Fellow Steemians -
Yesterday I celebrated Earth Day with the lots of colorful markers and enthusiastic young city planners. I hosted an artist workshop at 39th and Broadway for the annual "Car Free NYC" event. Each year the initiative closes 30 blocks of street in celebration of Earth Day and plans tons of fun events and projects between Times Square to Union Square.
I was invited to participate through the NYC Department of Transportation Arts Program. A great group of folks with whom I collaborate often. My project was called...
"Broadway Boogie Woogie" - A collaborative drawing workshop celebrating Broadway as New York City’s signature North-South thoroughfare. For Earth Day, the public is invited to draw and create their own imaginary car-free city.
Process of the "Boogie Woogie"
Here are a few snapshots of the fun from yesterday... The project started with a big blank map of Manhattan, with Broadway (NYC's longest and oldest street) highlighted from top to bottom... From there I consulted with up-and-coming urban planning experts on how we could make Manhattan a greener and more fun place to live...
Here's me (below) meeting with consultants about new zoning for green streets in Midtown...
"We need more big trees!... and dinosaurs!"
"Where's California??" A heated debate ensued. Tensions were quickly resolved through the planting of Red Oak Trees along 8th Avenue...
The end result was a beautiful new master plan for Manhattan! I was thrilled with how the workshop turned out! A big thanks to all the amazingly creative and enthusiastic New Yorkers who helped make this possible. I'll be posting the whole drawing later this week! Stay tuned for more...
"The mission of Car Free Day NYC is to encourage New York City drivers to choose alternative means of moving about NYC on Earth Day, April 22nd, 2017. Car Free Day NYC is an idea that we hope will spark a movement. It addresses critical issues facing our city, our country and our world that stem in part from having too many cars on our city’s streets. From sustainability and environmental justice to land use and urban planning as well as public health and street safety, our overuse of cars has caused numerous urban problems that have mounting social and economic costs. Car Free Day NYC is about encouraging people to make more thoughtful decisions in their daily lives, particularly related to transportation. We are proposing to have Earth Day be a day where we drastically limit the number of cars on New York City streets, by encouraging residents and commuters to choose one of the many other forms of transportation that New York offers for one day of the year." - Car Free NYC