The document discusses urban design proposals in Manhattan by Ulrich Franzen and Paul Rudolph, focusing on two areas: the upper east side and the lower manhattan expressway. Franzen emphasizes pedestrian-friendly spaces and minimal new construction, while Rudolph envisions functional buildings integrated with the transportation network to enhance urban complexity. Both proposals aim to address issues related to traffic congestion, pollution, and underutilized land to create livable urban environments.

1. The evolving city- Urban Design Proposals
-Ulrich Franzen and Paul Rudolph
Rituraj Sarma
2013eal25
Semester- 9

2. INTRODUCTION
• The book focusses on two proposals in the city of Manhattan. The first proposal is centred around the Upper
East Side of the island between 59th and 96th streets, a portion of the Queens and the East River. The other
proposal focusses on the corridor of the once proposed and the much discussed Lower Manhattan
Expressway.
• Franzen concentrates on reordering and reapportioning the public right-of-way for greater pedestrian use at
grade level and proposes entirely new transportation modes and suggests very little buildings except the
utility service structure. Rudolph proposes new construction in the Lower Manhattan Expressway in relation
to and integrated with the transportation network. Buildings are inserted into the transportation right-of-way
to make the area more complex and more intensively used. The corridor thus becomes a contiguous and
visible organising element of the city.

3. Manhattan’s East Side from 57th street to 96th streets, East river and
adjacent part of the Queens
About the place:
• High density predominantly residential area
disrupted by dehumanising, citywide goods
distribution system of trucks, overscaled and
obsolete gasoline powered transportation and other
vehicular service systems.
• The citywide distribution, surface transportation and
support systems have no relation in terms of
function, liveability or scale to the residential needs
or the living patterns.
• The resultant sound and air pollution have produced
harmful consequences to the residents of the
neighbourhood.
• The Queen’s sector is primarily an underutilised
industrial land.
• The east river has immense potential to be
developed as a place which will have traits
extremely opposite to the mechanical city life of
Manhattan.

4. Design proposals
Avenues transformed into public spaces and promenades
Greater public use rather than use of automobiles
Residential avenues transformed into multi-level
multiple-use spaces
Services and vehicles run through cross river tube bridges
Superimposed levels of activity the Queens sector near the East River
Section showing the superimposed levels in the Queens sector
Pod vehicles which retains the urban environment and offer the people an
exciting ride as well without disturbing the proposed public spaces

5. Lower Manhattan Expressway- presently connecting Holland tunnel to
Lower Manhattan Bridge and Williamsburg Bridge
• At present, the place exhibits a
character ranging from an
active and mixed residential-
commercial neighbourhood to
underutilised light industrial
districts mixed with some loft-
type housing.
• New opportunities may arise in
areas near the Holland Tunnel,
Williamsburg Bridge and
Brooklyn bridges.
• Street congestion is quite
common in this area due to
heavy truck traffic which
creates a lot of noise and
exhaust, thus creating a very
unhealthy living condition.
Williamsburg Bridge
Holland Tunnel
Lower Manhattan Bridge

6. Design proposals
Cross corridor buildings where the buildings have the
same span as the expressway itself
Multifunctional buildings which have two distinct functional spaces- the
office spaces and the residential spaces
The HUB has distinctly distributed residential, commercial,
public spaces etc. Parkings and connectivity to all
levels/modes to transport are available. It is a dynamic and
volumetric matrix of spaces, systems and landscapes
The system of designing the buildings
Section of a multifunctional building

7. THANK YOU