The reaction after the atrocity of September 11 for many Americans
- particularly New Yorkers - was to mourn the destruction of the
Twin Towers themselves along with the shocking loss of life. The
immediate call was for architects, city planners and private
finance to build in their place something that would be bolder,
better - even bigger - than the WTC, something to show the rest of
the world that the United States would not be defeated. Slowly,
however, commentators have come to question the merits of the
Towers, and to wonder whether it is appropriate to replace like
with like. It is true that they were immediately recognizable icons
of the city, famous the world over, yet the 16-acre site was not
popular with all New Yorkers. For example, the historic Syrian
quarter of narrow streets and neighbourhood shops was bulldozed in
the late 1950s to make way for this monument to global capitalism,
whose windswept plazas were no substitute for the public spaces
that they replaced. Here, 17 of New York's best urbanists, while
stressing that re-evaluating the benefits of the WTC should not be
equated with a lack of patriotism, try to find a way forward for
their beloved city, considering New York's history, political
landscape and architectural aesthetics in a collection of
thought-provoking and insightful essays. John Kuo Wei Tchen
examines the territorial battles for the downtown area that have
taken place over the centuries, from the war of attrition by the
Dutch against the local Native American tribes in the 17th century,
through the dispossession of the black, and then the Chinese,
communities in the 19th century, and culminating in the dispersal
of Little Syria; Beverly Gage tells the story of the Wall Street
bomb planted by anarchists in 1920, in which nearly 40 were killed;
and Eric Darton draws strange parallels between the lives of Minoru
Yamasaki, the architect of the Towers, and the suicide hijacker
Mohammad Atta. Now that the dust, both literal and figurative, has
begun to settle, this collection of writing bravely points the way
forward, and explains how decisions about the future of the city
can be informed by lessons learned from the past. (Kirkus UK)
The September 11th attack on the global landmark twin towers of the World Trade Centre, transformed all of New York City, not just the historic financial district of lower Manhattan. In After the World Trade Center, the highly regarded social critics Michael Sorkin and Sharon Zukin call on nineteen of New York's best urbanists to consider the attack and its aftermath in the broadest context. While the city still digs through the debris, contrary forces shaping its future are at work. Developers jockey to control the right to rebuild "ground zero". Financial firms line up for sweetheart deals. Architects and planners debate surveillance schemes over New York's boisterous public life, and proposals for memorials are gaining in appeal. Though these processes are taking form, none has achieved a political consensus. Through a multitude of perspectives on the emerging city, This incredible book provides alternative visions to the expected landscape of power. These essays provide a social portrait of the city at a new crossroads, one that both reflects New York's pre-eminent role as a financial and cultural capital and reveals the fault lines under the last few years of rapid growth. Considering issues such as who will control rebuilding the city, what the new landscape will look like and whose vision of the future will prevail, these essays point to a manifesto for a democratically planned New York, where all the city's communities - from Tribeca to Chinatown and Jackson Heights will actually count.
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