The Backbone of the Metropolis How the development of rapid transit determined the becoming of the New York City Metropolis. History Thesis By: Pieter Schreurs Student number: 1090526 Email:
[email protected] Telephone: 31(0)6-21256096 Tutor: Prof.Dr. Franziska Bollerey Date: July 2008 Cover image: “The Subway”, by George Tooker 1950, Egg tempera on composition board, Collection of Whitney Museum of American Art Source: “Subway City; Riding the trains, reading New York”; Brooks, 1997 The Backbone of the Metropolis How the development of rapid transit determined the becoming of the New York City Metropolis. History Thesis By: Pieter Schreurs Student number: 1090526 Email:
[email protected] Telephone: 31(0)6-21256096 Tutor: Prof.Dr. Franziska Bollerey Date: July 2008 Image 1: The Network of Parkways. In the 1920s and 30s Robert Moses developed and intricate network of park ways around New York City. These were designed for the Joy of driving. Source: “The Power Broker”; Caro, 1975 4 Introduction Grade separated urban rapid transit and the metropolis: knowledge of what is in between this location and the previous one. users underground and re-emerge them to completely different parts of the city, without According to James Crawford, “…Transport technology has always affected both the growth and form of cities, and each new transport mode has left its stamp on urban form. When a New York, New York: new model is adopted, existing urban areas are forced into new uses and ever new forms and new development is arranged in accordance with the demands and capabilities of the In researching the development of rapid transit systems in relation to the development new mode...“ (Crawford, 2000, p.