The staff sometimes have long internal discussions about specific issues around the studio table here at Regional Plan Association. They always end up as lively and spirited debates and we walk away from them with a better sense of the issues facing the region. So today we are starting up a new way for you to talk through some of the same questions we do and to have a dialogue with the staff and the rest of the RPA community. Write your responses below, watch the comments and we'll run a selection or summary in an upcoming issue of Spotlight.
It's 2050, and you're walking through Union Square. Assume the city has changed for the better. What do you see? (You may interpret "see" liberally.)
Top: Union Square, Looking East, 1930.
Credit: Museum of the City of New York Gottscho-Schleisner Collection;
Photo by Samuel H.Gottscho
Bottom: Union Square Taxi 2006, flickr user: Sean O'Sullivan
@RegionalPlan
The question is: It's 2050, and you're walking through Union Square. Assume the city has changed for the better. What do you see? You may interpret "see" liberally.
Any ideas?
15th-17th Streets are pedestrian only, with a PRT station (http://bit.ly/WOrPr) @ the NE corner
I see a light rail station for a line running East to West, from the East River to the Hudson River.
Union Square West hosts a segment of the city's most popular electric street car line running from Washington Square to Columbus Circle. Cars are boarded right from the cobblestones. There are no overhead wires - the cars draw power from below the street.
Restaurants lining the square are granted permits to operate on the periphery of the the park under arbors. People are dressing for dinner. Its one of NY's best places to go out. You can hear professional live music at night.
There is a bike share station at the north of the Square's pavilion. Incredibly popular.
The south end of the square is dominated by a contemporary Union Square Rail Station, a regional rail thru station (serving both NNJ and LI) marks (40 E. 14th Street).
The farmers market establishes a permanent home as part of the square's market hall complex, the former Barnes and Noble building.
Side streets radiating west from the Square to Fifth Avenue are pedestrian only. In fact, large parts of Greenwich Village and Flat Iron have become pedestrian only zones 8 am to midnight. (Electric scooters are abundant)
Traffic is regulated along 14th street. On weekends the street is open only to public transport.
Retail leasing around the square is coordinated and a special retail tax district (running from Union Square to Times Square) has attracted innovative international retailers. They've joined NY's finest facing the square. Signage is well regulated to not spoil the historic character.
The University has vacated its buildings choosing to concentrate its focus around Washington Square and a two new integrated campuses elsewhere. Housing stock is returned to permanent residents.
The subway escalator at the southeast end of Union Square will still be broken.
The Barnes and Noble will be long gone, a victim of the death of publishing. In its place will be an outpatient clinic for repetitive stress syndrome with its clients consisting of those with arthritic thumbs caused by the text message fad of the 00's some fifth years earlier when those clients were in their 20's. Other patients will include those with EUS(eyelash overuse syndrome from the blinking communication techniques developed in the 2010's and BDS) the brain disuse syndrome caused by the total absence of any rational thought resulting from all of these instant communication techniques.
Great points, Jeff. Barnes and Noble will certainly be gone, I would think, and I'm assuming would be in everyone's pocket as an electronic store.
I think the whole space would be more interactive and tactile, with transportation, commerce and information so tighly integrated that it doesn't appear dominant and doesn't interact with a person physically to cause repetitive stress.
I think the biggest change will be ambient information. The color of the subway stations change depending upon arrival time for the next train, the walls of Whole Foods or Greenmarket stands could reflect produce inside. Walking tours could all be done with augmented reality, offering the history and data about the place through networks at if it was a physical object. You could even keep tabs on a corner by showing traffic density directly on the pavement (pedestrian, bike or other vehicle). Making it easier to judge traffic flow and adapt more quickly or even depending upon time of day.
Of course, it has to be done well, and there have to be rules, but it could be really interesting.
In the 1930 photo, I see a Union Square for the people, devoid of all the ugly, recent new buildings. A place where free speech was allowed. A user-friendly environment with a the wonderful, late Klein's Department Store.
In 2006, I see a photo that must have been taken at 6AM. 14th Street and Union Square Park are never that empty. Where are the people, the vendors and the skateboarders? At least there is still no evidence of a private restaurant or concessions stand on our public land.
I shudder to think what will become of this special park, with it's unique political,labor history if we allow Bloomberg and his Park's Department to sell off all our public parks.