Michael Fishman

Goal: Ensure that capital investments for the rehabilitation / reinvention of public infrastructure
assets and private developments save time and money.

Areas of Experience:
 Strategic Transportation Planning: Transit oriented development recognizing synergies + adjacencies, within and
beyond the project site.
 Pedestrian Engineering: Planning and design that puts pedestrians first from concept through construction; ensuring
safety, clarity and improved service.
 Waterfront Revitalization: Promoting a mixed use, working waterfront for residential, recreational, commercial and
tourism.
 Community Based Planning: Engage community members and project stakeholders to help develop a project's sense of
place and sustainability.
 Design for Disaster: Design for climate change and bring emergency preparedness to communities prone to crisis.
 Owner / Operator Representation: Maintaining and enhancing client vision simultaneously relieving cost and time
restraints.

Approach: Holistic problem solving.

There are significant cultural shifts that have taken place as the country shifts into a ‘green’ economy. Implementation
requires a new approach as well.
Sustainability is no longer a costly addition but a welcome result of proper planning and design from concept through
construction.

Design Mediation: Balancing related disciplines and participants: Agencies, Communities, Developers, Economists,
Architects, Landscape Architects, Planners, Contractors, Sociologists, Geographers, Engineers, Environmentalists and
others.

A proactive approach to reinventing our infrastructure assets is critical. This includes the re-evaluation of long term
viability, cost savings and environmental improvement. All too often, we have found that we are waiting for our
infrastructure to fall apart as a catalyst for new construction. We cannot afford to look backwards to invent our future
or simply rehabilitate and mitigate developmental impacts. Reinventing an environmental and socially responsible
infrastructure first requires acknowledging it is in all of our backyards. Not simply sewers, bridges tunnels and roads,
waste management stations or power plants, infrastructure includes greenways, schools, hospitals and parks.

fishman@urbananswers.com
646 255 9607
TRANSPORTATION PLANNING

HISTORIC BATTERY PARK EDGE DESIGN

Connecting the West and East Side Greenways
Realigning The 1/9 South Ferry Subway Terminal

COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY MASTER PLAN

Short and long term improvements to the transportation network have already improved conditions on the waterfront
and upland in West Harlem. Short term recommendations were implemented immediately to encourage through (West
Side Highway) traffic away from pedestrian critical locations and the public waterfront as well as closing the adjacent
waste transfer station. Long term recommendations included a new Metro North station at 125th Street, 1/9 subway
station improvements, bus terminal options and parking recommendations for future demands are primary elements of
the 2025 vision for the site.

WORLD TRADE CENTER MASTER PLAN

Immediate response and the planning and reconstruction.
Looking beyond the site and in detail, at the site itself, clear
diagrams with few words explained the issues and
opportunities for redevelopment in short order to decision
makers.

Memorial Design Beyond the Site The Region

fishman@urbananswers.com
646 255 9607
PEDESTRIAN ENGINEERING

WORLD TRADE CENTER

INNOVATIVE DESIGN STUDY EVALUATION

250 diagrams were produced to explain to decision

makers the pros and cons of each scheme at the
ground level considering, cars, busses, service vehicles
and pedestrians.

TIMES SQUARE PEDESTRIAN ENGINEERING - DESIGN TRUST FOR PUBLIC SPACE FELLOWSHIP
Movement Defines Times Square. This is where the world marks the passage of time.
Finally, pedestrians will be given priority in this most precious part of NYC.

Processing the creativity and complaints of 3 public and private charettes with invited participant and 6 months of technical, political and physical
landscapes, a plan to more than double sq/ft for pedestrians was developed by eliminating automobiles at the center of Times Square. The formally
unusable medians were designed as public space, providing a north south connection between the subways and the TKTS booth. NYCDOT has
adopted aspects of the plan and subsequently closed Broadway to vehicles, now giving local employees and tourist more than twice the space to
navigate Times Square as a pedestrian.

fishman@urbananswers.com
646 255 9607
WATERFRONT REVITALIZATION
New York City Shorelines Have Over 10 Times The Linear Feet Of Most “Global Waterfront Cities”: Sydney, Dubai, Los Angeles + On New York City
was largely built by water and can be re-built by water.

PIER 76 ADAPTIVE REUSE

Exceeding physical and economic expectations, Pier 76 was determined to have the
capacity for adaptive reuse serving multiple waterborne and landside activities.
Bringing a sustainable plan for importing / exporting materials by water (including
garbage) solves multiple infrastructure needs on Manhattan’s west side. In addition, several improvements to the
surrounding land uses were determined:
1. Through grade separation the Highline can connect to the west side ferry terminal, the Javits Convention Center
and the roof of the facility without forcing pedestrians up and down, encounter trucks using the facility or cross
the highway at grade.
2. By programming public space on the green roof, and including a learning center for viewing the infrastructure
aspects of the site makes the infrastructure transparent and educational.
3. Waste transfer and material loading and unloading via barge remove trucks on the City streets.

NYC WASTE TRANSFER FACILITIES REASSESSMENT

Client: Environmental Defense Fund
Team: Urban Answers + Michael Singer’s Studio
Urban Question: Can waterborne elements of our waste management infrastructure improve
communities and their waterfronts economically, environmentally and physically?
Urban Answer: As a city of islands, NY has an opportunity to enhance communities formally
burdened with infrastructure by making sustainable and attractive public works that improve
connections to other aspects of the landscape. This assessment set a standard for the design of
these facilities city wide.

fishman@urbananswers.com
646 255 9607
THE HARBOR SCHOOL (ON GOVERNORS ISLAND)

The Harbor School is an Urban Assembly school of 500 NYC public high school
students. The curriculum is devoted to Harbor life and excursions, therefore
dependant on waterfront access - they have been designated to be the first public
use on the island.
Options for waterfront access have been developed with Dartmouth University
Students. An oyster farm was built this summer beneath a dock for that cultivates
up to one million oysters cleaning water. The oyster dock is powered by solar
energy and is the only location on the island to launch small craft and swim.

COMMUNITY BASED PLANNING

CANAL STREET MASTER PLAN

By reclaiming open space, lost to the NYSDOT, NYCDOT and Port Authority, new parkland was
created along the length of the street to provide for market, recreational and flexible open
spaces.

Working with the Tribeca Community Association, a historic park designed by Calvert Vaux and
Fredrick Law Olmstead was erased from the City map when the West Side Highway was initially
under construction. Uncovering this information the community came to us to negotiate with the
NYSDOT to regain the parkland back as a gateway at the end of Canal Street to the Hudson River
Park for Tribeca and SoHo communities.

GOWANUS EXPRESSWAY VISIONING PROJECT

Narrowing the right of way back to its original width allows for contextual development (residential and commercial) on the ground floor along 3rd
Avenue. Ensuring that tunnel entrances and exits are properly located to serve commercial development on the waterfront and inland and
simultaneously protect parks and communities in these locations was a focus and challenge met by the process.

fishman@urbananswers.com
646 255 9607
THE GRAND CONCOURSE VISION PROJECT
Working with the community to restore The Grand Concourse: Bronx
(built 1883) to its original grandeur and reach its potential. The
Grand Concourse was the birthplace of urban grade separation
(formally used only in Olmstead Parks.) Horse and carriages originally
and then automobiles flow within the urban environment, without
conflict, by tunneling under the European Boulevard design above.
This gave way to our national highway system and bridge / tunnel
subway networks.

DESIGN FOR DISASTER

Design for Climate Change and Unexpected Events

BATTERY PARK CITY / WORLD FINANCIAL CENTER STREETSCAPE SECURITY PLAN

Protecting our assets need not reflect a desperate condition of Jersey Barriers and bollards. Analyzing speeds and
directionality of potential vehicular threats, a system of hardened street furniture was developed to anchor itself
into the sidewalk. Using existing streetscape elements: bus shelters, lampposts, trash receptacles, planters and
newsstands; an invisible security system was designed to extend the impact standoff by 20-30 feet.

LOWER MANHATTAN IMMEDIATE RESPONSE

Immediately following the events of 9/11, maps were developed to communicate the loss and of remaining elements of the transportation network
downtown. This was a requirement that allowed decision makers immediate response and direction for long term reconstruction.

fishman@urbananswers.com
646 255 9607
THE ROCKAWAY PENINSULA PREPARATION, RESPONSE AND RECOVERY INFRASTRUCTURE

Leverage existing assets by redesigning the elevated stations (originally built with storm surges in mind) to serve as evacuation
points / survival shelters and recovery staging areas.
Reconnecting the Long Island Railroad with the NYC subway network to aid in evacuation of the car free population.
Wage a comprehensive educational and evaluation program to engage the at risk residential and commercial community.

OWNER/OPERATOR’S REPRESENTATIVE
Community concerns, legal/political conflicts consultant visions, agency agendas and other critical issues, often force a project to be compromised,
deviate from a client’s best interests or even cause projects to fail. This costs owners and operators time and money.
Third party representation keeps clients from compromising critical roles and maintains an agenda to meet their best interest. Objective problem
solving alleviates tensions for all parties.

THE CITY UNIVERSITY OF NEW YORK GOVERNORS ISLAND MASTER PLAN

Development of a master plan for 10,000 people to live and learn on the island; a transient population with a
permanent economy to attract an international academic presence to lower Manhattan and serve as a retreat
from Wall Street.

fishman@urbananswers.com
646 255 9607