Waterfront Re-Creation: Coney Island

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Waterfront Re-Creation: Coney Island

Type

Hospitality + Sport ›
Cultural ›
Landscape + Planning › Public Park
Transport + Infrastructure ›

Coney Island presents a unique urban condition that requires immediate and thoughtful attention. Located in a flood zone on a peninsula in Brooklyn, this waterfront site suffers from critical environmental, economic and social concerns which have stilted the successful development of this neighborhood and have too often neglected the needs of the residents. While this neighborhood is of historic significance to the city of New York and was initially designed as a weekend retreat for summer entertainment, the last several decades have seen a decline in tourism and local enthusiasm for the entertainment amenities offered. The site suffers from a multitude of physical and economic barriers that have prevented the unification of the neighborhood and a wholistic approach to ameliorate the deterioration that Coney Island has endured in the last several decades. There have been many proposals for the development and rebuilding of the amusement parks located in Coney Island, but none of these have adequately addressed the economic needs of the residents or the environmental concerns which require attention. To this end, this proposal strives to take on those issues while protecting the unique character and culture of this community by breaking down many of the boundaries that exist between the various zones in Coney Island and reconsidering the neighborhood in its entirety, rather than focus on one particular zone at the expense of the surrounding neighborhood and community.
To achieve this, the boardwalk has been reconsidered as a series of critical pathways which can link the various zones within the larger area. The existing neighborhood is organized along its east-west axis by major arterial roadways that bisect the neighborhood and segregate community groups, commercial zones, and tourist amenities. The notion of the boardwalk is one that is continued throughout the neighborhood to link the two major roadways, Surf Avenue and Neptune Avenue, in order to bring tourists to develop the local commercial area and create a physical connection between the visitor-driven waterfront activity and the more local economic base. The boardwalk also currently serves as an architectural identifier that has become the image of Coney Island, and thus, its expansion into the larger neighborhood will aid in unifying the various community groups. Similarly, the existing signage and graffiti art which is such a prominent component of the physical environment will be preserved and serve as a method for re-branding and reinforcing the community identity through the reiteration of the existing graphic language visible in Coney Island.
These bisecting ‘boardwalks’ will also be functioning green streets which will manage and filter storm water runoff which is currently handled by a combined sewage overflow system and has several outflow spots along Coney Island’s northern border. Not only will this improve the environmental condition of the neighborhood, but it will also expose this ecological treatment of this issue to the residents and visitors through its prominence along these north-south streetscapes. In addition, the visibility of this ecological system further emphasizes the voyeuristic history of the neighborhood, albeit in an entirely reconsidered manner.
In addition to the infrastructural changes proposed, this plan calls for the reinvention of the concept of recreation within Coney Island. A critical issue that the neighborhood struggles with is its inability to adapt to changing economies, tourism trends and ecological/environmental conditions for fear of destroying the areas unique character. However, to rebuild the park area so that it will endure for generations the neighborhood and community must re-invent recreation for Coney Island and instead consider the energy and environmental lessons that can be learned from the park’s rides, shows, and the newly adapted park features which will demonstrate the ecological treatment of the environmental concerns which plague the area. The park presents an opportunity to display the environmental issues and treatment throughout the area in a condensed area, which will then in turn signal a return to the voyeuristic roots of this entertainment center. Rides and amusement can be reinvented to consider the many ways in which the rides can perform, both visually and environmentally. The park will also be reconsidered to be better incorporated within the neighborhood through the physical expansion of the boardwalk to include the park and link to the train station, thus connection these larger tourist areas and then further connect them through the expansion of the boardwalk along the north-south pedestrian pathways. serves as a visual reminder of the year-round economy.
Importantly, through these measures Coney Island will become a model for other waterfront cities as well as entertainment cities which are suffering similar fates. The adaptation of the existing infrastructure and the maintenance of the new environmental systems will create jobs for many of the local residents, but more importantly, the expansion of major pedestrian routes to connect the larger arterial roadways will also connect local merchants with the visitor population to the re-invented Coney Island Eco Park.
The seasonal use, which has contributed to the strong identity for this historic community, now serves as a visual reminder of the year-round economic suffering which plagues many of the residents of Coney Island. Traces of the area’s entertainment past are visible along the boardwalk and Surf Avenue and currently their disrepair further emphasizes the depressed condition of the neighborhood. Whereas current proposals for redevelopment have emphasized the need for rezoning measures which have the potential to remove many of the historically significant features of the site and displace many of the community members, this proposal seeks to preserve that history and reinvent the idea of ‘amusement’ by breaking the existing physical, infrastructural, economic and environmental barriers and boundaries which have thus far prevented prosperity and thoughtful development in the area. This plan seeks to utilize the existing seasonal infrastructure and provide a balanced year-round economic base that integrates a re-established tourist population with the existing resident population, while also bringing attention to and addressing the environmental issues that are of concern in Coney Island.