A catalyst is something that helps a reaction that is already underway happen faster. Calamitous planning nearly destroyed Newark but now a new bright orange boardwalk and playing fields along the Passaic River are part of an effort to renew the city. Instead of tearing down neighborhoods and replacing them with freeways and isolated concrete or glass towers, emphasis on small scale projects, renovations and refurbishment are bringing different and superior results.

Gone are expensive mega-projects that have a negative value on the day they are completed. Negative not just for stakeholders in a city but even for private developers who own the land and the structures.

I proposed building a National Boardwalk in Ottawa to celebrate Canada’s 150th birthday in 2017. The idea was to reclaim Ottawa’s three great rivers and historic canal from roadways (ironically mislabeled “parkways”) and cars.

As London-based architect Eric Kuhne says, “Leisure is the new infrastructure.”

@ProfBruce

@Quantum_Entity

(Photo by Nicole Bengiveno/The New York Times)

More about Modernist Urban Design and Spatial Apartheid on eqjournal.org.