Since its founding in the mid 1990s, Alliance for Downtown New York has long been one of the world's leading business improvement districts. This non-profit organization has presided over the reinvention of New York's historic Financial District as a thriving 24-hour live/work district, while retaining a respectable share of the city's financial services sector. The Alliance built a network of Wi-Fi hotspots that lit up nearly every major public space in the district - not just outdoor locations like Bowling Green and City Hall Park, but also indoor atria like the Winter Garden and 60 Wall Street.
New York
Naming a Nonexistent Neighborhood
"Greenwich South" is a proposed re-branding of an area near the World Trade Center site, driven by The Alliance for Downtown New York and re-envisioned by ten different architectural firms.
GOOD Magazine
Green Apple?
Tara Lohan reviews David Owen's new book, Green Metropolis, which extols the ecological virtues of Manhattan. In her opinion, Owen doesn't ask the right questions and ignores some inconvenient facts.
AlterNet
Combining Pavement and Reusable Materials to Make Urban Parks
Allison Arieff argues that cities should look to reversible parks modeled on the Pavement to Parks program to prevent blight, combat the practice of land banking, and model sustainable practices.
NYTimes: By Design Blog
What Today's Cities Will Look Like in the Future
Imagining cities of the future can bring about some pretty wild predictions. But when they're visions of existing cities, these futuristic predictions can be almost realistic.
io9
Rethinking the Street Space: Toolkits and Street Design Manuals
Cities are taking charge when it comes to their streets. A number of big American cities have come out with manuals and toolkits to guide their design. In the third part of their series on streets, Amber Hawkes and Georgia Sheridan look at some of the emerging street design manuals and how they're working.
Centralizing the Garment Center to Save It
As manufacturing continues to move overseas and offices fetch higher rents, NYC's Garment Center is struggling, threatening NYC's reputation as a fashion hub. City officials, manufacturers, labor unions, and designers weigh in on how to save it.
New York Times
America's Most Congested Cities
Forbes has released its list of the most congested cities in America. Los Angeles, New York, Chicago, Dallas and Washington D.C. top the list.
Forbes
Bloomberg's Office In Hot Water Over Yankee Stadium Deal
Mayor Bloomberg's office reportedly cut a deal with the Yankees allowing 250 more parking spaces and three additional billboards at their new stadium in exchange for a luxury suite, complete with free food and access to post-season games.
The New York Times
Education Suffers in NY Projects
A new study shows that kids living in subsidized housing in New York do significantly worse on standardized tests than those outside the system. Is it possible to understand the true cause of the problem, and if we do, how do we fix it? Judy Chang reports.
A Plan for Hudson Park
Hudson Park and Boulevard is a new 4-acre system of parks being created in New York. Landscape architects Michael Van Valkenburgh Associates were selected to make their vision reality.
The Architect's Newspaper
Key New York City Council Member Predicts Future for Congestion Pricing
Council Member David Yassky was one of congestion pricing's earliest and most vocal proponents, and he hasn't yet given up on the prospect of charging tolls to drive in Manhattan.
The Planning Report
Cash for Transit Drives Hudson Yards Plan
James S. Russell comments on the $1 billion deal to redevelop Hudson Yards, and finds the plan lacking in vision.
Bloomberg.com
Latest Culprit of Housing Crisis: Transit Expansion
Falling revenues from real estate taxes could impact transit expansion plans as New York's MTA faces a sharp decline.
Trains on the Brooklyn Bridge?
In the early days, trolleys and trains carried 400,000 passengers a day over the Brooklyn Bridge. With continued growth in pedestrian traffic, a former transit commissioner says a rail renaissance might not be so far-fetched.
NY1 News
The Densest Cities in America
The blog post features a list of the top five densest cities in America, and looks at the conditions that have made them that way.
Environmental Graffiti
Why Culture Matters: Do as Others Do, Whether In Eating or Cycling
Why Americans don't cycle in the cold and rain, and why they do in Amsterdam.
Streetsblog
After revisiting Moses, New York turns again to Jane Jacobs
Sat, 09/22/2007 - 18:30
Now it’s Jane’s turn.
