From Manning’s to Blackwell to Welfare to Roosevelt, this 2.5 mile strip of New York City has gone by many names and served many purposes. Developed first as a family farm then a prison complex, asylum, and orphanage to a hospital and sanatorium, it was a place for the marginalized, forgotten, and ill. Yet the 20th century would turn it into a grand experiment in urban renewal. The result was Roosevelt Islandwhere some of the greatest architectural minds of the time had a turn at creating a completely new neighborhood in the middle of the East River.

It was here that Catalan architect and urban planner Josep Lluis Sert received one of the largest canvases on the island to create his ideal multi-family utopia. Using Sert’s Eastwood and Westview complexes as an anchor Untapped Cities will explore the hidden gems both contemporary and historic of Roosevelt Island’s varied history of being a livable community.