Redesigning New Orleans for flooding, new buildings in Williamsburg that don’t suck, and a skyscraper in L.A. that will soon be the tallest west of Chicago. Plus: Google’s urban expansion and dying department stores, all in this week’s Urban Reads.
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At the turn of the 20th century, the moving sidewalk was the future of urban transportation. As much as airplanes soaring in the sky and automobiles rumbling on the streets, the moving sidewalk represented a bold new vision for tomorrow. This idea of rolling pavement appealed to people in major cities who didn’t yet see the rise of the automobile as inevitable and were looking for an affordable alternative to more elaborate infrastructure like subway trains. The 1903 vision above, drawn by Sydney Adamson, was supposed to be the fulfillment of every forward-looking New Yorker’s dream.
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Confession: The majority of Gizmodo staff lives in Williamsburg, so we count ourselves in this mass of angry “hipsters.” More »
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