John Lindsay biking in Central Park.
If you ever read about urbanism and cities, you’re bound to read about New York. And if you read about New York, at some point mayor John Lindsay’s name will come up. And very often, the Lindsay-stuff seems very current, in the light of what’s going on in urbanism today. It’s possible that he merely became the poster boy of things new urban, things that were there in the air already. But at least for a time, he did represent an era where thinking about cities had certain prominence. These photos by John Dominis, are from a Life Magazine article (May 1968) showing him doing all the right things.
Lindsay picking up the garbage.
Lindsay engaged in urban renewal.
Lindsay interacting with the local community.
Lindsay shaking hands with “a black militant”.
So who are the Lindsays of today? Enrique Peñalosa? And was it really new urbanism?
Towards the end of his reign (1966-1973), Lindsay’s popularity faded. Still, he continued to bike the streets, as seen here in 1972 (source).
(via mikasavela)
