Harlem Oh Harlem.

I've only been in New York City for 4 months now. Duing this time I've been given 3 projects to work on. Mitigating between Columbia's expansion into Harlem and the community (Renzo Piano project), Lincoln Center redevelopment (Diller+Scofidio project) and Cooper Union's new school near Union Square (Morphosis project). These are unbelievably fun projects. In fact, they're downright crazy. But here's the even crazier part: I love the Harlem project. Love it. The politics, the people, the physical space are a combination that is to die for in a landscape architecture project. To me it represents the purest form possible of landscape as social justice, which is the primary reason I practice landscape architecture.

We're working specifically on the public spaces of the streets surrounding the giant 17 acre demolition/expansion site and how that section of 125th Street connects with the rest of the Harlem corridor to the East and the new Harlem Piers to the West. If you remove the context of Harlem, it's really just another street project. But the fab part of the project is Harlem. My days are spent dealing with various players from the Harlem community and their differing agendas, various New York City economic development initiatives, and New York City Planning. I'm currently preparing for a giant presentation of my design thus far to the head city planner of New York, Ms. Amanda Burden. What a peculiarly interesting character in and of herself. A previous socialite once on the 'Best Dressed NYC' list who then attended Columbia's planning school, taught schoolkids in Harlem for awhile, and now dates Charlie Rose and is the head city planner. She's also a mentee of the late William Whyte, so has her own views on landscape and public project orchestration. I can't wait for the meeting/presentation. I can't wait. Like a kid waiting for a trip to Disney Land. This is my Disney Land.