In the 1960's, 70's and 80's, urban decay and high crime rates caused retail chain supermarkets to
flee New York City.
(google books link) Korean immigrants filled the gap with corner grocery stores. For nearly two decades they were ubiquitous -- symbols of the group's ongoing quest to achieve the American Dream. But 30 years later,
Where Did The Korean Greengrocers Go? [more inside]
posted by zarq
on Jan 18, 2011 -
19 comments
Ballerina Project — Nine years ago, young photographer
Dane Shitagi walked up New York City’s Broadway towards the highly patronized and well known
STEPS dance studios in search of a ballet dancer who could help him begin his project: to capture images of ballerinas in urban environments. Those images first started appearing on Blogspot, but have since migrated to
Facebook. [
via]
posted by netbros
on Dec 10, 2010 -
9 comments
Alone Together. In American lore, the small town is the archetypal community, a state of grace from which city dwellers have fallen.
Yet the picture of cities—and New York in particular—that has been emerging from the work of social scientists is that the people living in them are actually less lonely. Rather than driving people apart, large
population centers pull them together, and as a rule tend to possess greater community virtues than smaller ones.
posted by plexi
on Nov 25, 2008 -
90 comments
Why New Yorkers Last Longer. Interestingly, urban theorists believe it is not just the tightly packed nature of the city but also its social and economic density that has life-giving properties. When you’re jammed, sardinelike, up against your neighbors, it’s not hard to find a community of people who support you—friends or ethnic peers—and this strongly correlates with better health and a longer life. [New York Magazine article]
posted by nickyskye
on Aug 15, 2007 -
75 comments
"The streets of 2030's New York remain the only venues not under the thumb of the monolithic corporations. Manhattan’s three major hacker gangs have developed black-market technology that enables them to jack into the phone network though the payphone nodes, and redirect the payment deposited into that phone into their own coffers." The premise of a new cyberpunk novel? Nope. A new
street game you can
play with your friends.
posted by maniactown
on Sep 24, 2006 -
16 comments
Design Times Square: The Urban Forest Project "brings
185 banners created by the world’s most celebrated designers, artists, photographers and illustrators to New York’s Times Square. Each banner uses the form of the tree, or a metaphor for the tree, to make a powerful visual statement. Together they create a forest of thought-provoking images at one of the world’s busiest, most energetic, and emphatically
urban intersections." Including work by
Milton Glaser, the
Walker Art Center, and many, many others. Via
Speak Up.
posted by tpl1212
on Aug 29, 2006 -
9 comments
Things Fall Apart. Particularly in urban environments. Individually, the moments of entropy-in-action caught here may not mean much; collectively, they recite a visual poem about decay. A slightly melancholy site for you insomniacs out there. (By the way, you have to scroll
right to get to the thumbnails.)
posted by BT
on Apr 3, 2002 -
8 comments
"Britney Underground takes you on a tour of poignant urban artistry in a time of crisis." it's a
nice collection of graffti from britney spears posters in new york, pretty funny. the
negative emails are possibly the highlight.
posted by rhyax
on Mar 16, 2002 -
10 comments
