
June Jordan and Buckminster Fuller Tried to Redesign Harlem - mitchbob
https://www.newyorker.com/culture/culture-desk/when-june-jordan-and-buckminster-fuller-tried-to-redesign-harlem
======
keiferski
It's interesting how one generation's vision of utopia often becomes the
dystopia of the following generation. In his time, Le Corbusier was heralded
as the genius of modern architecture. Today, his buildings seem vaguely
dystopian (to me, at least) and remind me of the recent 2012 Dredd movie.

[https://duckduckgo.com/?q=dredd+movie+building&t=osx&iar=ima...](https://duckduckgo.com/?q=dredd+movie+building&t=osx&iar=images&iax=images&ia=images)

Fuller probably envisioned the shape of his buildings as futuristic and
naturalistic, but to me, they look like nuclear power plants. Icons (as in a
simplified, recognizable image) end up playing an unexpected role.

From the countries I've visited, I'd say Berlin (especially Prenzlauerberg)
and Tokyo had the most pleasant version of urban design. With Berlin, most
apartments have balconies, streets are wide enough to let shops expand onto
the sidewalks, and public transit works extremely well. Tokyo mixes commerce
with residential in a way that American cities get completely wrong.

There is also a city in Poland, Łódź, which also has a geometrically appealing
layout: it's essentially a single long street with two concentrations at
either end. The city itself is still recovering from the 90s and is fairly
run-down outside of the center, but the conceptual simplicity has an appeal
that's hard to describe.

[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Piotrkowska_Street](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Piotrkowska_Street)

~~~
dymax78
> It's interesting how one generation's vision of utopia often becomes the
> dystopia of the following generation. In his time, Le Corbusier was heralded
> as the genius of modern architecture. Today, his buildings seem vaguely
> dystopian (to me, at least) and remind me of the recent 2012 Dredd movie.

That structure in Dredd reminded me of Corbs Ville Contemporaine (aka 'A City
of Three Million Inhabitants') design. Interestingly, the objective was to
bring back a green landscape without sacrificing urban density. Almost
everywhere there isn't a structure there would have been park. Manufacturing,
Business, Recreation, and Habitation each occupied it's own zone. One of
Corbusier's plans could fit 800-1200 residents/hectare.

It's an interesting observation on our vision of a utopia; Paul Rudolph
enjoyed a meteoric rise in popularity in the 60's & 70's, now many of his
structures (in the U.S.) have been dismantled. Luckily some past endeavors age
well, e.g. Neave Brown was awarded the Gold Medal by RIBA for Robin Hood
Gardens several years ago, Trellick Tower is still standing, etc.

~~~
OldHand2018
> Interestingly, the objective was to bring back a green landscape without
> sacrificing urban density.

Yeah, it was one way to do that, for sure. But there are other ways that many
people would think are far better. Here's a typical street in a neighborhood
that is presently at about 30,000 people/mile^2 (11,000 people/km^2):

[https://www.google.com/maps/@42.0103594,-87.6643239,3a,75y,2...](https://www.google.com/maps/@42.0103594,-87.6643239,3a,75y,238.24h,90t/data=!3m7!1e1!3m5!1sGHmLhAxFppoH4m9vIirLbA!2e0!6s%2F%2Fgeo0.ggpht.com%2Fcbk%3Fpanoid%3DGHmLhAxFppoH4m9vIirLbA%26output%3Dthumbnail%26cb_client%3Dmaps_sv.tactile.gps%26thumb%3D2%26w%3D203%26h%3D100%26yaw%3D230.20157%26pitch%3D0%26thumbfov%3D100!7i16384!8i8192)

------
burlesona
Here's an alternate source that's much better and has better (but not enough)
images: [https://ny.curbed.com/2018/1/10/16868494/harlem-history-
buck...](https://ny.curbed.com/2018/1/10/16868494/harlem-history-buckminster-
fuller-development-rezoning)

I don't really understand why this is the case, but a large percentage of
stories about architecture, urban design, urban planning, development, etc.
are written with thousands of words and no maps, diagrams, or pictures. The
fuzzy black and white scribble on this one doesn't count.

Why do writers bother penning these? Architecture and it's assorted offshoots
are visual media, and spending a bunch of words to describe it is about as
useful as writing an essay to say what the Mona Lisa looks like.

~~~
prawn
You can write an article about something from afar, but can't photograph it.
Leaves you trying to find Creative Commons images or licensing something.
Writer isn't paid enough to do that, I'm guessing.

------
throwaway316943
Corbu got a few things right but he was off the mark when he said a house was
a machine for living. A house cannot provides all the necessities for living,
it must be integrated into a community. Monolithic buildings like this are an
extension of his incorrect idea, they are the monoculture of urban design much
like the suburb. We should take the good idea of simple and easy to
manufacture buildings and use them to create human scale spaces that fulfill
our needs as a community.

------
aaron695
If you look at page 341 these would be solarpunk if drawn today.

They are thin and constructed over existing buildings. But with ramps so you
can drive a car up.

[https://s3.amazonaws.com/arena-
attachments/2397578/dc67d37c8...](https://s3.amazonaws.com/arena-
attachments/2397578/dc67d37c83d910d2f027d855f42805a8.pdf?1530916557)

------
Animats
That was a terrible idea. Apartment buildings with 45,000 people each? Most
with no exterior windows?

~~~
oh_sigh
Someone went to Kowloon walled city and said "Cool".

~~~
Animats
There are parts of Shenzhen that look like that.[1] But with better structural
soundness. Here's a ground level view.[2] (That's a full sphere video; you can
change the view direction, including looking straight up.)

This meets most of the criteria you see the "strong towns" people plugging
for. Walkable streets. Convenient retail. Few cars. Very low speeds. Excellent
land utilization. No space wasted on parking. Affordable.

Of course, the people who write those articles wouldn't live in a place like
that themselves.

[1]
[https://earth.google.com/web/search/@22.54024647,114.0656082...](https://earth.google.com/web/search/@22.54024647,114.06560828,20.66510478a,1105.83450886d,35y,75.7406347h,0t,0r)

[2] [https://youtu.be/e-2n_HksLh0?t=220](https://youtu.be/e-2n_HksLh0?t=220)

~~~
nemetroid
> This meets most of the criteria you see the "strong towns" people plugging
> for. Walkable streets. Convenient retail. Few cars. Very low speeds.
> Excellent land utilization. No space wasted on parking. Affordable.

> Of course, the people who write those articles wouldn't live in a place like
> that themselves.

This is like suggesting that people who value having their own backyard are
being inconsistent by not moving into the remote countryside. There's nothing
inconsistent in promoting a certain set of values within desiring those values
taken to the _extreme_.

