Mixed Use Development Through the Lens of Jackie Kennedy Onassis
Desk Note 08 - on Jackie in NYC
I believe the story of a city is best told through its people, its inhabitants - the ones who call it home and breathe energy into the built environment. I learned in my first year of urban planning graduate school that designing cities for people should be at the center of our minds. So I took an unconventional approach to a case study a few months ago, choosing to look at it through the lens of a New Yorker. Allow me to introduce Desk Note 08 with a tidbit of presidential flair and a lot of Uptown subtle chicness: mixed-use development in New York City through the lens of Jackie Kennedy Onassis.
“In many ways, Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis was a quintessential New Yorker. In a city that prides itself on style and anonymity for those who seek it, Jackie had both.” -Nan. A Talese
But First, a Note on Jackie
The quote from Nan is spot on. I suggest she also possessed an appreciation for architecture, urbanism, and the built environment, undoubtedly leaving her mark on New York City with her saving of Grand Central Station. While many around the world forever remember her endearing White House style, I continually find myself drawn to her post-White House days in 1970s New York. She participated in a variety of ordinary mixed-uses in her daily life here in the City.
What is mixed-use development?
In his 2018 book, Site Planning: International Practice, Gary Hack, a professor at The University of Pennsylvania, explained that the “organic growth of a city naturally mixes activities and uses.” Some examples of uses that should mix are residential, commercial, workplaces, cultural facilities, education, and production. Yet I’ve found in studying the successes and failures of American city planning, and Hack agrees, many modern development regulations seek to separate uses. But isn’t that the opposite of why we choose to live in cities: to be conveniently close to things to do, work, entertain, eat, etc?
Within today’s regulatory framework, new developments are building mixed uses in a few different typologies:
vertical single-building mixed-use,
horizontal mixed-use urban complexes, and
podium-connected mixed-use buildings.
Certainly, modern-day mixed-use buildings are important to construct, but they must be carefully designed to complement the diverse urban fabric around them. So let’s look at the neighborhood level via beloved Jackie O. to see a variety of uses at a broader scale.
Uptown Jackie in and Around the Neighborhood
The Upper West Side, Upper East Side, and Central Park hold beautiful examples of mixed-uses built at the neighborhood level. Here it’s less about constructing mega block high-rise campuses with one building devoted to X and another only to Y. In these neighborhoods, it’s more about dispersing several uses around every block. Think bodega on the ground floor, residences above, a fire station on the corner, a school building on the next block adjacent to a row of townhomes, scaled workspaces, and stores on the avenues. Jackie lived uptown and enjoyed the variety of daily activities it presented to her with access to education, dining, green space, culture, commerce, and different transportation options. She frequently walked and sat in Central Park, picked her children up from school in the neighborhood, had meetings at the tea room, shopped for records, and worked nearby at Viking Press.
Preserving an Icon, Now a Modern Mixed-Use Hub
In 1975, Jackie co-founded a committee to help save Grand Central Station from demolition, raising funds and garnering public support. In the end, she won the fight to preserve Grand Central, an architectural icon of New York City history. Although Jackie wasn’t behind the 2022 restoration and modernization of the terminal, I believe she saw the inherent benefit and modern potential of a transportation hub to anchor mixed-uses for a city ahead of her time and thus fought fiercely to preserve it. Today, Grand Central Station boasts over 35 shops and restaurants, a market, and a tennis club, and welcomes local commuters and travelers alike.
“Is it not cruel to let our city die by degrees, stripped of all her proud monuments, until there will be nothing left of all her history and beauty to inspire our children…?” -Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis to Mayor Beame
Next time you’re walking in your own neighborhood, think about the benefits of mixing uses. What do you enjoy about mixed uses? What is the first thing that comes to mind as an example, good or bad, of mixed-use development? How do perceptions of mixed uses in urban design vary across cities, countries, and cultures?
—ECF
MORNING, NOON, NIGHT – inspired by the title of one of my favorite coffee table books, each desk note ends with something interesting for you to see, do, read, and/or wear as told through the lens of a day’s journey from sunrise to sunset. This week I’m recommending a few related to Jackie O.
MORNING – Take your Sunday morning slow with a cup of coffee and read Maureen Dowd’s recent opinion piece in the Times, Jackie Kennedy on My Mind.
NOON – Wondering where I got the inspiration for this desk note and urban design case study? One afternoon I was sitting in my studio and my Jackie coffee table book caught my eye. It’s one of my favorites that I received as a gift a few years ago. I immediately decided on my case study topic. Yes, it was odd and no, I don’t think many of my classmates understood it, but I loved every second of research and reporting. Bridget Watson Payne and Nan A. Talese’s New York Jackie book makes an excellent gift for any admirer of NYC and it just might inspire your next project.
NIGHT – Pablo Larraín’s JACKIE offers a heartbreaking glimpse into the grief Mrs. Kennedy faced after her husband’s assassination. Natalie Portman delivers a powerful performance. Watch with a glass of wine, if preferred, and tissues, necessary.
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