In this weekend’s New York Times, Kate spoke with author James Russell about the future of public landscapes after Covid, which has transformed the uses and design of the built environment across the globe.
“I see large connective landscapes as combating the isolation and interiority of Covid. We need transformative landscapes that really burst open the patterns of life that we are experiencing now.”
Specifically, the “large connective landscapes” Kate discusses include the Hudson Highlands Fjord Trail and the Chattahoochee RiverLands—two projects that knit communities together at a regional scale.
In the Metro Atlanta region, the RiverLands vision proposes a 125 mile network of greenways and blueways along the Chattahoochee River, linking together 19 cities over 7 counties and encompassing a potential user base of nearly a million residents within minutes of the trail. In the Hudson Valley, the Fjord Trail proposes a 7.5 mile linear park connecting Beacon and Cold Spring, NY and creating a choreographed experience of the forests, marshes, highlands and shoreline of the Hudson River.
Also discussed are three collaborations with architecture firm Marble Fairbanks: the Greenpoint Library and Environmental Education Center in North Brooklyn, which is nearing completion; the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture in Harlem; and the Glen Oaks Branch Library in Queens.