ABSTRACT
This chapter offers a provisional discussion of two paradigmatic New York City public spaces—Hudson Yards and Corona Plaza—and focuses on the role(s) design plays in creating two radically different visions for the future of public space in New York City. Notwithstanding the technical and engineering complexity that Thomas Woltz of Nelson Byrd Woltz Landscape Architects faced as the designer of this “smartest park ever built,” the work ended up being an exercise in formalism intended to provide visual and spatial coherence; or, as he suggested, at creating a “unifying space.” They soon realized that the site for the future Corona Plaza can play the key role in this effort, and had envisioned it as a catalyst for engaging residents in community development, a platform for developing and presenting local cultural producers, a site where community-based organizations could offer and promote social services, and a stimulus to promote health and well-being in the immigrant communities surrounding the plaza.
