URBAN REVIEW SPRING 2013 URBAN REVIEW A MAGAZINE OF SPRING 2013 The Hunter College Department of Urban Afffairs and Planning LETTER FROM THE EDITOR Dear Readers, EDITOR-IN-CHIEF Studio Spotlight: New Jersey Edge 3 Erin McAuliff For the past four semesters, I have had both the pleasure and the honor of working with students from the Department of Urban Affairs and Planning (UAP) to produce the Urban ASSOCIATE EDITOR Studio Spotlight: Greening the Gap 4 Review. The final product you receive at the holiday or end-of-year party each semester isn’t Sam Chodoff simply a showcase of the projects, papers and work of our student body—it is the culmination of a long and collaborative process representative of why the UAP program deserves its reputation for being an incubator for some of the most respected professionals in the field. In MANAGING EDITOR How the Gowanus Was Won 5 some small part, I like to think that each issue of the Review is responsible for strengthening Dave Henry Natsumi Yokura the relationships and hosting the debates that make this true. LAYOUT & DESIGN Street Harassment in the City: Why Planners Should Care Prudence Katze 11 The students, faculty and alumni of the UAP program are a diverse group of individuals that Marly Pierre-Louis contribute to the richness of this program’s history and presence in the field of urban studies. The Review, in some sense, is the voice of the department, and I encourage students who have CONTENT EDITOrs Faculty Interview: Matthew Lasner not been involved up until this point to find a way to participate and shape that voice, to keep it Jake Bogitsh 15 current and representative of the dynamic people and processes that this department attracts Sara Meier-Zimbler and inspires. Natsumi Yokura Prudence Katze 5 Pointz, LIC 17 Thank you to the individuals who dedicated their time this semester to developing content, to Fatah Sadaoui supporting each other and to continuing the legacy of the Review. As always, the work in these PEER reVIEW Team Chris Roberts pages is representative of the innovative and inclusive thinking that characterizes UAP students. Open Data: A Catalyst for Urban Innovation Kendall J. Matthews Aaron Fraint 19 Sarah Meier-Zimbler Please find and share the Urban Review online at www.hunteruap.org/guapa. Frank R Futia Yasmine Robinson Open Data in NYC: A Call to Action Erin McAuliff Prudence Katze Nathan Storey 21 Editor-in-Chief Jake Bogitsh Annabelle Meuniel A Brief Study of Corporate Bodies Aaron Fraint Prudence Katze 25 Natsumi Yokura Ryan Ridings Jeffry Peel Alumni Interview: Betty Cotton 29 FRONT COVER Erin McAuliff is a student in the Master of Urban Planning program and will graduate this semester with departmental honors. Her focus Natsumi Yokura is on community development and education. Constructing the Urban Fabric Sam Chodoff 31 URBAN REVIEW | SPRING 2013 BACK COVER Marly Pierre-Louis 1 2 MASter OF Urban PlanninG Studio Fall 2012 - SprinG 2013 MASter OF Urban PlanninG Studio Fall 2012 - SprinG 2013 STUDIO SPOTLIGHT: NEW JERSEY EDGE STUDIO SPOTLIGHT: GREENING THE GAP Client: Emmes Asset Management Client: TreesNY PROFESSOR: Richard Bass ProfeSSOR: Dr. John Chin TEACHING ASSISTANT: Steve Duncan TeaChinG ASSIStant: Steve Duncan STUDIO TEAM: John Henry Greenwood, STUDIO TEAM: Amelie Bertholet, David Henry, Anna Hellman, Gjela Molly Braun, Spencer Edwards, Prenga, Donielle Lee, Mario Quijano, Samuel Frommer, Paul Hesse, Chang Sung, John Namako, Ben Marguerite Koehler, Andrew Martini, Rosenblatt, Efrain Borrero, Lauren Lauren Masseria, Erin McAuliff, Jeff Peel, PHOTO BY: JOHN NamakO Connors, Rony Byas Jordan Pender, Ryan W. Ridings, ImaGE BY: LAUreN MasserIA Kelly Usseglio Viretta The New Jersey Edge studio seeks a reminder of when northern New To recreate the neighborhood, the Inspired on his morning dog walk, the Deputy Director of TreesNY noticed an area GoalS to create a plan for a neglected Jersey was at the epicenter of America’s studio plan proposes subdividing prone to flooding at the base of the 120th Street pedestrian bridge leading to the East neighborhood on the edge of northern railroad and shipping industries. the building to reintegrate it with River Esplanade. With funding from the Department of Environmental Conservation, Improve Waterfront ACCESS to Jersey City and southwest Hoboken. the existing street grid, allowing for TreesNY installed a pilot green infrastructure project at the East 120th Street site to the esplanade and enable the use of This neighborhood is the home The surrounding neighborhood is an enhanced pedestrian network. create an urban oasis and green entrance to the esplanade. one of East Harlem’s most important of the Lackawanna Center, a 1.3 typified by disjointed and overlapping The plan also proposes creating a open spaces. million square foot warehouse and jurisdictions and a patchwork of new economic cluster of vertically With the intent to further inspire use of this public space, TreesNY tasked the the focus of the study. The studio’s redevelopment plans. The interested integrated food manufacturing and Greening the Gap studio with creating a plan to address waterfront access and INCREASE TREES & GREEN SPACE client, Emmes Asset Management, parties, Hoboken, Jersey City, indoor farming firms, as well as a environmental justice issues in East Harlem while expanding the potential for to bring environmental and health seeks to increase occupancy in the and New Jersey Transit, have not university-sponsored Tech Center. their green infrastructure projects in the neighborhood. benefits to East Harlem. Lackawanna Center by repositioning addressed the neighborhood as a the building as the focal point of the coherent whole. The result is a maze The New Jersey Edge Studio provides INCREASE STORMWATER CAPTURE surrounding community. of strip malls, brownstones, highways, a vision for a cohesive community PrinCipleS recommendations that are rooted in by implementing green infrastructure, paved overpasses and empty lots, with revamped human infrastructure, community input and will inspire which we define for the purposes of The warehouse is an industrial but not a livable community. The new job opportunities, and a Promote environmental justice and continued community ownership. this project as permeable surfaces, behemoth, with a building footprint New Jersey Edge studio seeks to repositioned Lackawanna Center. public health especially green space. of 138,224 square feet, eight stories, bridge the edges, both physical The building’s tremendous potential Consider the natural topography of nearly 22-inch thick floors, heavy- and jurisdictional, between the can best be taken advantage of There is a gap in East Harlem. A lack the study area IMPROVE PROGRAMMING offered as duty loading docks, and old rail communities in the area. by making it the focal point of a of open space and a shortfall of public a means of promoting waterfront use, connections. The building stands as reinvigorated neighborhood. investment have contributed to higher Because many of the environmental active recreation to increase public rates of health and environmental recommendations of this plan depend health, connection to the water itself, on the natural topography of the area, Map by: Chang Sung problems when compared to surrounding and the stewardship of neighborhood neighborhoods. The purpose of this plan the team did extensive research of the green space. is to use environmental interventions, natural history and current conditions specifically green infrastructure of topography. and waterfront access, to promote RECommendationS public health and address issues of Provide our client with actionable and environmental justice in East Harlem. fundable recommendations and “think Based on our research and goals big” to inspire visionary change we came up with three main Utilize a community planning recommendation areas: methodology and build a framework East Harlem is often a neighborhood for continued community ownership that is over-studied yet resources • Development of Green Corridors: remain under-delivered. With this in improved streetscapes that promote In order to create a plan that meets mind, we established realistic short access to the waterfront; and medium term goals, as well as the needs of East Harlem, the studio • Improvements to the physical URBAN REVIEW | SPRING 2013 set forth a community-driven vision utilized a community planning infrastructure on the esplanade; and methodology and conducted of long term change. The short-term extensive community outreach. This recommendations are meant to be • Increased programming in the outreach informed the studio about quickly actionable and fundable, neighborhood & on the Esplanade neighborhood concerns and needs and while the long-term recommendations to promote the use of the waterfront. created a sense of community ownership that re-imagine the neighborhood of the plan. Community engagement and waterfront are larger, more drew on the extensive knowledge of a expensive projects that would require PHOTO BY: JOHN NamakO diverse group of stakeholders to form cooperation with multiple agencies and organizations. 3 4 URBAN REVIEW | SPRING 2013 HOW the GowanuS waS Won WORDS & PHOTOS by NatSumi YOKura 5 6 Until recently, the name “Gowanus” could never have been comprehensive rezoning projects have been put on hold by the economic development and welfare. The city had a booming imagined as anything but an industrial, polluted wasteland recent designation of the Canal as an EPA Superfund site (to goods production economy and well-paying union jobs, in the middle of Brooklyn’s finest neighborhoods. This be discussed further below)(Santora, 2009). Even without the and provided welfare services and education. Global capital was considered unfortunate, given the area’s otherwise rezoning, a new luxury condo was recently completed on 8th arrived in the 1960s and 1970s, and received favorable tax outstanding assets: excellent access, proximity to Brooklyn’s Street between 3rd and 4th Avenue, while a waterfront 700-unit cuts and funding for their perceived role in boosting New posh, brownstone neighborhoods, and the edgy, post- condominium development, complete with a Canal-adjacent York’s economy.