"Like many American cities, the streetscape in downtown Brooklyn was for a long time very heavy on the street: a great place to park a car or drive through. But over the past 20 years, the area itself has gone from being a 9-to-5 shopping and business district to one where a growing number of people live 24-7. Since 2004, more than 22,000 housing units have been added to the neighborhood, changing its character so much that its old streetscape just wasn't cutting it."
"The formerly congested streets of downtown Brooklyn have been augmented with planters, bollards, street bistro seating, and other traffic calming measures, as well as increased greenery and public open space. Redesigned tree pits add a larger and more refined space for street trees to grow, and curving benches follow cobblestone paving that hugs the edge of the sidewalk. Compare to the preexisting street furniture, which Myer calls "mean," the new spaces invite pedestrians to sit and experience the city around them."
Downtown Brooklyn shifted from a car-oriented 9-to-5 district to a 24/7 residential neighborhood after more than 22,000 housing units were added since 2004. The Downtown Brooklyn Partnership hired WXY and Bjarke Ingels Group in late 2018 to reimagine public infrastructure focused on pedestrians, mobility, shared streets, increased biodiversity, and a distinctive Brooklyn identity. After seven years of planning and prototyping, the redesigned streets were fully installed. The new streetscape includes planters, bollards, bistro seating, traffic-calming measures, increased greenery, redesigned tree pits, cobblestone-edged curving benches, and expanded public open space that invites pedestrian use.
Read at Fast Company
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