Category Archives: Readings

Pages and words (some images too).

Robert Moses, the corrupted czar or the father of modern NY?

The great problem posed by Robert Moses is whether this city can build what’s needed while adhering to democratic principles. – Robert A. Caro Robert Moses incontestably changed the urban scheme of New York City. He changed the way we move … Continue reading

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3 men, 1 city

There are periods in the history of a city when things changes so fast that after only 2 decades the place is unrecognizable. The early 19th. century was this kind of period for New York City. In 20 years, the population … Continue reading

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Wall Street Then and Now

The street known today as Wall Street, was once called Het Cingle. At that time, Manhattan was a Dutch settlement and there was an actual wall along the street. actually the wall was a fortification intended to protect the settlement from natives … Continue reading

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Modernity. Say what?

“Everything is absurd, but nothing is shocking, because everyone is accustomed to everything” – Rousseau about the modern city, 1761. Architecture has an ambivalent power. We think of architecture as a mean to build buildings that succeed in their design to provide what the building is intended … Continue reading

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Early politics in New Amsterdam

Russell Shorto Island at the Center of the World In early 17th century, Manhattan was not a village anymore. fourty five thousands people lived on the island. In the beginning the cohabitation between natives and settlers went well. Certainly because they depended on the natives’ knowledge of … Continue reading

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How it all began…

How can one imagine that New York was once a city with a beaver on its seal? Anyone living in the 21st century has to put-up a very different mindset to try to understand what was happening on the island … Continue reading

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