By Shuo Cheng
Part I: Battery Park City I: Public/Private Development of Battery Park
The dichotomy of public versus private spaces presents interesting patterns in modern redeveloped waterfronts. In Battery Park City, public spaces consist of wide swaths of park space and commercial space which houses a movie theater, restaurants and some other large corporate businesses. There are very little individualized small businesses, and the ones that do exist, are not unique to Battery Park City. Most if not all building space are privately owned by separate real estate firms. On the Battery Park City waterfront, the difference between private and public property is clearly delineated. The Battery Park City redevelopment project is unique in that BPC wasn’t solely created to provide a beautiful park space and encourage private investment to the area, and thereby New York City. While these factors have been achieved, Battery Park City to this day doesn’t receive as much private investment compared to other districts of Manhattan simply because it is a finished residential neighborhood with high barriers commercially.
For many cities, the newly redeveloped waterfront is a beacon of economic rejuvenation. The waterfront is meant to herald new waves of private investment in attempt to bring more business into the city itself. That is why in many other redeveloped waterfronts, small businesses such as restaurants and boutiques are much more commonly found than in Battery Park City.
Public spaces highly emphasized in most redeveloped waterfront. Providing a place for people to socialize, exercise and relax, waterfronts are the core of a city’s image. Having long shifted from the shipping era’s mostly industrial usage, modern waterfronts are a mixture of aesthetics and practicality to the pedestrian. They are meant to be enjoyed by the city dweller and visiting tourist. Today waterfronts are able to cater widely to the pedestrian through wide open spaces as well as provide private residential complexes.
Looking at the numbers, Battery Park City is composed of 42% residential, 9% commercial office space, 30% open space such as park space. And 19% streets and avenues. Similarly, Washington Harbor in the D.C. neighborhood of Georgetown also parceled out the land into similar proportions of residential commercial and open space. (Gordon)
A distinction of note is that although Battery Park City is open to all, nearly all of the property is privately owned either by private real estate firms or by the Battery Park Authority. Chamber Street is where BPC starts out. Stuyvesant High School marks the beginning the neighborhood surrounded by high-rise residential buildings.
Following the high school, several high-income high rises apartment buildings fill up the residential neighborhood.
Next, the North Cove is integrated with the World Financial Center and other shops and restaurants.
Finally, alongside the Hudson River, Battery Park City’s expansive green space with residential buildings to scale.
Sources
The Battery Park City Authority. (2013) The Design of Battery Park City. Retrived from http://www.batteryparkcity.org/Who-We-Are/Urban-Experiment.php
Gordon D. L. A. (1997) . Battery Park City: Politics and Planning on the New York Waterfront. Routledge Press
Sagalyn, Lynne B., Journal of American Planning Association (Winter 2007) Public/Private Development: Lessons from History, Research, and Practice