Lower Manhattan Then and NOW Map

Lower Manhattan has effectively been America’s town square since its discovery in 1524. Virtually every major event of local, national and global significance has played out in some way on this stage. This is both a project in urban archeology and a way of describing the city over time in a printed map. The map captures the multiple and overlapping stories that are woven throughout our city’s life in a single document. It embraces America’s history as the museums, monuments and memorials that dot its streetscape do. It highlights many of the concerns, events and places that the people who lived, fought, worked and visited here thought were important at their moment in time. It takes another look at the issues that they were preoccupied with and how they solved them: their politics, religion, social protest, health and safety, commerce, disasters and defense, scandals and crime, education, publications, art and culture, parades and celebrations, architecture and engineering. The result is two maps which are framed by a timeline of 760 events that were impactful with a ‘sound bite’ about each event. Lower Manhattan THEN Superimposes the historical maps that mark different periods with a snapshot of the city as it looked at each era: 1800, using the Ratzer 1767 map (cut off at Chambers Street which was the northern boundary of the city at the time.) 1860, using Harrison’s 1852 map which was the first to show the buildings and streets (below Canal Street) 1900 (using the current GIS) showing how dense the blocks become Underwater: 1867 Viele’s topographical map 2016 GIS Lower Manhattan NOW describes the city as it looks today and might look in the future 2012 Superstorm Sandy’s storm surge 2050 projected National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration projected flood zone showing 31 “ of sea level rise 1609 Shoreline

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