The Municipal Art Society of New York » Urban Planning

Join MAS President at CURE’s Megaprojects Conference

MAS — Thu, 03 May 2012 13:43:45 +0000

MAS President Vin Cipolla will moderate a panel at Megaprojects, a one-day international conference organized by The Center for Urban Real Estate at Columbia University (CURE) on May 11. The conference will convene leading developers, architects, engineers and urban planners to explore megaprojects, while addressing the issues faced and the lessons learned in developing and operating megaprojects in New York as well as in London.

Vin’s panel, The World Trade Center and Battery Park City: Lessons Learned, will examine the initial World Trade Center development – both its limitations and successes as an office and retail destination prior to 9/11. It will also consider the alternative paradigm of Battery Park City—a mixed-use development created with the spoils of the Trade Center and based on an entirely new street grid. Vin will be joined by panelists Charles J. Maikish, managing director, chief operating officer, Citi Realty Services; Rafael Pelli, senior partner, Pelli Clarke Pelli; and Carol Willis, director, The Skyscraper Museum.

Supported by the Durst Fund for Research at Columbia University’s Graduate School of Architecture, Planning and Preservation, MAS is a Megaprojects conference partner, as are AIANY, RPA, NYBC, BTEA and REBNY.

For more information, and to register, visit www.megaprojects2012.com.

City Planning Hears from Both Sides on NYU Expansion

MAS — Fri, 27 Apr 2012 16:55:33 +0000

MAS, along with over 200 individuals and organizations, testified at Wednesday’s City Planning Commission hearing regarding NYU’s application to expand in Greenwich Village. MAS spoke out against the proposal, recognizing the Manhattan Borough President for his success in negotiating changes to the plan, but continuing to argue that the project needs to benefit NYU, the neighborhood and the city as a whole. MAS specifically suggested further reductions in overall density and building height and assurance that public space will be redesigned to be welcoming to all members of the public and in consultation with community groups. Read MAS’s position for more specifics on NYU’s proposal and our recommendations.

Throughout the day, Commissioners heard from alternate groups speaking for and against the project beginning with NYU President, John Sexton who explained NYU’s need to expand in order to accommodate a student body that has grown more quickly than its campus. Columbia University President Lee Bollinger, whose institution has undertaken a similarly ambitious plan for expansion, provided another perspective on the need for institutions to expand to remain competitive and viable.

Commissioners acknowledged NYU’s need for more space, however questioned why so much of the University’s growth needed to take place in the Village. Sexton answered that 25% of their 20 year growth plan had already begun outside the core in places like the former M.T.A. building at 370 Jay Street in Downtown Brooklyn, where NYU recently announced plans for a new Urban Science Center. MAS believes that further investment and co-location of additional development in Downtown Brooklyn would achieve NYU’s goal of fostering interdepartmental collaboration and would inject much needed energy and activity into Downtown Brooklyn.

Other speakers against the project included Senator Tom Duane, who opposed the amount of proposed density on what are now primarily residential blocks and several members of Community Board 2, who submitted a decisive no against all aspects of the plan last month. CB2 chair Brad Hoylman reaffirmed the Board’s decision and the need for NYU to make further reductions in the scale of the project.

The City Planning Commission will continue to review the proposal and will accept written testimony until May 7th. If the Commission recommends approval, NYU’s application will move ahead to the City Council, the next step in the city’s land use review process.

Borough President Weighs In, NYU Modifies Application

MAS — Fri, 13 Apr 2012 20:30:09 +0000

After the NYU proposal was heavily criticized by Community Board Two, it was the Borough President’s turn in the ULURP process to opine on its plan to add 2.4 million square feet of new development to two superblocks just southeast of Washington Square Park. In response to the concerns he raised NYU has agreed to modify its proposal to make a number of significant changes, the details of his position can be found here.

Many of these changes are in line with MAS’s position and represent significant improvements to the project. In particular, NYU is reducing the height of two of the buildings to better reflect the height of the buildings in the surrounding area, reducing the amount of overall density and below grade space, and better protecting existing open spaces.

Nonetheless, there is more work to be done to ensure that NYU’s project meets its needs for additional academic space while respecting the neighborhood that has been an important part of its success. The proposed Zipper building, especially the building segment along Houston and Mercer which rises almost 300 feet sheer from the street, remains out of context and would create a dark and uninviting corridor along Mercer Street. NYU also needs to continue to refine the site plan on the northern block to help improve circulation throughout the site and should develop a process for seeking community input to create a new open space that is welcoming and usable for all members of the public.

The next critical milestone will be the City Planning Commission public hearing on April 25^th, 2012 @ 10AM in the Museum of the American Indian (map).

MAS will be at the hearing as we continue to raise these important concerns and to make sure that this project serves the interest of NYU, Greenwich Village, and New York City as a whole.

Measuring Vibrancy: The Impacts of Arts and Culture Investments in Placemaking

Hazel Balaban — Thu, 05 Apr 2012 19:14:27 +0000

MAS is very pleased to present a special Arts Forum panel discussion on Tuesday, April 24th supported by ArtPlace and the Rockefeller Foundation, Measuring Vibrancy: The Impacts of Arts and Culture Investments in Placemaking. MAS is convening urban leaders from the development, design, economic development, research, and real estate communities nationwide to discuss options for measuring the impacts of creative placemaking.

Measuring Vibrancy: The Impacts of Arts and Culture Investments in Placemaking

DATE: Tuesday, April 24^th2012
TIME: 6:30 p.m.-8:00 p.m. Reception to follow.
LOCATION: National Museum of the American Indian, One Bowling Green,
REGISTER: Program is free but registration is required

Panelists include:

Carol Coletta, President, ArtPlace [moderator]
Joe Cortright, President and Principal Economist, Impresa, Portland,
Kevin Stolarick, Research Director, The Martin Prosperity Institute, Rotman School of Management, Toronto, ON
Kimberly Driggins, Associate Director, Citywide Planning, Washington, DC
Sue Mosey, President, Midtown Detroit, Detroit, MI

This convening represents one of MAS’s core program areas—the contribution that arts and culture make to the city’s livability. At recent the MAS annual meeting, MAS Celebrates Arts and the Livable City, we awarded Cultural Affairs Commissioner Kate D. Levin with the prestigious Evangeline Blashfield Award for her heroic efforts to promote arts and culture in New York. We also awarded John Morse with the Brendan Gill Prize for his Curbside Haikus. The celebration of and appreciation for the arts is deep-rooted in MAS’s history; we were founded by artists who understood both the intrinsic and extrinsic value of the arts to city building.

However, the impact of arts and cultural investments on neighborhoods—their economies, public safety, desirability, and enjoyment for inhabitants—is hard to quantify. This program will provide an opportunity for those engaged in placemaking to hear about various approaches to measuring the impact of arts and culture in communities.

The panel will be moderated by Carol Coletta of ArtPlace, a national collaboration of foundations, federal agencies including the National Endowment for the Arts, and some of the nation’s largest banks set up to support placemaking initiatives. To measure the impact of these types of investments, ArtPlace is developing a set of Vibrancy Indicators.

The Arts Forum is a sponsored project of the New York Foundation for the Arts with funding provided by the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs. MAS thanks the National Museum of the American Indian for helping us host this event.

MAS Panel Debates NYU Expansion

Hazel Balaban — Thu, 29 Mar 2012 21:17:05 +0000

Nearly 200 community members, NYU students and faculty packed the Scholastic auditorium Tuesday evening to listen to an expert panel debate NYU’s plans to add a significant amount of density to two Greenwich Village area superblocks (Watch the video here).

To kickoff the evening, MAS President Vin Cipolla briefly outlined NYU’s plans to add nearly half the square footage of their ambitious 6 million square feet expansion plan to the Greenwich neighborhood. Following, the panel — moderated by HR&A Chairman John Alschuler — debated whether New York City’s neighborhoods could handle the continued growth of the city’s 110 higher education institutions and still maintain the diversity that has drawn these institutions and others to these neighborhoods.

Mr. Alschuler pointed out that one of New York’s most distinctive qualities is its ability to change, “NYC is not a museum environment, we change, morph and mutate. We are a city that has an obligation to grow.” With that in mind, Hilary Ballon, deputy vice chancellor NYU Abu Dhabi and professor of urban studies and architecture and Gary Hack, former dean and professor of urban design at The University of Pennsylvania, pointed out NYU’s significance to the city and its very real need to prepare for the future. Pratt’s Ron Shiffman countered this argument with the notion that institutions can have growth in quality and not in space.

There to represent the community, Brad Hoylman, chair of Manhattan’s Community Board Two, focused the discussion on what NYU’s plans would take away from the community- particularly in regards to the scarce amount of public open space. The discussion then turned towards what NYU could do to better engage the community and to what the city might do going forward to better balance the needs of large institutions with those of the community and city at large.

Watch the full video below

NYU’s application for their Greenwich campus is now under review by the Borough Presidents Office until April 12^th. Email your concerns to the Manhattan Borough President at: bp@manhattanbp.org. After the Borough President, NYU’s application is expected to be heard by the City Planning Commission in late April and the City Council early this summer.

After spending over a year looking carefully at NYU’s plans for their Greenwich Village campus, MAS has developed a thoughtful position on the project, which can be found here: Position Statement of The Municipal Art Society of New York Regarding NYU’s Core Expansion.

MAS Applauds City Council’s Approval of St. Vincent’s Redevelopment

Hazel Balaban — Wed, 21 Mar 2012 18:01:09 +0000

On March 14, the City Council approved the proposal to redevelop the former St. Vincent’s Hospital site on West 12^th and 7^th Avenue into a mixed-use development with a new 16,667 square foot park. The agreement that was reached includes a number of community benefits, including the commitment by the Bloomberg Administration and the New York City Department of Education to build a new public school at 75 Morton Street. MAS has been focused on this project since it was announced in 2007.

At that time, MAS advocated for the preservation of the O’Toole Building. More recently, MAS urged city and elected officials to create a more balanced and equitable development proposal for the former St. Vincent’s Hospital site. After a long road, MAS is glad to see a better proposal emerge from the public review process. For more background information on the project, including MAS’s previous work, click here.

The proposal that was submitted for public review in the summer of 2011 included 450 apartments with retail and a new privately owned public space on the Triangle Site. In addition, the proposal included a 152-space accessory parking garage with an entrance on West 12^th Street. While it was not a part of this particular development proposal, the developer is committed to redeveloping the O’Toole Building into health care center.

MAS submitted testimony on the St. Vincent’s redevelopment project to the City Planning Commission last November, expressing serious concern about the lack of affordable housing in the residential units and the number of spaces in the accessory parking garage. We also urged the development of the Triangle Site as public park, to include an AIDS Memorial.

With the leadership of Council Speaker Christine Quinn, in the final agreement, the developer, Rudin Management, modified the proposal to address several of both the community and MAS’s concerns:

The Triangle Site will be a public park, rather than operating as a privately owned public space;
An AIDS Memorial will be incorporated into a 1,600 square foot portion of the Triangle Site;
The number of parking spaces in the proposed parking garage was reduced from 152 to 95; and
Rudin Management committed to donating $1 million to MFY Legal Services to help local residents retain affordable housing.

MAS is pleased an agreement was reached that takes into account the concerns of the community and civic leaders, ultimately leading to a better designed project. As new development projects begin to take shape, MAS will continue to advocate for intelligent urban design, planning, and preservation to create a more livable New York City.

The University in the Neighborhood: Debating NYU’s Expansion Plan

Hazel Balaban — Wed, 21 Mar 2012 07:58:40 +0000

Join MAS on Tuesday, March 27, for a panel discussion on NYU’s expansion plan. New York University is the latest city institution to evoke controversy with its ambitious expansion plan which would more than double the amount of density on two Greenwich Village area superblocks. NYU, like Columbia and Fordham, is an important New York City institution; however, each institution’s success relies as much on its location within New York City as in its state-of-the-art facilities.

In New York City, perhaps more than anywhere else, institutions must make a significant effort to grow in a way that respects the city’s unique neighborhoods. As the NYU expansion project has entered New York City’s public review process, MAS will be hosting a very timely panel discussion weighing the benefits and impacts of the NYU plan and comparing it with other institutional expansions.

Our expert panel includes Hilary Ballon, deputy vice chancellor NYU Abu Dhabi and professor of urban studies and architecture; Gary Hack, former dean and professor of urban design, University of Pennsylvania; Brad Hoylman, chair, Manhattan Community Board 2; and Ron Shiffman, professor, Pratt Graduate Center for Planning. HR&A Chairman John Alschuler will moderate.

The University in the Neighborhood: Debating NYU’s Expansion Plan. We proudly offer 1.0 LU CES credit and 1.5 APA CM credits for this program.

Date: Tuesday, March 27, 2012
Time: 6:00 p.m. – 7:30 p.m.
Where: Scholastic Auditorium, 557 Broadway at Prince Street
Cost: $15/$10 MAS Members, Free for Students with Current I.D.

Registration Required Online or by Telephone (212) 935-3960

DOT Bike Share Workshop Comes to MAS

Hazel Balaban — Thu, 15 Mar 2012 20:47:10 +0000

Last night, MAS, along with the New York City Department of Transportation (DOT), Manhattan Community Board 5, Borough President Scott Stringer and State Senator Thomas Duane, hosted a workshop to help decide how bike share will work and where stations should be located in Midtown Manhattan.

The workshop was attended by over 60 local residents and business owners, who gathered to explore the best locations for bike share stations in Midtown. The bike share program is expected to launch in the summer of 2012, and follows in the steps of other great cities like Paris and London in bringing bicycles to cities’ streets. You can read more about last night’s event at MAS on DNAinfo.com.

MAS sees tremendous potential in a New York City bike share program. In addition to increasing mobility, it will help introduce new people to active transportation, reduce peak-hour pressure on transit, provide a critical connection between transit stops and final destinations, and help to reduce the number of short auto trips.

MAS was excited to be a part of this promising initiative and we look forward to seeing bike share arrive to the New York City streets this summer as we continue our longstanding commitment to creating vibrant streets, sidewalks, and public spaces for all New Yorkers.

For more information about the bike share program, visit the DOT’s bike share website.

MAS Urges Modification of NYU Proposal

MAS — Fri, 02 Mar 2012 23:16:13 +0000

As an organization concerned with livability, MAS has spent several months analyzing NYU’s development plans and attending NYU presentations and community board meetings to better understand how NYU’s proposal to add 2.5 million square feet to their core campus will impact the Greenwich Village neighborhood. Our position takes into consideration NYU’s very real need to deal with pressures created by institutional growth and attempts to balance those pressures with the need to ensure that development is compatible with the surrounding neighborhood.

MAS has concluded that the amount of NYU’s proposed density is not appropriate for this historic neighborhood and would constitute an unacceptable burden, creating significant adverse impacts to several nearby transit stations and intersections due to the increased pedestrian traffic expected by project completion in 2031. In addition, the height of several of the proposed new buildings would be considerably out of proportion with the existing built form, causing shadows on the reconfigured and existing open spaces and permanently changing the character of the area. These impositions would needlessly diminish the quality of life for neighborhood residents and would set troubling precedents for similar approaches in other parts of the city.

Click on image to see larger rendering

New York University is the latest city institution to evoke controversy with its ambitious expansion plan which would more than double the amount of density on two Greenwich Village area superblocks. NYU, like Columbia and Fordham are important New York City institutions, however each institution’s success relies as much on its location within New York City as in its state of the art facilities. In New York City, perhaps more than anywhere else, institutions must make a significant effort to grow in way that respects the city’s unique neighborhoods. Community Board Two unanimously recommended the denial of NYU’s proposal which as part of the Uniform Land Use Review Procedure moves on to be reviewed by the Manhattan Borough President’s Office.

To read more about our position click here, and see our NYU web page.

If this is an issue that matters to you, email your concerns to the Borough President at: bp@manhattanbp.org.

To continue this conversation MAS will be hosting a panel discussion focused on NYU and institutional expansion on Tuesday, March 27 at the Scholastic auditorium at 557 Broadway @ 6PM with some of the city’s leading experts. Please check back for more details and stay tuned to MAS as we continue to advocate for the future of New York City.

Encouraging the City to “Zone Green”

MAS — Fri, 02 Mar 2012 20:32:38 +0000

To emphasize the importance of improving the energy efficiency and environmental performance of the city’s older buildings, MAS testified in support of the Department of City Planning’s (DCP) proposed Zone Green Text Amendment. The amendment would remove zoning impediments to the construction and retrofitting of buildings to improve energy efficiency and environmental performance, helping New Yorkers save money on energy expenses, which according to the DCP averages about $15 billion each year.

MAS is extremely supportive of the city’s efforts to promote energy efficiency measures in existing buildings. Through our Preservation and Climate Change Campaign we are working with the Landmarks Preservation Commission (LPC) and the firms Cook+Fox and Terrapin Bright Green to create a manual that will provide cost effective steps for property owners of small old buildings (less than 50,000 square feet) to improve a building’s energy efficiency and sustainability while also aligning with LPC regulations.

Although we support the proposed text amendment, we do see a potential conflict with the provision that would allow the insulation of existing buildings to be exempt from floor area as this could cause damage to older buildings, which make up the majority of the city’s building stock. Installing insulation properly requires a thorough understanding of building science. If not carefully applied, exterior insulation can hasten the deterioration of buildings by creating excessive moisture in the building envelope. It is critical that City policies balance the goals of energy efficiency with sustainability, and that measures applied to improve efficiency do not unintentionally shorten the lifespan of a building.

MAS also acknowledged the importance of exploring renewable energy and would like to see the City initiate a pilot program or discretionary review for wind turbines to ensure that unforeseen environmental impacts – such as noise and safety – are addressed before allowing 55’ wind turbines on top of buildings over 100’ tall as of right. MAS sees a waterfront manufacturing district as a good area to test the viability of this technology. Also, as green building technologies and best practices are continuously evolving, MAS as well as several other organizations urged the Department of City Planning to work with other agencies to prepare a report documenting changes to determine whether further modifications to regulations are needed.

New York City’s buildings are responsible for 75% of the City’s greenhouse gas, MAS sees this amendment as a valuable contribution to the City’s goal of reducing these harmful emissions. To read more of our comments check out our testimony and see the DCP’s website for more on the Zone Green amendment.

Community Board 2 Denies NYU Plans for Core Campus

MAS — Sat, 25 Feb 2012 01:11:54 +0000

After weeks of well attended, at times raucous public meetings, on February 23^rd Manhattan’s Community Board Two voted resoundingly to recommend the denial of NYU’s proposal to add approximately 2.5 million square feet to their core campus in Greenwich Village. The Board’s resolution denounced the amount of density proposed by the addition of four new buildings to two area superblocks, besieging the community with 20 plus years of constant construction.The Board’s 20 page resolution also criticized NYU’s lack of public engagement in the design of the proposed opens spaces, many of which have been cared for by local community groups for a number of years, and emphasized the need to preserve affordable housing among several other issues.

MAS has been carefully analyzing NYU’s proposal and recognizes that NYU has very legitimate space needs but that it must expand in a way that is respectful of the immediate community and New York City as a whole. NYU’s plan is now headed to the Manhattan Borough President’s Office for review and will then be sent to the City Planning Commission and to the City Council for a final vote. MAS is finalizing its position which we plan to release in the coming week. This research and analysis is part of our continuing advocacy in support of responsible and thoughtful development.

To learn more about this development project see our NYU web page and read our comments on the Draft Scope of Work for an Environmental Impact Statement for the NYU Core submitted to the Department of City Planning in May 2011.

The Garment District: Still Seeking Solutions

MAS — Fri, 17 Feb 2012 17:19:17 +0000

Ahead of 2012’s Fall Fashion Week, the City announced new initiatives to help strengthen New York City’s fashion industry. In October of 2011 MAS released a report on the Garment District which documented the critical assets of the district and outlined a number of recommendations to strengthen the industry. Our report: Fashioning the Future: NYC’s Garment District can be found here.

In recent days, the Bloomberg administration has floated a new proposal to retain some of the existing manufacturing in the district. The details are still emerging but the proposal seeks to raise approximately $3 million a year in revenue through an additional assessment levied on buildings with the Fashion Center BID boundaries to help subsidize property owners willing to preserve approximately 500,000 square feet of space for manufacturing within the district. The City is hoping to test this idea by releasing an RFP in the coming weeks. If successful a re-zoning of the neighborhood to allow other uses aside from manufacturing may be the next step.

Past attempts to consolidate manufacturing have been unsuccessful as landlords and fashion industry leaders have been unable to agree on the amount of space that should be preserved for manufacturing use and how long the space should be preserved. Although this proposal would preserve 200,000 square feet more than the city’s last proposal, our report documents that there is over a million square feet of space currently being used for production, so it unclear if the present proposal will be sufficient to retain the core of garment manufacturing and design that are in the Garment District. We will be watching closely as details emerge and as discussions about this vital neighborhood and critical industry continue to unfold.

Moynihan Station, Penn Station and the Future of Infrastructure in New York City

MAS — Tue, 14 Feb 2012 15:51:20 +0000

This past week, there has been a sharp spike in the media attention given to the Moynihan Station development project. It began with an article written by Michael Kimmelman, architecture critic at The New York Times, arguing that the planned redevelopment of the Javits Convention Center provided an opportunity for Madison Square Garden to be relocated to the southern end of that site, near 34^th Street and 11^th Avenue. Moving MSG, which sits on top of Penn Station, would then free up the necessary room to rebuild Penn Station into a world class train station. From Kimmelman’s perspective, improving Penn Station – which serves NJ Transit, LIRR, Amtrak and New York City Transit – would have a greater impact for commuters and visitors to New York City than would the transformation of the Farley Post Office into a new Moynihan Station – a station which is designed to primarily serve Amtrak.
For more than 15 years, MAS, along with the Friends of Moynihan Station, a broad coalition of leading civic and business groups, has advocated for a new train station in the Farley Post Office. MAS believes that the creation of Moynihan Station should be at the center of city and state efforts to develop a new commercial district on the Far West Side of Manhattan. By providing access to Amtrak, LIRR and NJ Transit trains at a location farther west, Moynihan Station will alleviate pedestrian traffic in and around Penn Station, while also helping to spur development in the Far West Side. In addition, if high speed rail is to have a future along the Northeast corridor, Amtrak needs a new home in Moynihan. Clearing out the portion of Penn Station devoted to Amtrak, would free up critical space for expanding and improving Penn Station.

MAS believes that the Mr. Kimmelman is right: we need to re-double our efforts to turn Moynihan Station and Penn Station into world class train stations and we need to be looking at creative approaches, including closing off West 33^rd Street to auto traffic between 7^th & 8^th Avenues to relieve congestion and to improve circulation in and around Penn Station.

For years, the many stakeholders involved in this project have unsuccessfully tried to convince Madison Square Garden to move off the Penn Station site to make way for the kind of station New York deserves. The reality is MSG is not moving, and in fact they have almost completed a renovation of the existing arena estimated to cost approximately $800 million dollars. The current plan recognizes that MSG is staying put and breaks down the Moynihan Station project into smaller phases to actually get the project moving forward.

In an era of budget deficits, Moynihan is a very difficult challenge and often not well aligned with the economic or election cycle. Nonetheless, it’s all the more important that we continue to champion a project that will transform the West Side of Manhattan and improve the lives of hundreds of thousands of people every day.

For more information on Moynihan Station, and MAS’s involvement in the project, click here.

St. Vincent’s Approved by CPC, What Will the City Council Do?

MAS — Mon, 06 Feb 2012 19:46:33 +0000

On January 23, 2012, the City Planning Commission (CPC) voted to approve the application submitted by the Rudin Management Company to redevelop the site of the former St. Vincent’s Hospital on West 12^th Street and Seventh Avenue. The development includes 450 apartments with retail on the East Site and new open space on the Triangle Site (see map below). For more background information on the project, including MAS’ previous work, click here.

With the approval by the CPC, the St. Vincent’s redevelopment project is now being presented to the City Council for review, MAS strongly urges both Council Speaker Christine Quinn, whose district St. Vincent’s lies in, and the entire City Council, to modify the application to address the concerns laid out in MAS’ position. The concerns expressed by MAS were also expressed by many others, including Manhattan Community Board 2. MAS’ testimony made three primary points:

Given the significant increase in residential density on this site, a portion of this new housing should be set aside as affordable housing;
The AIDS Memorial Park Campaign has lead a community driven conversation about the potential for the Triangle site to be developed as an AIDS Memorial Park, and the project needs to reflect the energy and creativity of this approach;
The applicant is proposing a new 152 space parking garage, but the applicant’s EIS indicates that there are more than enough existing spaces in the surrounding area. MAS believes that the size of the parking facility is inappropriate and will only create additional congestion on West 12th Street.

For the full testimony, click here.

The CPC concluded that the lack of affordable housing in the project site was acceptable, as the new housing included in the project would not change the character of the surrounding neighborhood, which is primarily residential. Moreover, the Commission stated that the 152-space accessory parking garage would not have an adverse effect on traffic in the area, and therefore is appropriate. However, while the report did not recommend that the Triangle Site be developed as an AIDS Memorial Park, it did encourage the leaders of the AIDS Memorial Park Campaign to work with Rudin Management.

The CPC report, and their suggestion for Rudin to work with the AIDS Memorial Park Campaign, comes at an opportune time. In November 2011, a design competition was launched by the Campaign, which yielded almost 500 proposals. On January 29, 2012, the AIDS Memorial Park Campaign announced a winner of the design competition, studio a+i. Click here to see renderings and read about the winning design.

The announcement of the winner of the design competition has garnered widespread media attention from outlets ranging from New York Magazine to NY1. MAS is excited about the potential of this creative design and urges the Rudin Management team to work with members of the AIDS Memorial Park Campaign to create a park that seizes on this energy.

City Builder Book Club: MAS Staffer Mary Rowe on Death and Life

MAS — Thu, 02 Feb 2012 17:58:55 +0000

Mary W. Rowe, vice president of strategy and partnerships at MAS, is this week’s guest writer for City Builder Book Club. The City Builder Book Club is a joint venture between the Centre for City Ecology and Creative Urban Projects to facilitate a deeper understanding of how cities work by hosting a guided reading and discussion of books that have developed and challenged ideas on urbanism. This winter, the book club is reading at book many of us at MAS hold dear, Jane Jacobs’ The Death and Life of Great American Cities. Read an excerpt from Mary’s article below, or read it in its entirety here. You can also read along with the book club, which is reading 1-2 chapters per week, through April. The reading schedule is listed their website.

Mary Rowe on the Introduction: Why you will read and reread this book

…This week we are to be reading the Introduction. On the page facing it, Jacobs chose to quote Oliver Wendell Holmes, whose ideas she greatly admired. I am struck by the hopefulness of the quote she chose:

“…more complex and intense intellectual efforts mean a fuller and richer life. They mean more life. Life is an end in itself, and the only question as to whether it is worth living is whether you have enough of it.” (Jacobs quoting Oliver Wendell Holmes, Front matter, The Death and Life of Great American Cities, Random House, New York, 1961.)

The Introduction begins with a sentence for which she is now—in professional planning circles—infamous. “This book is an attack on current city planning and rebuilding.” The chapter—which is really a tour de force, summarizing the ideas that she will lay out in detail and the notions that will become, over time, generally accepted as the contemporary understanding of how great, large, complex cities thrive, or decline. But that first sentence has led what may have already been a narcissistically-preoccupied profession—urban planning—into thinking this book, and therefore city-building, is about them. (Attention readers who happen to be planners: You probably think this book is about you, don’t you…don’t you…?). It really isn’t. What we’ve seen in my lifetime (I am just slightly older than the book) is the democratization of city-building, with Jacobs’ neutralizing the traditional deference paid to ‘experts’, in favour of the real experience of people. Her practical, common sense analysis and shunning of grand approaches and universal theories was by her own powers—as Holmes advocated—by which she made sense of the city. She challenges her readers to do so also. Where has this left the profession of planning? If lay people—who live, work, and use the city in every way—know best what they need and want from it, what “expertise” does a planner bring? This is a worthy question, to which lots of planners have creatively responded (including several you will read here, in subsequent posts). But Death and Life is not about planning or planners. It’s about life.

As mentioned earlier, Jacobs wrote a new essay for the front matter of the 1992 edition, to include with the original Introduction. If your edition doesn’t include it, you might want to borrow a friend’s 1992 book or read an excerpt online as it provides a further challenge from the author to better understand how cities work, and the still generally unheeded implications for their planning and governance.

Reading Death and Life first in the Jacobs canon is important because the concepts here underpin her work that follows. In reflection you can see the seeds of subsequent volumes—how city economies grow, the challenges of governance and dependencies on “senior” governments, the importance of seeing connections—the “web” of organized complexity, her distrust of large “schemes” or one-size-fits-all universals (from the “right” or the “left”). And she lays out her method, to which you will see she returns again and again, as her “tactics for understanding”:

think about processes, not outcomes;
work inductively, not developing theories and applying them; and
look for the “un-average”—clues that explain things in smaller instances and quantities that may be instructive at larger scales. (For more information on this, see the final chapter of Death and Life, “The Kind of Problem a City Is”.)

Death and Life is an eloquent and rigorous primer of the Jacobs way. And if you’re like me, you’ll return to Death and Life again and again, as a reminder to pay attention to what you are seeing… Continue reading