Image of Chinatown arcade, 8 Mott St, New York
To truly experience a city like New York, one must venture far past the imagery presented in glamorized views of New York City. To do this, one must think very little about the extravagant build scape and focus on other aspects that make up New York city what it is. For that reason, I will not talk about any of the famous attractions found in the city. Instead, I will rather use my time to create an appreciation for the complexity of cultures that emanate from this one space.
Biking in lowest west side, New York Skating in Hunts Point, New York
Experiencing the landscape through alt modes of transportation
A new York dweller sometimes steps out of conformity and normative transportation schemes by simply not taking part in them or bending the rules to a small degree. From my experience, fare evasion in New York city is a phenomenon to be noted for its commonality. One could say it's a custom to some degree. While this is a fascinating phenomenon, I want to focus on the utilization of alternative modes of transportation to get around. In the past few years, New York City has done a great job expanding the sector of alternative transportation. The increase of City bikes and the expansion of bike lanes have been central to this advancement. Providing alternative modes of transportation to city dwellers has not only made the city more accessible but provided people with a new way to experience the cityscape.
How skating impacts the accessibility
Narrowing down from standardized alternative modes of transportation, I would like to talk about personal ones that must be noted. As someone who skates as a pastime, I would take my board pretty much everywhere, and I was certainly not alone. New York houses a massive urban skating community composed of people of varied ages and backgrounds. The thing that I want to highlight about this community is the impact that using a board to get around has on the way one sees the city. Curves are no longer curves but obstacles; the street becomes your sidewalk, and sometimes it could impact access to certain areas. Skating has recomposed the way I navigate around the cityscape.
Thomas Jefferson Park Skate Park, East 114th Street, and the FDR Drive
Cultural hotspots:
These scenes create a great place for connections to flourish due to the assemblage of shared passions, interests, and backgrounds. These places can frequently be overlooked and even be portrayed negatively due to the multiplicity of meaning they contain. Reducing a place of convergence such as a skate park to its demoted purpose would simply strip its cultural value. The lens I propose is looking at very small areas in which culture is shared. I can't think of a better way to introduce someone to New York City without giving them a taste of the local sense of community.