Waterfront on Wheels

Last Wednesday, on February 27th, students at the Lower East Side’s PS 134 worked together to design their dream park on the East River waterfront. The New York City Parks Department, along with Mathews Nielsen, the landscape architects developing the park’s master plan, and Hester Street Collaborative, asked students what they wanted to see at the new park planned for Pier 42, currently underutilized space owned by the city. 

40 students made models and collages of what they wanted to see on the river. The students envisioned swimming pools, open space, basketball courts, wetlands, and a wide variety of other uses for the new space. Their finished models were displayed in Hester Street’s Waterfront on Wheels scale model of the East River waterfront, and each group had the opportunity to present their park vision to their classmates. Mathews Nielsen will be incorporating the students’ visions, as well as other ideas from the community, into the park’s master plan, which they will present this Spring to Community Board 3. Stay tuned. 

On Thursday July 14th, the Waterfront on Wheels was in it’s natural habitat, the East River Waterfront. The Local Spokes Youth Ambassador’s used it to envision a new park for Pier 42, at Pier 42. The Youth Ambassador’s are learning all about the built environment and public spaces in the Lower East Side this week to help understand how they can be part of the conversation about the future of biking in our neighborhoods.