New York 2020: Architecture and Urbanism at the Beginning of a New Century

A bittersweet note of triumph reigns over architecture scholar Stern’s breathtaking sixth installment of his encyclopedic study of the historical development of New York’s urban landscape. Picking up where the previous volume, New York 2000, left off, Stern and his cowriters vividly discuss—in staggering detail—more than 3,000 buildings constructed from 2001 to 2020, ranging from Hudson Yards and the new Whitney Museum to Boerum Hill’s “most eccentric apartment house... clad in over 13,000 handcrafted three-dimensional bronze tiles.” The era begins with the 9/11 attacks, a tragedy that had ramifications for the city’s architectural future as uncertainty led to sweeping change. Former mayor Michael Bloomberg emerges in Stern’s telling as a Robert Moses–like figure, remaking New York through “the most comprehensive rezoning of the city since 1961.” From there, “large swaths of Manhattan” were refashioned through aesthetic enhancements like the High Line; meanwhile, gentrification squeezed residents out of historically Black and working-class neighborhoods. By 2020 (just before Covid-19 triggered a new real estate crisis), the city had fended off post-9/11 concern over “the future of the skyscraper,” with spectacular “supertall” luxury homes dominating the skyline; but this achievement had come at the expense of the poor. It’s a complex story, one Stern’s mammoth compendium explores with enormous breadth. Readers will be awed by this stunning view of New York’s relentless dynamism. (Oct.)