Urban Design Week, NYC — what is being done about vacant lots at night?

[Leni Schwendinger]

The For the City/By the City crowdsourced ideas fest was followed by Urban Design Week; Sept 15-20. A book has been published of all the ideas, and now they can also be found online. 

Leni Schwendinger Light Projects’ contribution, (Vacant) Lots of Love is a simple idea for community empowerment through transformation of blighted territory into landmarks of illumination.

 

“Vacant lots are gaps in the street wall, they can be scary night and day and they symbolize a lack of care. (Vacant) Lots of Love is a program designed to empower local communities to improve their urban night time environment through a simple kit of parts — tarpaulin, gravel, power and lighting — turning neglected open-spaces into volumes of light. The program encourages local volunteers and landowners to collaborate in reclaiming neglected urban space, simultaneously beautifying the night, fostering community activity and neighborhood pride. A signage system, recalling age rings in trees, shows the length of time that the lot has been empty. Carefully selected to create a string of glowing landmarks, idle open spaces gives back to the streetscape — by day a “borrowed landscape” and by night glowing carpets of light, filling empty space with love.”

 

It is my hope that landscape architects and community activists will run with this idea and implement in their own ways in many, many inner-city neighborhoods.

[Trace One]

Great idea, but how about working with reflected light rather than setting up more energy-use requirements? The Brits fooled the world in World War II with their use of reflected light and mirrors, obscuring the Suez Canal..I hope we can do even better now, fifty years later.

Community gardens are always good – in Philly my block had reclaimed a lot, moving the debris by hand, brick by brick, finally winning awards with our little 8×8 vegetable plots..And of course, with vacant buildings, I always loved the ‘turn the building into a washing machine’ look, with painted socks floating in the windows.

[Leni Schwendinger]

I love your idea of reflected light, in fact we have worked with giant reflections, and have partnered with a daylight tracking expert.  BTW – could you send me a reference to the Suez Canal event?

 

The logic behind the lighting of (Vacant) Lots of Love, however, is to suggest the most dirt simple lighting technique so that the concept can be effected in by the ordinary citizen. 

 

Thanks for commenting!

[Trace One]

For the concealment of the Suez Canal, look up Jasper Maskelyne in Wikipedia, and then paragraph on Suez Canal, in middle of piece..

Don’t know why I can’t copy and paste sometimes, otherwise I would! That’s probably why I prefer low-tech solutions!

good luck with concept – sounds great.

[Author]

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