Fluid New York by May Joseph

7/30/2019 Fluid New York by May Joseph

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NEW YORKCosmopolitan Urbanism and the Green Imagination

MAY JOSEPH


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pa ba ad h aa

MaY Joseph

D u k e u n i v e r s i t y P r e s s : Durham and London : 03


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03 Duke Uverty Pre

All rght reerved

Prted the Uted State

o Amerca o acd-ree paper

Deged y Amy Ruth Buchaa

ypeet Quadraat y egIormato Sytem, Ic.

Lrary o Cogre Catalogg--Pulcato Data

Joeph, May.

Flud New York : comopolta uram ad the

gree magato / May Joeph.

page cm

Iclude lographcal reerece ad dex.

isbn -0-3-60- (cloth : alk. paper)

isbn -0-3-- (pk. : alk. paper)

. New York (N.Y.)Cvlzato0th cetury.

. New York (N.Y.)Cvlzatot cetury.

3. ComopoltamNew York (State)New York.

. Ura ecology (Socology)New York (State)

New York. I. tle.

..j6 03

.0dc3 03000


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Illustrations v

Acknowledgments x

Preace x

Prologue

Itroducto

part i d ba

. Water Ecology, Ilad Cty 3

. raoceac New York, Cty o Rver 3

3. Te Martme Sky o Mahatta

. Tkg Metropoltam 0

part ii pa a 3

. Nomadc Uram ad Frugalty

6. Nyerere, the Dala Lama, Gadh: Culture o Frugalty 0


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part iii a xp 3

. Greeg Hardcape 33

. Maratho Cty, Bkg Borough

part iV a a 6

. Brookly Carval ad the Sale o Dreamlad 6

0. Sprt o the Necropol, Plae o the Hudo

. Goveror Ilad: Martme Pat, Ecologcal Future

. Ater Hurrcae Sady 0

Cocluo: oward a Prax o Comopolta Ctzehp

Notes 3

Bibliography 3

Index 3


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a

Figures

Fgure . Sanitary and opographical Map of the City and Island of New York

Prepared or the Council of Hygiene and Public Health of the Citizens Association.

Uder the drecto o Egert L. Vele, topographcal egeer, 6,

y Egert L. Vele

Fgure . Joa Vgoo, 1639 Noort Rivier in Niew Neerlandt

Fgure . Map of Noten Eylant, 1776: Chart of the Entrance of Hudsons River,

rom Sandy Hook to New York 0

Maps

Map Map of New York City Archipelago

Map Map of New York City Greenspace around Waterront, and Swim NYC Routes 30

Map 3 Map of Dutch East India Company Combined Colonial Occupation

Map Map of Salinity and ide of the Hudson River 3

Map Map of Jersey and New York City Airport Air Lanes and Waterways


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ad

I am deted to may trager ad red who made th ook pole.

My woderul, patet edtor, Ke Woker, remaed a cotat upport

through the twted ourey o the wrtg o th ook. o Smrt Sr-

va, Bra McGrath, ad Vctora Marhall I owe much or log covera-tions on ecology, water, and cities, conversations that were the bedrock

o this excursion. Immeasurable thanks are due George Lipsitz, Sandra

Richards, Mark Nowak, Smriti Srinivas, Brian McGrath, Randy Martin,

ad Geetha Varadaraa or ther rgorou commet o earler drat o

the maucrpt. Kahka Gooewardea, Ad Kuo, Beg-La Goh,

Rodrgo , ad Dorta Haah oered a rutul cotext or my quere

to uram. My colleague Jo Beller, Ira Lvgto, Sameetah Agha,

Greg Horowitz, Uzma Rizvi, Carl Zimring, Francis Bradley, Josiah Brow-nell, Amy Guggenheim, and Tad Ziolkowski provided a generous, sup-

portive environment. Tank you all. Conversations with many scholars,

including Rick Bell, Grahame Shane, Susan Henry, Una Chaudhuri, the

Conjunctures Collective, Markus Vink, Pedro Machado, Patricia Clough,

Percy Hintzen, Jean Rahier, David Lelyveld, and Pia Lindman, ueled my

wrtg. May thak or the creatve commerato o Jame Cacato,

Meea Alexader, Davd Va Leer, Leth Durg, Nad Skad, Glora

Zmmerma, Chr ad Dae Power. o Alaa Free ad Marore eer I

owe much or detour wrtg. Carol Gak kllul edtg ad Jerey

Caaday expereced had gave al hape to the ook. Legh Barwell,


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x AcknowleDgments

Amy Buchaa, ad Sua Alury, thak you or hepherdg the mau-

crpt to prt. I am epecally deted to my cartographer, Dael Het-

tex, or h metculou act-checkg ad dpeale cartographc re-

derings that bring this book to lie. o Sanjay Subrahmanyam, a special

thak or troducg me to perpectve o oceac htore. I am alo

greatly deted to A. J. Jame ad Ntya Jaco or patetly elghteg

me aout gloal water poltc. Tak are due to Dea o Olvero, Dea

Adrew Bare, ad the Pratt Mello Grat, a well a the Faculty Devel-

opmet Fud Grat o 00 ad 00, or udg th reearch. Specal

thanks are also due to Tomas Bender, who allowed me to sit in on the

emar o cte that he orgazed at the Ceter or Advaced Stude at

New York Uverty. Te extraordary evromet provded the ouda-

to or th ook.o my aoymou revewer, a g thak you or your thoughtul ad

detaled edt, whch traormed the maucrpt. Specal thak are alo

due Nacy Kadoa, o the New York Pulc Lrary Map Room, who o

patetly ated me my reearch through the year.

I owe much to my parents, intrepid urbanists, or their indeatigable

curiosity in walking cities. Special mention must be made o two little

grl, or ad Amela Power, or roamg th ar cty wth my daughter

through snow, sludge, rain, and shine, researching carnivals, protests, per-ormace ad the waterrot, year ad year out. Fally, to my huad

Geo ad daughter Cele, my deepet grattude or patetly lvg uder

the hadow o th ook, ad urvvg Hurrcae Sady wth humor.


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pa

Septemer , 00

Bllowg moke. Scorchg ame terrupt the Mahatta kyle o a

tug morg the wag day o ummer, 00. I a upeakale

urban catastrophe, the World rade Center goes up in ames. A surrealtheatrcalty hold the cty pelloud. People pray, weep, howl, cream,

tremble, gasp. Symbols o late twentieth-century economic modernity,

the ragg golath tad oarg ury agat a molderg ackdrop

utl, umagaly, the mpole eauty mplode ad the 0 ehe-

moth collape lke gat matchoxe, a rule o urt lve.

I am traxed a the horror wtly udulate aroud my oe-moth-

old, the hudder o the mpact rattlg her ody ad hatterg the cty.

How could the win owers possibly disappear beore our eyes? An impres-sive madness, precise, strategic, and inconceivable, the soul- wrenching

cataclym tug at the core o what t mea to lve a cty. Te quverg

ground and ricocheting thud send tremors o doubt through the urban

ladcape, orcg a ew coderato o how people cope wth the vul-

eralty o lvg a dee metropolta ceter.

Te ucerta ad ormal mprovato o a lad cty grpped

an unolding chaos that was both gigantic and intimate arose amid the

pademoum o cur, corer, treet, park, uway tuel, rdge,

hghway, waterway, ad pulc pace. I that pace o hock, a treme-


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x PrefAce

dou perormace o cvc commtmet wa taged myrad provoal

way, the mot remarkale aerto that cte are powerul lved evet,

compoed o the ymo o huma opower ad the ult hardcape.

A trager voce getly aure u that th too wll pa.


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p

As Fluid New Yorkwas rolling into press, a superstorm o unimagined pro-

porto urged the eater eaoard, delugg large porto o New Jer-

ey ad New York coatle. Hurrcae Sady erocty caught New York

Cty uprepared or t cale ad devatato. A catatrophc cearo which entire neighborhoods were destroyed by ooding and uncontrol-

lable res swept the city. Random explosions, including that o the pri-

mary ource o power to dowtow Mahatta, the Co Edo tato,

ad ragg re Breezy Pot, Quee, geerated coderale axety.

New Yorks major airports, La Guardia and JFK, were waterlogged, halt-

g all ght to New York or early a week. Etre waterrot eghor-

hoods, Brighton Beach, Far Rockaway, Breezy Point, Manhattans down-

town, and large swaths o Staten Island, were ooded.1 New York Cityslow-lyg area ad coatal New Jerey were uprecedetedly umerged

y eawater. T chaotc cee wa exacerated y a lackout latg ve

day dowtow Mahatta ad part o Brookly, Quee, ad State

Island. In some areas, an entire month passed beore the restoration o

power ad water.

Hurrcae Sady decmated New York Cty. Te torm plummeted the

cty to a tate o ratructural reakdow ad hock. Suway etwork

incurred extensive water damage. Sewage plants were ooded, causing

seepage and large- scale contamination in many neighborhoods, as well

a the cty rver. May outlyg eghorhood wet wthout ood, elec-


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Prologue

trcty, water, or amete or week. Etre parkg lot o car, torage

depots or art galleries and ashion businesses, and research laborato-

re or maor hoptal were ooded, ometme wth up to e eet o

water in basements.2 Along the West Side Highway in Manhattan and other

low-lyg area, hgh-re uered exteve oodg ad water damage,

making it difcult or residents to occupy their homes or weeks. Dam-

age to major transportation hubs like the Brooklyn-Battery unnel para-

lyzed the city. Te ates o many small businesses and individual homes

were ealed y mold ad altwater damage, caug evere peroal hard-

ship. Hospitals had to evacuate the critically ill and close their entire opera-

to dowtow Mahatta, greatly reducg the avalalty o hoptal

ed or New York ured, ad the metally ll. A o the ed o Jauary,

hoptal dowtow Mahatta had yet to reume ther ull ucto-g. Etre commute rom Quee, Brookly, ad State Ilad were

phycally dplaced ad reduced to mgrat extece ecaue o exte-

sive water damage to their homes. Tese cursory images capture only a

glmpe o the devatato waged o New York Cty y the torm.

Hurricane Sandy marks a major turning point in New York Citys history,

equvalet emc ht to the mpact that / wrought upo the cty.

It materally aected a much greater populato over a larger area the

Northeast, causing damage amounting to tens o billions o dollars. Temave torm urge ha permaetly chaged New York relatohp to

t waterrot, ad the eug deate o clmate chage. T pot wa

udercored y Mayor Bloomerg commet: We are ot gog to aa-

do the waterrot. . . . But we cat ut reuld what wa there ad hope

or the best. We have to build smarter and stronger and more sustainably.3

Bloomerg capture ome o the gget challege acg New York Cty

recovery rom what meteorologt have oted wa a torm o aomalou

proporto. Bloomerg pulc edoremet o Oama the prede-tal race, to mark the mportace o gloal clmate chage or coatal cte

like New York, comes on the heels o the frst cautious, public acknowledg-

ment by government ofcials in the United States that the rise o global

warmg dramatcally alterg our ura ladcape.

Hurricane Sandy was a storm o unprecedented orce in New Yorks

documeted htory. It uece o the cty ura magg oly e-

gg to e athomed. Oe thg certa: there a eore ad a ater

Hurricane Sandy. Beore Sandy, New Yorks position on disaster prevention

was largely at the level o designated commissions in Albany and policy

dcuo, wthout the poltcal wll to mplemet large-cale plag


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Prologue 3

that such an endeavor would entail. Ater Sandy, ormerly guarded gov-

ermet poto have ee replaced y vocerou artculato y gov-

ermet ette at varou level, to addre dcult queto regardg

the eects o the inevitable, grim uture o rising oceans and changing

weather patter o ura le. Ater Mayor Mchael Bloomerg, Goveror

Adrew Cuomo, o New York, Goveror Chrte, o New Jerey, Predet

Clinton, and President Obama have all publicly noted the challenges o

dater recovery.4 Supertorm Sady ha orced ura Amerca to talk

aout utaale clmate-chage maagemet ad t mpact o cte.

At a local level, New Yorkers now realize they live in an island city, whose

extensive shoreline exists in a delicate ecological balance between man-

made waterrot ad rg ocea level. For the rt tme the cty re-

cent history, New York is culturally awake to the reality that its archipelagictructure create a way o le that precarouly depedet o chagg

weather patterns. Te waterront, once a site o maritime industry, and

mot recetly a detato o leure, ha emerged a vulerale coatle

whoe uturty oce aga dramatcally eg reegotated, th tme y

saltwater damage, mold, ear, loss, misery, tragedy, and pernicious real

etate developer.

Hurricane Sandy has exposed New York as a city shockingly under-

prepared or t ecologcal uture a a coatal cty. Depte t Frt Worldstatus as a city o style, o cosmopolitan urbanity, New York deplorably lags

behind many European and non-Western cities like Rotterdam, in Holland,

ad Sgapore, whe t come to torm urge plag.5 New York had ot

ully graped the realty o t coatal locato tll the catatrophe o Sady.

Falg to vet dater preveto ater Hurrcae Iree, 0, New

York wa uprepared or the extet o the torm urge ad curred cata-

trophc water damage amoutg to llo o dollar ad coderale

huma lo. Cte y the ea have to prepare or a uture o rg ocealevel. For New York, t wa too lttle too late. What leo ca New York

lear rom other coatal cte?

Te Future of Vertical Living

New York alway learg rom tel. However, a Hurrcae Sady ha

prove, t ot learg at eough. T ook emerged a a vetga-

tion into the uture o vertical living when the waterront emerged once

aga a the cty o the uture. What orm o ura arragemet, ocal

intimacies, and inrastructural developments was Americas densest city


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Prologue

contending with during this new, unprecedented spurt in waterront re-

vtalzato? T wa a queto that tereted me.

Te cearo that emerged y the ed o the 0 ad lated utl 0

volved a teady emrace o New York waterrot a the ew gold coat

o the city. all, gleaming residential towers rose along Brooklyns once

low-level, dutral waterrot, competg wth Mahatta older, more

cotaed dtruto o hgh-re. Reclamed lad o ether de o the

Eat Rver wa ult hgher ad older tha ever eore. Te uture o ver-

tcal lvg New York eemed to e a reaace o urou upward

development. Te maritime sky o Manhattan was once again being shaped

y old kyle alog t hore. What kd o phloophe o the cty,

ocal magg, ad cultural egotato wa New York grapplg wth

during this era o vertiginous growth along its shoreline? Whatever theawer, Hurrcae Sady ha permaetly altered thoe preoccupato.

Sady ha wahed ahore ew mplcato or vertcal lvg coatal

cte. Hgh-re lvg the grp o a total lackout, wthout geerator

ad the accompayg aety meaure to prevet total electrcal outage,

has presented a disturbing scenario or the uture o storm-bound cities

lke New York. Lvg dety today ha come to mea eg prepared

or clmate-related emergece, cludg heat wave, electrc lackout,

the deprvato o water, heat, ad ocal ervce, ad the udde threat ooodg. T htg cearo o dee lvg ha troduced a ew h-

torcal udertadg o what t mea to lve a vertcal ctyt mea

one must expect extreme scenarios and prepare or them as part o the

commitment to live in coastal metropolitan centers like New York. Te

realization that one has to be prepared or catastrophe is slowly emerg-

g rom etwee the ooked experece o / ad Hurrcae Sady.

Catatrophe New York t ow pecular experece. It haped y

the heght, cale, ad proxmty o huma dwellg. Te tore emerggrom Quee, Brookly, ad State Ilad aout the mpact o the lack-

out o people lve are myrad ad dvere. I State Ilad, llegal mm-

grat wthout ood urace whoe home were devatated y oodg

live in inhospitable conditions, without running water and toilet acili-

ties. In the Far Rockaways, elderly residents spoke o being stranded on

a thrteth oor wthout ood, water, electrcty, ad ome cae, med-

cations.6 In Brooklyn, residents described the ooding o sewage water

to ther home ecaue ppe rom the eary ewage plat exploded.7

People lvg dowtow Mahatta poke o a reewed ee o com-


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Prologue

muty ad the tagle emergece o a ecologcal vuleralty. Perhap

the most striking incongruence came rom the harrowing stories o the

daly lve o thoe ervcg Mahatta caually afuet uptow, a re-

dents in the Upper West Side settled into a comortable week o unexpected

vacato ecaue o the torm. Te eae o Mahatta Upper Wet Sde

the wake o the utter chao o the ret o New York heghteed the dra-

matc phycal derece etwee the darke elow Trty-Nth Street,

Mahatta, ad the rghtly lt aveue aove.8 It wa the acute ee o

two topographe, two cte. Te rghtly lt uptow alo accetuated a

extreme ee o the ecology o the lad, that o the low-lyg, vuler-

able downtown, ooded and paralyzed by the blackout, and a protected

uptow, o hgher groud ad or the mot part protected rom the wort

ravage o the torm, ad thereore coderaly ucarred y the traumao urvvg Hurrcae Sady.

South o Fourteenth Street, in Manhattan, a carnival-like atmosphere

and impromptu social gatherings outside cas oered temporary re-

pte, a the lackout exteded detely. Neghor ated the elderly

in darkened stairwells, and transient riendships were struck as people

helped each other through the difcult dark days without electricity or

water. Stalwart restaurants like the West Village mainstay Bonbonnier kept

ther door mraculouly ope twety-our hour a day, ervg coee adhot ood, wthout electrcty or a water upply, to deperately cold ad hu-

gry redet. I Quee ad Brookly, redet reported the kde o

eghor ad trager toppg to check o the elderly ad the ck

traded hgh-re waterlogged rego o Far Rockaway ad Brgh-

ton Beach. Te tragic scenario o the once cozy and enviable community

o Breezy Pot eg wped out y the erocty o the torm rema the

poster child or Hurricane Sandy, the neighborhoods picturesque beach

home urt to the groud y togue o re.For the past decade, New York has been eebly talking about disaster

preparedness without putting real money behind an eort to build sea

wall ad torm urge protecto. Itead, the cty ha leaed toward d-

aster relie, creating extensive loss o lie and hardship as a result. Te

uture o vertcal lvg New York the alace. How we New Yorker

plan or the next storm, and how we prepare our residents or the chal-

lege o lvg vertcal cte uder threat o power outage caued y

udde oodg or extreme heat are ome o the plag ue that wll

hape the uture o metropolta le coatal area. A ater /, New


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6 Prologue

York oce aga alvage mode, th tme recoverg rom the deva-

tation o a natural disaster. How it learns rom its unpreparedness, and

how t haree t techologe ad experte to tructurally atcpate

the ext weather dturace related to clmate chage, wll determe the

cty uture.


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d

New York a place o pao. It demad extreme reacto. Whe I rt

moved to New York Cty rom Sata Barara, Calora, , to take up

my rt o, a red rom Brookly ad to me cryptcally, New York a

commtmet. I grew up Dar e Salaam, a lad-ack coatal cty o theIda Ocea, ad had lved other cte eore comg to New York. I

ddt qute udertad why New York would e more overwhelmg tha

other world cte.

Le New York deed deret rom a le other cte. Te cty

challegg, eve ruthle. It alo tmate ad compaoate. O-

ervg the pecular culture o New York ad the cty arometer o e-

logg over the year, I have come to udertad the commtmet t take

to lve New York Cty, a oppoed to pag through t. It the der-ence between cultural cosmopolitanism and political cosmopolitanism. o

pa through New York to partcpate t multplcty wthout havg

to deal wth the lmt, retrcto, ad dcplary oudare through

whch cultural derece mut d mutual tolerace ad commo caue.

o mmere oeel the daly le o New York to mell tale garage

Augut ad grapple wth the competg equte o comopolta ura

ctzehp. I ega to wrte aout th domtale New York o raught,

traatoal huma ow.

What is it, I ound mysel asking, that makes citizens o New York

simultaneously more provincial and more cosmopolitan? And does the


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introDuction

corporeal, experetal practce o lvg New York today have ay ew

leo to oer the urouly expadg world o gloal uram? New

Yorker are vocerou, actve ura dweller wth trog opo aout

everythg. Tey compre people o every hue ad trpe relatg to each

other o a daly a. A a ewcomer, I oud that the pecular pulc cul-

ture o New York, a culture o comopolta ecomg, had hted my per-

cepto o cty le.

o cultvate the ura dweller to a comopolta uect, a elaorate

et o htorcal, poltcal, ttutoal, ad legal ramework have devel-

oped New York over our hudred year to actvely cottute that locally

oud yet comopolta ctze kow a the New Yorker. Oe partcularly

oteworthy charactertc o New York comopoltam the repole

partcpato o t deze the hapg o ther cty detty a oth amall tow ad a world cty. Such ocal techque o ura partcpato

have a pedagogcal eect, mperceptly traormg other redet o

the cty to comopolta ctze. T ook take a cloer look at ome

o thee quteetally ura, expreve techque o cty-makg, to

etter udertad the eluve procee o comopolta ctzehp.

New York ot ut aout heterogeety, a qualty other metropole

share. Neither is New Yorks cultural claim to cosmopolitanism particu-

larly uque at th tme htory. Other world cte exht mlar go cultural cosmopolitanism, with ragments o dierent world cultures

cottutg the vual arc o ther ura aade. What worth tudy-

ing about New York is its rigorous, democratic machine o political cosmo-

politan citizenship. Becoming a New Yorker is not just about the consump-

to o multcultural eato a gloally medated evromet. It

more challeggly aout a et o perormatve egagemet that actvate

and promote mutual respect and coexistence within the fnite spaces o the

metropolis. Tis socially contestatory, culturally volatile, yet rational en-deavor is ultimately a utopian undertaking in political citizenship. It makes

New York Cty edlely teretg to wrte aout.

Tis book arose amid the ast-paced changes and hard-to-swallow reali-

te that haped mlleal New York Cty. Each chapter decre a m-

mgrat ourey to a lce o metropolta le cetered aroud htorc

downtown Manhattan. My driving preoccupation is the uture o dense

lvg. Wde-eyed ad low to the groud, wrtg rom the vatage pot

o a city dweller cycling to work rom Manhattan to Brooklyn, or swept

uddely to a ura pectacle, I take a rog perpectve o a cty at a

dcult croroad t htory.


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introDuction

My etry to New York Cty cocded wth the cty dramatc reve-

to o t el-magg a a lad cty wth a workg waterrot alle

into disrepair. A public culture o green thinking with an investment in

utaalty ad water ecology emerged the cty cocoue dur-

g th perod. Te practce o rethkg New York pat a a martme

cty alo emerged o a cale uprecedeted ce Jae Jaco ad Roert

Moe era. Learg rom cte lke Curta, Copehage, ad Lodo

aout how to gree t evromet, New York the proce o reco-

ttutg tel a a ecologcal cty.

A singular question is pursued in this book: What is the vision shap-

g New York today? I argue that a culture o ud uram uder way.

Water, a a lteral ad metaphorcal prcple, uecg how New York

harnesses its maritime pasts to a once neglected, now persistent, reassess-met o t water-oud orough. New York growg teret water

ecology ad utaalty here to tay.

Dvded to our part, th ook depct New York a ew phae o

landscape redesign, one dierent rom its nineteenth-century provenance.

Te city is transorming its vision o its uture by recalibrating the im-

portace o t horele. Flexle approache to lad ue, traportato,

ow o people, ad aumpto aout what the cty hould e are rad-

cally reroutg the cty coectvte. New York lowly emracg tarchpelagc geography a a evrometally crtcal approach to dealg

wth gloal clmate chage ad oreeeale torm-water threat.

Te ook rt part, Flud Uram, a pheomeologcal ve-

tigation into the importance o water or New Yorks sel- invention. Te

uidity o urban concepts and approaches to city planning are remold-

g New York aade. Htorc dea o the martme cty are morphg

thkg aout chagg weather patter, actvatg a ud uram e-

twee the Hudo Rver ad the Atlatc Ocea. A vual growth pla at-tentive to low-tech mobility, multileveled, mixed land use, extensive water-

rot acce, ad park pace or a ctzery eekg exle leure pace

geeratg uprecedeted experece o the cty extremte.

Tis books second part, Cosmopolitan Frugality, oers cultural

readg o the cotetou dea o comopolta ctzehp artculatg

New York Cty. Comopolta ura memerhp a deal emedded

New York htory a a ope cty, a cty wth a commtmet to hop-

talty that ether reducle to the dea o the tate, or a reproducto

o the older Europea oto o the hoptale cty, the cty o reuge.1 I

contradistinction to its European counterparts, New York embodies the


20/29

0 introDuction

amtou democratc proect o perpetually cotetg ura elogg,

a ee o elogg wthout a clam to org, a t emergece le a

thet o exchage.

Maahatta wa purchaed rom the Leape Ida, who dd ot u-

cre to the oto that ma could ow property detely. Accordg

to the historian Robert Shorto, the Lenape viewed their agreement with the

Dutch regardg the purchae o Maahatta a a rght to hoptalty, wth

the upoke aumpto that ther colozg guet would evetually

leave gracouly. Hece the exchage o gt worth xty gulder or the

ttle deed o purchae o Maahatta ca e codered a thet o exchage

o the part o the Dutch, rom the Leape tadpot. Or, rom a poto

oered y Jacque Derrda o the uect o hoptalty, oe could argue

the Dutch overtayed ther welcome, ad volated ther rght to vtato, Ida terrtory.2

Consequently, the impact o globalizing urbanisms on New Yorks

magary are multple. Drawg o the ketc practce o traatoal

urban histories such as Second and Tird World urbanisms, the Falun

Gog, a well a gure uch a Mahatma Gadh, Julu Nyerere, ad the

Dala Lama, th ecod part mark ome o the derg phloophe o

place-makg ectg local ura practce.

Te thrd part o th ook, Ecologcal Exprevty, aalyze pecc,expressive acts o political cosmopolitan citizenship.3 It discusses the

challege o utaale cty-makg, cludg the ueve ad drup-

tve arragemet o ocal udertadg. Large-cale teracto have

coalesced around the greening o New Yorks public spaces, drawing atten-

to to the creatve ctzehp-makg mecham arg. Tee peror-

mative public enactments urther the political and ecological processes

o what Jacques Derrida calls the urban right to hospitality, a right to

a ethc o vtato that wa to e egotated y peccally deleatedlmt wth the htorc dea o the cty o reuge.4 Te redet, the

commuter, the tourt, the trager, the reugee, ad the aylum eeker -

advertetly collaorate th ook to tet the lmt o cotetou ura

potetalty hapg gree uram.

Te nal part o this book, Maritime Mentalities, consolidates the

oto o a ud uram haped y New York ea-ore pat. It ret

the assumption that New York is disassociated rom its seventeenth-century

oceac org a a port cty ope to the ea. Structured a vgette, thee

perormatve act, ura accdet, ad pulc rtual vetgate a mar-

tme ura elty quet o t democratc ulllmet. Te New York


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introDuction

in these chapters is partial, incomplete, and distractedlike the city itsel.

Tey are wdow to a orgotte htory whe avgato determed the

waterrot ad the cty horele wa a gatherg place or ocea-arg

metalte. Te treet thee chapter are the raw prome o the rght

to the cty. Tee treet are et or a theater o comopolta egagemet

the mdt o t ecod act o martme ladcape reue.5

Mnemonic Urbanism

My rt ecouter wth New York elcted a uexpected ee o recog-

toa wah o rele ater may year o waderg the olated pace o

Amerca uura. A quet elato lled my pero a I haled the mell

o New York July o o Aveue A ad eth Street, ear my apart-met o the orth de o ompk Square Park.

Depte my awaree that the park lay uder egelookg more lke

riot- torn Brixton, London, during the 980s than the media- hyped New

York o the good lethe aethetc that arreted me a I walked through

the tight-knit sidewalks o the Lower East Side was the eeling o amil-

iarity: this place reminded me o Dar es Salaam, the city I grew up in.6

Something about the scale and pacing o Alphabet City (New Yorkers nick-

ame or the the-uky tretch o lettered aveue, A, B, C, ad D) reo-ated wth the veracular o other deeply graed ura memore rom

other lietimes and other continents. It is a sensation that has never let

me, a I hover y the waterrot o the wet de o dowtow Mahatta

o a coletoe treet called Jae Street, whch remd me more o the

narrow streets rom the sixteenth-century Dutch colonial era in my par-

et home Coch (Koch), Ida, tha t doe o Amerca uura

eclave.7

Such disconnected emotional translations o rational urban planningraise the amorphous question o what types o urban sensations are at

work cotemporary ura practce. I, rom my eoral ecouter

with Manhattans downtown waterront areas around Pearl Street and

Stoe Street, the cty ha more commo wth Dar e Salaam, a medeval

port cty o xteeth-cetury ame, tha t doe wth dowtow Atlata,

or remd me more o Fort Coch ad Mattachery, Coch, tha t

does Los Angeles, then what kinds o connective mechanisms do cities

really engender beyond national histories o the urban and colonial car-

tographe o metropole?8

Furthermore, the realization that most New Yorkers are prooundly pro-


22/29

introDuction

vcalo much o that the propect o gog orth o Fourteeth Street

in Manhattan, i you live downtown, is a travailraises the question o

what a New York uram mea. Mahattate who ever go to Brook-

lyn, Brooklynites who avoid Manhattan like the plague, Staten Islanders

who never leave their cars all make the problem o lived cosmopolitan

membership a ar more local and unstable experience than the macro-

vo the word metropolitan ugget.9

Because Manhattan is an island, it occupies a very particular and dis-

tctve ee o comopolta detty that more ealy hared y other

lad cte lke Hog Kog or port cte uch a Coch, Ida, ad Dar

es Salaam, anzania, than it is by the kind o suburban spatial imagina-

to o the Brox or State Ilad, whch are commute tructured a

townships and suburban port-city enclaves, rather than as dense, urbanlvg tructured aroud the water logc o a tghtly oud area. T water-

defned logic o Manhattan distinguishes the city rom the other boroughs,

yet Mahatta alo the expreo o t ve orough. It the coect-

g, magatve aca etwee Brookly, Quee, State Ilad, ad the

Brox.

Te G rain Phenomenon

New York uram a aemlage o local ecologe. I call t the G ra

pheomeo, a term pred y the tra I have to take to get to work. Te

G tra travere a route etwee Quee ad Brookly. O twety-eve

uway le, t the oly oe that ever croe to Mahatta.

I one lives in Manhattan, which is an island, one has to cross into

Brookly ad wtch tra to take the G tra deeper to what crea-

ingly considered the real New York, the New York where teachers, nurses,

bus drivers, doormen, ches, hair stylists, waiters, babysitters, artists,therapists, athletes, writers, actors, musiciansjust about anyone who

isnt a supermodel, stockbroker, trust und munchkin, corporate execu-

tve, or meda mogulare more lkely to lve. Such a route ever etered

my imagination beore I encountered it, along with my own provincialities.

A tra route through the cty that ypae Mahatta uggeted po-

lte o hatg the cty that I had ot ully dwelt upo.

o my ular lad logc, all le New York ceter aroud Mahat-

ta. Yet, there are may New Yorker who rarely ever come to Mahat-

ta ut actually lve New York all ther lve. T ulkely realty uraced

through a coure I teach regularly at the Pratt Ittute, whch located


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introDuction 3

Brooklyn, on the history o downtown Manhattan. Trough my students

in this rough-edged course, which involves class discussion amid street

pademoum ad perpetual road cotructo, I met or-ad-red New

Yorker rom Far Rockaway, Quee, who had ever ee to htorc park

uch a Wahgto Square Park or ompk Square Park, oth youthul

centers o activism. I met New Yorkers who grew up in Sheepshead Bay,

Brookly, who could cout o oe had the tme they had ever ee to

Mahatta, ad the oly to pecc predetermed detato lke mu-

seums, and certainly never Greenwich Village or Chinatown. I met New

Yorker who lved o State Ilad, whoe dea o Mahatta wa the Hol-

lad uel. I met New Yorker who had lved aroud Wahgto Square

Park, o Bleecker Street, who had ever heard o Jae Street, located ut

two lock orth the Wet Vllage. I met New Yorker who were or New York, moved to New Jersey as toddlers, and only returned as adults

to the city o their desires and ears. Many New Yorkers had never been

to Chatow or to Bowlg Gree Park at the tp o the lad, where the

tory o New York eg wth the llegtmate ale o the lad o Ma-

hatta to the Dutch. New Yorker avod ovou tourt locale lke me

Square and the Statue o Liberty as much as they do areas outside their

daly trudge. Tee very dparate experece o New York emphaze that

cty le t ut a matter o ura coglomerato ut alo o local ter-acto. New York happe to t hatat.

For may New Yorker, le New York Cty very local cale, ut

also imaginative rameworks brought by migrants. Flushing, Queens, is

home to the largest group o Asians. Te communities o Stapleton and

Clto, State Ilad, are home to the gget populato o Lera

outside Liberia.10 Coney Island, a ormer Native American settlement and a

popular Irh eade reort the 0, ha a coderale populato o

Pakta, Chee, Bagladeh, Bukhara, urk, Kazakhta, adOrthodox Jew. Brghto Beach, Brookly, ear the larget cotget

o mmgrat Rua ad kow a Lttle Odea. Studet rom thee

commute arrate how el-cotaed thee commute le-world

are, ad how ther ularty haped agat the lure o the cty.

Tis New York was a city that opened up the question: What does it really

mea to lve a metropol? I New York uram the ame a uram

other Amerca cte, except o a greater cale? Doe le New York

merely produce a more thck-ked ura dweller wth a capacty or de-

al o creature comort uch a the all-Amerca two-car garage wth all

its mysterious commodities piled up, or the media room, or closets the size


24/29

introDuction

o many New Yorkers living rooms? Or is there something more to living in

a teely alve cty where the real etate aely uaordale, pulc

traportato heavg uder the demad o t daly commuter, ad

daly chore requre a very pecular local logc that volve a coderale

amout o walkg? What ca we lear rom Amerca rt metropolta

cty today, ad tll t larget expermet ura lvg?11

Contentious Cosmopolitanism

I wrote th ook a a memor o dowtow Mahatta at a chaotc tme

the cty htory, etwee 00 ad 03. I th rt decade ater /, the

cty detty wa throw to a maeltrom o emoto. I teo wth

the rhetorical notions that New York is a city o immigrants, the periodater 00 aw a dramatc rethkg o the cty relatohp to t ow

htore o legtmato.

Te New York one popularly encounters is lled with the resonances

o Itala, Irh, Germa, Frech, Belga, Eglh, Rua, Polh, Jew-

ish, Hungarian, and Arican moorings. September , 200, opened up

the leer-kow htory o New York, whch lled wth Ara, eta,

Indian, Nepalese, Iranian, Burmese, Pakistani, Bangladeshi, Iraqi, A-

ghani, Nigerian, Senegalese, Malian, and Lebanese cultural resonances.Te urpre that there exted a coderale Egypta, Syra, ad Lea-

ee populato o Rado Row, a eteeth-cetury treet that wa demol-

ished to develop the World rade Center, intensies the importance o

comprehending how people o diverse cultural and national origins coexist

ad collaorate that ogog challege called metropolta le that e-

velop mot rego o the world today.12

Te events o 9/ brought many established New York communities,

particularly Arab, South Asian, Sikh, Muslim, brown- skinnedhoweverthe categore algeduder cruty ad geerated tremedou axety

in the city.13 Yet at the level o public discourse, the statue o Mahatma

Gandhi in Union Square; the statue o Conucius in Chinatown; the images

o the ibetan Goddess o Mercy at street airs; the wandering bands o

Hare Krha devotee Wahgto Square Park, ompk Square Park,

ad the Uo Square uway tato; moque the Eat Vllage, Brook-

ly, ad Quee; devout Mulm geuectg toward Mecca y ga ta-

to at mdday; ad the mage o the Dala Lama dplayed y the eta

community in prominent thoroughares in New York City every year all

signal how cosmopolitan lie in New York has always incorporated phi-


25/29

introDuction

loophe o the cty that are teratoal ad tmate, way that oly

walkg cte ca acheve.

Te aura o catatrophe that overtook the cty ollowg that harrowg

September day in 200 conused perceptions o what New York cosmo-

poltam , caug a retreat rom the radcally democratc ad utale

spaces o public encounter, spaces or which New York is most amous,

a retreat toward a culture o rescue, salvage, mourning, and recovery. A

dtctly atcomopolta etmet crept to the cty. For may South

Asian cabbies, particularly those o Sikh and Muslim cultural moorings,

the axoue to demotrate ther allegace to New York Cty wa d-

played through the copcuou potg o ag ad the dcardg o the

turapulc g o oldarty wth New York Cty ad a cautou re-

aemet o ther ow relatohp to New York ura pace.14

A Poetics of Hospitality

Now aced wth a ever more ruthle logc o the market determg

le New York Cty, the cty teacouly clg to t adg aura a a cty

o hoptalty whoe door have htorcally ee ope to thoe who eek

reuge.15 It persists in asserting the elusive, orced idea o cosmopolitan

ctzehp. A the acal hock ad gloal dowtur rpple throughthe boroughs, people continue to imagine, dream, desire, protest, love,

ad loe themelve the cty.

T ook take a t preme a act o productve teo: New York

City is a metropolis whose singular sense o itsel is its identity as a distinc-

tve water-oud world cty, whle alo comprg a regoal etwork o

ura cluter that hape t gloal vage. New York comopolta de-

tity is polyvocal and always in the process o unraveling. Its spectacular

gue orce the dweller o t orough to ak: What th comopoltaperception? How does one begin to articulate cosmopolitan citizenship

rom wth a cty perpetually recotructo?

Te ollowg page are a oprg o thoe taut, ueay expreo

o ura elogg. Tey orm a medtato o the pulc etmet ad

ocal eelg that produce ura uect a ctze o the pol. Wrtte

a treet cee capturg ud uram, th ook le E. B. Whte

dea o patrca New York ad more mmedately the New York o a Gam-

a or Pakta cae who ha travered the etral o the cty or two

decades and pushing. Tese explorations unold against a backdrop o

New York larger-tha-le peroa a a ura etty, where cto, g


26/29

6 introDuction

money, brutal real estate, and hard-nosed speculators compete with the

grt ad tmacy o real lve lved hard or reao orgotte elewhere,

or ot yet egu to e realzed.

I oer a reportage o a world cty at a crtcal pot t vat ad u-

dulating trajectories between the mayorships o Rudolph Giuliani and

Michael Bloombergthe period leading up to 9/ and the atermath o

recovery; the tme whe the cty covuled through the dot-com ut ad

the 2008 nancial meltdown, with the bottom alling out o New Yorks

way o le; the tme o the $00 llo alout package ad Wall Street

mploo. It a tme whe New York grm 0 threateed a retur:

huttered tore, akrupt uee, aadoed torerot, expeve

urniture discarded on street corners, avorite bookstores, caes, and hard-

ware tore goe. May New Yorker wthout o are tll tryg to retoolad revet a le ater 00.

It alo a tme whe Barack Oama ecame the rt Arca Amerca

predet, ad New Yorker topped lvg a tate o perpetual Orage

Alert. wo dramatc plae epode o the Hudo Rver have led to a re-

thinking o chaotic airspace management over the Hudson River, which

ee over ,000 umotored helcopter rde a year. Te year 00 aw

the lockg-o o trac rom me Square or the rt tme, the reope-

g o the Wahgto Square Park outa alged wth the WahgtoSquare Arch, and the 400th anniversary o the discovery o Mannatus

by Henry Hudson on September , 2009, commemorated by the arrival

o eleve Dutch arge rom the Netherlad, oatg dow the Hudo

Rver.

In 200, the timely detection o a car bomb set to explode in imes

Square threw the cty to a mometary hudder. But depte the reultg

evacuation and unease, the incident did not deter people rom enjoying the

hoptalty o a almy New York ght.Comopolta New York a culture o rk t ctze are ully tue

with. Te ecological catastrophe o wastewater contamination along the

Hudo Rver the ummer o 0 emphazed how regoally terco-

ected New York evromet . Te pollutg o the rver wa a da-

ter or cte alog t ak. It wa a wake-up call urgg the repole

ue o the cty rreplaceale reource, uch a the Hudo Rver, whch

requires a persistent commitment to sustainable water and waste man-

agemet.

Ecologcal rk etaled y metropolta lvg alo clude expave

pleaurale momet, uch a the cty expaded greeway terweavg


27/29

introDuction

t ve orough. People ca ke rom Mahatta to Brookly, Quee, or

the Brox, or pedal rom dowtow Mahatta acro the George Wah-

gto Brdge. It a rk ult o a hared udertadg that New York

comopolta approach to hoptalty a ragle utopa udertakg, a

the Occupy Wall Street protests in Manhattans nancial district display.

Ueve outcome o comopolta ctzehp threate New York prom-

ise as a city o hope, o arrival, o being a doorway to cosmopolitan be-

comg.

New York perorm the dea o tel paoately, ad relece t

mot mpreve eature.


28/29

Prologue

1. David M. Halbfnger, Charles V. Bagli, and Saah Maslin Nir, On Ravaged Coast-

line, Its Rebuild Deliberately vs. Rebuild Now, Ne York mes, December 22, 2012.

2. Residents o Westbeth, an artists colony in the West Village, reported nine

eet o water in their basements.

3. Halbfnger, Bagli, and Nir, On Ravaged Coastline, Its Rebuild Deliberately

vs. Rebuild Now.

4. Matthew L. Wald and Danny Hakim, Storm Panel Recommends Major

Changes in New York, Ne York mes, January 7, 2013.

5. Eric Klinenberg, Adaptation: How Can Cities Be Climate-Prooed? Te New

Yorker, January 7, 2013.

6. Sheri Fink, Where Fear, Death and Myth Collided: Ater Storm, Web Rumors

Overtook Agony at Queens High Rise, Ne York mes, December 20, 2012.

7. Michael Schwirtz, Waste Flows ater Storm Expose Costly Deects in Sewage

System, Ne York mes, November 30, 2012.

8. Barry Drogin, Surviving in the Sandy Superdome; We Were Ignored! Te Vl-

lager, November 2228, 2012.

Introduton

1. Jacques Derrida, On Csmplitanism and Frgieness (New York: Routledge,

2001), 5.

2. Russell Shorto, Te Island at the Center of the World: Te Ep Story of Duth Manhat-


29/29

214 notes to introDuction

tan and the Forgotten Colony Tat Shaped Amera (New York: Doubleday, 2004). Derrida,

On Cosmopoltansm and Forgveness.

3. David Held, Cosmopoltansm: Ideas and Realtes (Cambridge: Polity, 2010), 105.

Also see Derrida, On Cosmopoltansm and Forgveness.

4. Derrida, On Cosmopolitanism and Forgiveness; Emmanuel Levinas, Beyond the Verse:almud Readngs and Letures (New York: Continuum, 2007).

5. Walter Benjamin, Refetins: Essays, Aphrisms, Autbigraphial Writings (New

York: Schocken, 1978). See Ul Hannerz, Explorng the Cty: Inqures toard an Urban

Anthropology (New York: Columbia University Press, 1983).

6. Janet Abu-Lughod, From Urban Vllage to East Vllage: Te Battle or Ne Yorks Loer

East Sde (Cambridge, MA: Blackwell, 1994).

7. See Shorto, Te Island at the Center of the World, 6. Also see Eric W. Sanderson,

Mannahatta: A Natural Hstory of Ne York Cty (New York: Abrams, 2009), 17.

8. Anthony D. King, ed. Culture, Glbalizatin, and the Wrld-System: Cntemprary

Cnditins r the Representatin Identity (Minneapolis: University of Minnesota

Press, 1997). Also see the Dutch East India Companys maps o their colonial out-

posts, illustrated in Johannes Vingboons, Atlas an kaarten en aanzihten an de voc

en wic, genoemd Vngboons-atlas, n Het algemeen rjksarhef tes-Gravenhage ([Bussum]:

Fibula-Van Dishoeck, 1981).

9. Marc Aug, In the Metro, translated by Tom Conley (Minneapolis: University

o Minnesota Press, 2002).

10. Johnny Dwyer, Trying Times in Little Liberia,Vllage Voe, August 19, 2003.

11. Gerald Benjamin and Richard P. Nathan, Reginalism and Realism: A Study

Gernments in the New Yrk Metrplitan Area (Washington, DC: Brookings Institu-

tion, 2001).

12. Moustaa Bayoumi, Letter to a G-Man, in Michael Sorkin and Sharon

Zukin, eds.Ater the World rade Center: Rethnkng Ne York Cty (New York: Routledge,

2002).

13. Sikh Outcry over Post-9/11 Bigotry, Metro, April 15, 2008.

14. Jasbir Puar, errorst Assemblages: Homonatonalsm n Queer mes (Durham, NC:

Duke University Press, 2007).

15. Levinas, Beyond the Verse, 40.

Part I: Flud Urbansm

1. Paolo Virno, A Grammar the Multitude: Fr an Analysis Cntemprary Frms

Lie, translated by Isabella Bertoletti and James Cascaito (Los Angeles: Semio-

text(e), 2009).

Fluid New York by May Joseph

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