Verified Document

Battery Park City Essay

Battery Park City Battery Park: Faux apple

Battery Park City, according to author and New York City resident Phillip Lopate, is internationally celebrated as a success, as "a model of waterfront development (Lopate 29). However, it has also been called "a broken promise" (Rogers 2005). "The broken promise to use excess Battery Park City revenues for affordable housing was made in 1989 and has been a bone of contention ever since" (Rogers 2012). Initially, the design of the area was supposed to encompass a residential, business, and industrial complex, but this was scrapped during New York City's fiscal crisis of the 1970s. The new, more aesthetically ambitious design is intended to be an 'anti-urban' creation of beauty that eschews conventional cliches of how to design city buildings (Lopate 30).

The exterior of the final product was striking in its recreation of a prewar New York City ambiance. But what was a delight to the eye, despite the luxury price tag, was not always delightful in terms of the harmony it...

The apartments have been described as rather cramped and typical of modern New York City apartments, and the location forced residents to walk many blocks to obtain basic necessities (Lopate 33-34).
Battery Park is likened by Lopate to "a stage set" with little street life and vibrancy Lopate 33). There are some impressive parks, such as the Nelson A. Rockefeller Park, which has a children's playground, and South Cove, which sports a Japanese rock garden. However, these features are not enough to truly create a community, and merely seem to impress outsiders rather than satisfy the needs of residents. The nearby World Financial Center resembles an "office Park in Houston" because of its lack of character (Lopate 37). The fact that so many of the people that work in the World Financial Center are commuters, rather than part of the local community, adds to the sterile, out-of-touch and out-of-time feel of the environment.

Battery Park…

Sources used in this document:
Works Cited

Lopate, Phillip. Waterfront. New York: Anchor, 2005.

Rogers, Josh. "Renewing the Battery Park City Promise." The Villager, 17. 48 (2005).
Cite this Document:
Copy Bibliography Citation

Related Documents

Diminishing Middle Class in NYC
Words: 4873 Length: 17 Document Type: Term Paper

Diminishing Middle Class in NYC If we look at the Lower Manhattan, it won't take us long to notice the change that has taken place in it in the last 10 years. The population especially the residential population has doubled up in the last 10 years as there has been an addition of 30,000 residents who are now living in Manhattan. The main reason behind this sudden and huge growth in the

Green Building Laws Green Building and Green
Words: 6463 Length: 20 Document Type: Term Paper

Green Building Laws Green Building and Green Retrofitting The department of Federal Environmental Executive defines green building like this: Elevating the competence by which the built structures consume energy, equipment and water along with decreasing the adverse effects on health of human beings including the surroundings by improved structure, maintenance, procedure, operation, choice of a better site and elimination of waste. The subsequent section explains the current guiding principles for retrofitting and

World Trade Center Collapse the
Words: 1983 Length: 6 Document Type: Thesis

The original design did not take into account such a collapse, and so people in the streets were not sheltered from falling debris and ash. Pedestrian safety was not fully considered in this large of a disaster. The several pedestrian bridges which connected Battery Park were completely destroyed, which made it difficult for rescue personnel to evacuate, as well as causing "residents of Battery Park City to have no

NYC After WWII and California
Words: 1328 Length: 3 Document Type: Essay

NYC and California post-WW2 Let us imagine what it would be like to immigrate to the United States in 1953. We are coming across the Atlantic from Europe, the ship would still be coming around the lower end of Long Island (better known as "Brooklyn") and Manhattan Island to arrive at Ellis Island. (Until 1954, Ellis Island was the standard arrival point for incoming immigrants.) If we were extremely far-sighted we could

Hudson Park Hudson River Park
Words: 614 Length: 2 Document Type: Article

Another highly pertinent grievance would be raised by the Executive Director, of the Greenwich Village Society for Historic Preservation, who complained that the park committees did a poor job of reaching out to community, environmental and preservation groups as the issue came onto the table. As the interviewee noted, he and his colleagues had no sense that this controversial plan was in the works. Moreover, even with knowledge of the

Rebuilding of Ground Zero
Words: 3594 Length: 10 Document Type: Term Paper

rebuilding the World Trade Center. Specifically it will discuss the rebuilding of Ground Zero after the World Trade Center (WTC) attacks of September 11, 2001, including who are the decision makers, what is the process, and who has involvement in the process. It will also look at the cost, who is paying, the timeline, current status, what the final project will look like, who will benefit, the effect on

Sign Up for Unlimited Study Help

Our semester plans gives you unlimited, unrestricted access to our entire library of resources —writing tools, guides, example essays, tutorials, class notes, and more.

Get Started Now