The Waterfront - Battery Park City

Cities around the world have gradually discovered the social and economic potential of repurposing and rehabilitating former industrial sites, such benefits are particularly rewarding when the former brownfield occurs along a waterfront. The area occupied by Battery Park City in Lower Manhattan, New York City once housed a vigorous mercantile and shipping industries, nevertheless, as these enterprises faltered, it was the task of business leaders and elected officials to envision a new future for the waning piers and shipping activities of this area. One such visionary was Governor Nelson Rockefeller of New York, as early as the 1960’s he spearheaded the concept and master plan to transformed the blighted zone into a civic and socioeconomic nucleus in lower Manhattan, a zone which integrated diverse land use including; institutional, commercial and residential element, in addition, to public gardens and recreational open spaces. Planning and design incorporate the constructive features of the site’s topography and spatial characteristics. The waters edge provides at once a natural attraction and a definitive edge to the districts form, the resulting esplanade runs as a spine which connects all the cultural, recreational and civic amenities. Successful social spaces serve as a civic asset for resident and visitors to the society at large. Today Battery Park City contains 9.3 million square feet of commercial space, 7.2 million square feet of housing, 9000 residents, 52 shops and services, 35-acres of parks, 22 restaurants, 20 works of public art, 3 public schools, 2 hotels, a multi-screen movie theatre, a marina, a 1.2 mile esplanade, the Irish Hunger Memorial, Museum of Jewish Heritage, New York Police Memorial and Skyscraper Museum.1