Opinion Paper #6: Robert Moses and the Modern City

The question from this reading is whether Robert Moses was corrupt or not. In my opinion, he was not really corrupt, but was probably too ambitious. I think big leaders always get critics no matter what they do. There will always people who like to talk about what someone does wrong instead what they did right. Nobody can make everybody happy and satisfied.

As you look, New York City is very well organized. This city has such a high population density. I can't imagine how this city would survive without having all these bridges and express highways. I question whether NYC may have grown to such a large population or become one of the most famous cities in the world if it wasn't for such an ambitious and forward moving thinker as Robert Moses. He was a master planner and powerful person.

That said, perhaps he was in a seat of too much of power and didn't know how to properly use it...

Opinion Paper #5: 1811 Plan and Birth of the Metropolis

In 1789, after Washington was inaugurated as president of the united States in New York, many important events in history of New York happened. The city had rapidly grow and physically changed. The population of the city in 1783 was 12,000 and it became to more than double between 1783 and 1786. In 1790, 19 percent of the city's white households were slave-owners. After gradual process, by 1810, New York City had the largest community of free blacks in America.

New York City had begun to change phycally as well. The west side of Broadway had begun to develop with new building and streets in 1776 and by 1796, it extended to develop the line of currently Houston Street. There were various improvements in Wall Street in 1786. It was the home of many banks and insurance companies, as well as the wealthiest and most fashionable New Yorkers. Interestingly, Taverns played an important role in New York City in 1700s. Taverns offered not only rooms for guest,but also political meetingsole. They were in every area of the city. It is interesting how they had political meetings at Tavern.

It was interesting reading to know how New York City developed by gradually.. Also, as I said many times in other opinion papers and journals, it is amazing those streets and blocks are still there after more than 300 years.

Field Visit #3: The Limits of Architecture and the new "High Line" Park

High line Park is 1.45 miles long and located on Manhattan's west side. It starts from Gansevoort Street in the Meatpacking District to 34th Street, between 10th & 11th Avenues. It has only a few access points to get into the park including from Gansevoort, 14st, 16st, 18st and 20 streets. The high line was originally constructed in the 1930s to move dangerous freight trains above street level in order to decrease fatal accidents.

I was happy to see the High Line park. I remember it looked awful and in disrepair when I had passed by it before. Whether I was in a car or walking on the street, I was always able to see all the dead plants and trees coming over the railroad. I had heard that the city was looking to transform it into a park, but was skeptical of the plan because first, I couldn't picture a long and narrow park in the sky and second, as with most New York plans, I didn't believe it was going to get completed this soon. The park opened in June 2009.

One of the most interesting stories behind this park was that the idea to transform a railroad line to a city park first came from the neighborhood residents. They created the community group that pushed the idea and got Mayor Bloomberg to become a big supporter for the project.

Even though the park cost the city over $50 millions to build, I think the idea to do it was genius. To just remove the old railroad would have cost the city just as much as spending to transform it into a park. And given the lack of land to build parks within New York City, the High Line park is a great idea!

We also went to the another landmark that was remodeled in NYC: Chelsea Piers. Also located on the west side of Manhattan, Chelsea Piers was originally a ship terminal in early 1900s. The space is now used as a sports and entrainment complex. Since Manhattan has very limited land, New Yorkers didn't have many places to play team sports besides expensive health clubs. Chelsea piers offers many different sports such as indoor basketball, soccer, rock climbing and gymnastics etc.

Field Visit #6: Skyscraper Museum and Shanghai / Manhattan Exhibition

The term "Skyscraper" first applied to buildings in late 19th century as a result of how tall the buildings in Chicago and New York were being built. It also developed further as an active industrial steel industry allowed for even higher buildings. There is no official definition or height that specifically classifies a building as a skyscraper. However, skyscrapers have to be taller than wide and most of them are modern looking with a futuristic design. There is a bit of controversy regarding what makes a building a skyscraper. Some people say a skyscraper is based on how tall a building is. Others say that a skyscraper has to be made with steel. Interestingly, the world's tallest skyscrapers are made almost entirely out of concrete.

In the beginning, skyscrapers were just office building, but now we see examples of them as residences. Building a skyscraper has a symbolic relationship that shows a city that has been economically successful.

The special exhibition in the skyscraper museum was about 21-century of skyscrapers in Shanghai. Shanghai is a city in China that has been developing very fast and pursuing a path of modernization and urbanization. One district in particular has shown significant growth: Pudong, which is on the east side of the Huangpu river. For example, the Shanghai tower is currently being built in Pudong by Gensler, an American firm. The building will be the second tallest building in the world and will be completed in 2014.

Shanghai and New York have a few similarities. Trading is very important in both of cities so both have a large financial district. Population density is also very high in both cities even though New York is a lot more smaller than Shanghai. If New York is the 20th Century version of modern landscape, then Shanghai is the 21st Century version. Most of Shanghai has been developed very quickly in the past decade.



This trip reminded me of when I first arrived in New York. I was so shocked by all the tall buildings lined up in Midtown which I had only previously seen in movies. Of course, the feeling was very different between seeing things in movie and in reality. I felt, for the first time, that the world is so big and I am very small. I am curious at how I might feel if I went to Shanghai and saw all those buildings outside of the museum photos and in reality.