PORTFOLIO CAROLYN LEVINE CONTACT INFORMATION EXPERIENCE HIGHLIGHTED EXPERIENCE

[email protected] OONEE | Consultant PEOPLE FOR PARCEL 5 | Co-founder (585) 752-2608 Brooklyn, NY | November 2020 - January 2021 Rochester, NY | 2016-2018 carolynlevine.com • Writing and graphic design for reports and RFP responses to help the Oonee team build out safe, secure cycle parking in cities around the U.S. Citizen-led advocacy group to support community-driven activation of public space EDUCATION PRATT INSTITUTE | Graduate Assistant on a vacant lot in the heart of . Organized meetings, workshops, Brooklyn, NY | August 2019 - Present Pratt Institute and special events to build capacity and Graduate Center for Planning and the • Editor, MultipliCity (GCPE student magazine) outline community priorities. Environment (GCPE) • Research and planning for Pratt Institute Housing Consortium (Fall 2020) MS, Urban Placemaking and Management Visit OurParcel5.com to learn more Expected completion May 2021 PROJECT FOR PUBLIC SPACES | Project Intern HI, I’M CAROLYN , NY | February 2020 - May 2020 Rochester Institute of Technology • Participate in design thinking sessions, team calls and meetings ROCHESTER PARK(ING) DAY College of Art and Design Conduct literature reviews and provide edits to program model narratives • Planning Committee, Co-chair BFA, Graphic Design, with honors • Provide benchmark research of relevant case studies Rochester, NY | Fall 2016 August 2008 - May 2011 • Conduct data analysis of community engagement I’m a student at Pratt Institute’s Graduate Center for Planning DIII Women’s Lacrosse • Provide graphic assistance for deliverables, presentations, reports and boards Partnered with local organizations to and the Environment, working to make communities more • Prepare matrices, and/or appropriate summaries of activation plans create a pop-up park in a vacant lot to equitable and just through community-based planning, St. Lawrence University initiate dialogue about public space and Communication Studies design, and policy. I brings a place-based lens to projects OLAH INC. | Event Producer the impact of designing our cities for August 2007 - May 2008 New York, NY | April 2019 - November 2019 cars instead of people. Hosted discussion that centers community knowledge and expertise. DIII Women’s Lacrosse about neighborhood history, pop-up art • Coordinated production of 2-day, biannual trade shows in New York and gallery, yoga class, food truck, live music, Amsterdam and consumer-facing festival in New York Prior to studying at Pratt, I worked in the energy and and more! PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT • Oversaw event preparation and logistics for 100+ exhibitors across 3 venues transportation sector, leading a community-based program • Designed print collateral, digital marketing materials, and event signage Dignity Institute (Academic Track) to accelerate the adoption of electric vehicles in Rochester, NY. I earned a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Graphic Design Thrivance Group, fall 2020 RECONNECT ROCHESTER Volunteer ELECTRIFICATION COALITION | Program Lead Rochester, NY | 2015-2018 from Rochester Institute of Technology. Reimaging Streets as Places Training Rochester, NY | May 2017 - March 2019 PPS + Mobycon, fall 2020 • Managed grassroots program supported by New York State Energy Research Coordinated “Buses + Beers,” a multi-modal and Development Authority (NYSERDA) to accelerate the adoption of electric pub crawl to introduce the bus system to SKILLS vehicles (EVs) in greater Rochester, resulting in 22 percent increase in EV sales new riders. Painted and delivered seasonal seating to bus stops (featured in CityLab, • Organized 1,036 test drives, instituted Workplace Charing program with 13 that’s CAROLYN LEVINE me! July 2019). Volunteered at events including SOFTWARE area employers, and met goal of 1.79 percent market penetration documentary screenings and fundraisers. she/her/hers Adobe Illustrator • Facilitated corporate, municipal, university, and non-profit stakeholder MS, Urban Placemaking & Management Adobe InDesign relationships Adobe Photoshop • Oversaw marketing and design, managed website and monthly newsletter Microsoft Office • Authored program outline, implementation schedule, and created suite of Monday (project management) educational marketing materials for a statewide EV accelerator community Squarespace program for NYSERDA WordPress COMMUNITY DESIGN CENTER OF ROCHESTER | Event Coordinator PROFESSIONAL Rochester, NY | 2016 - 2018 Stakeholder engagement Project management • Administered planning and run-of-show for sixth annual awards luncheon to Meeting facilitation honor local leaders in activism and the built environment Graphic design • Staffed monthly “Reshaping Rochester” lecture series, which brings leading Community organizing urban thinkers and practitioners from around the country to Rochester Public speaking Qualitative analysis PPS | Placemaking Training

Location: Richardson, TX Client: City of Richardson, TX Role: Intern Date: Spring 2020 Richardson, TX Placemaking in the Core District The City of Richardson, TX hosted a placemaking Masterclass: From Ideas to Action

training session for city staff, elected officials, and Thursday, June 11, 18 & 25 WEBINAR 1: SETTING THE CONTEXT This placemaking workshop Placemaking | The Core District Plan | Yes, and...! will explore cross-cutting 1 community stakeholders. The three-week workshop opportunities for all to establish a collaborative, community-led, place-based WEBINAR 2: GOING DEEP introduced placemaking principles to attendees, approach to the revitalization 2 Equity | Engagement | Asset Mapping of the Core District. Led by Project for Public Spaces’ including cross-cutting opportunities for all to Director of Education, Laura WEBINAR 3: TAKING ACTION Torchio, and Senior Project Measures + Metrics | Site Audits | Action Plans | Manager, Priti Patel, this 3 Commitments three-week workshop for city establish a collaborative, community-led, place- staff, elected officials, and community stakeholders, this POST WORKSHOP: MAKING IT HAPPEN workshop will engage and 4 Stakeholder Input | Implementation based approach to the revitalization of the Core inform. District, Richardson’s recently re-branded downtown corridor. Placemaking Masterclass manual Results from virtual engagement exercise using Mentimeter My responsibilities included curriculum planning, (page 1 of 4) meeting facilitation, graphic design (training materials and digitization of hand-drawn site plans), and drafting the final report.

Richardson staff mark up maps during site audit session Map with notes from site audit

Right: Digitized site diagram based on Richardson staff hand-drawn ideation

Zoom in view of dot map based on Richardson staff input during vision session PPS | Upper Harbor Terminal SITE DIAGRAMS PPS | Other Projects The below diagrams were created for the UHT project based on feedback from the design team. Location: Minneapolis, MN Placemaking at Historic Market Square Client: Minneapolis Parks & Recreation Board San Antonio, TX Role: Intern Date: Spring-Summer 2020 PPS worked with The City of San Antonio-Center City Development & Operations, in partnership The Minneapolis Parks & Recreation Board retained with Centro San Antonio, on a collaborative PPS to help develop public space programming visioning process with stakeholders, property and management plans for a park being designed owners, and Market Square tenants to create in a predominantly Black neighborhood in North Minneapolis. The park is part of a $302 million a vision for the future of Market Square as project including a performing arts center and 500 a thriving cultural destination for merchants, units of housing. The project aims to connect North tenants, vendors, residents and visitors. My Minneapolis to the Mississippi River after construction work for this project included: data visualization of I-94 displaced homes and businesses in the 1960s. graphics and report editing.

My responsibilities included synthesizing feedback from community engagement sessions to create Scheme A - Water Systems programmatic recommendations. I created maps, Social Distancing Design Recommendations diagrams, and presentation boards in coordination with two other firms working on the project. Salisbury, MA PPS worked with Salisbury, MA, an active beach town, to develop design guidelines for social distancing for summer 2020. My work for this project included: design precedent research.

Scheme B - Renature

DistritoTec | Monterrey, Mexico PPS was hired to develop a public space design and programming proposal for Monterrey Institute Scheme C - Plaza of Technology’s DistritoTec campus in downtown Monterrey. My work for this project included: design precedent research, report editing, and creating a programming model for each of the One of six presentation boards prepared for public meetings designated spaces (sample above right). Neighborhood Transportation Study

Location: Jersey City, NJ Client: PAD Neighborhood Association Professor: Trent Lethco (Arup) Date: Spring 2020

This assignment for my Transportation Planning class consisted of a neighborhood-scale site analysis, including site history, existing conditions, demographics, and land use characteristics. Students were then asked to submit a proposal The Powerhouse Arts District sits within census tract 76, where in- The neighborhood is almost entirely zoned for “redevelopment” The iconic Hudson & Manhattan Railroad Powerhouse building, out for transportation improvements. An excerpt of the come levels are significantly higher than both the county and state (light blue), with small sections zoned for R-2 and R-3. Image of commission since 1929, is the namesake for the Powerhouse Arts median. Source: Jersey City Division of City Planning District. Image Source: Jim Henderson, 2010 final proposal is below.

Executive Summary Historically a warehouse and manufacturing district, the Powerhouse Arts District (PAD) neighborhood is in a state of flux, with a current injection of millions of dollars of investment in the form of adaptive reuse and new development. The neighborhood is high- income, young, predominantly Asian and white, and the majority (69 percent) of residents use public transportation as their means of transportation to The residential population is young, with 43 percent between 30-39. Income levels are higher on average than both the county and state. The population is predominantly Asian. work. A recent influx of residents and large-scale Source: American Community Survey, 2018 Source: American Community Survey, 2018 Source: American Community Survey, 2018 developments has not resulted in displacement, due in large part to low residential population prior to the recent influx. The PAD has the opportunity to create a residential and communal atmosphere by redesigning the road system to prioritize people, not cars.

Full proposal available by request.

A Dutch woonerf (shared street) in a residential neighborhood treats the street as a public space where vehicles are guests. The woonerf differs from the predominant model in North America, which prioritizes the movement and storage of private vehicles. This typology is the inspiration behind the redesign of First Street. Image Source: @StreetFilms

Above: First Street Existing Condition Right: First Street Proposal Rendering Powerhouse Arts District Proposal Public Memorial Proposal Site visit & historical analysis Path to Freedom 1 Entrance Design Precedents 2 Accessible Trail Precedents 3 Reflection Zone Precedents

Location: Rochester, NY Client: Landmark Society of Western NY Project: Public Memorial Concept 2 Professor: Elliott Maltby (thread collective) Date: Fall 2020

This assignment for my Parks & Open Space class 1 tasked students with creating a public memorial 4 site plan and design proposal. The space I chose to 6 honor is Kelsey’s Landing, a former shipping port in

Rochester, NY that served as the final stop on the 5 Underground Railroad for people escaping slavery 3 in the United States. The project involved a site analysis and historical research and a proposal for the memorial siting and design. Rochester, NY is a mid-size city on the southern shore of Lake Kelsey’s Landing is located along the shore of the , at During the 1830s, the port also served as the final stop on the Ontario, on the ancestral homeland of the Seneca, who have been the base of Middle Falls. Before the railroad and , it was a Underground Railroad for freedom seekers making their way north. stewards of this land since time immemorial. prosperous shipping port. Image source: Rochester Public Library Local History Division Image source: native-land.ca Image source: Google maps

Underground Railroad Memorial Trail Proposal

The proposal is for two intertwining trails, the main Path to Freedom trail and a secondary trail for Site plan recreators, which would culminate in a small museum and lookout and a fishing dock, respectively. The Path to Freedom trail would wind down the side of the gorge, giving form to a formless history of the Underground Railroad, and an opportunity for

people to learn about the role that Rochesterian’s 4 5 6 played in it. Wayfinding signage along the trail Lookout Deck Precedent Fishing Dock Precedent Wayfinding/Interpretive Signage would provide written information with a QR code that took visitors to an audio-visual explanation as well. Given Rochester’s large Deaf population and Spanish-speaking populations, it’s imperative that the app provide ASL and Spanish options. Today, the path is only accessible down a flight of stairs. The formal trail would be fully accessible for people across the mobility spectrum, including spots along the trail for rest and reflection.

My vision for the memorial trail is that it would eventually expand across the region to other historically significant locations, including other Underground Railroad stations as well as locations significant to the Civil Rights movement of the 60s. Visual inspiration for this project comes from other Outline of , Rochester, NY Memorial site marked in yellow Maplewood Park is accessible by car, foot, and bike (along the memorials in the United States that give spatial Genesee Riverway Trail) permanence to events that may not have physical locations tied to them in the traditional sense, namely the National Memorial for Peace and Justice “Placemaking may put a freeway over the river, but that river still is there, and place- in Montgomery, Alabama and the Birmingham Civil A historical marker near the Genesee Riverway Trail is all that remains of Kelsey’s Landing today. – Roberto Bedoya Rights Heritage Trail. Image source: Carolyn Levine knowing is about that.” Resilient Rockaways | Studio Study area Community Engagement Recommendations

Location: Rockaways, Queens, NY Community engagement was focus of our studio. Client: Rockaway Initiative for Sustainability and We built on desktop research, demographic data Resilient Rockaways Equity (RISE) and field work to hear directly from the community Professors: David Burney, AIA, Lida Aljabar, about their lived experiences in public space and Our recommendations aim to address social AICP, LEED AP, Nidhi Gulati community-identified priority needs for public resilience in a way that centers people’s values Project: Public Space Activation Proposal space in the Edgemere-Arverne neighborhoods. and experiences, shifts power structures through Date: Fall 2019 This strategy was also informed by early stakeholder community-focused management models, and conversations with RISE and the Ocean Bay responds to local ecology and environmental risk. Community Development Corporation (OBCDC) The governance models, programming, and site The Arverne / Edgemere neighborhood is an to learn from neighborhood leaders about the design concepts proposed by the Pratt Placemaking environmentally vibrant, culturally creative and context of planning in Edgemere-Arverne and build Studio build on existing research and technical socially resilient neighborhood in the Rockaway a foundation of community history and experiences; planning, and center community needs. Edgemere- Peninsula of Queens. The fall 2019 Placemaking as well as by participating in the Department of Arverne are grappling with the increasing impacts of Studio partnered with the community non-profit Transportation’s (DOT) planting day at the Beach climate change, and placemaking plays an important Rockaway Initiative for Sustainability and Equity 60th Station where we learned about the ongoing role in strengthening the community’s capacity to (RISE) to offer our technical and planning expertise planning initiatives in the project area and connect withstand and emerge stronger from these shocks to evaluate opportunities to transform a group of with volunteers in the community. and stresses. As a local leader, RISE is a central vacant lots into a resilient community resource. figure in empowering a resilient Rockaways. We With this foundation and neighborhood context hope our recommendations support their work in The studio’s place-based approach consists of a cultivated, we developed our targeted engagement A community member reads from the presentation boards at RISE. building social resilience, fostering community, and multi-sensory evaluation of existing public space strategy. Based on publicly available demographic I designed the five boards and the final report. promoting environmental stewardship for this and and surrounding neighborhood characteristics and data discussed in section II, we developed five user future generations. community and stakeholder engagement through group profiles of people likely to use the public transit surveys, youth charrettes, storytelling and space within the project area: (1) children, (2) female Preliminary Bubble Diagrams interactive activities to identify community needs, caretakers, (3) teens, (4) young professionals, and assets, and visions for public space. This approach (5) matures. integrates both quantitative and qualitative types of information and elevates local knowledge to propose Each group required a unique engagement approach recommendations for the design, programming, that considered where the user group may spend management, maintenance and governance of a time, how much time they may have to engage with series of public spaces. our studio team, and how they may prefer to engage Site Analysis in our studio’s conversation. These five approaches Final report available by request. are summarized in the chart below.

User Group Methodology Design & Programming Precedents Children Preference board Female caretakers Intercept survey Teens Place It! Young professionals Focus group Matures Intercept survey A selection of existing conditions photographs Reviewing site plans to synthesize data into recommendations A sample of the Gehl method site survey used for the initial existing conditions analysis Commercial Corridor Study Study area Themes St. John’s Condominiums Regenerative Economy Recommendation

Location: Sunset Park, Brooklyn, NY St. John’s is a former Catholic school, converted to condos Client: UPROSE in the mid-aughts, that serves as an example of the rapid Professor: Courtney Knapp, PhD, AICP gentrification happening in Sunset Park. Founded in 1846 Team members: Alexandra Belyaev, Nischala as the Church of St. John the Evangelist, it is the sixth oldest parish in the Brooklyn Diocese (Catholic Diocese BENEFITS OF Nambur, Carolyn Levine of Brooklyn). In 1905, a school for boys was built across Date: Fall 2020 IMMIGRATION & the street from the church and remained open until 1989, PURCHASING when it closed due to dropping attendance (Spellen, The scope of this service learning project is the MULTI-CULTURAL DISPOSSESSION 2014). The diocese sold the building and it was renovated commercial corridors along Fourth and Fifth Avenues BELONGING & DISPLACEMENT into a mixed use residential (28 units) and commercial CO-OPS in Sunset Park, Brooklyn, which are part of the (14 tenants) building. Community Wealth Building National Register of Historic Places (area from Fourth Across generations, Fourth and Five Avenue corridors have During the 1980s, Sunset Park became increasingly No longer affordable to the historically working class, to Seventh Avenues and 38th to 64th Streets). nurtured a mosaic of ethnic enclaves proudly showcasing lucrative to developers and box store chains seeking to immigrant residents of Sunset Park, the building their heritage. From early waves of Irish, Finnish, Italian, maximize profit with lower real estate values in commercial is advertised as being in “Greenwood Heights”, a The graduate student project team studied the and Puerto Ricans working hard to strengthen the working corridors. This triggered a dark trend that remains today Image from an August 2020 real estate listing for a unit in the St. neighborhood with contested boundaries. Keith Williams history of both mixed commercial and residential waterfront in its early industrial years alongside a violent of increasing residential and business displacement, John’s building. The 1,020 sq. ft., 2-bedroom, 1-bathroom condo is WHAT ARE CO-OPS? listed for $899,000. According to the New York Times, real estate from Curbed New York notes that the recent burst of avenues, within the context of the surrounding exploitation of African labor, to Chinese and Mexican exacerbated by the low rates of new housing development Cooperatives are businesses governed on prices in Greenwood Heights have increased by 40.6% in just five gentrification stems from rezoning, “In 2003, height- the principle of one member, one vote. folks launching businesses along growing commercial in the area (Murphy, 2020). Comparing the early 1970s There are several common types of co-ops, Sunset Park neighborhood, to better understand the years. restrictions were placed on most blocks of Park Slope corridors, many have come to the neighborhood seeking when brownstones sold for $20,000 to $30,000, to the including cooperatives owned and shifting economic, geographic, and social narratives down to 15th Street; these were extended through operated by the people working there opportunity in the United States. end of the decade with prices at $50,000 and jumping (worker cooperatives) and the people in support of the expansion of community wealth- 24th Street in 2005. With demand outstripping supply, buying the co-op’s goods or services to $75,000 by 1982 (Decourcy Hinds, 1985). These trends (consumer cooperatives). building and long-term economic and cultural Fourth Avenue (between 41st-64th Streets) and Fifth Avenue newcomers moved even farther south, rolling back Sunset Photo by Corazon Aguirre for Brooklyn Eagle (Oct. 2019) promote overcrowding and threaten the long standing (between 17th-64th Streets) Park with them.” resiliency strategies UPROSE is exploring. hope of local business owners that in Sunset Park they could also be local home owners. Our team highlighted specific buildings and their use over time to tell the story of the neighborhood. My Photo by Karsten Moran for New York Times (Aug. 2020) role on this team was to research the demographics Sunset Park Library PURCHASING CO-OPS and focus on the history of Fifth Avenue as a A group of businesses uniting to enhance commercial corridor. I studied the changing use of their purchasing power are called purchasing cooperatives. Purchasing St. John’s Condominiums and the growth of Sunset The Sunset Park Library was built in 1905 with funds from cooperatives help small, local businesses philanthropist Andrew Carnegie. It was one of nearly remain competitive within markets Park library over time. dominated by large, national retailers 1,500 libraries built across the United States that were sponsored by Carnegie in the late 19th and early 20th We developed four themes throughout our research centuries (Brooklyn Public Library, 2014). At the time, it to guide the final narrative: immigration and multi- COMMUNITY was known as the South Branch, and stood at the corner cultural belonging, dispossession and displacement, HEALTH & RESISTANCE of 51st and 4th Avenue. community health and well-being, and resistance WELL-BEING & RESILIENCE and resilience. The building declared obsolete in 1970 and demolished. WHERE DOES THIS A new branch on the same site opened to the public just WORK? Fourth and Fifth avenues support a diverse network of As Mr. John Miniaci Jr. of Johnny’s Pizza on Fifth Avenue Visit website to learn more. two years later in 1972 (Brooklyn Public Library, 2014). Many sectors can utilize purchasing co-ops health and wellbeing services going back decades. From shares, “This is a neighborhood that has had businesses to achieve lower prices, including In, 2018 construction began on another new branch, healthcare providers, where there are physicians to midwives to senior care, in the healthcare in the same family for two and three generations ... these A rendering of the South Branch of the Brooklyn Public Library. in the same location as both previous buildings. The standard materials used among different Image source: Brooklyn Public Library. specialties such as cotton swabs, syringes, sector, 43% of businesses have been on Reference USA big corporations come in and don’t see the value of that” collection moved down the street during construction. and blood pressure cuffs. inventory for over 10 years. Institutions like NYU Langone (Gonzalez, 2007). Despite chain stores and fast food The temporary home for the Sunset Park branch closed (originally the Norwegian Hospital) was established on franchises creeping in and COVID-19 hurting local economic in spring 2020 and remains closed [as of September], Fourth Avenue in 1908 and helped establish the nation’s activity, businesses along Fourth and Five avenues continue due to COVID-19. first family health center with a group of residents on to fight to sustain a vibrant mix of multi-generational Fifth Avenue in 1967. The abandoned 18th Precinct Police mom and pop businesses, from furniture stores to salons The new branch, slated to open December 2020, includes Building on Fourth Avenue was transformed into a multi- to grocers and health clinics, that are integral to strong 21,000 square feet of space, compared to the previous OTHER BENEFITS day health fair led by young residents for their neighbors social cohesion in the neighborhood. building’s 12,000 square feet. Atop the building will be Cooperative membership builds social to learn about services and participate in workshops in networks and strengthens social cohesion, “The residents are speaking 49 permanently affordable housing units. Most of the which are essential elements of strong, the 1970s shortly after the building was vacated. Photo by Paul Frangipane for Brooklyn Eagle. (Oct. 2019) healthy communities, by connecting apartments will rent for between $500 and $1,000/ diverse community residents. Since most month (Brooklyn Public Library). cooperative members are local residents, for ourselves but who is business profits remain and circulate Photo by Ismail Ferdous for The New York Times (June within the community. 2020) listening to us?” Left: The new branch is under construction and includes 49 permanently affordable housing units above it. Image source: - Amina, Resident, 2009 Magnusson Architecture & Planning, PC

SOURCE: COMMUNITY-WEALTH.ORG Writing Sample | Class Assignment The below excerpt is from a paper written in fall 2019 for Professor Dana Taplin’s History & Theory of Public Space class. Full paper available by request.

Analysis of Urban Transformation: The

Historical Context Between Court Street and Exchange Boulevard, Broad Street crosses the mighty Genesee River in downtown Rochester, New York. To the pedestrian, motorist, or cyclist traveling on the pavement, there appears to be nothing special about this street. But to the historian and the transit Figure 2. Rochester Subway Construction at Aqueduct, enthusiast, Broad Street, or more specifically, the Rochester NY [Photograph]. 1922-1924. space beneath it, is a gem, hidden in plain sight. With no fanfare or signage to signify that you are construction. The last day of passenger service for standing on a transportation landmark, it would the Rochester Subway was June 30, 1956. Freight be hard to know that beneath Broad Street runs service continued for another year but would Figure 3. Google Maps Street View. “Rochester Abandoned Subway.” November 2014. a tunnel that helped put Rochester on the map end by August 1957. For the next 60 years, the and connected the eastern seaboard to the entire tunnel lay abandoned by the City, but not by all Midwest in the early 19th century. someone to find a better use for it. As I walked the Broad Street tunnel with the light streaming its residents. downhill with from where Court Street intersects in from the open arches above, I felt transported. The tunnel was originally constructed as part of South Avenue towards the former subway Nearly every surface within arms length was In recent decades, Rochester’s unhoused population the Erie Canal, which traverses New York State platform, the sounds of the road above started to covered in bright paint (Figure 3). Mixed in among has taken shelter in the tunnel year-round. Artists from Albany to Buffalo and, for many decades, ran dim. The tantalizing smells from Dinosaur BBQ, the conventional graffiti were murals by talented have utilized the space as a gallery of ephemera, right through the center of downtown Rochester the famed restaurant on the corner, stirred up a artists. My imagination kicked into high gear and covering and recovering its walls with graffiti and (Figure 1). Nearly 100 years after construction, sudden craving for pulled pork. The space felt all I could see was potential. murals. Music videos, photo shoots, even tours and the canal was drained and re-engineered to at once ominous and invigorating. The place we a catered dinner, have all taken place in the tunnel. accommodate the Rochester Industrial and Rapid were about to enter was clearly not sanctioned by This space, with its ample natural light cascading And until very recently, residents and visitors alike Transit Railway, also known as the Rochester the powers that be, but by design, the wide tunnel through impressive arches, should be something— have walked past faded “No Trespassing” signs to Subway (Figure 2). From 1927-1956, the subway ushered us in. Looking up, I saw crumbling cement anything but an abandoned space. I instantly see what had become of the unique and derelict gave Rochesterians a way to get across their city with rusted pipes poking out, as if to see what all envisioned it as an enclosed pedestrian mall space that used to transport goods and people without relying on the private automobile, which the fuss was about. I felt the thrill that comes with with glass windows to let in the natural light with across the river. Today, the subway tunnel under was already starting to choke their roads. The being somewhere you’re not supposed to be and shops and kiosks selling local art and food lining Broad Street is all but inaccessible due to infill and subway scraped by during the Great Depression doing something you’re not supposed to do. I the sides of the structure. It could be Rochester’s development. But on a warm, sunny day in June with ridership peaking during World War II but also felt fearful—what if we came upon a camp of Ponte Vecchio or Chelsea Market, overlooking the 2016, I walked through the former Court Street by the end of the decade, the subway’s survival people who were living under the subway? There river that powered industry for centuries. The bare subway entrance into a universe of contrasts: light was threatened by low ridership and highway was potential that we were intruding on someone bones of the subway tunnel presented a blank and dark, bright color and drab grey. Around every else’s space. canvas, awaiting funding for a public space that turn, I found inspiration and a renewed optimism could transform downtown Rochester. for my hometown. It was so unique and impactful Walking deeper into the large cavern, it was hard an experience that even now, more than three not to feel a sense of awe. The river has flowed At the end of the bridge, my companions and I years later, I can close my eyes and be instantly through this land since time immemorial, but in the turned around. We exited the way we came, transported back to that place. 200 years since Europeans settled here, this exact through the former Court Street entrance. Today, spot has been a hub of transportation: a canal, a the Court Street entrance is gone, lost to a parking Phenomenological Reflection railroad, a subway, a highway. This evolution of garage below one of the non-descript luxury By June 2016, the former Court Street station was engineering and technology, boom and bust, had condos found in every modern American city gone and the chain link fence surrounding the created a space that felt transient, ephemeral, and that now sits on the site. The Broad Street tunnel property sent a clear message to stay away. The yet, was made of solid concrete. We traveled along remains, and action should be taken to protect it space, which was a mix of overgrown weeds and the tunnel, under the from further development or worse, removal. Figure 1. Erie Canal Aqueduct over the Genesee River, Rochester, debris alongside a dirt road, clearly used to be a towards Broad street, where the route makes a N.Y. [Photograph]. 1890. place but was then just empty space—waiting for left turn across the river. Rounding the corner to