City Living: Brave New Ideas of a Bygone Era

JANUARY 28, 2010

Studying the past may help to improve the city’s residential future.

Challenges and realities of New York City living raise a host of emotions for most people. Recent news from Stuyvesant Town/Peter Cooper Village has people talking about the good and the bad. Yet the stories behind these developments are part of the city’s interesting and complex residential history.

Built just after WWII, Stuyvesant Town/Peter Cooper Village offered substantial, spacious, comfortable housing for returning veterans and their families. Similar complexes were built in other urban areas (LA’s Park LaBrea is an example) as part of major urban renewal projects. Later new developments like LeFrak City in Queens and Mitchell-Lama-subsidized housing developments like Morningside Gardens made leafy parks and paths, fitness centers, day care and other family-friendly perks available to incoming city residents.

Late-century economic boom times brought new residents who wanted–and believed they could afford–more luxury, designer touches and, in some cases, less family-oriented lifestyles. In a new century, everyone feels the need for a bit of renewal. Could these cities-within-cities become a more relevant part of that renewal? Whether they become a model for new residential development or experience a renewal of their own as the fervent pace of new development slows, these once-revolutionary urban solutions may be the key to real evolution in city living.

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City Living: Brave New Ideas of a Bygone Era

JANUARY 28, 2010

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