Proposals

To respond to the climate crisis, New York City must preserve M-zones and invest in manufacturing and industrial innovation.

Public investments in open space, retail, and streetscapes can promote economic development by connecting and enriching New York’s life sciences hubs.

Coworking spaces should reflect the identity of their attracted members in order to thrive at work.

The community-focused approach of coworking can benefit justice design for a better inmate, visitor, and neighborhood experience.

Activate underutilized NYCHA spaces with workspaces for residents.

Design flexible campuses and flexible laboratory space that allow for easy growth and future modifications.

New York City should invest in non-profit organizations and spaces to create a safe ecosystem for Black entrepreneurs and creatives.

New York City’s industrial sector must undergo climate adaption and mitigation as a mechanism for economic opportunity and environmental justice.

By Gretchen Dykstra The heart of Manhattan was reborn when the Times Square Business Improvement District (BID) was established in 1992, led by Gretchen Dykstra. Dykstra went on to serve as Commissioner of Consumer Affairs under Mayor Bloomberg, and was the Founding President of the National 9/11 Memorial Foundation. Today, she lives in the Hudson […]

By Carter Strickland Improved water quality paved the way for the redevelopment of New York City’s waterfront from manufacturing to residential and park uses. But combined sewer overflows remained a vexing problem—exacerbated by a century of development and increased rainfall during to climate change. Carter Strickland worked on the problem as Deputy Commissioner and then […]

By Theodore Liebman Theodore Liebman, FAIA, has devoted his career to examining the impacts of development on people and the environment, with an eye to improving cities and shaping future settlements. Now a Principal with Perkins Eastman, an Adjunct Professor at NYU, and Board Member with the Consortium for Sustainable Urbanization, Liebman casts his mind […]

By John Raskin John Raskin had a ringside view when legislative efforts to secure transit revenues through East River and Harlem bridge tolls were defeated in Albany in 2009, when John was serving as Chief of Staff to State Senator Daniel Squadron. Since 2011, Raskin has applied his previous experience in community organizing to transit […]

By Margaret Tobin A decades-long impasse over the development of the west side waterfront ended in the summer of 1993 when Margaret Tobin, Tom Fox, and councilman Tom Duane cut open a chainlink fence at Pier 62—returning a small piece of the waterfront to the public realm. Tobin served as the Executive Vice President and […]

By Sam Schwartz Samuel I. Schwartz came to be known as “Gridlock Sam” while serving as NYC Traffic Commissioner. Since then Schwartz has continued to apply himself to the city’s transportation challenges; first at the Department of Transportation (DOT), and later at the eponymous firm he founded in 1995. In the early 1990s, Schwartz outlined […]

Daniel McPhee speaks to Marisa Lago and Regina Myer about transforming Downtown Brooklyn into a thriving live-work neighborhood.