Case Studies

Abstract

Planning can only be successful if it is adapted to the situational context. The two case studies of this chapter provide a deep dive into two well-defined New York City neighborhoods, but the issues described here could be found in most North American urban areas. Chapter 2 ended with a discussion of conceptual models. The two case studies follow a common workflow starting with a historic and geographic setting and a description of the people that live in or use the study area. This is followed by an analysis of the local needs and resources, which finally translate into planning challenges and opportunities. To examine the planning challenges, we follow the framework given in Chapter 2. The opportunities are, as you would expect, a function of each place studied, but turn out to be questions related to accessibility – perhaps not surprising as both study areas are islands of sorts.

Our case studies can be read by themselves as vignettes. Their main purpose, however, is to serve as a backdrop to the discussion of the other chapters, where we will make frequent references to the case studies. Throughout the book, we emphasize the need for a comprehensive and synthetic perspective; the methods described in Chapters 4 and 5, for instance, should not be applied out of context. This chapter then represents two examples of how everything should “fall into place.”