CityLab Daily: The Design Secrets of NYC’s Brooklyn Bridge Park
Also today: The impending backlash over London's bike boom, and a look at the ticking time bomb in commercial real estate.
Completed in 2021, Brooklyn Bridge Park has settled in as both an essential escape from city life and an urban destination, offering everything from playgrounds and athletic fields to a pastoral park. The 1.3-mile long park along New York City’s East River draws an estimated 5 million people annually — well above early expectations.
But its success didn’t come without challenges, including a superstorm event and a global pandemic. A new book from MVVA, the firm behind the new park, looks back at the planning, design and construction process. And in a conversation with contributor Mark Byrnes, lead landscape architect Mark Van Valkenburgh reflects on what it takes to reinvent urban waterfronts. Today on CityLab: What Makes New York City’s Brooklyn Bridge Park Work