Profile

Bedford-Stuyvesant Superblock

New York, New York
Completed 1969

Lead Designer: I. M. Pei

Recreational and open space in an established residential area
 

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Senator Robert Kennedy initiated this project to improve one of New York's worst ghettos at maximum speed and minimum cost with the least disruption to residents. In solution, a series of superblocks was proposed, relieving the monotonous urban grid by providing a variety of focal points for neighborhood activity and identity. St. Mark's Avenue and Prospect Place comprised the pilot project.

The designs evolved with resident input, each reflecting the needs and desires of its own community. On Prospect Place, a 58-foot-wide roadway lined by owner-occupied brownstones, the only request was to reinforce the neighborhood's quiet residential character Sidewalks were widened, trees and street furniture added, and traffic slowed by narrowed intersections and speed bumps. By contrast, the much wider St. Mark's Avenue was a highly transient tenement block with a history as a summer play street. A mid-block park was therefore created as both social center and playground. A fountain and wading pool were added for children and extensive seating for adults. Vehicular access was reduced to block-end parking.

Although implementation was complicated by the social goals of using local labor and by the coordination of numerous private and public agencies, the project was deemed a success. Following its completion, community maintenance groups were formed, brownstones were rehabilitated, home values rose, and transiency largely stabilized.

Major Components

Two city streets: sidewalk and road improvements; street furniture and trees, landscaped street park, playground, fountain and seating, reconfigured parking and through traffic

Awards

I. M. Pei & Partners services

Master Planning; Site Analysis; Feasibility Studies

Landscape

M. Paul Friedberg & Associates, New York, NY

Traffic

Travers Associates, Clifton, NJ

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