Posted May 3, 2024
In The Death and Life of Great American Cities, Jane Jacobs famously characterized the organized chaos of neighborhood streets as a choreography in which each user of the street is their own protagonist, writing, "we may fancifully call it the art form of the city and liken it to...an intricate ballet in which the individual dancers and ensembles all have distinctive parts which miraculously reinforce each other and compose an orderly whole."
While she wrote those words 63 years ago, the description endures along the many vibrant blocks that contribute to the collective character of New York City. For this year's Jane’s Walk festival, we visited one such street that is near and dear to the two of us: Steinway Street in Astoria, Queens. Named after Steinway & Sons, the piano manufacturer that contributed to Astoria’s identity as a company town in the late nineteenth century, Steinway Street today is a retail and residential corridor, public transit node, and multicultural enclave.
In this virtual walk, we invite you to join us as we explore nine stops along Steinway Street highlighting places and sights that stood out to us in new ways. To begin the walk, start by interacting with the module below. Click on the icons in the image to follow along with our observations and navigate between stops using the arrows. For the best browsing experience, please join us on a computer with your sound on. We hope you enjoy your walk!
We look forward to continuing to share stories about the city we call home in fun and exciting ways. Our minds are already whirring with new ideas—we hope to see you again next year!
This site is a collaboration by Stephen Albonesi and Rawnak Zaman. We are researchers based in New York City with an interest in exploring urban life through data visualizations and storytelling. This is our second virtual Jane's Walk. Last year we learned about the birds of Queens in Jane's Squawk!
Image in footer by tonmoydebnath via pngtree
