The shimmering wall of windows that makes up Manhattan is breathtaking, and seems almost infinite. But Michael Pollak—the wizard behind The New York Times‘ "F.Y.I" series, which plumbs deep and weird questions about New York—got down to brass tacks this week, estimating how many windows are on the island.
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In 1881, longtime Harper’s cartoonist Thomas Nast created this satirical sketch of what New York would look like by the turn of the century—lampooning new building technologies like the elevator and elevator break. By lambasting the race to build ever-higher, Nastforesaw the future of Lower Manhattan. [PTAK Science Books; Paleofuture
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As Michael Bloomberg’s reign comes to a close, our mayor/billionaire underwriter is talking up his next move, which involves teaching other cities to be more like New York. But behind the scenes, he’s also scrambling to push through dozens of building projects that will define his legacy.
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In a week defined by a powerful story about poverty and homelessness in New York, a bit of a bright spot: The City’s Department of Housing Preservation and Development chose a scheme for a truly massive affordable housing development in Queens—all told, the development it’s part of will add a whopping 5,000 units to the neighborhood.
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The NYPD isn’t known for its, uh, transparency. In fact, it’s mostly known for aggressively withholding information. So this new, interactive crime map released by the NYPD this weekend is a welcome surprise.
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At one time, Freshkills Park was the world’s largest landfill, receiving the majority of NYC’s waste. Now, it’s being made into a park nearly three times the size of Central Park, and Mayor Bloomberg announced yesterday it will soon include the city’s largest solar energy installation.
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As of tomorrow, the longest flight in the world will shuttle passengers on a 747-400 from Sydney, Australia to Dallas, Texas. That 15-hour, 25-minute hop on board Qantas 7 may not be the lengthiest in duration, but at 8,578 miles gate to gate, it’ll lead the industry in miles flown. For a few more hours, however, Singapore Airlines’ decade-long run from Newark, N.J., to Singapore remains the record holder for both time (more than 18 hours) and distance (9,534 miles). It’s a journey that’s been on the bucket lists of the world’s most ambitious aviation enthusiasts since the city-state’s namesake airline first launched the service in 2004, and following tonight’s final jaunt, this record-setting A340-500 will touch down at Changi Airport for the very last time.
Despite this cheerless loss, it’s a spectacular time in the world of aviation. Sure, we don’t have our supersonic Concorde replacement just yet, and the Dreamliner rollout was not without significant heartbreak, but the past few years have represented a tremendous period, with banner launches from both Airbus and Boeing that will change the way we fly forever. But as with any category, aircraft manufacturing and design advances also serve to highlight the shortcomings of previous-generation products.
The Airbus A350 and Boeing 787 make massive efficiency boosts a reality, leading gas-guzzling greats like the aging A340-500 to a premature retirement. In this case, the A345’s departure from Singapore’s fleet represents not only better things to come, but also the loss of a landmark route — it’s an unavoidable compromise, and with the end in sight, I drained my frequent flier account in order to score a ticket, and set out to discover the significance of Singapore Flight 21’s retirement.%Gallery-slideshow123017%
Filed under: Transportation
Last week’s news that London had applied for a .london top level domain name (TLD)—joining a small handful of other cities and regions around the world, including .nyc and .paris—raised the question of how a city might define itself online, where the edges and outer boundaries of a city might be when you’re clicking around amidst all those 1s and 0s.
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Not to be outdone by New York City, London is set to follow its transatlantic cousin in getting its very own domain name. ICANN, regulator of all things domain related, today gave the British capital the go-ahead to offer .london addresses to “businesses, organisations and individuals”. While it gives Londoners the chance to show a bit of hometown love, the domain has already attracted the attention of “tens of thousands of businesses,” which will each do their bit to help to boost London’s online identity. Like the city’s house prices, expect to pay a little extra to secure your own little piece of .london when registration opens in Spring 2014.
Filed under: Internet
Via: GigaOm
Source: London and Partners, MyDotLondon
Currently in its third and final phase of construction, New York City’s High Line unveiled today what looks like a giant green bowl, but has been officially dubbed the Spur. This salad bowl for the masses, shown in renderings by James Corner Field Operations and Diller Scofidio + Renfro, will offer stadium seating in addition to some (much-needed) public restrooms.
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