Skip to content

Audio Version

See more about

More info

This essay is an excerpt of Unboxing New York by ODA, published by Actar Publishers.

Dead Ends: Managing Urban Density

The tower has helped manage urban density, but it often fails to honor qualities of life on the street. Now we have the opportunity to change that.

An inherent problem with vertical living is that it draws people away from the ground. While humans lift off into space for travel, exploration, and adventure, most of life is still captured at ground-level. Yet, as the density of people, places, and things increases on Earth, we look to the sky for new ways to live.

Manhattan in the 1930s. 422–424 Lenox Avenue, Harlem

Before the vertical boom, life was enjoyed in a continuous loop—from inside to outside and back again. I remember growing up in Israel, living around a courtyard that captured life and connected residents: kids playing in the garden, mothers cooking a few flights up, elderly people sitting by their windows so they wouldn’t feel alone. These were the qualities of life in a city before scale imposed its limitations.

Back then, when low-rise buildings and townhomes sprawled across cities, the front door was a thin veil between life at home and the world booming beyond four walls. People were physically connected to both inside and outside in ways that felt organic, natural, and full of choice. Whether reaching through a door to shake hands with a neighbor or bounding across rooftops from one block to the next, like I did in my youth, a unique tether between interior and exterior was forged, one that appeals to the innate human desire to connect, continue, and reconnect.

Full content is available only for registered users. Please login or Register


Excerpt from:

Buy it at actar.com
This essay is an excerpt of Unboxing New York by ODA, published by Actar Publishers.

urbanNext (May 28, 2023) Dead Ends: Managing Urban Density. Retrieved from https://urbannext.net/dead-ends-managing-urban-density/.
Dead Ends: Managing Urban Density.” urbanNext – May 28, 2023, https://urbannext.net/dead-ends-managing-urban-density/
urbanNext October 26, 2021 Dead Ends: Managing Urban Density., viewed May 28, 2023,<https://urbannext.net/dead-ends-managing-urban-density/>
urbanNext – Dead Ends: Managing Urban Density. [Internet]. [Accessed May 28, 2023]. Available from: https://urbannext.net/dead-ends-managing-urban-density/
Dead Ends: Managing Urban Density.” urbanNext – Accessed May 28, 2023. https://urbannext.net/dead-ends-managing-urban-density/
Dead Ends: Managing Urban Density.” urbanNext [Online]. Available: https://urbannext.net/dead-ends-managing-urban-density/. [Accessed: May 28, 2023]

urbanNext | expanding architecture to rethink cities and territories

Newsletter

Sign up to our newsletter

Search
Generic filters
Exact matches only
Search in title
Search in content
Search in excerpt
Formats
Audio&visual
Concept
Data
Essay
Forum
Lecture
Podcast
Project
Talk
Survey
Statement
Selfthink
High Density
Middle Density
Low Density
No Density

talk

essay

project

product

survey

data

all formats