New York's New Edge - by David Halle (Paperback)

About the Book

New York is always cooking up something new. Halle and Tiso home in on that city s Far West Side, site of three recent urban cultural developments: creating, in Chelsea, the largest commercial art gallery district in the world, turning a disused above-ground rail line into the High Line (now the city s most visited park), and wrestling with big plans to develop the Hudson Yards (the largest unbuilt site in Manhattan) and renovating Penn Station (to become Moynihan Station, the busiest train station in America). The Bloomberg Administration sees all of this as key elements of an urban model that balances growth and preservation. A mix of old and new buildings, advocated by pioneer urbanist Jane Jacobs as a key to vibrant neighborhoods, turns out to be in accord with the concept of a layered city advanced by contemporary architects. The narrative in these case studies is incredibly rich, broadly ranging from the Gansevoort Market District, no longer a site for meatpacking but home to super-trendy designer stores, to the battle over the New York Sports and Convention Center, to ethnographic explorations of entrepreneurial galleries in Chelsea (such as Gagosian and Matthew Marks), to reconsideration of why people collect art (not so much for financial grain as for the way it resonates with ongoing issues in their lives), to the now-fabled High Line and its developing milieu of starchitect -designed condos. "

Book Synopsis

The story of New York's west side no longer stars the Sharks and the Jets. Instead it's a story of urban transformation, cultural shifts, and an expanding contemporary art scene. The Chelsea Gallery District has become New York's most dominant neighborhood for contemporary art, and the streets of the west side are filled with gallery owners, art collectors, and tourists. Developments like the High Line, historical preservation projects like the Gansevoort Market, the Chelsea galleries, and plans for megaprojects like the Hudson Yards Development have redefined what is now being called the "Far West Side" of Manhattan.

David Halle and Elisabeth Tiso offer a deep analysis of the transforming district in New York's New Edge, and the result is a new understanding of how we perceive and interpret culture and the city in New York's gallery district. From individual interviews with gallery owners to the behind-the-scenes politics of preservation initiatives and megaprojects, the book provides an in-depth account of the developments, obstacles, successes, and failures of the area and the factors that have contributed to them.

Review Quotes

"New York's New Edge is an absolutely brilliant contribution to the sociology of art, urban sociology, and urbanism. This is one of the very best sociological texts that I have read in ages. I highly recommend it to all those who are interested in Manhattan's Far West Side transformations."
--Alain Quemin "Université Paris VIII"

"In New York's New Edge (the title may be understood literally as referring to the city's far west side and metaphorically) David Halle and Elisabeth Tiso interweave three complex histories: the rise of Chelsea as the world's premier gallery district; iconic preservation projects such as the High Line; and mega real estate projects such as Hudson Yards. Their reading of each is nuanced, cutting through many of the 'accepted wisdoms' of the day. Their purpose is to analyze what makes for a reasonable balance between healthy urban growth and preservation. This book is a must for planners, politicians, and anyone with an interest in the future of cities."-- "Harriet F. Senie, author of The "Tilted Arc" Controversy: Dangerous Precedent?"

"The link between the contemporary art scene in Chelsea and the development of an edge neighborhood of restaurants, hotels, and new housing is detailed and superbly analyzed by David Halle and Elisabeth Tiso. The preservation of the High Line and creation of the Gansevoort Market Historic District led to extraordinary change. In New York's New Edge the relation of cultural identity to people, planning, and politics is made personal and comprehensible by surprising anecdotes and insightful commentary."-- "Rick Bell, Executive Director, AIA New York and the Center for Architecture"

"This hefty tome will surely pique the interest of anyone who fancies art, the urban, or how the two come together in the City That Never Sleeps. . . . The authors have done a marvelous job of weaving together their respective specialties--sociology for Halle and art history for Tiso--to produce a text that gives ample consideration to the present as well as to the historical development of a particular slice of the Big Apple. This is a fantastic example of collaboration and interdisciplinarity, and the authors have clearly penned a thoroughly engaging text that ought to have broad appeal to scholars, activists, and avid readers. Highly recommended."-- "Choice"

"New York's New Edge offers a retrospective on three case studies in urban and cultural development begun under the administration of Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg with lessons for Mayor Bill de Blasio."-- "New York Times"

"Focusing on the now-booming district of the Far West Side, sociologist David Halle and art historian Elisabeth Tiso offer a substantial and eminently sensible analysis of why development in Giuliani and Bloomberg-era Manhattan evolved as it did. Their compelling history of the present, resolutely opposed to sloganeering 'tale-of-two-cities' explanations, reveals through specifics the people and institutional structures involved with area galleries and built environment projects, and the circumstances that resulted in success or failure. All students of cities will learn much from this engrossing book."--Michele H. Bogart "Stony Brook University"

About the Author

David Halle is professor of sociology at the University of California, Los Angeles, and director of the summer travel program, UCLA in New York: Cities and Cultures. He is also an adjunct professor at the City University of New York's Graduate Center and School of Professional Studies and the author of America's Working Man and Inside Culture, also published by the University of Chicago Press. Elisabeth Tiso is an art historian who has taught at Parsons, Fordham University, and UCLA in New York. She has published reviews and articles on contemporary art and architecture in Art in America, ArtNews Magazine, Parole gelées, and other academic publications.