Next New York

Join the 2024 Rewire Fellows as they present groundbreaking ideas for transforming New York City’s buildings and public spaces into catalysts for a climate positive future.

Join us for a roundtable discussion on building clean energy in our neighborhoods with Ben Kleinbaum, Gita Nandan, Trevor Reynolds, Youngjin Song and Anika Wistar-Jones.

Join us for a roundtable discussion on biodiversity as a foundation for good neighborhood design with K.C. Alvey, Myles Davis, Zenobia Meckley, John Pavacic and Alejandro Vazquez.

Join us for a roundtable discussion on shaping resilient transportation with Kate Fillen-Yeh, Luba Guzei, Mary Kimball, Neg Lakew and Tiffany-Ann Taylor.

Join us for a conversation on adapting New York City’s coastal neighborhoods with Michael Haggerty, Dina Levy, Alex Miller, Oksana Mironova, Jeremy Siegel and Rachel Wilkins.

Join us for a roundtable discussion on decarbonizing homes citywide with Chris Benedict, Paul Garrin, Diana Hernandez, Jennifer Leone, and Pallavi Mantha.

Join us for a roundtable discussion on circular design and embodied carbon with Kaja Kühl, Amy Seek, and Jonce Walker.

Join us for a discussion with Costa Constantinides, Eunice Ko, Laura Popa, and Daphany Rose Sanchez on the power of organizing to shape new climate policy.

For the finale of our Good Form program series: How should New York City embed health equity into every design and development process over the next decade?

How can trauma-informed public space design improve the mental health and wellbeing of all New Yorkers?

How can we tackle respiratory health disparities with new investments in building and streetscape improvements?

How can new infrastructure and inclusive design improve the mental health experience for all park goers?

How can the city leverage anchor institutions, like hospitals or universities, for greater investment in the public realm?

On December 7, join us for a discussion on the role of public space in supporting healing and belonging.

On November 2, join us for a discussion on how permanent housing can shape healthier communities. 

On October 3, join us for the inaugural event of Good Form to discuss how we can create healthier and more connected neighborhoods.

On July 14, join us for drinks and a discussion to celebrate the conclusion of our Streets Ahead roundtables.

On June 10, join us and our Good Form Fellows for a neighborhood walking tour with Anna Bakis and Kristin Brown & Ryan Greenlaw.

On June 22, come celebrate the release of our ideas on how to shape future streets for care.

On June 8, join us for a roundtable discussion on shaping future streets for climate.

On May 18, join to discuss shaping future streets for commerce.

On May 4, join us to discuss shaping future streets for culture.

On May 29, join us and PCA-STREAM to discuss an ambitious proposal to transform the Champs Élysées.

On March 10, join us for a discussion on climate-resilient streets in Medellín.

On February 24, join us and Global Designing Cities Initiative to discuss streets in Fortaleza.

On January 20, learn street design in Barcelona that is creating safe and sustainable neighborhoods.

On December 2, tour Moynihan Train Hall and discuss the future of Penn Station.

On November 19, join us on Broadway to discuss new streetscape activations and future opportunities.

On November 9, join us and NYC DOT for a presentation of the Broadway Vision Plan.

On October 21, join us in Bed-Stuy to explore existing and future streetscape activations.

On October 14, join us in Jackson Heights to explore existing and future streetscape activations.

On October 8, join us in Meatpacking to discuss future and existing streetscape activations.

On October 29, join us for a presentation of the SoHo Broadway Public Realm Vision Plan.

On October 13, join us and Downtown Brooklyn Partnership for a presentation of the Downtown Brooklyn Public Realm Action Plan.

On September 14, join us for a neighborhood walking tour in the Lower East Side.

On July 29, join us for a neighborhood walking tour in Hudson Square.

On June 16, join us for a roundtable discussion on tailoring development tools to deliver greater public benefits with 21 Visions for 2021 advisors Caroline Harris, AJ Pires, and Laura Wolf-Powers. Speakers will later be joined by respondents Munsun Park, Nur Asri, and Valerie White. 

Join us for a discussion on designing an inclusive public realm under the next mayor with Seb Choe, Lindsay Harkema, Margaret Jankowsky, Inbar Kishoni, and Justin Garrett Moore.  Thriving neighborhoods have beautiful parks, well-maintained plazas, lively high streets, and welcoming public buildings that encourage New Yorkers to gather and interact. Yet marginalized communities often lack […]

Join us in discussion with Sam Assefa, Director of Seattle’s Office of Planning & Community Development. After the discussion, Moses Gates, Annie Levers, and Beatrice Sibblies will join as respondents. In 2015, Seattle’s elected officials passed the 2035 Comprehensive Plan, a guide to future neighborhood growth. The 20-year roadmap framed planning, design and development initiatives […]

On May 13, join us for a lunchtime roundtable with Pooja Agrawal on how London is reshaping public design through Public Practice and the Mayor’s Design Advocates.

On February 25, Fellows joined us for drinks and discussion with two organizers confronting the nation’s housing crisis: Janne Flisrand and Tommy Newman.

On January 24, join us for a half-day forum on the recent progress and lessons learned from the East Midtown Rezoning.

On December 17, Fellows joined us for drinks and discussion on how historic racial planning policies produced the spatial inequalities of New York City today.

On November 20, Fellows were invited for drinks and discussion on the history of the community planning process in New York City.

On October 28, David Karnovsky, V. Mitch McEwen, Jack Robbins, and Ben Carlos Thypin discussed the history and future of zoning in New York City.

On July 8, we celebrate our newest publication on July 8 with a conversation on building a political movement around our public works.

On May 29, we hosted a debate on the future of industrial zones in New York City with Andrew Chung, Armando Moritz-Chapelliquen, Toby Moskovits and Toby Sheppard Bloch.

On April 3, Fellows joined us for a tour of 40 Tenth Avenue (“Solar Carve Tower”) with Weston Walker and 412 W 15th Street with Robert Finger.

Join us for a roundtable discussion on building New York's life science economy.

Join us for a roundtable discussion on the future of workspace in New York City. 

On January 25, we hosted a half-day forum on transforming Downtown Brooklyn into a thriving live-work neighborhood.

On December 12, we hosted a roundtable conversation with the new NYC Nightlife Mayor Ariel Palitz, Danny Pearlstein, Leni Schwendinger, Andreina Seijas, and Luc Wilson on designing an inclusive and equitable night realm.

On November 29, Fellows enjoyed breakfast and a tour of 25 Kent with architects Joseph Brancato and Anne-Sophie Hall, and developers Jeff Fronek and Toby Moskovits.

On November 8, Lena Afridi, Andrew Deitchman, David Gilford, Larisa Ortiz and Eldon Scott shared their proposals for strengthening small businesses and designing the retail experience with SBS Commissioner Gregg Bishop.

On October 2, we welcomed David Ehrenberg and Claire Weisz for the unveiling of the Brooklyn Navy Yard Master Plan, along with tours of new projects with Jonathan Marvel and Navid Maqami.

On May 14, the Urban Design Forum and the Institute for Public Knowledge launched Onward, featuring contributing authors Shin-pei Tsay, Rebecca Bailin, and Jeffrey Shumaker in conversation with Greg Lindsay and moderated by editor Daniel McPhee.

On April 9, the Forum invited Meredith Almeida, Ellen Baer, Laura Hansen, Josh Levin and Leslie Ramos to debate how all neighborhoods and commercial corridors can equitably funded and maintained.

On February 13, the Urban Design Forum invited Scott Anderson, Betsy MacLean, Sam Marks, Gregory Schiefelbein, and Barika Williams to debate how to maintain and expand affordable housing in New York City.

On January 17, the Urban Design Forum invited Frances Halsband, Elissa Hoagland, Andrew Lavallee, Signe Nielsen, and Commissioner Mitchell Silver to debate how to design and finance New York City's neighborhood parks.

On December 13, the Urban Design Forum invited Ken Fisher, Robert Paley, Joe Rose, Matthew Washington and Madelyn Wils to discuss creative proposals for how TDR can be utilized to maintain New York City’s public infrastructures.

On October 18, we were joined by Elena Conte, Susannah Drake, Margaret Newman, Jennifer Pehr and Nicholas Pettinati to hear original proposals for re-thinking New York City’s arterial roadways.

Join us on September 26 for our Fall Fellows Dinner with Daniel Biederman, Rasmia Kirmani-Frye and Mitchell Silver on how New York City should sustain its public realm.

On September 6 we were joined by Tim Braine, Jonathan Cohn, John Falcocchio, Susan Fine and Eve Michel as they proposed new solutions to care for New York City's 472 subway stations.

On August 10 we were joined by Sharon Davis, Michelle de la Uz, Brad Lander, Gita Nandan, and Andrea Parker as they proposed leveraging development in Gowanus to expand the neighborhood's green infrastructure network and preserve the area's cultural assets.

On June 14 we were joined by Danny Fuchs, Jennifer Godzeno, Ronnie Lowenstein, Preston Niblack and Henry Grabar for an investigation into how the city budget impacts the built form of New York City.

On May 1 we were joined by Eloise Hirsh, Sam Schwartz, Margaret Tobin, and Deborah Marton offered a retrospective on caring for New York City’s public assets from the fiscal crisis to today.

On February 16 the Forum hosted a tour of the Public Design Commission Archives! Some of the highlights included a maintaining budget from Robert Moses, and some rather peculiar street signs!

On November 7, the Urban Design Forum hosted its Fall Dinner, Momentum: New Mobility and the City. To celebrate our yearlong Onward initiative exploring new ideas to reimagine New York City’s streets and transit networks. we invited Jay Walder and Rohit Aggarwala to consider how new sensing, sharing, and cycling technologies are not only changing our streets but the city itself.

New York City's subway system is suffering from rising infrastructure costs, declining investment and record overcrowding. Superstorm Sandy and the pending L-Train shutdown remind us that our aging transit system is vulnerable to climate change.

On June 15, the Urban Design Forum invited Tara Pham, Co-founder and CEO of CTY; Oliver Schaper, Practice Area Leader in Planning & Urban Design for Gensler’s North-East region; Sam Schwartz, President, and CEO of Sam Schwartz Engineering; Claire Weisz, Founding Principal at WXY architecture + urban design, and moderator Jill Lerner, Principal at Kohn Pedersen […]

On June 15, the Urban Design Forum invited Jill Morgenweck, Director of Regional Operations at Shyp; Makoto Okazaki, Partner and Principal Architect at Michael Sorkin Studio; Paul Salama, Zoning + GIS Lead at Envelope; Juliette Spertus, Co-founder of ClosedLoops; and moderator Greg Lindsay to debate the future of urban freight. Lindsay introduced the roundtable by […]

On May 25, the Urban Design Forum invited Kate Ascher, Partner at Buro Happold; Margaret Newman, Associate Principal at Arup; Paolo Santi, Research Scientist at MIT Senseable City Lab; and Catherine Seavitt, Principal of Catherine Seavitt Studio, to participate in our second roundtable on the future of transportation in New York City. After a brief […]

Join us April 25 for cocktails and conversation on the future of surface transit in New York. As New York’s population booms and subway construction costs skyrocket, city officials are turning to leaner solutions like bus rapid transit, bike share and ferry routes to move New Yorkers. But how can we connect the city’s burgeoning waterfront […]

In January 2016, the Urban Design Forum led a hard hat tour of the World Trade Center Transportation Hub led by Robert Eisenstat, Chief Architect of the Port Authority of New York & New Jersey. The $4 billion, Santiago Calatrava-designed hub will connect 11 different subway lines and serve an estimated 200,000 commuters each day. […]

New technologies are revolutionizing the way we move through cities. Car- and bike-share options are swaying more urbanites to ditch their cars. E-hail companies are enhancing ease and access across the five boroughs. Rapid delivery services are reducing trips to grocery stores and retailers. Autonomous cars and trucks are being tested on roads across America. How will these technologies shape our streets, transit networks, and public realm? Could private cars finally become obsolete?

On October 13, thirty Fellows of the Urban Design Forum participated in a members-only tour of the 7 Line extension and Hudson Yards construction site led by Beth Greenberg and Richard Dattner, Principals at Dattner; Shawn Kildare, Senior Vice President at MTA Capital Construction; Alexia Friend, Michael Van Valkenburgh Associates; and Michael Samuelian, Vice President […]

On November 17, the Forum + Institute for Urban Design invited Shola Olatoye, Chair of the New York City Housing Authority, and Jerilyn Perine, Director of the Citizens Housing & Planning Council, to discuss the future of public housing in New York City. Public housing, owned and managed by the New York City Housing Authority […]

For nearly a century, the City of Vienna has built one of the world’s most ambitious social housing programs. Over 60% of all Viennese households live in council housing owned or subsidized by the Austrian government. And unlike the uniform housing blocks associated with other global cities, Vienna’s housing balances low rents with inventive architecture, […]

After our inspiring spring forum surveying the state of public housing across the nation, we turned our attention to New York City. As many as 600,000 residents live in public housing managed by the New York City Housing Authority (NYCHA). Yet the authority faces mounting challenges: aging buildings in various states of disrepair, dwindling federal […]

In April 2014, fellows of the Urban Design Forum convened with top housing officials and experts to discuss the state of American public housing. Across the nation, cities from New Orleans to Chicago have razed and replaced housing projects with mixed-use communities, housing vouchers, and tax credits. New York City is one of the last […]

On July 30, the Forum hosted the Next New York Fellows Dinner to celebrate the culmination of the Next New York series. Daniel Doctoroff (Bloomberg LP) and John Zuccotti (Brookfield Office Properties) joined Julia Vitullo-Martin (Regional Plan Association) in conversation about new directions for the next mayor. What were the most pressing challenges facing New […]

In December 2012, fellows of the Forum assembled to discuss plans for one of New York City’s key new development projects: the CornellNYC Tech campus on Roosevelt Island. The Forum met with Andrew Winters, Director of Capital Projects for the university, to review the master plan and proposed architecture. Situated just north of Four Freedoms […]

In September 2012, the fellows of the Forum gathered to debate the viability of the Low Line, a proposed underground park underneath Delancey Street on New York’s Lower East Side. The pair behind the park, James Ramsey and Dan Barasch, are exhibiting a prototype of a new technology that filters light from the surface underground, […]

In April 2012, the Forum for Urban Design convened to discuss the tallest building in the world to be built with modular construction. Bruce Ratner and MaryAnne Gilmartin of Forest City Ratner and Christopher Sharples of SHoP Architects presented their ambitious 32 story prefab tower at Atlantic Yards. Although modular construction has been experimented with […]

On November 2, the Forum convened four figures who have radically reconfigured the New York City urban landscape under Michael Bloomberg: Daniel Doctoroff, former Deputy Mayor for Economic Development; Janette Sadik-Khan, Commissioner of NYC DOT; Adrian Benepe, Commissioner of NYC Parks; and Adriaan Geuze, Principal of West 8 and Designer-in-Charge of Governors Island. Doctoroff opened […]

On September 26, members of the Forum gathered to tackle the preservation of quotidian places. David Freeland, historian and author of Automats, Taxi Dances & Vaudeville, presented Tin Pan Alley and 135th Street, two sites of musical innovation at the turn of the twentieth century that had not yet been preserved by the New York […]