ROBERT MOSES: His Contribution to NEW YORK CITY
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ROBERT MOSES: his contribution to NEW YORK CITY Robert Moses is a controversial figure in urban planning. He is best known for shaping development in and around New York City. MOSES WHO ALWAYS Synopsis PREFERRED HIGHER SCALE Born in Connecticut in 1888, urban planner Robert Moses became one of the major shaping forces behind America's modern cities but PROJECTS WHICH GIVES was sometimes a figure of controversy and criticism. He transformed the city of New York by pushing for the construction of highways, MONUMENTAL VISIBILITY AS tunnels and bridges. He also helped preserve land for parks throughout New York state. He died in West Islip, New York, in 1981. WELL AS THOSE BRIDGES AND ROADS THAT CARRY MORE A Focus on Development NUMBER OF TRAFFIC THAN THE • Moses focused his attention on the greater New York City area, believing that TUNNELS, RESULTED IN the region needed development for automobiles and land preservation for CONSTRUCTION OF THE BRIDGE parks. SHOWN IN THE LEFT- • Governor Smith appointed Moses as president of the newly created Long Island BROOKLYN-BATTERY LINK State Park Commission. By 1925, Moses was also the chairman of the State Council of Parks. • In 1933, when Fiorello La Guardia, then mayor of New York City, invited Moses to head up the city's Parks Department and the Triborough Bridge Authority, Moses instituted a large building program(more than 1,700 projects—including a renovation of the Central Park), the construction of highways, tunnels and major POST-WAR CITY PLANNING bridges was also undertaken. • BY 1959, HE HAD OVERSEEN CONSTRUCTION OF 28,000 APARTMENT UNITS ON HUNDREDS OF ACRES OF LAND. IN CLEARING THE LAND FOR HIGH-RISES IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE TOWER IN A PARK PROJECT, WHICH AT THAT TIME WAS SEEN AS INNOVATIVE AND BENEFICIAL, HE SOMETIMES DESTROYED ALMOST AS MANY HOUSING UNITS AS HE BUILT. Robert Moses with a model of his proposed Battery Bridge, 1939. Photograph by C.M. Stieglitz. LOW RISE HOUSES AND RESIDENTIAL AREAS AND THE HARBOUR AREAS OF 1930’S RAZED TO GROUND TO CONSTRUCT THE NEW SET OF HOUSING AND PARKS BY MOSES. • MOSES' VIEW OF THE AUTOMOBILE HARKENED TO THE 1920S, WHEN THE CAR WAS SEEN AS A VEHICLE THIS CLEARLY SHOWS HIS FOCUS TOWARDS DISPLACING THE MORE FOR PLEASURE THAN THE BUSINESS OF LIFE. POORER SOCIETIES AND BUILDING HIG’S AND OTHER RECREATIONAL FACILITIES WITHOUT DIVERTING HIS AIM OF • MOSES'S HIGHWAYS IN THE FIRST HALF OF THE 20TH BUILDING A CAR-CENTRIC CITY. CENTURY WERE PARKWAYS—CURVING, LANDSCAPED "RIBBON PARKS" THAT WERE INTENDED TO BE PLEASURES TO TRAVEL AS WELL AS "LUNGS FOR THE CITY“. INITIAL HARBOUR CURVING AND FLYOVER HIGHWAY CONCEPT. TO BE MADE INTO A GREEN ZONE AND HIS CONCEPT OF URBANISM WAS MAINLY GOVERNED BY HIGH RISE BUILDINGS, MASSIVE MOTORABLE PARKS ROADS, FLY-OVERS AND PARKS AND POOLS. ARTERIAL PLANNING OF NYC BY MOSES PARKS ACCESSIBLE BY ROADS FOR RECREATION. Triborough Bridge THEORY OF SETTLEMENTS ROBERT MOSES KRISHNA KAFLEY DENDUP T. NAMGYEL Contributions of Moses HIGHWAY CITY: HAD MOSES’S IDEAS COME TO FULL FRUITION, AN ELEVATED HIGHWAY WOULD HAVE CUT THROUGH LOWER MANHATTAN AT BROOME STREET, A MID- MANHATTAN VERSION WOULD HAVE LANDED ONTO 30TH STREET, AND THE CULTURE OF HARLEM’S 125TH STREET WOULD HAVE BEEN ELIMINATED BY A CROSS HARLEM EXPRESSWAY. THE TWO UPTOWN EXTENSIONS DIED QUICKLY, BUT MOSES WAS SO CLOSE TO MAKING LOMAX (THE LOWER MANHATTAN EXPRESSWAY) THAT ONE SEGMENT, AT CHRYSTIE STREET, WAS ACTUALLY BUILT AND ABANDONED. The Cross Bronx Expressway, one of the roads Moses built. ALL WET: BEING A SWIMMER HIMSELF, MOSES PLACED AN EMPHASIS ON PUBLIC POOLS THROUGHOUT THE CITY, INCLUDING THIS ONE IN ASTORIA, QUEENS. FOR POOLS IN EAST HARLEM WHERE HE WANTED TO ENCOURAGE WHITE ATTENDANCE, MOSES REPORTEDLY AUTHORIZED THAT THE TEMPERATURE OF THE WATER MADE COLDER — BECAUSE BLACK PEOPLE DISLIKED COLD WATER. (UM, BOB, NOBODY LIKES COLD WATER. Considered by many as key component of modern day NYC, Moses spearheaded several projects in and surrounding the city, as well as rest of the community. A MODEL OF THE 1964 WORLD’S FAIR, ONE OF ROBERT MOSES'S FINAL PROJECTS. CREDIT THE NEW YORK TIMES. HIS FOCUS ON THE MULTI-LAYER ROADS IS ALSO BEING REFLECTED IN THIS MODEL. BRIDGE TO NOWHERE: MOSES WITH A MODEL OF HIS BROOKLYN BATTERY BRIDGE, WHICH WOULD HAVE CUT STRAIGHT OVER NEW YORK HARBOR, LINKING BATTERY PARK WITH RED HOOK, THIS PLAN SHOW HOW DOMINATIONG HIS IDEAS WERE TOWARDS BROOKLYN. TO BUILD THIS MONSTROSITY WOULD THE POOLS, ROADS AND BRIDGES. REQUIRE TURNING GOVERNOR’S ISLAND INTO A ALTHOUGH THIS WORKS WERE DONE WAY BEFORE CARS WERE QUEENS 1920’s Vs. 1940’s GIGANTIC ANCHORAGE AND ERADICATING THE USED EXTENSIVELY, HIS FOCUS WAS SOLELY TOWARDS THE ROAD Other Moses contributions included the development of NEW YORK AQUARIUM, HOUSED IN HISTORIC AND BRIDGE CONNECTIVITY. several parkways and highways that allowed for CASTLE CLINTON. suburban expansion in the region. THE PROJECT WAS DEFEATED BY SOME BACKROOM MACHINATIONS FROM PRESIDENT ROOSEVELT, BUT MOSES GOT HIS REVENGE — ON THE NEW YORK AQUARIUM. HE RIPPED IT OUT OF CASTLE CLINTON AND THREW IT OUT ON CONEY ISLAND. SCANDAL: THE DRAB STRUCTURES AT PARK WEST VILLAGE BELIE THE SCANDAL OF MANHATTAN TOWN, A PROPOSED DEVELOPMENT EXPOSED AS AN ELABORATE DEVELOPMENT SCAM SPAWNED FROM THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT SLUM CLEARANCE PROGRAM — A PROGRAM OVERSEEN BY MOSES IN NEW YORK. CONCEPT OF BRIDGES AND TUNNELS AS THE CITY MOSES’S HIGHWAYS OVER THE POOR SETTLEMENTS BECOMES CROWDED Map of Robert Moses’ works THEORY OF SETTLEMENTS ROBERT MOSES KRISHNA KAFLEY DENDUP T. NAMGYEL.