Gradas, domos y casitas. Arquitectos activadores del espacio común en la Plaza Cultural, Nueva York

Urban Farm DB summary

A case study of more than 50 gardens dotting the Loisaida neighborhood in southeast Manhattan, New York City. Since the 1960s, city agents — neighbors, artists, and architects such as Matta-Clark and Fuller — have built the green spaces and public facilities the neighborhood lacked, activating community and self-managed spaces through affective, dissenting processes. Using architectural forms whose generative parameters depart from traditional design and existing hegemonies, these actors have appropriated the city and reprogrammed public space by creating common space. Stands, domes, and casitas (tiny houses), with their vernacular and kitsch forms, constitute a network centered on the historical lot of La Plaza Cultural. The community gardens form a DIY network of delocalized but interconnected spaces with their own codes, positioned against the real estate market, media encroachment, globalization, and the private appropriation of public resources.