[Jean Nouvel’s new building’s] shifting appearance in the skyline is a sly commentary on the conflict between public and private realms that is an inevitable byproduct of gentrification. That process has become particularly savage in New York, a city divided between big development companies that see architectural novelty as a tool for inflating prices for their luxury projects, and local activists who have marginalized themselves by their refusal to accept any kind of change at all. (If the financial collapse has slowed this trend, it has done little to alter the mentalities behind it.)
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The failure of activists to derail Atlantic Yards despite themselves seems to have written quite an epitaph for their movement. As Ouroussoff says, I assume it will take them just as long to regain their credibility as it will take the financiers to rebuild their war chests. Does this mean that we will have to repeat the battles of this round once again in order to determine the winner?
