New York – Just a few years ago, even many New Yorkers were not aware that their metropolis is really on the water.
Decaying industrial buildings, ports and derelict land dominated the coasts. The East River, Hudson River, and canals like Brooklyn’s Gowanus were so polluted with toxic waste that almost no one wanted to put a toe in them. People lived with their backs to the water. “There were no paths at all along the coast,” says Cy Adler, who has been hiking in the metropolis for around 30 years and every year leads a group of like-minded people around Manhattan on the “Great Saunter” (Big Stroll). “In the beginning we had to scramble over rails and climb through holes in fences.”
Today, much of the 32-mile (52-kilometer) walk around the island is a stroll through thriving parks. Almost the entire west side of Manhattan – from the financial district in the south to the trendy district of Chelsea, Midtown, the Upper West Side and up to Harlem and Inwood Park at the northern tip of Manhattan – has been developed with bicycle and pedestrian paths as well as green spaces. There is also more and more activity on the east side of the island and the other districts are following suit. The metropolis of New York, once the epitome of a dirty, gray concrete city, is well on the way to implementing the appeals for World Environment Day on Thursday (June 5): to make cities as green as possible and to protect people from the consequences of global warming.
But the change didn’t just come voluntarily: in the 1960s and 1970s, when many of the city’s parks were falling into disrepair and the streets were threatened with gridlock, people left the smog of New York in droves. Entire blocks of buildings stood empty and the crime rate rose. “The richest city in the country breathes the worst air,” the New York Times complained in 1969. “The city with the most parks in the country could be without green spaces in a generation. The world capital of art is the dirtiest metropolis in the country.”
In addition, there was an ever-increasing awareness of climate change and the vulnerability of the waterfront metropolis – made particularly clear by the hurricane “Sandy” in 2012, which devastated large parts of New York and the consequences of which the city is still suffering to this day. “With our public transport, the density and the good structure, New York has the opportunity to become a more sustainable place,” said Ron Shiffman, who has been working as a city planner in the metropolis for more than half a century, recently the “New York Times”. . “But if we don’t take advantage of these benefits, we will suffer. And as we learned from Hurricane Sandy, we need good plans. We have to adapt to rising sea levels and stronger storms.”
A greener New York is also more pleasant, according to Shiffman. “It will result in a vastly improved environment that is nicer and has more open spaces for people to meet. There will be more trees and plants that will absorb the water and reduce the heat of the sidewalks, provide more shade and have a cooling effect on hot days.”
New York is now doing everything in its power to lure its residents outside, particularly in the summertime – and since many live in cramped, stuffy, windowless apartments, they’re only too happy to follow. New bike paths, sports fields, picnic areas – even with a view of the Statue of Liberty – sun loungers and new parks are being built in many places. The city supports small community gardens, more and more New Yorkers are digging in the ground and keeping chickens between urban canyons and skyscrapers.
The new awareness of nature, promoted above all during the tenure of Mayor Michael Bloomberg (2002-2013), has changed the city: residential areas on the water are in demand again. In Gowanus, Brooklyn, the canal of the same name is currently being cleaned up, and house prices have risen by more than half since 2004, according to the New York Times. A disused elevated railway line in southwest Manhattan became Highline Park, which offers the best views of the skyline from the greenery and has developed into one of the city’s main tourist attractions. When it opened in 2009, Wallpaper magazine named him “Life Improver of the Year”.
In the meantime, among New Yorkers it is even considered fashionable to support nature. Stars like the actors Edward Norton and Kevin Bacon and the designer Diane von Fürstenberg demonstrated for the Highline for years. Actress Bette Midler has even set up her own foundation for a “greener, more sustainable New York”.
And the greening should continue, because New York’s new Mayor Bill de Blasio has already made it clear that he wants to follow the path of his predecessor Bloomberg. Before he left, he had left the city the paper “PlaNYC2030” with a clear goal: “To make New York the greenest of all cities.”
New York Times report on Gowanus
New York Times interview with Shiffman
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