Reappraising the New Jersey Turnpike : tactical interventions in urbanism

Abstract

The New Jersey Turnpike, despite its quotidian and grey appearance, is still an incredibly effective tool for codifying and speeding up time and movement, right down to the routines and habits of each body within its territory. Yet, over time, the joints and connections of this monolithic system have begun to weaken and decay. As cracks have formed, urban architecture now has opportunity to create tactical interventions that both patch the system and challenge its modernist underpinnings. In a sense, design for the Turnpike of today should provide the traveler--who is literally and metaphorically stepping out of the hermetic system of the automobile--with wild design elements that grow between the cracks in the system. As they grow, their success will depend upon their ability to work within the existing order while also enhancing and revealing the anonymous and individualized travel experience of the various user groups using it today. As tactical interventions, they strive to offer a "postmodern" alternative that challenges the Turnpike's modernist notions of universalized space and time. To develop such interventions, the thesis work is composed of three parts that build upon one another. The first section considers the engineering history of the Turnpike as a means of understanding the genetic code of the roadway and how that code is able to so effectively codify space and time for those occupying the system. The second section then attempts to employ alternative urban design tools for analyzing today's conditions and how those conditions of decay might serve as a platform for developing strategies of urbanism along the Turnpike. Finally, the last section sets forth some preliminary strategies and tactical interventions that draw upon the ideas and concepts gleaned from the first two sections.