The City: Flesh v. Machine

For years, New York City—like almost every other metropolis—has spread relentlessly into the surrounding countryside. Meanwhile 167 valuable acres of land were all but going to waste right in the heart of the city. Last week a plan to devote that space to a new kind of big-city better living was put before New Yorkers. Perhaps nothing will ever make New York truly livable until the streets are gardens and the traffic is subterranean, but the new plan offers a realistic promise of traffic-free isolation in at least one area. The scheme: transform the all but deserted Welfare Island...