Transportation 2013

Contested Streets: Breaking New York City Gridlock

Contested Streets: Breaking New York City Gridlock

Stefan Schaefer/2008/57 min (25 min clip)/Transportation

Through interviews with leading historians, urban planners, and government officials, Contested Streets: Breaking New York City Gridlock explores the history and culture of New York City streets from pre-automobile times to the present. This examination allows for an understanding of how the city, though the most well served by mass transit in the United States, has slowly relinquished what was a rich, multi-dimensional conception of the street as public space to a mindset that prioritizes the rapid movement of cars and trucks over all other functions.