Join some of the most brilliant names in urban and fashion design for the follow-up to last week’s sold-out panel on the future of New York’s Garment District. This panel will discuss the cultural, economic and social contributions of creative communities. IDEO Partner Fred Dust, Parsons Dean and branding expert Simon Collins, and fashion entrepreneur Andrew Oshrin will offer their unique perspectives, as NYU sociology professor Harvey Molotch and Columbia University’s Sarah Williams discuss the characteristics of and factors that nurture the growth of these communities. Deborah Marton, executive director of the Design Trust for Public Space, will lead the discussion, drawing from the Trust’s recent Made in Midtown study of the Garment District. For more information and tickets click here or call 212 935 2075.

Urban Creative Districts
Tuesday, June 15, 6:30 – 8:00 p.m. Reception to follow.
At the School of Visual Arts Theater, 333 West 23rd St. (between 8th & 9th avenues) MAP
Moderator — Deborah Marton, executive director, Design Trust for Public Space
Panel — Simon Collins, dean, School of Fashion, Parsons the New School for Design; Fred Dust, partner, IDEO; Andrew Oshrin, president & CEO, Milly LLC; Sarah Williams, director, Columbia University Spatial Information Design Lab; Harvey Molotch, professor of Sociology and Metropolitan Studies, New York University.

Artist and editor of the new book The New York City Museum of Complaint Matthew Bakkom and Tamara Coombs of MAS take us on a nostalgic, yet grumpy, journey through New York City’s archives looking at letters of complaint to the Mayor from 1751 to 1969.

Ranging in subject from the removal of dead animals to lost baseballs to accusations of corruption, the book’s 132 letters not only chronicle issues affecting New Yorkers through the ages but also the development of their voice as citizens.

Join us on Tuesday, December 1, at 7:00 p.m. when Bakkom will be joined by director of the NYC Municipal Archives Kenneth Cobb and celebrated writer, poet and native New Yorker Philip Lopate who will read from selected letters from the book. Reservations and prepayment are recommended. Purchase tickets online or call 212-935-2075. A reception will follow the program during which signed copies of the book will be available from the MAS bookstore, Urban Center Books. Continue Reading>>

Re-Imagining Cities: Urban Design After the Age of Oil an exhibition co-sponsored by PennDesign opens at The Municipal Art Society of New York with a reception on Thursday, October 1, at 6:30 p.m. It stretches thinking about both sustainability and livability even further by boldly considering strategies from around the world. We New Yorkers can be provincial at times — this exhibition gives us an opportunity to glimpse what the rest of the world is doing in response to climate change and the complex movement toward increased urbanization.

Join us for the opening reception, including a glass of local wine and sampling of canapés made from local foods. Limited space is now open to non-MAS members. Entry is free, but reservations are required. RSVP online or call Katie Skelly on 212-935-2075. MAP.

The exhibition will be on display at MAS from Friday, October 2, through Friday, December 4. Click here for more information about MAS exhibits, including gallery hours.

MAS originated the architectural walking tour in New York City in 1956 and we’re still at it — last year, more than 10,000 people participated in MAS tours. Now, we’ve published The Municipal Art Society of New York – 10 Architectural Walks in Manhattan (W.W. Norton & Company), a detailed, engaging, and lavishly illustrated guidebook to ten of the city’s most compelling districts. Francis Morrone and Matthew A. Postal, preeminent MAS guides with over 10 years experience leading visitors to all parts of the city, serve as your leaders as you navigate the city on foot.

Can’t read maps? No sense of direction? Don’t worry – the book is filled with intuitive, easy to follow directions of recognizable landmarks, clear maps, and more than 200 color photographs by Edward A. Toran, to ensure that you never confuse your chapels or misname your buildings. Continue Reading>>

MAS was delighted to host Transportation Commissioner Janette Sadik-Khan on Wednesday night for the premiere presentation of the city’s first truly comprehensive set of guidelines for street design, Designing Streets in New York City. David Burney, Commissioner of the Department of Design & Construction, Adrian Benepe, Commissioner of the Department of Parks & Recreation, and Amanda Burden, Chair of the New York City Planning Commission, were also in attendance.

Constituting 26% of the total area of the City, the streets and sidewalks are by far its largest public space, and the Department of Transportation’s (DOT) new manual represents a rethinking of the way city government works with regard to this vital resource. Continue Reading>>

Travel back in time on Tuesday night to 1609 when Manhattan was home to thousands of species, over fifty-five ecosystems, and the Lenape, who called the island “Mannahatta,” meaning “island of many hills.” Coinciding with this year’s quadricentennial of Henry Hudson’s arrival on the shores of Manhattan, the new book Mannahatta: A Natural History of New York City, reconstructs, in words and images, the wild island as it existed 400 years ago.

Join landscape ecologist and author Eric Sanderson and illustrator Markley Boyer as they discuss the decade of work that is behind this astounding work, offering readers a unique window into the ecological history of New York and inspiration for green cities and wild places of the future.

Book Launch with Eric Sanderson, author, and Markley Boyer, illustrator
Tuesday, May 5, 6:30 – 8:00 p.m., at the Municipal Art Society
FREE, but reservations required. RSVP online or call 212-935-2075

Renowned architectural photographer and long-time Broadway resident Cervin Robinson chats with Elizabeth Werbe of MAS about the images and inspiration behind his exhibition By Way of Broadway: New York Photographs by Cervin Robinson, which opens with a reception tonight, Wednesday, March 25, 6:00 p.m., at MAS.This collection of black & white and color photographs explores New York’s visual landscape with thirty views of the 17-mile length of Manhattan’s main street taken over the course of three decades.

The exhibition opens to the public tomorrow, Thursday, March 26, and will be on display through Thursday, May 7, 2009. Visit www.mas.org/exhibitions for gallery hours and more information.

The Urbanists — the MAS membership group of young New Yorkers in their 20s and 30s —  joined advocacy staff on Wednesday night for an informal, insider’s presentation of the advocacy campaigns MAS is championing this year.

Over drinks, Urbanist members learned about the critical role that historic preservation plays in the future of a sustainable city (“the greenest building is the one that is already built”); saving the irreplaceable 19th century buildings of Admiral’s Row, adjacent to the Brooklyn Navy Yard and adapting them to new uses; and, the new vision and plan for Coney Island, one of America’s most iconic neighborhoods. Continue Reading>>

MAS is pleased to announce the opening of the exhibition, By Way of Broadway: New York Photographs by Cervin Robinson, next Thursday, March 26. One of the most widely-published architectural photographers working today, Cervin Robinson began taking photographs at the encouragement of his father, an architect, when he was twelve, and this collection explores New York’s visual landscape comprising thirty views of the 17-mile length of Manhattan’s main street taken over the course of three decades.

The exhibition opens with a reception at 6:00 p.m. on Wednesday, March 25, at MAS. The event is free but reservations are required. RSVP online or call 212-935-2075. By Way of Broadway will be on display at MAS galleries through Wednesday, May 6, and the galleries are open to the public Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Friday, and Saturday: 11:00 a.m. – 5:00 p.m., and closed at all other times. Continue Reading>>

Last night, the Municipal Art Society’s new exhibit ImagineConey: Bold Ideas for Coney Island opened with a party at our Urban Center Galleries, featuring Miss Cyclone as the evening’s MC, with sword-swallower The Great Fredini and Steve the Strongman providing sideshow entertainment that was both fascinating and gruesome at the same time.

Check out the slideshow above for photos of the opening, and visit our Facebook page to watch two short videos of the Great Fredini performing. We also took the opportunity to “live-tweet” this captivating event on Twitter, so please check out our tweets after the jump to learn about some of the more intriguing points of the evening. Continue Reading>>