When Frederick Law Olmsted began designing Eastern Parkway in 1870, he imagined it as a tree-lined “pleasure road” where people could walk, ride horses, and drive carriages to get fresh air. At the time, New York’s roads were crowded and chaotic, crisscrossed by pedestrians dodging trolleys and carriages. Street trees were not part of the cityscape. The cleaner, calmer Brooklyn parkway was the first of many that Olmsted would draw up, the American counterpart to Europe’s grand boulevards. They reflected his belief that parks should be accessible to all, and that they should be connected via greenways. Once completed, Eastern Parkway became a vital link between Crown Heights’ many enclaves, and the city’s Landmarks Preservation Commission eventually designated the road a scenic landmark, describing it in 1978 as “an endless allée of refreshment.”
It still is today. A dense canopy of elm, ash, and oak trees covers the pedestrian paths, which are well-used by cyclists and families, and its benches are steadily occupied by friends in conversation. During commuting hours, people pour in and out of its four subway stops. Where the street meets Grand Army Plaza, the Brooklyn Museum, and Utica Avenue, vendors sell food, books, housewares, and clothing. But it’s also become the second-deadliest street in Brooklyn, after Flatbush Avenue, measured by pedestrians killed or severely injured. This year, three people have died in traffic collisions on the parkway, and there have been 62 crashes, 20 more than in the same period last year, according to Crashmapper. (The total might be higher, since this only includes data from NYPD reports.) The edges are friendly to people, but the road itself has devolved into a six-lane highway. Using it requires constant vigilance, a feeling of precarity that is at odds with any of the remotely pleasurable emotions that its original vision aimed to invoke. This year, on the occasion of Olmsted’s 200th birthday on April 26, I reflected on the gap between its origins as a “shaded green ribbon” and what it had become. What would it take to turn the street into a place that prioritized pleasure for all who encounter it?