transit
The Omnibus Roundup – Holiday Hiatus, Year in Review, Tech Campus, ElectriCity and the Google Zeitgeist

HOLIDAY HIATUS
The holidays are upon us. And while we busy ourselves this week with buying urban-themed gifts for loved ones, we are also planning to take a little extra time in the first days of the new year to do some Omnibus brainstorming, housecleaning, and party-planning. So we will be back in full force on January 9th, just in time to celebrate our third birthday, preview an exciting new line-up of features, forum posts and special projects for 2012, and invite you officially to our second annual benefit party, which will take place on February 28th. Mark your calendars! And don’t forget your pens, pencils or…

The Omnibus Roundup – Lighting as Placemaking, MTA funding, Green Zoning, Bridge Birthdays and Public Authorities

PLACEMAKING THROUGH LIGHTING
The City’s plan to make Lower Manhattan more vibrant after dark goes beyond simply installing more lights. The title of the New York City Economic Development Corporation’s Request for Proposals, “Placemaking through Lighting,” explains the initiative’s priorities: to use creative illumination to enhance Lower Manhattan’s identity, to attract visitors and investment and to create a sense of place for the area…

The Omnibus Roundup – Traffic Haiku, Delancey Underground, Suburban Dunescapes, Dream Cities, Designer Scaffolding and the AIDS Memorial Competition

HAIKU TRAFFIC SAFETY
With ubiquity comes invisibility. And words can be arranged with the same economy and elegance as high quality graphic design. These two precepts are the inspiration behind the DOT’s latest spate of traffic signs. By combining a little bit of poetry with…

The Omnibus Roundup — Flooded Subways, Before I Die, Legacy of Moses, SEED Awards, Pier 42 and Happy Thanksgiving!

FLOODED SUBWAYS
When Hurricane Irene was headed towards New York City, the MTA made the bold choice to shut down the entire subway system, anticipating widespread flooding of the tunnels which could cause significant damage to transit infrastructure. Though our subways escaped harm this time, the flood threat looks to be a harbinger of a future norm — unless we make some changes now. Last week, Columbia, CUNY and Cornell released Responding to Climate Change in New York State, a report commissioned by the…

The Omnibus Roundup – Prefab Yards, Megapolitan America, MTA Blitzes, Extending Grids and What to Do

PREFAB YARDS
SHoP Architects and developer Bruce C. Ratner this week unveiled designs for the first Atlantic Yards tower, a 32-story, 350-unit building that will be the world’s tallest prefabricated steel structure. SHoP has worked with ARUP and XSite Modular to develop a bracing structure that will ensure stability and safety for…

Arts for Transit: A Conversation with Sandra Bloodworth

The director of an MTA program to bring visual art and performance to New York City’s public transportation system talks about activating spaces of infrastructure, improving rider experience and harnessing the power of public art.

, , , , ,
The Omnibus Roundup — No Bins, CityBench, Secaucus 7, Parking Reform, The Civilians on OWS and Urbanized at IFC

MTA NO-BIN EXPERIMENT
New York City residents are deeply skeptical of a new pilot program designed to reduce litter in subway stations. Garbage cans have been completely removed from two stations, the 8th Street N station in Manhattan and the Main Street 7 station in Queens, in a test to see if their absence…

The Omnibus Roundup – Zuccotti POPS, MetroCard Use, Ferry Expectations, CAT Scans for Cities, Ward and MTA Manufacturing

ZUCCOTTI POPS
Jerold S. Kayden has written two opinion pieces about the spatial and legal ramifications of Occupy Wall Street’s use of Zuccotti Park, a privately-owned public space just north of Wall Street (of the type discussed in our conversation with Raquel Ramati and at our potluck with the Design Trust

Telling Transit Tales

On Sunday, September 25, UnionDocs and the Metropolitian Transportation Authority (MTA) co-hosted a screening and discussion of videos from the MTA’s YouTube channel. Since its launch last January, the channel has logged over 900,000 views and now features nearly 100 videos surveying MTA operations from many angles. Sunday night’s discussion, titled “Telling Transit Tales,” was…

The Omnibus Roundup – Permanent Plazas, Weekends with Vignelli, FastTrash.org, Velonotte, Archtober and Freshkills+

TIMES SQUARE PLAZAS MADE PERMANENT
On Tuesday, September 27, Manhattan’s Community Board 5 met with Craig Dykers of Snøhetta to review their plans for the Times Square pedestrian plazas of the not-so-distant future. No more lawn chairs, no more paint as marker for where the car space ends. The plan calls for a leveling of the streets and curbs, to create a continuous pedestrian surface of dark concrete. Inlaid into the pavers will be steel rivets to reflect the bright lights of the big city. Benches and street furniture…

Search