As change takes us further and further, it is only occasionally that we remember how things once were. The landscape of urbanist environments is certainly changing, and in the best of cases is working to reinvent itself with mindfulness, clarity, and more holistic transit. Thanks to a motive force from inspired, pragmatic environmentalists and urban planners, this change creates space for (the sometimes invisible) walkers and bicyclists of the world.
NYC Streetfilms has caught a moment of such a metamorphosis in New York City in recent years, presented via the video below:
NYC Streets Metamorphosis from Streetfilms.
Time spent in construction, remodeling, reinvention, and invention is part of the magic of cities. Life is multidimensional. Choreographing this through landscapes of time and movement is a beautiful way of helping us to reflect. Clarence Eckerson, Jr. of Streetfilms describes similarly and in more detail:
There’s nothing more dramatic than looking back five or ten years at Streetfilms footage (some of it a bit low-res) to see how much the livable streets landscape of New York City’s streets have changed. In this wonderful montage that even makes us cry check out the transformation of Times Square, Herald Square, the Brooklyn Waterfront and many other places that out-going NYC DOT Commissioner Janette Sadik-Khan and her staff have intrepidly installed.
We have similarly high hopes for Mayor de Blaiso as he takes office today and look forward to what he and his new NYC DOT Commissioner Polly Trottenberg. As much as has been done, the large majority of our streets still need reforms, we need drastic policy change, slower speed limits and traffic calming for our most vulnerable citizens. Hopefully, this short gets them excited to top the transportation record of the Bloomberg administration.
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