as you know, an open competition was held, the winner of which was Daniel Libeskind with the project of the Freedom Tower. Libeskind's project won largely due to symbolism: the two buildings in the center symbolize the Twin Towers. The symbolic memorial was very important for people who will be able to come there and remember this terrible tragedy. Eight years have passed and construction has finally begun.
The next megaproject, an extension of Columbia University in Harlem, an upper Manhattan area, was made by another star architect, Renzo Piano. The project met with much opposition from local residents, mostly African Americans with lower educational attainment and disabilities than other Manhattan residents. They are afraid of becoming outsiders in a newly built neighborhood inhabited by wealthy people who get the opportunity to move closer to the center.
Another ambitious project is to plant 1 million trees in the city. In Paris, there is an example of a park laid out on the territory of a former railway. New York decided to follow this example and a similar park should open in a month, stretching from Down Town to 12th Street for several kilometers.
Climate change is an important factor for a coastal city like New York. Even if there is a little more rainfall than usual, not to mention natural disasters, New York will sink and the multi-billion dollar projects mentioned earlier will be under water. According to Olympia Katzi, one should not do "stupid planning", but one should be aware of where we are investing money.
Another thing that matters to the city is pollution. According to Olympia Katzi, the widespread belief that pollution is related to industry and cars is not entirely true. It turns out that construction pollutes the urban environment the most. Therefore, you need to think about what materials to use in construction, how the building will continue to exist and how to maintain it.
A large number of cars on the streets is a normal situation in a big city. We now live in the era of "post-cars", and if cars cannot be completely abandoned, then we need to develop a hybrid transport. Then the streets will be greener, without cars, and the air will be cleaner.
In New York, there is the Bronx area where poor people live. There are many enterprises and the ecology leaves much to be desired. The Bronx has 50% more asthma cases than other New York areas. The people who live there pay for the air with their health, and this is not normal. When planning a city, you need to understand how to distribute production and how it will work. A committee was formed in the Bronx to protect its residents, and it is important that he partnered with Mayor Bloomberg in developing a new plan for New York.
As Olympia Katsi says, today it is very important to understand architecture as a multidisciplinary science. If you are an architect, then your task is to take into account the interests of each specific community of people. For example, San Diego-based architect Teddy Cruz was recruited by Casa Familiar, a charity construction organization, to design a low-budget home. Such houses were created in parallel with a microcredit system that allowed very poor people to buy houses for themselves. In addition, the territory plan was developed so that people could not only live in the area, but also work. As a result of cooperation with a charitable organization, the interests of this population group were taken into account as much as possible.
In conclusion, Olympia Katsi summed up everything that was said, which sounded like a call to all people living in megacities: planning for the future is important and difficult, but we must do it.
Everything that Katsi talked about in her lecture was very clear and accessible, no terminology or scientific research. Traffic jams, poor ecology, overpopulation, spontaneous growth of the city - we all see this every day, going outside, breathing air, moving around the city. New York has the same problems as Moscow. It's just a shame that no one thinks about Muscovites as they do about New Yorkers.
