Week 2 – Engage
Rosenzweig’s article is mainly about ways to adapt to the changing climate. How would the adaptations to our city, let’s say creating a bubble around Manhattan, change the concept and goal of Mannahatta?
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Week 2: Engage
Rosensweig and Solecki focus on the programs created by Mayor Bloomberg to deal with climate change, namely PlaNYC and the New York City Climate Change Adaptation Task Force. Jacob mentions how the processes of city planning must consider the components of cities (cars, buildings, waste, etc) as real objects and not just abstractions.
Is Mayor Bloomberg aware that the problem with city planning is in the “physical sciences” or are his programs just a temporary patch that fails to provide a sustainable solution for the long run?
Does the current system for planning and action to adapt and mitigate climate change for NYC described by Rosenzweig match with Jane Jacobs approach to city planning? Would this approach lead us to a lifestyle similar to that of the people Lenape and a return to the Manhatta of the past?
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Week 2: Engage
To what extent does Sanderson’s pre-colonial Mannahatta coincide with, as well as oppose, Jacobs’ “organized complexity” vision of Manhattan?
week 2 – Engage
Rosenzweig discusses public works projects such as PlaNYC in her article. How successful, if at all, would Jane Jacobs consider these projects in regards to city planning to improve New York City?
Week 2: Overview of the Natural and Social History of New York, The Basics of New York City Government, Introduction to Waste Conversion Technologies
Research challenge: NYC has a strong mayor system. What does this mean? Diagram it in a powerpoint slide.
What is Due: Personal Statement
Click to show required readingsRequired readings:
Sanderson, Eric W. “Ch. 1: The Mannahatta Project,” in Mannahatta: a Natural History of New York City. Abrams, 2009. 10-33, 98-101, 137-169, 209-243. Available through Baruch e-reserves.
Jacobs, Jane. “Ch. 1: Introduction,” . “Ch. 22: The Kind of Problem a City is,”in The Death and Life of Great American Cities. Vintage, 1992. 3-25. 429-448. Available through Baruch e-reserves.
Rosenzweig, Cynthia, and William Solecki. “New York City adaptation in context.” Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences 1196.1 (2010): 19-28. [Zotero]
Reading tips: As you read Sanderson, try to absorb the feeling of nature emanating from his historical account. For photos, google Mannahatta, and check out the Welikia Project. Jacobs is making a strong argument and her major points are in in pages 1 through 13 of the Introduction. In the Ch. 22, page 440’s bullet points are key. Focus on these, but do not neglect the rest of the reading. For the Rosensweig/Solecki reading, approach it as recent and current history. If someone were reading the article 20 years from now, what would they conclude from it. Don’t over-stress the agencies and reports, look for the overarching facts and themes.
Click to show optional readingsOptional readings:
DiBlasio, Bill. Guide to Community Organizing. http://advocate.nyc.gov/organizing-toolkit (Download PDF in your language of choice!)
New York City organizational chart: http://www.nyc.gov/html/om/html/orgchart/org_chart.html
British Institution of Mechanical Engineers. Energy from Waste: A Wasted Opportunity? 2010 http://www.wte.org/waste-energy-resources-a2985
General Historical Overview: Lankevich, George J. American Metropolis: A History of New York City. New York: New York University Press, 1998. (on hard reserve at Library, can be purchased used at Amazon.)
Tagged cities, Mannahatta, climate change adaptation, NYC politics
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