TAKING OVER CO-OP CITY

    Why did Co-op City work when other low income housing developments failed so poorly? Perhaps it was the resilience characteristic of every New Yorker - gotta be tough to win the turf war against the rats. However, I don't believe there was much difference between the residents of Co-op City and those of Pruitt-Igoe, both faced similar circumstances and turmoils. Therefore, the culprit has to be the management and development itself. The ability to own property, to work toward a common goal, to open the doors to multiple types of people all chasing their common ground united the residents to care for and take pride in the place they lived. "I want this place to be nice because one day, it will be all mine" as opposed to "I'm only a renter, it's not my responsibility to maintain this place." The development, like much of New York, was experimental but open-minded and did not restrict the residents or attempt to control them. 

    Even more amazing was the diversity of demographics that inhabited Co-op City over time (from Asian, African American, Russian Jews, etc), yet all found a place to go to and care for. Of course, money is still a concern, as with everyone everywhere, but at Co-op City, the residents took action to make the necessary changes - even through changes in management. Even looking at the numbers, the development has a 6,000 person waitlist for the 30-40 apartments that become available each month (video source). Evidently, Co-op City is the type of place people do not intend to move temporarily but rather to inhabit permanently. Some of the residents in the video had lived there for much of their entire lives.     

    The development company may own Co-op City legally, but its inhabitants are the real owners who appropriated their needs and desires, at such a large scale as well. I would be interested to see a physical design comparison between the original design for Pruitt-Igoe and Co-op City because perhaps the built work isn't significantly different beyond Co-op City's greater connection to other areas via public transportation. 

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