ROOSEVELT ISLAND, NYC

Research: Modern History

(left) The Island View,
Roosevelt Island's first
newspaper

AVAC Garbage Disposal System
Logue also wanted his community to include plenty
of open spaces for family sports and recreation,
and community vegetable gardens, which were an
unusual feature at the time in overcrowded New York
City.

Safety was an almost obsessive concern of the

island's first residents. New York City had a soaring
crime rate in the 1970s, and residents pushed
RIDC to be increasingly vigilant about its security
programs.

The island was also a site for innovative

technology: The AVAC garbage control system,
which functions via subsurface pneumatic tubes,
is still highly efficient and is still studied around the
world.

(left) political cartoon from The Island View, depicting

the legal hassles that often stood in the way of UDC's
services to the public

LA702 CAPSTONE CLINIC, CORNELL UNIVERSITY . Eden Gallanter . Chuijing Kong . Su Jung Ham .
 ROOSEVELT ISLAND, NYC
Research: Modern History
wetland plants at Lighthouse Park Capobianco Field, photo from the mid 1970s

Lighthouse Park in 1979, with

artificial wetlands

Several open spaces on Roosevelt Island were

designed by Quennell Rothschild & Partners
in the 1970s, the most important being the popular
Lighthouse Park, at the north end of the island.
Other designs include the Capobianco baseball
field, Manhattan Park, and a children's playground
(now removed).

Lighthouse Park's original design featured a gently

rolling terrain formed of imported soil, and included
a freshwater wetlands area, the first man-made
wetland in New York City in the center of the lawn,
to deal with certainl rules prohibiting stormwater
runoff from being directed off the edges of the
island. The wetlands were later discontinued due
to rat infestation and public health concerns.

Green open spaces on Roosevelt Island

were designed in the modernist style
of compartmentalizing land use, after the
mathematical models of geometrical and cellular
patterning
(above) example of a typical modernist landscape
design

(left) drawn plan for Capobianco Field, from Quennell,

Rothschild & Partners

LA702 CAPSTONE CLINIC, CORNELL UNIVERSITY . Eden Gallanter . Chuijing Kong . Su Jung Ham .
 ROOSEVELT ISLAND, NYC
Research: Case Studies

We looked at several series of case studies in our

research on Roosevelt Island. These fell into three
categories:

Ecocity developments (far left, top and bottom)

focus on sustainable energy and city infrastructure
that lowers or even remediates damage done to
ecosystems and natural resources by human activity.

Garden City developments (left and bottom), like

nearby Sunnyside Gardens in Queens, shares many
of the same values of other planned communities,
like Roosevelt Island and Parkmerced in San
Francisco (above left and above right). These
neighborhoods focus on accessibility and self-
sufficiency.

LA702 CAPSTONE CLINIC, CORNELL UNIVERSITY . Eden Gallanter . Chuijing Kong . Su Jung Ham .
 ROOSEVELT ISLAND, NYC
Research: Ecology

Roosevelt Island is largely composed of Cambrian

and Ordovician metamorphic rocks, much of it gray
gneiss, which is excellent building material and was
quarried to build many of the oldest buildings on the
island.

The original ecology of the island can be inferred

from looking at Mill Rock, a small unpopulated
island to the north of Roosevelt Island, which
has been allowed to return to its (probable) original
landscape of low trees and shrubs. It is now owned
and maintained by the New York City Department
of Parks and Recreation, and is home to a large
population of native birds.

The East River's water quality has improved

since the enactment of several clean water laws,
and animal and invertebrate populations have
correspondingly increased. Crabs, clams, oysters,
20 species of fish, and several mammals, including
the harbor seal and river otter, have been recorded.

(above) Mill Rock, where over 50 black-crowned night heron roost, has grown a lush collection of native
plants, showing what Manhattan and its surrounding islands might have looked like before the advent of the
European colonies.

(left and above) All photos show insects, wildflowers, and

birds from modern-day Roosevelt Island.

LA702 CAPSTONE CLINIC, CORNELL UNIVERSITY . Eden Gallanter . Chuijing Kong . Su Jung Ham .
 ROOSEVELT ISLAND, NYC
R e s e a r c h : Ve g e t a t i v e , H y d r o l o g i c a l , a n d G e o l o g i c a l M a p s
Quaternary alluvium

Pleistocene glacial/ terrace deposits

Triassic/ Jurassic volcanic rocks

Triassic sediments (riverbeds)

Cambrian/Ordovician metasedimentary

Cambrian/ Ordovicioan metamorphic rocks

Paleozoic granitic intrusive igneous rocks

Precambrian gneisses

Precambrian metasedimentary rocks

Landscaped Parks & Gardens

Sports & Lawn Grasslands
Weedy Overgrowth & Tall Grasses
River Habitat

Octagon Park (circled in red on the map above) is landscaped with plants native to the New
York City area. Together with the as-yet undeveloped South Point Park, these areas constitute
ecosystems more diverse than other green spaces on the island.

LA702 CAPSTONE CLINIC, CORNELL UNIVERSITY . Eden Gallanter . Chuijing Kong . Su Jung Ham .