All Posts Under Urban Planning

Winter Talks: City on A Grid – How New York Became New York

The Manhattan street grid has been called “a disaster” of urban planning and “the most courageous act of prediction in Western Civilization”. In other words, you either love it or hate it. Join Gerard Koeppel as he relates the history of this uniquely New York marvel through his most recent book.

The Legacy of Jane Jacobs

In 1960 Jane Jacobs’s book The Death and Life of Great American Cities sent shockwaves through the architecture and planning worlds. Join us as New York Times columnist Ginia Bellafante talks to Matt Tyrnauer, director and producer of the acclaimed documentary Citizen Jane: Battle For the City, Robert Hammond, Co-Founder and Executive Director of Friends of the High Line, and Dr. Samuel Zipp, Associate Professor of American and Urban Studies at Brown University and co-editor of Vital Little Plans: The Short Works of Jane Jacobs, about Jacobs’ extraordinary impact on the urban landscape.

Central Park, Manhattan Bandshell Area

Join us for a lively discussion about the future of regional transit, why Madison Square Garden needs to be moved, how it can happen, and what a new, world-class Penn Station would mean for New York.

Urban Food Policy Forum: Food Systems and Regional Planning

Food related issues touch nearly every aspect of our society including the economy, health, transportation, and land and water use. Urban planners analyze these sectors in order to achieve strategic, policy, and sustainability goals with the intent of making cities work more effectively. With food playing such a pivotal role in the life of cities, planners are increasingly looked upon to take more of a central and active part in shaping the urban food environment. This forum looks at ways this is happening in New York City as illustrated by the recently released Five Borough Food Flow report and the upcoming Fourth Regional Plan.

Strange Bedfellows: Real Estate, The Arts, and the Value of Space

As government funding for the arts vacillates with the ping-pong of dual-party politics, and as periodic recessions strip many wealthy donors of their giving capacity, the precarity of the creative community has become the norm. Join us for a discussion as we devise new ways to fortify the arts through New York City’s one true constant: the ever-rising value of space.

Free Energy Workshop

If you are interested in learning more about how to make your home more energy efficient, and the financial and environmental benefits, please join us !

The Biophilic Workplace – What’s Old is New Again

Join us for a lively discussion with practitioners on the leading edge of biophilic design. How can biophilic principles support a healthier, more resilient urban environment? What does a biophilic workplace look like? Does it really provide tangible benefits to productivity and the bottom line? What bioinspired innovative strategies and products are being developed? Come find out.

Jane Jacobs Centennial Lecture: Janette Sadik-Khan

Janette Sadik-Khan, former NYC Department of Transportation Commissioner who introduced pedestrian plazas, bike lanes and bike sharing, will speak on the legacy of writer and preservationist Jane Jacobs (1916-2006), whose work changed the way the world views and understands cities. Award-winning author and preservationist Roberta Brandes Gratz will introduce Sadik-Khan.

Wellington Chen

Chinatown was hurt during Hurricane Sandy, with many non-English speaking elderly stranded in high rises without water, lights, heat, or elevators. What future plans for the historic neighborhood are best, as projections for sea level rise increase?

Book Talk: Eyes on the Street: The Life of Jane Jacobs by Robert Kanigel

Come hear Robert Kanigel talk about his book, the first major biography of Jane Jacobs. “Eyes on the Street: The Life of Jane Jacobs” is about the irrepressible woman who changed the way we view and live in cities, and whose influence can still be felt in any discussion of urban planning to this day.

Jane’s Walk in the Park: Madison Square Park and The Urban Forest

Join Trees New York’s Arborist and Education Director, Sam Bishop, for a tree walk in Madison Square Park. Sam will be pointing out different kinds of trees and plants that grow in and around the park, and how they clean our air and water, nurture and feed our wildlife, and improve quality of life for all New Yorkers.

Ensuring Urban Resilience, Come Hell Or High Water

Urban resilience also means changes in land use along with better and more equitable ways to protect a city’s people. Realizing these innovations requires that New York and other great cities must give high priority to advancing the emerging capacities to foster and make the most of new approaches to climate risk management.