Over the last decade, many historic buildings and cultural institutions throughout New York City have disappeared. The result has been the transformation of neighborhoods and the city’s character.

Nathan Kensinger looks at ten buildings that have disappeared from New York City in the last decade, and the effect of those losses on neighborhoods. "As new development projects and rezonings reshaped the city, it also lost countless historic buildings and cultural institutions; dive bars, bungalows, churches, and even entire neighborhoods were wiped off the map."
In Harlem, Manhattanville is an industrial neighborhood that is quickly disappearing as Columbia University expands its campus. The loss, says Kensinger, is buildings and other structures that capture the essence of the city and connect the present to the past. "What has been erased in Manhattanville is the same type of vernacular architecture that is vanishing throughout New York City: diners and tenement buildings, cobblestone streets and slaughterhouses, auto body shops and horse stables.”
He writes about a variety of other places that are completely or mostly gone, including the Cedar Grove Beach Club in Staten Island, the 5 Pointz warehouse and graffiti haven in Long Island City, and the S.W. Bowne Grain Storehouse on the Gowanus Canal.
"New York has always been a dynamic place that changes and reinvents itself. But these recent developments represent something different, where billionaires and politicians conspired to maximize private profits and enrich private developers by destroying thousands of small businesses and dozens of neighborhoods," notes Kensinger.
FULL STORY: A decade of destruction in New York City

Planetizen’s Top Planning Books of 2023
The world is changing, and planning with it.

Chicago Red Line Extension Could Transform the South Side
The city’s transit agency is undertaking its biggest expansion ever to finally bring rail to the South Side.

How ‘Daylighting’ Intersections Can Save Lives
Eliminating visual obstructions can make intersections safer for all users.

Green Spaces Benefit Neighborhoods—When Residents can Reach Them
A study comparing green space and walkability scores found that, without effective access to local parks, residents of greener neighborhoods don’t reap the health benefits.

Eugene Ends Parking Minimums
In a move that complies with a state law aimed at reducing transportation emissions, Eugene amended its parking rules to eliminate minimum requirements and set maximum parking lot sizes.

Chicago Announces ‘Better Streets for Buses’ Plan
The plan establishes a ‘toolkit’ of improvements to make the bus riding experience more reliable, comfortable, and accessible.
Alamo Area Metropolitan Planning Organization
City of Morganton
San Joaquin County
HUD's Office of Policy Development and Research
HUD's Office of Policy Development and Research
Chaddick Institute at DePaul University
Park City Municipal Corporation
National Capital Planning Commission
City of Santa Fe, New Mexico
Urban Design for Planners 1: Software Tools
This six-course series explores essential urban design concepts using open source software and equips planners with the tools they need to participate fully in the urban design process.
Planning for Universal Design
Learn the tools for implementing Universal Design in planning regulations.