☞ INTRODUCING: By the City/For the City

By the City / For the City is an opportunity for New Yorkers to tell designers what sites and characteristics of their neighborhood, borough—or even the entire city—have unrealized potential or need a thorough re-imagining. From April 11–30, New Yorkers can visit the Urban Design Week website to fill out a simple questionnaire to nominate an untapped opportunity somewhere in the five boroughs. The Institute for Urban Design will then compile and analyze the public submissions and present them to the design community. From May 16 through June 17, architects, planners, and designers will be enlisted to develop proposals that address these myriad sites and situations. A jury of distinguished architects and urbanists, including the Institute for Urban Design board members Michael Sorkin and Winka Dubbeldam, will review designers’ proposals and highlight exemplary ideas for the future of the city. The results will be compiled to create a publication and exhibition, By the City / For the City: An Atlas of Possibility for the Future of New York. Place your suggestions on the Urban Design Week site: LINK

The top photo shows part of the old Bernheimer-Mink Building & stables that take up almost three blocks in Manhttanville. IfUD asked for a suggestion on our part and we mentioned this area could be a historic market if designed properly. There's probably cobblestone (technically Belgian stone) buried underneath the modern streets and the low-level stable warehouses are reminiscent of the Meat Packing District downtown.