-
- Entrance to a plaza downtown. The plaza is located two or three flights up from the street.
-
- Entrance to another plaza, at ground level.
-
- Benches sit empty and unused during lunchtime.
-
- Benches here too sit empty, in a dark space in the shadow of nearby towers, surrounded by brown bricks and brown paint.
-
- People walk into the plaza, surrounded by residential towers. But no one stays.
-
- The main entrance to the elevated plaza, leading into the street. A dark, cavernous space that does not invite passersby.
-
- A woman walks by an ampitheatre space in the plaza on 23rd Street.
-
- A similar set up on the elevated plaza sits empty as well, but with no passersby.
In Manhattan, open space is a valuable commodity. The city had offered tax incentives in the 1970’s to spur the construction of public plazas to allow additional space to Manhattan crowds. However, not all of these spaces were designed to invite visitors. Of the two spaces photographed, one is set up several flights from the street. One entrance leads onto the street, but is dark and cavernous and uninviting. The other is situated along an expressway far from pedestrians. The developers could build a plaza to attract tax incentives, without attracting the unwanted crowd. The other plaza, on 23rd Street, was perhaps more well intentioned. Yet it is nothing but a cold, hard space of concrete and brown bricks that does not invite the passersby into it. It is well integrated, but not inviting.
