‘Brooklyn Commons’ seeks an uncommon Downtown
In the future, the Brooklyn–Queens Expressway is a tunnel, vegetable gardens grow in Cadman Plaza — and bike lanes are in the sky!
Architecture and design students unveiled these revolutionary plans last week at Borough Hall, part of a city-sponsored project to turn Downtown’s blah infrastructure into Funkytown.
“If you think Brooklyn’s fabulous now, give us five years and see what we could do!” said Carl Skelton, a professor at NYU-Polytechnic Institute in Downtown.
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Skelton presented Betaville, an online program that allows users to view and comment on proposed projects across Brooklyn and other cities. Think of it as the “Sim City” of urban planning, with 3D models by architects and average Joes alike.
He showed off his vision of a new baseball stadium (New Ebbets, anyone?) atop the intersection of the Manhattan Bridge, Jay Street, and the BQE. Traffic would be rerouted through the complex.
