Infrastructure Walk:
Nowadays we seem to throw around the word Infrastructure, but what really is it? Infrastructure is a term commonly used by architects, engineers, urban planners, and social scientists to characterize fundamental facilities, services, and technological systems that create solid structures that shape social organizations. From a political standpoint, infrastructure is seen as a means to how a nation can provide an efficient way for corporations and departments to move and deliver their goods. Some of these goods may include electricity, water, sewage, and other merchandise that serves the public. On my infrastructure walk, I decided to go a route that I was quite familiar with in hopes that it will give us a better understanding of just how much the infrastructure I interact with on a day-to-day basis impacts me. I walked from Tandon to the Brooklyn Heights area, traveling a distance of exactly 0.5 miles. This walk gave me the opportunity to look at all the features of Downtown Brooklyn's infrastructure and put them into a different perspective- one that I don’t often consider when walking to campus at seven in the morning.
Initially I went into the walk simply observing the types of buildings that were around me. There were colleges and court buildings, yet I immediately noticed the abundance of apartment complexes. Some were already built and established while others were still under construction. In the last 10 years, “more than 11,000 units of housing- including 530 affordable homes- have been constructed” in Downtown Brooklyn (Frishberg). The expansion of residentials buildings, particularly high-rise apartment complexes, are fundamental to Brooklyn's infrastructure. The increase in housing has shaped the city into to the dynamic and thriving neighborhood that it is today. Downtown Brooklyn’s city planners are taking full advantage of the economic growth and activity that increased housing can bring to the city. The new apartment buildings attract many people who work in Manhattan, as you get away from some of the noise and chaos that NYC homes. In some cases the cost of rent would be much cheaper in Brooklyn than in Manhattan, which in a way categorizes the area as almost a suburb of Manhattan. New York City since the very beginning has dealt with overpopulation and housing crises, issues that have been rooted in many of the efforts to improve the city’s infrastructure. In building more homes in Brooklyn the issue is being alleviated to a large extent.
Although there are numerous benefits to the rise in new and attractive apartment buildings in the Downtown Brooklyn area, there are some negative aspects. For one, there is more strain on the subway systems as there is an increase in people needing transportation in and out of the city. However, the increase in subway riders and the pressures it puts on the subway system to run more efficiently is not entirely a bad thing for the MTA. in Langdon Winner’s, Do Artifacts have Politics?, he states that “specific features in the design or arrangement of a device or system could provide a convenient means of establishing patterns of power and authority in a given setting” (Winner). If we apply this idea to the impact of aggrandized housing on the subway systems, it puts the MTA in a conveniently authoritative position. As the demand for public transportation has increased, the MTA has had the jurisdiction to increase the cost from $2.50 to $2.75, and there is even talk about a single train ride costing 3 dollars in the near future. Subway systems have been given the power to auspiciously grow their own economy and invest more into public transit. This was clear on my walk as I passed numerous subway station entrances and several busses in-route and lined up along the streets for residents to make use of.
While walking through Downtown Brooklyn, it is hard not to notice the conglomeration of educational institutions. Top public and private institutions for higher education are located in the area, including NYU Tandon School of Engineering, NYC College of Technology, and Long Island University. This concentration of institutional anchors is helping to incite the development of the “Brooklyn Tech Triangle”. According to the Brooklyn Tech Triangle Strategic Plan from 2013, “ more than 520 tech and design related firms now call Downtown Brooklyn home”(“Downtown Brooklyn”). Furthermore, public institutions such as high schools and colleges are also impacted by the sudden residential expansion in the neighborhood. We noticed that universities such as City Tech, and even our own, are undergoing expansions. Tandon has bought out a new building at 370 Jay Street, and on the same street, City Tech has a new building that is just about done with construction. We can assume that the need to expand universities and high school campuses is in part due to the increase in students enrolling. This is especially an issue for elementary to high schools as they can easily reach numbers far above enrollment capacity, and oftentimes public schools do not have the means for funding large expansions.
This increase in population was rather evident during my walk. I noticed a lot of pedestrians and cyclists in such a short walk. The sidewalk is very wide in order to allow foot traffic on busy days. There is also a bicycle road in different directions along the street. Both these connections increase safety to prevent any overload in traffic. The construction also takes into account access for the disabled. On the way I came across two parks, Columbus Park and Cadman Plaza. Both had ramps for disabled people to access the park. There were also lower water fountains to allow for easier use. This was not the only time I saw modifications made for the disabled during our walk. In the residential building we came across a very long and winding ramp similar to the one seen in class. Although we cannot speak for the disabled, by looking at the ramp, it did not seem to be all that proficient. It looked as though it would take a great deal of time to snake through the winding path. A lot of the layout of New York City provides some type of alternative for those who need it. Throughout the walk we noticed multiple blue signs with white wheelchairs to show other possible entrances to buildings. This shows how universal design is implemented in every aspect of the city. We need to ensure that both able-bodied people and disabled people are accounted for when designing a city plan.
When accounting for these modifications you need to be sure to allot a good amount of space. Surprisingly, during our walk we saw a lot of public spaces which allocated for a good amount of space for others. The public places allow for a more open environment in a relatively confined city. Even with these high rise buildings there was enough space to have Columbus Park, Cadman Plaza, and the Brooklyn Bridge Park within less than a mile from each other. There were also a lot of private and governmental institutions such as court buildings and post offices. There is also access to a hospital and an emergency room. This improves accessibility to healthcare for the people around. It is especially important for there to be multiple hospitals in a short amount of distance because of the growing population in New York. Unlike in more suburban areas, different services are just a few feet away from each other making it accessible for people living in these multiple residential buildings we came across.
With all these different buildings and people there needs to be a coordinated system for maintenance. On our walk we noticed heaps of trash on the curbs and in the middle of the sidewalk. DSNY (Department of Sanitation -New York) is the governmental department that takes care of these issues. They take care of the different aspects of the city’s cleaning such as garbage collection, recycling collection, street cleaning, and snow removal. There should be a better algorithm implemented to avoid having large heaps of trash bags in front of residential buildings, schools, and government buildings. There should be a better organization for the maintenance for such a large city. Another thing noted through the walk was that a lot of the drainage and power plants were labeled Con Edison, another largely known company. The company owns and operates renewable and energy infrastructure projects. Noticing the things on the floor is important, although it is not a good idea to walk with our heads facing the ground, in this case it was. I also noticed homeland security changing all the white lamp lights to yellow lights which shows how many things go unnoticed or unappreciated. As stated in “Hail the Maintainers”, “focusing on infrastructure or on old, existing things rather than novel ones reminds us of the absolute centrality of the work that goes into keeping the entire world going” (Russel, Andrew, and Lee). Looking around and taking notice of our surroundings helps us grasp a better understanding of maintenance. We learned more about the different maintenance and companies that control the city “behind the scenes”.
Although infrastructure is constantly changing, it also shows how it remains constant through its old systems and buildings. The things we are surrounded by say a lot about the way the city runs if noticed. It is important to take note of these discrepancies and how they affect our daily lives. Not only does infrastructure help us realize what goes on today, but it also speaks volumes of the history the city has gone through. It takes a political, social, and economic stance without us even realizing it. We notice what is on the outside of our city, but never the deep underlying stories behind it.
Works Cited:
“Downtown Brooklyn.” NYCEDC, New York City Economic Development Corporation, 9 May 2012, www.nycedc.com/program/downtown-brooklyn.
Frishberg, Hannah. “Downtown Brooklyn's Infrastructure Strained by Housing Boom.”
Brownstoner, Real Estate Therapy , 26 Feb. 2016.
Russell, Andrew, and Lee Vinsel. “Innovation Is Overvalued. Maintenance Often Matters More –
Andrew Russell & Lee Vinsel | Aeon Essays.” Aeon, Aeon, 13 Mar. 2019,
aeon.co/essays/innovation-is-overvalued-maintenance-often-matters-more.
Winner, Langdon. “Do Artifacts Have Politics?” Daedalus, vol. 109, no. 1, 1980, pp. 121–136. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/20024652.
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