For this reason, the upcoming closure of the crosstown “L Train,” one of the busiest and most crowded routes in the system, to repair damage caused by Hurricane Sandy is going to be a devastating blow for millions.
As a part of its Disruption? festival in New York City this past week, the Van Alen Institute, a nonprofit urban design initiative, asked interdisciplinary teams to find solutions for this massive urban planning and transportation hurdle during the one-day L Train Shutdown Charrette. In staying true to the “disruptive” nature of the festival, the teams were tasked with developing systemic design solutions for the millions of New Yorkers during this extended period of reduced or eliminated subway service.
Naturally, the use of building information modeling came in handy for a number of entries to better visualize what a transformed New York City landscape would look like with their solutions.
Another idea included the use of a mobile app called Infraflex, which connects existing and proposed modes of transportation with real-time data collection to help displaced L Train route riders to make smarter transportation choices. App users would be rewarded points that could be redeemed at institutions across the city and even used to help introduce new neighborhood facilities, all of which would help the government offset excessive transportation costs.
Although there's no saying if the city will consider any of the plans, it’s unrestricted exercises like these that just might shape the cities of our future.
To see the rest of the entries, head over to the Van Alen Institute’s website.