Ultimate Infill: Building more space for built-out cities

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Let’s Build a New Borough

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… why isn’t it possible to construct an artificial island at a higher elevation than downtown Manhattan that would serve as New York City’s sixth borough? Many of the city’s problems—real estate prices, developers purchasing blocks at a time, the astronomical cost of parking a car, or even a bicycle, even shoreline erosion—are problems of space. So why not just build more space?

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Dubai has been building artificial islands for years, and land reclamation is a common initiative in Japan’sTokyo Bay. China built a runway in the middle of the South China Sea. As a city, we embrace solutions to the daily commute, such as a plan to connect Brooklyn and Manhattan via gondola. As a society, we are not short on global initiatives.  …

So why not a massive public project, an architectural feat the city has never seen, an unconventional and extraordinary construction project that would remake the entire geography of lower Manhattan for decades—our generation’s Brooklyn Bridge? …

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It’s hard not to side with the naysayers.

“Don’t use the word ‘impossible,’” Hanson cautioned. “Use the word ‘difficult.’ There are a lot of variables, but nothing is impossible.”