Ahmrii Johnson
14 September, 2018
The Museum of the City of New York
One of New York City’s historical attractions is its Museum of the City of New York. This major aspect of the reality of New York City features exhibit that reveal authentic statistic of the city’s financial, cultural, political, and environmental condition. An exhibit in the heart of the Museum of the City of New York, the Future City Lab, is a regularly updated system in the center of the building, that presents current quantitative information about the cityscape. The system also collaborated with local initiatives and international innovations to obtain the most precise prediction of the city’s state, and instantly receive word on movements to improve resources.
Not only does the Future City Lab present statistical data on the current situations of our city, but it encourages visitors to contribute to the displayed information from various perspectives. This interactive element of the exhibit proves that the true purpose of this exhibit, and the museum itself, is to stimulate community involvement in the development of New York City’s future.
In addition, the exhibit, and much of the themes throughout the museum, rotate around what is claimed to be New York City at its core: density, diversity, and money. Elements of the City such as poverty, income, housing, and making a living, the environment, transportation, and diversity were researched and displayed for viewers to learn from and further question. What if New York City incorporated the wilderness, wild natural areas, farmland, and natural landscapes with the cityscape? What if all multi-family rented housing had a required low-income component? What if college students had access to housing? What if there was a way to make New York City’s energy source one hundred percent renewable? These are just some of the investigative questions posed by visitors of the museum who reside in the city and experience every day life in this complex network of living.
