Gowanus Canal In Transition

Since the 2021 Gowanus Neighborhood Rezoning

Plan, the shoreline of the Gowanus Canal has undergone rapid transformation. Former industrial and manufacturing zones were reclassified to allow mixed-use residential development, opening large portions of the waterfront to new housing and commercial activities. Industrial buildings that once defined Brooklyn's working waterfront were gradually demolished as new developments began to rise along the canal.

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Industrial buildings that once defined Brooklyn’s working waterfront were gradually demolished as new developments began to rise along the canal. This series of aerial photographs captures a brief moment when traces of the industrial past and visions of the future occupy the same landscape.

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Some of the vantage points captured in these photographs can no longer be replicated today. In just a few years, newly constructed buildings and active construction sites have altered the skyline and blocked views that were once open above low-rise industrial structures. Where one-story warehouses once lined the canal, many of the new developments now rise five to ten stories, fundamentally reshaping the scale and visibility of the waterfront landscape.

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This project has become a kind of time capsule a snapshot of the neighborhood surrounding the Gowanus Canal during a brief moment of transition. The images preserve a fragment of a landscape that is rapidly disappearing, reflecting the continual evolution of New York City’s neighborhoods.

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Fun tidbit: The aerial camera technology has much improved between this time, and the quality of imagery is much better for the later series.