The BROADWAY: 1000 Steps Baton – 190th Street to 112th Street: Newcomers and Old Timers: Fort George, Washington Heights and Harlem

Acclaimed artist, Matthew Jensen, will heighten awareness of this area’s topography and geology, addressing features of the urban landscape often unnoticed. CB9 community activist Linda Walton will help to identify landmarks of Harlem’s cultural history over time and provide projections for the neighborhood’s future. As we walk past the prolific Columbia University, environmental scientists Sabine Marx will speak about the work of the Center for Research on Environmental Decisions.

BROADWAY: 1000 Steps is a project by Mary Miss to turn the oldest avenue of NYC into a “green corridor” where insights into our surroundings – from streets and buildings, to transportation and waste, to energy and the climate – can be made apparent and accessible at ground level. This project, to be inaugurated next spring 2013, will be implemented at up to twenty “hubs” dispersed along its length, from the Bronx to the Battery. Each hub will serve as a site for installations that reveal the urban infrastructure, decode the environment and suggest what the future city might be. This project is intended as a catalyst for interventions and projects by other artists, environmental designers, and citizens along Broadway, at additional sites in NYC and cities across the country.

NOTE: This walk is part of a continuous series of walks taking place on Sunday, May 5th. 

Time: 10:00am-12:00pm

Date: Sunday May 6, 2012

Event Start: Broadway, between 190th and 189th St., next to Gorman Park

Event End: The intersection of Broadway and 112th St., in front of Tom’s Restaurant

Hosts: Matthew Jensen, Linda Walton, Sabine Marx

Registration: No need to RSVP, just show up at the posted meeting place.

Accessibility: Fully Accessible

East Harlem: Gentrification and the Historic New Harlem

East Harlem is a very old neighborhood. Its tenements, public housing, and the current boom in condos now creates a new mix of people. In the past Harlem was home to Chinese, Italian, African American, Sephardic Jew, Spanish, Carribean, Mexican and Latin American residents. Now there is a smattering of persons from Mali, Burkina Faso, Egypt, India, Russia, Senegal, Gambia and Ethiopia. The area is undergoing gentrification so now East Harlem sees and hear a population that formerly lived south of East 96th St., the unofficial dividing line between the inner city residents and the upper middle class. Explore this change with Dr. Sandra Hernandez, East Harlem expert native.

Time: 11:00am-1:00pm

Date: Saturday May 5, 2012

Event Start: Corner of 103rd St. and Lexington Ave.

Event End: 116th St. and Lexington Ave.

Host: Dr. Sandra Hernandez, of the Architect Designer Planners for Social Responsibility

Registration: No need to sign up, just show up at the posted meeting location.

Accessibility: Not Accessible – stairs, obstacles, uneven terrain, steep paths