For the first time in forty years, New York has set in motion a broad-scale initiative to reform its zoning ordinance. The centerpiece – and the dominant topic of discussion in real estate and community board circles alike – is the Unified Bulk Program.

Through the passage of this reform, the city hopes to regain control of its physical destiny. The 1961 zoning reform established a modernistic vision of New York City with hightowers surrounded by park-like open spaces. This vision came to be known as Tower-in-the Park zoning. Soon after its passage, however, planners realized that the sharp contrast … Read more…

There is a general consensus among both experts and the public at large that New York City suffers from a chronic shortage of affordable housing. For policy planning purposes it would be useful to know just how much of a shortage there is. Once the question is addressed directly, however, it quickly becomes apparent that it defies a simple answer and that underlying it are a host of value judgments about how families should live, what policies should be pursued, and how the market will respond to them.

The difficulties associated with defining housing need and anticipating market adjustments are … Read more…

The 1989 City Charter sought to give communities a greater say in the land use policies that affect them. The charter provision governing neighborhood plans, known as 197-a, was rewritten and the Planning Commission was instructed to devise formal procedures for their adoption.

The new rules were implemented after a lively debate over the relative merits of local versus centralized planning. As the first to have its zoning recommendations formally proposed as law, a plan negotiated between Manhattan’s Chelsea community and the Department of City Planning (DCP) is being hailed by many as a model of how the 197-a process … Read more…