The 12-hour city
One issue that urban scholars have been discussing for decades is the time imbalance of office districts. Starting in the early morning hours each day, there is a massive influx of people to Lower Manhattan. This is part of what makes places like Lower Manhattan attractive targets for terrorists. But everyday after 5pm, the district becomes devoid of human activities. Can anything be done to create a more balanced environment?
"Sheer numbers of people using city streets, and the way those people are spread through the hours of the day, are two different matters. The significance of time spread can be seen especially clearly at the downtown tip of Manhattan, because this is a district suffering from extreme time unbalance among its users. Some 400,000 persons are employed here, in a district embracing Wall Street, the adjoining law and insurance complexes, the city's municipal offices, some federal and state offices, groups of docks and shipping |
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offices, and a number of other work complexes. This is an immense number of users for a territory sufficiently compact so that any part of it is readily accessible on foot from almost any other part." --Jane Jacobs, The Death and Life of Great American Cities, 1961. |
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A Jogger After Rush Hour |
World Financial Center after 5pm |
"It is only necessary to observe the deathlike stillness that settles on the district after five-thirty and all day Saturday and Sunday."
-- Jane Jacobs, The Death and Life of Great American Cities, 1961