Vernacular Recreation at Brooklyn Eastern District Terminal
FAIN: HR-50553-10
Daniel Campo
Morgan State University (Baltimore, MD 21251-0001)
This proposed book project will explore the stories of a remarkable landscape created by individuals and small groups who occupied, reshaped and rebuilt an abandoned Brooklyn waterfront. Without formal authority, organization, capital, professional assistance, grand vision, consensus or coordination with each other, these "vernacular" builders transformed a vacated waterfront rail yard, the Brooklyn Eastern District Terminal (BEDT), into a unique setting for recreation. With the Midtown Manhattan skyline as its backdrop, BEDT's collapsing piers, eroded bulkhead, remaining building foundations and discarded objects became the raw materials for various forms of waterside leisure and social spaces. This book will also define and consider the larger cultural practice of "vernacular recreation" (i.e. "making your own recreational environment"), which is previously unexplored in the literature of cities.