Image courtesy of the Wildlife Conservation Society

This summer will mark the 400th anniversary of Henry Hudson’s arrival to the shores of New York, or to what was then known as the island of Mannahatta. There will be a vast array of quadricentennial (try saying that five times fast!) events up and down the river that was named after the eminent (or egregious) English explorer. But if you want to get a head start and avoid traveling too far afield, check out the Manahatta Project’s exhibit at the Museum of the City of New York.

The exhibit (which is part of a larger project and includes a recently released book) reveals the ecology of the island as it existed at the time of Hudson’s landing. It recreates the old growth forests, the sprawling wetlands, and the indigenous settlements from 400 years ago. One of the more interesting facet’s of the show is a large, blank topographic mock-up of the island which sits at the center of the exhibit space. Different layers of information are projected onto the blank model from overhead. One shows the foot paths and land-use patterns of the original Lenape inhabitants. Another shows soil types and ecological communities.

Another fascinating installation is the interactive Promethean Board tucked away at the back of the exhibit space. This giant touch-screen displays a Muir Web of the islands ecology and allows a stylus-wielding visitor to select single component of the ecosystem (a beaver, say) and reveal all the connections that sustained it.  These digital displays are complimented by a wealth of other, more traditional images, maps and written information.  If you aren’t in the NYC area but are still interested, definitely check out the project’s website for a less immersed experience.

While the exhibit is amazing and well worth a visit, it left me unclear about the effect and importance of such a perspective.  My friend brought this to my attention, shaking me out of a technology induced reverie, when she asked, “this is cool and everything, but so what!?”  The project creators are, obviously, keen on helping visitors develop a sense of the natural history and ecological connectedness of the area.  And, for them, this knowledge is still relevant to the island full of sky-scrapers and avenues.  But I wonder, how should we think of the 400 years that have passed since Hudson arrived?  Was the growth and development of NYC merely ecological change, or was it a process of destruction?  Are there lessons to be learned from Mannahatta or is it just a distant memory to be celebrated?

But Not Looking Like It Will Become A Reality

Most media sources that lean green covered the exciting emergence and development of China’s first eco-city, Dongtang. Actually, it would have been the world’s first start-from-scratch eco-city. Meant to be car free, renewable energy powered, and full of water recycling features, this city of 50,000 residents was supposed to be a showcase of sustainability. Advocates saw its promise, critics thought this distracted from retrofitting, but China was set to unveil this city in 2010 at the Shanghai Urban Expo.

Mum appears to be the word though. No houses have been built, which means no one lives there. And the expo site no longer features the visit to Dongtang as part of the conference. As reported in the Guardian, the design team from British company Arup, who created the master plan for the city, knows little. What they do know is not particularly good news though: the project office has been shut in Dongtang.

As is clear by the account of Fred Pearce at the Guardian, people who invested something in the project, be it hope, work time, or anything else, are disgruntled. Rightly so. What was meant to be a showcase of urban sustainability is now a model of waste. Wasted resources, time, and money. I assume the urban expo will go on, with another feature filling its void. And eventually what went wrong with the project will be unveiled. But it seems to be symptomatic of the larger economic paradigm shift. Dreaming up huge, elaborate, credit-intensive, excessive and overly ambitious projects is so 2005. 2009 seems to be the year of the flop. And 2010 will likely be the year of the clean up. Hopefully something can still be salvaged at Dongtang in the aftermath of excess and failure. After all, the Chinese character for crisis is danger + opportunity.

Or Something Like It

Living Cities, a collaboration between 21 large philanthropic organizations, private corporations, and the public sector recently released a report, “Green Cities: How Urban Sustainability Efforts Can and Must Drive America’s Climate Change Policies.”

In the opening letter from the CEO, the report is said to “showcase and support the innovative
ways in which cities are creating an equitable green economy.” The report is full of helpful visual information, like a chart that exhibits what working families spend on transportation and housing per year (see page 28), or an educational skyline that gives info on resource use from buildings in the city (page 14).

For a synopsis and some highlights, check out the write up on Greener Buildings. The blog will be back to more entries soon, but I was out sick for a few days, which means major catch up.