Green Roots

The system that grows: a framework, inspired by root systems, that reconnects the Bronx neighborhoods the Cross Bronx Expressway split apart.

StudioUrban Design VI · Prof. Edgar Papazian

TeamLucia Bauman, Emily Mejia, Julia Staufenberg

My roleThe new grid · Housing · Physical models

SiteCrotona Park and the Cross Bronx Expressway, Bronx

ExhibitedJustice Sonia Sotomayor Community Center, Bronx

Render of a street in the new grid: pale blue timber-clad homes with stepped roof terraces, young trees, and neighbors walking down the middle — A street in the new gridHousing · my work

The project

The Cross Bronx Expressway split the Bronx apart. Green Roots grows a network back across it, so every resident lives within a 10-minute walk of green space.

01 Housing · My pillar

A template for long-term affordability and community ownership.

02 Green space

Crotona transformed into a linear park, with equal park space for everyone.

03 Movement

Streets turned from car-dominated corridors into a multimodal, people-first network.

04 Community

Shared resources: education, wellness, gathering spaces and local business.

Opening the superblock into a network

01 — The new grid · My role

I broke closed superblocks open into a finer grid of homes, paths and shared space.

Five-step diagram: a standard block, parcelization, interior erosion, a secondary pedestrian network, and the community activation template filled with housing and green space

Master plan: the new grid of housing blocks in blue on both sides of Crotona, transformed into a linear park, with transit hubs, food co-ops and community centers — Master plan · the new grid around the linear park
Housing
Community centers
Transit hubs
Food co-ops
Green roads

1,030 homes, kept affordable for good

02 — Housing · My role

70% permanently affordable, owned by the community so neighbors aren’t pushed out.

Housing diagram: before and after maps of affordable housing around Crotona, and an axonometric of a housing block with community land trust and limited-equity cooperative ownership

Floor plan of a housing block: apartments of two to four bedrooms along a shared corridor, with communal dining rooms — Floor plan

Section through two housing blocks and the shared street between them: homes above, cafe and shared rooms at ground level, trees and people in the street — Section through the shared street

Render of a shared lane at dusk between dark timber homes, with benches, planting and lamps, a parent and child walking and an older neighbor at his door — A shared lane between homes

Building the system by hand

03 — Physical models · My role

I built the models, so the system reads at every scale: neighborhood, block and idea.

Neighborhood model from above: white city blocks on wood, the new housing in blue on both sides of the linear park, labeled housing, green space, movement and community — Neighborhood model: the new housing in blue around the linear park.

Round turntable model divided into housing, green space, movement and community, in front of the neighborhood model and the boards — The turntable: one block, split into the four pillars.

Site model of blue housing blocks along a curving boulevard with trees, in front of the housing board — Site model: housing blocks along the boulevard.

Neighborhood model at an angle, with the blue housing blocks and the green linear park — The neighborhood model at an angle.

Close-up of the site model at street level: a housing block beside lanes, a bus and street trees — Street level: the boulevard and its bus lane.

Mapping model: pins and string stretched across an acrylic sheet over a terracotta-colored model of the neighborhood — Mapping model: pins and string trace how the community connects.

Shown in the Bronx

04 — Exhibition

Exhibited at the Justice Sonia Sotomayor Community Center in the Bronx, in front of community members and a superjury.

NYIT 4th-year Urban Design Exhibition & Competition · 2026

Video recap Behind the scenes

The three team members standing beside the Green Roots boards and models at the exhibition — The team with Green Roots

The team talking through the project with visitors at the exhibition — Talking through the project with visitors.

Standing in front of the Green Roots boards, with the models on the floor — The boards and models on display.

The neighborhood model at the exhibition, with the new housing in blue — The neighborhood model at the show.

Designed together

05 — Team

A three-person team in Prof. Edgar Papazian’s Arch 402 studio, NYIT, Spring 2026.

Lucia BaumanThe new grid · Housing · Physical models
Emily Mejia
Julia Staufenberg

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