New York City
Neighborhoods
Featuring Barry Lewis, Architectural
Historian
Pioneers in the New Urbanism:
"Green" City Neighborhoods of a
Century Ago
The idea of planned city neighborhoods, built around rapid transit,
walkable and compact, yet threaded with community clubhouses,
sports facilities and parks is today called "the new urbanism", the
latest idea in smart growth. But it's not a new idea.
Here in Queens, there are seven neighborhoods built with these
principles dating from 1870 to 1950. We're going to look at a
select number of these seven and see why sprawling, car-oriented
America should have followed these examples for minimum carbon
footprint.
Barry Lewis was born and raised in New York City and educated at
the University of California at Berkeley, the New School for Social
Research in New York, and the Sorbonne in Paris. For the past 25
years he has lectured for institutions as diverse as the Cooper
Hewitt Museum, Bard Graduate Center, the University of
Pennsylvania, and the Harvard School of Planning. Lewis has written
on Midtown and Fifth Avenue in the guide book New York Walks, and
was one of the most sought-after tour guides for The 92nd Street
Y's popular walking tour series. His sections on New York City
Architecture and the Borough of Queens appear in the current
Berlitz Guide to New York.
Lewis, who received the New York Society of Architects'
Distinguished Service Award for his work on Thirteen's Walking
Tours series, conducted a seminar on the neighborhoods of New York
City at the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C. and
recently returned for a lecture on the 100th anniversary of Times
Square. He currently teaches architectural and interior design
history at The New York School of Interior Design, and leads a
course for the public on the history of New York City's
architecture and urban planning for Cooper Union Forum. His book on
the history of his home neighborhood, Kew Gardens, was recently
published.
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Date
Monday, October 5, 2009
Time
4:30 PM
Location
Little Theatre, Queens Campus
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Sponsored by the University Honors Program