One of the books we've been enjoying recently (recommended by brokentype - thanks again) is Waterfront: A Journey Around Manhattan by Philip Lopate. Lopate looks at how New York's waterfront developed; he calls the waterfront "the key to New York's destiny." It's full of rich details (maybe too specific for a reader looking for a quick browse), and since Gothamist is always fascinated by how the city was built, it's a must if you're a New York City history buff.
Newsday has a great article about Lopate and in it, he suggests some ideas for future waterfront development:
You have this strange phenomenon of all this underused land in the most intensely built- up real estate market in the world. So what are you going to do with it? The identity of New York resides in the answer. Because we've become so environmentally aware, there's come to be this equation of open space with park space. Greening the edges [with parks] is a good idea in places. But you don't need a chlorophyll cordon sanitaire around the edge. Why can't you have newspaper kiosks overlooking the water or movie theaters? Why not a post office, so that people would be brought there by their daily functions?
Why not indeed? Go listen to Lopate speak; he starts his tour tomorrow with TWO events, one at Makor (noon, 35 West 67th Street) and the other at 192 Books (6:30PM, 192 Tenth Avenue). There will be six other NYC speaking engagements until May.
