NYC Reimagined

You think a person, place or thing is "one thing" (good, bad, or otherwise) and then events ensue or new information comes to light and it makes you think it's "something else." The reality of it or around it changes, and it transforms in your mind, making you imagine it as something else. This reimagination can be for the better, or the worse, or just for the sake of difference. 

Certainly this year has transformed our imagination of the world and how we live our lives. We didn't have any choice, it was a crises forced upon us, and none of us wanted it. But it gives us an opportunity of what we might want our world, and NYC, to be after the crises is over.

During this year, many city planners and urban experts have been reimagining how NYC can evolve in the upcoming years. Imagine this for NYC: free municipal broadband, single-payer healthcare and guarenteed income for all city residents, 15-minute neighborhoods (where all kinds of staple businesses and services are no more than a 15-minute walk from anyone's home), and new zoning policies that allow for more affordable housing. A city that's more equitable, more humanane, more affordable, and easier to navigate. A city that makes NYC fulfill its true promise.

A city reimagined.

But you don't only need to look to the future or public policies to reimagine NYC. You can reimagine it by looking at aspects of its past that were long overlooked. For example, reading about the photography collective in Harlem called Kamoinge that started in 1960 and is still going today. It was and remains a breeding ground for talented black photographers and has quietly impacted this city and nation's culture. Like most white folks, I had never heard of it before but it was fascinating to learn about it because it made me reimagine part of the black experience in NYC.

In this historic year, reimagining NYC has never been more important, more vital, and more amazing.