After the World Trade Center attacks, planners, neighbors, and Mayor Bloomberg supported reweaving the site into the city's street grid, in the process undoing "a painful planning error of the 1960s." Security concerns seem to have won out, however.
"With the blank slate offered by a catastrophic attack, planners, soon joined by the mayor himself, saw a chance to re-establish a great crossroads in the middle of ground zero: Fulton and Greenwich Streets, tying the second World Trade Center into the city — north, south, east and west," writes David W. Dunlap. "Now, however, they see that vision slipping away, as security concerns trump urban planning."
"The Police Department has proposed encircling the site with a fortified palisade of guard booths, vehicle barricades and sidewalk barriers," he explains.
“The argument that these measures will disconnect the site from the rest of Lower Manhattan ignores the fact that people largely experience the city on foot and on bikes,” said Richard C. Daddario, the deputy police commissioner for counterterrorism, in defending the plan. “The measure of connectiveness should not be the volume of vehicle traffic passing through the site.”
FULL STORY: World Trade Center May Be Isolated Again, This Time by Security Measures
Saving Lower Manhattan
A debate over how to protect the East River waterfront from Sandy-level flooding and storm damage has delayed the project as community activists decry the city's last-minute change of plans.
20 Years After 9/11: The 'Age of Skyscrapers' Is Nowhere Near Over
Despite predictions that the events of September 11, 2001 would be the end of skyscrapers, U.S. cities are building more tall buildings than ever.
World Trade Center Rebuild Almost Complete With Approval of 900-Foot Mixed-Use Tower
Plans have been approved for the development of 5 World Trade Center, in place of a building damaged on September 11 and eventually torn down.
Planning for Congestion Relief
The third and final installment of Planetizen's examination of the role of the planning profession in both perpetuating and solving traffic congestion.
Minneapolis Housing Plan a Success—Not for the Reason You Think
Housing advocates praise the city’s move to eliminate single-family zoning by legalizing triplexes on single-family lots, but that isn’t why housing construction is growing.
New White House Housing Initiative Includes Zoning Reform Incentives
The Biden administration this morning released a new program of actions intended to spur housing construction around the United States.
Proposed Transit Line Would Connect Downtown Tucson to Airport
Based on community input for a 15-mile transit line, residents want to see a focus on affordable housing development and anti-displacement measures.
Strip Malls as a Housing Solution
The American strip mall may be a dying breed of commercial development, but could the buildings serve a new use as sustainable housing?
Study: Most of Vancouver Is a ‘15-Minute City’
A large majority of Vancouver residents can access a grocery store in 15 minutes or less by bicycle or on foot.
Urban Planning Partners
Sandy City
Ada County Highway District
HUD's Office of Policy Development and Research
HUD's Office of Policy Development and Research
HUD's Office of Policy Development and Research
City of Redwood City
City of Rohnert Park
City of Hot Springs
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.
Hand Drawing Master Plans
This course aims to provide an introduction into Urban Design Sketching focused on how to hand draw master plans using a mix of colored markers.
