Climate Change

Car-Free Manhattan: Just Wait 100 Years

By Aaron Naparstek

11:27 AM EST on November 8, 2006

I just caught up with this article in the Times on Saturday about a competition for engineers and architects to envision New York City in 2106. Check out one of the winning design concepts:

After the judges’ hasty deliberations, Daniel L. Doctoroff, the city’s deputy mayor for economic development, presented the prizes. He said his office was preoccupied by many of the same concerns as the contestants – “parks and open space and pedestrianization and transportation” – though it might not be looking quite as far ahead.
“It’s so exciting for me to see this group of architects and designers think so creatively about the future,” he said.
Mr. Marvel’s team won the honorary mention for technological advancement. The Terreform group won the mention for best presentation, with a proposal that involved eliminating privately owned cars in Manhattan; it predicted that 60 percent of the city’s population would be walking to work by 2038.
Over all, the proposals conveyed a confidence that amid energy shortages, population increases and global warming, New York’s urban problems could be addressed and even solved.

Photo: Hiroko Masuike for The New York Times

Aaron Naparstek

Aaron Naparstek is the founder and former editor-in-chief of Streetsblog. Based in Brooklyn, New York, Naparstek's journalism, advocacy and community organizing work has been instrumental in growing the bicycle network, removing motor vehicles from parks, and developing new public plazas, car-free streets and life-saving traffic-calming measures across all five boroughs. He was also one of the original cast members of the "War on Cars" podcast. You can find more of his work on his website.