Aidan Galloway Beyond famously calling Coney Island a “laboratory” where ideas and strategies are tested, Rem Koolhaas also elaborated upon the specificities of its amusement parks: “Luna Park was conceived as a place ‘not of this earth,’ a fantasy city whose towers, domes, and electric lights created the illusion of an extraterrestrial colony. Thompson imagined the park as a fragment of the Moon that had landed on Coney Island, transforming visitors into explorers of a new world. […] Luna Park framed amusement as a form of imaginative exploration — a way to leave the constraints of the everyday world and enter a realm of pure invention.“
What is it to take this notion of a place “not of this earth” to the context of resilience? How can a resilient, emergency-responsive infrastructure function as an amusement ride in day-to-day life? How can that serve Coney Island’s most vulnerable residents?
