Regional Plan Association, in collaboration with Guy Nordenson and Paul Lewis of Princeton University, is hosting a design competition to transform four corridor geographies within the New York metropolitan region.
Once in a generation, Regional Plan Association produces a long-range vision for the tri-state region. Due out later this year, RPA’s fourth regional plan, A Region Transformed, will propose investments and policies that will shape how we develop as a region over the next half century. This blueprint for the region’s future will reflect our vision of shared prosperity, health and livability, resiliency and good governance.
With the right strategies and political will, the New York-New Jersey-Connecticut metropolitan area could be a place that fulfills its promise of opportunity for all; a coastal region that shows the rest of the world how to adapt and prosper in an age of rising seas and temperatures; and a global hub that harnesses its immense resources and innovative talent to make this fast-paced, expensive metropolis an easier, healthier and more affordable place to live and work.
Innovative design work is an essential part of refining and building support for RPA’s proposals for the fourth regional plan. These design proposals need to be grounded in specific places but also strategic enough to be applied across the region and over the long term. These designs must address the issues of equity and sustainability for the region’s most vulnerable residents: half the households in the region spend more than a third of their income on rent and the majority of families in the region have seen their real incomes decline. By 2050 2.3 million people, including many of our most vulnerable residents, are expected to be living in areas at risk of flooding. These challenges are captured in detail in RPA’s diagnosis of how the region has changed over the last generation, Fragile Success.
Through a Request for Qualifications followed by an interview process, a distinguished jury will select four teams to take part in a collaborative design initiative. Final design work will be included in RPA’s fourth regional plan to be released later this year and also showcased in a prominent exhibition. Selection will be based on professional experience, creativity and capacity to respond to this unique challenge. Each team will develop designs for one of four corridors identified in the region.
Read more: Design Competition, RPA