Just got this in my in-box and it’s really interesting!
November 11, 2008 – Well-known architects, historians, novelists, developers and amusement industry experts from New York and around the world offer their “vision” for Coney Island’s future in a new report being released today by the Center for an Urban Future, a non-partisan think tank based in Manhattan . The report includes fresh ideas for remaking Coney Island into a 21st Century amusement district from novelists Jonathan Lethem and Kevin Baker; amusement and carnival experts such as the CEO of Copenhagen’s Tivoli Gardens and the executive director of the Big Apple Circus; innovative New York-based real estate developers Irwin Cohen and Greg O’Connell; architects and architectural critics from Michael Singer to Paul Goldberger; historians such as Mike Wallace and Michael Immerso; urban planner Alexander Garvin; video game developer Eric Zimmerman; creative entrepreneur Dianna Carlin; and a number of other influential thinkers.
The Center for an Urban Future’s aim with this report is to inject fresh ideas into the city’s ongoing planning for Coney Island ’s redevelopment that, despite its clear benefits, has come up short of creating a bold vision for restoring the area to its historic place as a truly great entertainment district. The Center reached out to innovative and creative individuals from New York and around the world, most of who have not previously weighed in with ideas about Coney Island ’s future.
The report features 23 brief Q&A’s, with the following individuals:
Jonathan Lethem, author, Motherless Brooklyn and The Fortress of Solitude
Eric Zimmerman, founder of video game development company Gamelab
Alexander Garvin, president and CEO, Alex Garvin & Associates
Mike Wallace, author of Gotham: A History of New York City to 1898
Michael Immerso, author, Coney Island: The People’s Playground
Lars Liebst, CEO, Copenhagen ’s Tivoli Gardens , the second oldest amusement park in the world
Irwin Cohen, developer of the Chelsea Market
Dianna Carlin, founder of Lola Staar souvenir boutique and Dreamland roller rink
Lisa Chamberlain, executive director, Forum for Urban Design and author, Slackonomics
Michael Sorkin, principal, Michael Sorkin Studio and director, Graduate Urban Design Program at City College
Paul Goldberger, architecture critic, The New Yorker
Kevin Baker, author, Dreamland: A Novel
Gary Dunning, executive director, Big Apple Circus
Greg O’Connell, Red Hook-based developer of Beard Street warehouse and Fairway
Martin Pedersen, executive editor, Metropolis Magazine
Charles Canfield, president, Santa Cruz Seaside Company
Sharon Zukin, professor of sociology, Brooklyn College , author of Loft Living
Charles Denson, author, Coney Island: Lost and Found; executive director, Coney Island History Project
Karrie Jacobs, founding editor-in-chief of Dwell
Ellen Neises, associate principal of Field Operations, a landscape and urban design firm
Setha Low, director of the Public Space Research Group at CUNY; author, The Politics of Public Space
Michael Singer, principal, Michael Singer Studio
Ron Shiffman, co-founder, Pratt Institute Center for Community and Environmental Development
This report and all of the Coney Island visions are available here:
http://www.nycfuture.org/images_pdfs/pdfs/ConeyIslandVisions.pdf