Yonah Freemark

Twin Parks

Article information

Yonah Freemark and Susanne Schindler (2015). “Twin Parks.” In Affordable Housing in New York: The People, Places, and Policies that Transformed a City, edited by Nicholas Dagen Bloom and Matthew Gordon Lasner. 226-230. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.

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Book website: http://press.princeton.edu/titles/10548.html


Abstract

This chapter explores the history of Twin Parks, a complex of 2,250 affordable housing units completed in the Bronx in the mid-1970s. The project was constructed by New York State’s Urban Development Corporation and included a series of innovative urban and architectural designs, including contributions from Richard Meier and James Polshek.

The article argues that the projects offered their residents unique living spaces in a mixed-income environment. Now owned by private entities operating with public subsidies, Twin Parks has suffered from poor maintenance, but it remains a desirable place to live for many.