Aleksandar Dekic: Battery Park City

Battery Park City is a beautiful example of urban planning. This contemporary urban part of New York City provides buildings, streets and open spaces which are integrated with its waterfront environment. It consists of three elements that are different but, in some way, made one inseparable unified part of the city and it is almost opposite of Lincoln Center area.

Battery park has the name of a park because one-third of this area is parkland. Also, one third is residential, and the rest is the financial area. When this landfill area was constructed in the 1970s, urban planners try to plan this area, so it fits the surrounding parts of the city. Also, they try to create an appealing area for living to attract people to move here. They use different ways of landscape architecture where they use open areas to separate buildings and to create small park oasis filled with monuments and art installations. Buildings are built new, but they look like they were here for centuries. At the Lincoln Center, we have the creation of elite cultural venues, while here we have a place for residential and business purposes. At Lincoln Center, we have a style of brutalism and heroic where concrete is dominant, while in Battery park everything is settled and in harmony with nature. Lincoln Center has strip-type classicism elements used to emphasize the buildings itself, while in Battery park we have settled modern buildings that are one with nature. Also, in Battery Park, we have returned to the subtle move in geometry with the exact street grid between the buildings, while in Lincoln Center that was lost.

Unlike Lincoln Center where we have a creation of the city within the city with rigid buildings and non-existence of the city street grid, Battery park has a warm welcoming architecture that creates this contemporary development approach and provides amenities to attract new residents. It also has the key element which every part of the modern city should have, and that is the existence of the many street corners which are the veins and arteries of the city, as a meeting points and as a sign of city vibe.