Jun
28
Communal Spaces for A Diverse Populace
Where People Go to Be Themselves in Public
Cities are composed of diverse communities. The makeup of these communities is determined by everything from ethnicity, culture, economics, patterns of migration and more than a little bit of overt and covert social engineering. As much as social engineering (often under the guise of social planning) can create communities it can just as easily destroy them. The creation of Lincoln Center was, of course, the result of the decimation of the community that once stood on its site. The construction of the Cross Bronx Expressway, which cut a wide and gaping wound through several Bronx communities created a destabilization of huge swaths of that borough that persists to this day.
Cities are composed of diverse communities. The makeup of these communities is determined by everything from ethnicity, culture, economics, patterns of migration and more than a little bit of overt and covert social engineering. As much as social engineering (often under the guise of social planning) can create communities it can just as easily destroy them. The creation of Lincoln Center was, of course, the result of the decimation of the community that once stood on its site. The construction of the Cross Bronx Expressway, which cut a wide and gaping wound through several Bronx communities created a destabilization of huge swaths of that borough that persists to this day.
