There are many cities where the sky is but a figure of speech. In Delhi, for example, the smog rarely allows a glimpse of the blue expanse. The same goes for Beijing, which has a shade of grey to describe what it has for a sky. A fractured sky is what we find in New York, cut into geometric patterns and shaped by countless storeys of human ambition. Peering down from between the slender skyscrapers — some of which are counted among the world’s tallest buildings — the sky inspires the people on the sidewalks to map its expanse.
Defined by structures in steel and glass, the grids of Manhattan’s streets and avenues cut each other at 90 degrees. This rather unique matrix is over 200 years old, thanks to a team of street commissioners from 1811. Apart from being the subject of research by urban planners across the globe, this street grid has, over the decades, encouraged locals and tourists to explore New York’s most densely populated borough by foot. Adding to the overall experience is the benign but hard-to-miss presence of the sky above — a backdrop for the bars and graphs of architectural prowess.
Sree Deep is a fellow at C-PACT, Shiv Nadar University