9/11 Reclaiming Ground Zero: A documentary

To view the trailer click on the image above.

Twenty-five years after the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks that targeted the World Trade Center in Manhattan, New York City, a 68-minute documentary titled 9/11 Reclaiming Ground Zero has been released this month that begins with the immediate aftermath before turning to the years-long effort marked by complex and deeply personal decisions to determine the future of the site.

Few people were wounded on that day. There were those who got out and those who died. And most of the people who died were never recovered. Ground Zero became the final resting place for thousands of New Yorkers, from wealthy executives to undocumented immigrants.

No one could agree on the future of Ground Zero. Some wanted the Twin Towers rebuilt exactly as they were. Others believed nothing should be built on the site. Many wanted a memorial. Emotions ran high. People cried. People yelled. Editorials multiplied. The only thing New Yorkers couldn’t do was agree. Monica Iken, who features in the documentary, was ready to chain herself to the fence at Ground Zero so that they couldn’t “build over dead people”.

Listening to the City

So the city did something incredibly brave. In response to fast-tracked redevelopment plans, two forums took place in July 2022 gathering more than 5,000 representative New Yorkers together into what is described as the largest town hall meeting in American history.

Survivors. Family members of the victims. Business owners. Residents. Architects. Landscape Architects. Activists. Republicans. Democrats. All gathered. And they were asked the simple, contentious question: “What should we do with Ground Zero?”

The event was called Listening to the City. Many expected chaos. A shouting match. Maybe worse. But instead what happened was beautiful. The representatives rejected all the proposals embodied by a top down approach and successfully set a trajectory for a new path. It is this event that is credited with determining what is at Ground Zero today.

What eventuated was more than an urban planning exercise. It was a test: Could democracy function in a moment of trauma? The answer of YES now stands as a reminder that good democratic outcomes require good democratic processes.

There was a striking consensus: the footprints of the Twin Towers must remain untouched. This resounding message forced city and state officials to rethink their approach, leading them to abandon pre-planned redevelopment proposals in favour of a new vision shaped by the people’s input.

Tara Colton, a project manager for the Listening to the City event, has called it a testament to “the power of listening to others, even if we disagree, and finding common ground within our collective voices”.

The documentary was produced by Carolyn Lukensmeyer (founder of AmericaSpeaks), Robbie Shinder, and Sarah Perkins, with Matters Media as the production company and Matters Media co-founder J.B. Sabey as director.

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References:

ASLA-NY Combines film screening with a discussion on the design of the 9/11 Memorial Park

On 9 September this week, the New York chapter of the American Society of Landscape Architects (ASLA-NY) supplemented its screening of 9/11 Reclaiming Ground Zero by giving a focus to the design of the 9/11 Memorial Park through its invited (virtual) speaker Adam Greenspan, an ASLA Fellow and design partner at PWP Landscape Architecture in Berkeley, California.

Landscape architect Peter Walker (the PW of PWP/ Peter Walker and Partners) co-designed the National September 11 Memorial in New York City with architect Michael Arad. Their winning design, titled "Reflecting Absence," was chosen in January 2004 from more than 5,200 submissions.

In 2005 Peter Walker was the inaugural recipient of the Sir Geoffrey Jellicoe Award from the International Federation of Landscape Architects (IFLA). The award is the preeminent award for landscape architects and the highest honour IFLA can bestow.

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further links:

Memorial, #Around-the-worldStephen Olsen