Inevitably, NYC itself has had to see a shrink

By BrickUnderground | June 30, 2015 - 12:59PM

New York has long been notorious as the land of therapy, but as it turns out, even the city itself is sick enough (at least from an urban planning perspective), to need a psychiatrist. Her name: Mindy Thompson Fullilove, who works at the New York State Psychiatric Institute and teaches at Columbia University.

According to the New York Times, research by Fullilove — a brilliant name, by the way, for a shrink — is responsible for making real the Giraffe Path, a six-mile pathway that includes the recently opened High Bridge and that runs from Central Park to the Cloisters, which links parks and communities that, per Fullilove’s findings, have "undergone systematic disinvestment, resulting in numerous public health crises: AIDS epidemics, crack addiction, asthma, post-traumatic stress and obesity."

By making sure neighborhoods can flow easily from one to the next and that no major "arteries" are closed off — the High Bridge was shuttered for decades — a city thrives, its systems unblocked. (Makes sense to us.) For more on Fullilove's research, including her thoughts on the vitality and significance of "Main Streets," check out her blog. And find out more about the Giraffe Path, which was spearheaded by CLIMB (City Life is for Moving Bodies), here.

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