Edge of a City

At the fringes of today’s sprawling cities, disconnected fragments emerge—tied only to the loops and curves of freeways, rather than to any cohesive urban fabric. These urban edges form a philosophical territory where city and nature blur, existing in an uneasy coexistence. This transitional zone invites bold visions to redefine the boundary between the urban and the rural, offering a chance to restore degraded land, preserve threatened ecosystems, and reimagine the relationship between landscape and human settlement.

Rather than relying on outdated planning methods, these “Edge of a City” proposals explore new spatial strategies that prioritize the creation of spaces over objects—forming a dynamic urban threshold that mediates between the metropolis and the agrarian plain. Projects within this framework propose integrated living, working, and cultural environments organized around pedestrian networks that foster community. From spatial barriers protecting the desert near Phoenix to towers framing urban views in New York, each scheme operates with a sensitivity to light, movement, material, and psychological space—laying the groundwork for a new synthesis of urban life and form.

This proposal reimagines the 72nd Street train yards as a new city-edge park extending to the Hudson River, echoing the spirit of Frederick Law Olmsted. The park creates a green threshold between the dense urban fabric to the east and the riverfront, offering expansive views and public access to the water’s edge. Flanking the river, ultrathin skyscrapers define a new kind of urban space—framing the horizon while housing mixed-use programs.

These hybrid towers are connected by horizontal underwater transit systems that link submerged parkside lobbies to high-speed vertical circulation. The site is easily accessible, with pedestrian connections to the 72nd Street subway and express ferries to major destinations like Wall Street, the Javits Center, and LaGuardia Airport. As a counterbalance to the vertical towers, a massive floating public structure serves as a flexible venue for concerts, open-air cinema, and large-scale festivals, anchoring the development with a vibrant civic core.