"I am standing astride my bicycle, a sapling in a torrent of traffic, at the spot where Flatbush Avenue angles across Fulton Street. The light changes but my eye drifts up to the towers of Downtown Brooklyn silhouetted by the afternoon sun. Angry honks jolt me back to my task, and as I ride on, it occurs to me that this is how this new-growth forest of high-rises is best seen: in passing and under pressure."
"Each time I return, on foot and unhurried, I find the forest thicker, taller, and more indifferent to the chaotic undergrowth of life down at street level. Two decades ago, Downtown Brooklyn was well connected but underpopulated, a combination that drew armies of fresh college graduates, quintupling the population. It's hard to believe how thoroughly and quickly the skyline has been remade in that time-and how shoddily."
At street level a rider experiences Downtown Brooklyn's high-rises as a passing, pressured forest that overshadows chaotic street life. Walking shows the high-rise 'forest' growing thicker, taller, and indifferent to the neighborhood below. Over two decades the area remained connected but underpopulated, then attracted armies of young college graduates and quintupled its population. The skyline was remade quickly and shoddily rather than as a showcase of exemplary high-rise architecture. Most developers produced mediocre, repetitive towers characterized as Consensus Clunkism. A 2003 rezoning promised a Midtown-scale business hub and five million square feet of class-A office space, but the envisioned business district largely failed to materialize.
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