New York — Manhattan

U.S.A. - Cities in the North-East
978-3-14-100790-9 | Page 142 | Ill. 1
New York — Manhattan |  | U.S.A. - Cities in the North-East | Karte 142/1

Information

Manhattan is the central district of New York. The distance from the United Nations building on the East River, right across the island to the shore of the Hudson River, is around three kilometres. On the other hand, Broadway is about 25 kilometres long. Almost nowhere else in the world, do so many people live and work so well in such a confined space. Everyday there are commuters from the suburbs and the surrounding neighbourhoods, known as the "boroughs". The number of people in Manhattan has more than doubled from approximately 1.6 million to over 3 million with a population density of about 27,000 and a daytime population density of almost 51,000 people per square kilometres. Therefore, Manhattan is the most densely populated city in America. Its underground network has a length of over 350 kilometres, more than 450 stations and transports 1.4 billion passengers a year; and is the fourth largest in the world. In addition, 20 railway lines transport over 100,000 passengers a day from the main railway stations of Grand Central Terminal and Pennsylvania Station to the suburbs of the three states of New York, New Jersey and Connecticut.

Plan of Manhattan
Orientation in Manhattan is easy, as the city's layout is quite standard, particularly north of 14th Street. The "streets" are the cross streets which are numbered continuously from 14th Street to the south up to 193rd Street to the north. The few exceptions are also numbered "avenues" which are found on the longitudinal axes, at right angles to the streets. The ensuing checkerboard pattern is typical of American urban planning.
The typical layout is also the inherited Spanish diagonal, here Brodaway, crosses the main road as the checkerboard pattern. Broadway is the longest thoroughfare in New York. It owes its reputation, "The Great White Way" to the theatres that have played here since 1735. Between 40th Street and 53rd Street, there are more than 40 Broadway theatres besides the Metropolitan Opera and Carnegie Hall. The drawing power is exhibited by the number of hotels between 34th and 60th Street. The most important political institutions of the city administration are also located here, along with the headquarters of the United Nations.
Fifth Avenue is the central axis of Manhattan and divides the island into an eastern and western part. It runs straight up to 143th Street in Harlem. On Fifth Avenue, the house numbers of the streets start in both directions, the name of east or west determines whether a house is to be found in the east or west of Fifth Avenue.
South of Manhattan is narrower and the ground plan is somewhat irregular. At the southern tip of Battery Park is the Fort of the Dutch, founders of the city, built in 1626 to protect their commercial establishments in New Amsterdam. Today, the financial district, known as the Downtown, is located in the numerous skyscrapers with the hub being the stock exchange on Wall Street. Without a doubt, it is the most important place of the world economy — there is nowhere else where such high financial daily totals are transacted.

City Architecture and Skyscrapers
The construction of skyscrapers and some of the 65 gigantic bridge structures benefited from the glacially formed bedrock on which New York stands. From a structural engineering point of view, steel construction and elevators in the late 19th Century, were the key inventions that made the construction of high rise buildings possible. However, Chicago was the pioneer city in this. The 241 metre high Woolworth Building, built on Broadway in 1913, was the highest building in the world until 1930. The Equitable Building was also built on Broadway in 1915 and was the first time that an entire block was constructed in the vertical. The controversial structure provoked a storm of protest. As a result, "Zoning Laws" were created, which only permitted Skyscrapers that were graded on top to be built, except for in the harbour areas.
The Empire State Building, built in 1931, on 34th Street, with its 102 floors and 381 metres (without tip) was the tallest building in the world for four decades. In 1972, the Twin Towers of the World Trade Center was completed and surpassed all other buildings with a height of 411 metres, 110 stories and approximately 840,000 m² of office space. Catastrophically, they were destroyed on 11th September 2001, by a terrorist attack. After 30 years of stagnation, and somewhat due to the world economy, there is now a new generation of skyscrapers under construction, with some extending far over 500 metres. The newly unveiled competition for the tallest building in the world, besides the U.S., has recently become a priority for the Arabian Peninsula, China, Southeast Asia and Russia.
After the destruction of the World Trade Center, the Empire State Building is now once again the tallest building in New York, with its mast, originally conceived as an anchorage for airships. In 2010, it will be replaced by the new "Freedom Tower" at "Ground Zero", the site of the collapsed World Trade Center. The Freedom Tower will have a height of 417 metres (541 metres with antenna).
R. Köhler, B. Richter; Ü: C. Fleming