Superblocks vs. Regular Blocks

Walking around a cite and observing the streets, buildings and what people do there can tell you a lot about the intentions that the architects and planners had for the place. While walking around Washington Square Village, I could understand the original intentions and also how they failed to come true. Washington Square Village is one of the three New York University-owned superblocks in New York City. Washington Square Village is the middle one of the three; The northernmost superblock is where Bobst Library and the Stern School of Business are located, and the southernmost superblock is where the residential buildings Silver Tower I and Silver Tower II stand. Only the northern one was part of NYU in the beginning, and they bought the other two later. 

Washing Square Village is enclosed by West 3rd Street on the north, Mercer Street on the east, LaGuardia Place on the west, and Bleecker Street on the south. It cuts the streets University Place and Greene Street to create a superblock the size of three regular size blocks. The two roads remain but are now used as an entry to the block and not as an ordinary street. The block consists of two identical rows of apartments in both West 3rd Street and Bleecker Street with a park in the middle of them. It also has a bank, some restaurants and other NYU buildings facing the street LaGuardia Place. It is evident that the primary focus of this project was to create the two apartments tower slabs with a park in the center for the use of the residents. The park is open to the public but is mainly for the people that live there. 

The "tower in a park" method of urban planning was invented by the Swiss-French architect Le Corbusier, and it was clearly used in the development of this superblock. The method, as it is clear by the name, consists of having a residential building in the middle of a park for people to "escape" city life. Le Corbusier was one of the most influential city planners in the late 1900's, and his ideas were clearly an influence in the development of Washing Square Village and not only by the park. He also popularized the use of pilotis, which consist of columns that raise the building and create usable space below it. In the superblock, the buildings are raised in the four entries to allow cars and people to get in by the two roads that are inside. This raise enables the buildings to be continuous and use the most space possible. Another of Corbusier idea that is used in this project is layering. Layering allows a place to use more space by building things above or below ground level. Underneath the block, a parking lot was built for the use of the residents, and it also holds some NYU Public Safety vehicles. The buildings themselves were built in really modern style, but I am not sure if Corbusier was an influence on the design, but he was apparently an influence in the overall layout of the plan.

When you enter the park by one of the four entries, you do feel like you are "escaping" city life. It is full of nature and lovely benches and tables for people to sit down and relax. It has different types of benches, and it even has tables with checkers boards for people to play. It has a variety of plants that are extremely beautiful even though it is not summer yet. It also has two playgrounds, a big one in the center and a smaller one next to LaGuardia Place. Entering you do start to feel more relaxed as there is few to no cars passing by and most people are walking. When I visited the block, it was mostly empty. There were no people in the park or the playground. The only people I saw were residents entering their building and other people, primarily students, passing through the streets. The center of the block is only accessible by the two streets in the middle, and there are gates that face LaGuardia and Mercer Street to prohibit the entry from that sides. Most of the people that entered the block did not remain there, they came from the north or south and left the other way not even realizing what they were passing by. 

I learned a lot about the cite by walking around an examining how it was built; still, I asked around to determine even more about it. Talking to the doorman of one the buildings I discovered that both the two rows of apartments house mostly NYU staff and some Graduate students but there are private residents as well. He also told me that NYU gains those private apartments when the lease is over or when the residents leave. I also talked to a resident that walked up to the park, making her the only person, besides me, in the park, about living there. She told me that she lives there because her boyfriend works at NYU and she likes it a lot. I was wondering if the park and playground were so deserted because of the season, but she told me that it is like this all year. In the summer it is mostly empty because NYU is closed so a lot of the residents leave and in the colder seasons not many people like to sit down and relax in the cold when they can do it in their house. Besides, she said that because all apartments have balconies, people don't have to go to the park to get some fresh air if they need it. She claimed that sunny morning is when you can find the most people as kids go down to play in the playground. She told me she enjoyed living there and tries to use the park as most as possible but not many others do. The main reason she liked living there was for all the places you could find in the nearby blocks. 

When you leave the superblock and walk to the neighboring blocks on the east and west, you can tell the differences between the spaces and how they are used. The blocks next to Washington Square Village are standard sized blocks full of bars, restaurants, shops, NYU buildings, banks, and even offices. The feeling you get when walking around the blocks is different than in the superblock. When walking around, you understand why New York is called "the city that never sleeps" as you can find people walking around almost all hours of the day. In the blocks, you truly feel the "Ballet of the Sidewalk" as Jane Jacobs described. Jacobs would entirely agree that these blocks function much better than the Washington Square Village and you can tell why. Having small blocks with mixed uses is what brings more people to the blocks. I saw more people in the ten minutes I walked around the blocks than I saw in the hour that I stayed in the park of Washington Square Village. People steadily entered and left the restaurants and shops in the blocks, and I regularly saw people walking around them. Most people just where just passing by, but some did stop to enter the commercial spaces unlike the superblock where everyone just passed through. The sense of relaxation you get in the superblock is excellent but the feeling of life and activity you get in the common blocks is better in my opinion. And besides, if I wanted to get the sense of relaxation, I could go the Washington Square Park which is two blocks away. I believe most NYU students would do the same, the park is so big and interrupts so many streets that it is impossible to see it empty. There are always people walking and sitting down to take a break to enjoy the nature for a while. That's one of my favorite things about this city, all the parks that it has. I love going to Central Park to escape city life or even to Madison Square Park which is considerably smaller, but it is the closest one to my house. I believe all big cities like New York should have parks in between its buildings but not enclosed by them like in Washington Square Village. 

I don't believe superblocks are all bad and they surely could work if they are done correctly. One of the best things about superblocks is their reduction of car use to increase pedestrian movement. Where Washington Square Village failed is by the enclosing movement entirely. It reduced vehicular movement, which is beneficial, but it did nothing to improve pedestrian traffic. In my opinion, there are pros and cons to both urban plans, but I agree with Jane Jacobs that the best way to plan our cities is with normal blocks with mixed uses. By having so many people walking around and creating "the sidewalk ballet" makes people fall in love with city life. Open spaces are also needed so city life doesn’t become so intense, but it has to be done in the right way.