Overview

Two unique events shaped the magnificent unnatural geography of New York City and created its sense of place: the Commissioners' Plan of 1811 and the zoning resolution of 1916. The first imprinted Manhattan with a two-dimensional plan, a rectangular grid defined by broad north-south avenues, multiple east-west cross streets, and by its standard units: blocks of two hundred feet by six hundred to eight hundred feet. The second determined the city's three-dimensional form by restricting uses by district, by limiting the maximum mass of a building allowed on a given site.This book addresses the fundamental challenge facing every American municipality: Can zoning - the basic tool of municipal land-use control - balance growth and equity? As New York plans for the future, the nation's foremost commentators on urban planning, architecture, land-use law, and design discuss the accomplishments of New York's zoning laws and explore alternative scenarios for guiding the city's future development.The chapters in this book were originally prepared for a symposium on the history and future of planning in New York City. The authors provide a skillful blend of urban history, architectural review, economic analysis, and social commentary. Contributors include such experts as Jonathan Barnett, Sigurd Grava, Frances Halsband, Jerold Kayden, Brian Kintish, Eric Kober, Michael Kwartler, Larry Littlefield, Norman Marcus, R. Susan Motley, Richard A. Plunz, Peter D. Salins, Richard L. Schaffer, John Shapiro, Robert A. M. Stern, Roy Strickland, Marilyn Taylor, Robert F. Wagner, Jr., and Carol Willis. This book is essential reading for planners, architects, historians, developers, and municipal officials concerned with guiding the future of America's cities. Its lessons are vital for every city in America.

Full Product Details

9780882851433

Table of Contents

Reviews

-Planning and Zoning is based on a January 1992 symposium held in observance of two 1991 anniversaries: the 75thanniversary of New York's 1916 zoning resolution, often called the nation's first comprehensive zoning law, and the 30thanniversary of its 1961 comprehensive revision.- --Planning -The main idea in this volume edited by Todd W. Bressi is that the premise that planning equals zoning doesn't work. A second message... is that in trying to make zoning do more than it perhaps should, we have got less than we could have... Although this book is nominally about New York City, it has much wider application. The specific circumstances that New York's zoning has been asked to address are familiar to planners everywhere: stimulating downtown development; preserving the historic or natural environment; providing housing of appropriate scale, cost, and location... Much of the discussion in Planning and Zoning New York City is explicitly about zoning. But the book is implicitly a dialogue about planning, and therein lies its importance... Articles in issues of both this journal and the Journal of Planning Education and Research have reopened discussion of the appropriate nature and scope of planning. The discussion should be expanded to include zoning as well as the relationship between planning and zoning. Planning and Zoning New York City begins that expansion and is thus as important for planning theorists and educators as for practitioners who see their zoning codes massaged and manipulated until, like New York's, they are less than the sum of their parts.- --Patricia Burgess, Journal of the American Planning Association -A first-rate primer on public finance . . . relevant for understanding the hard choices facing other states.- --Publius -A guide to responsible fiscal behavior in all states.- --Growth and Change -[A]n excellent book.- --Book News -[A] stimulus for further studying the problems of big cities in general and New York City in particular.- --Business Library Review -About New York C ity [but] has much wider application... [It is] as important for planning theorists and educators as for practitioners.- --APA Journal -Interesting to non-New York City planners for its cogent analyses of alternative regulatory strategies.- --Journal of Planning Education and Research ""Planning and Zoning is based on a January 1992 symposium held in observance of two 1991 anniversaries: the 75thanniversary of New York's 1916 zoning resolution, often called the nation's first comprehensive zoning law, and the 30thanniversary of its 1961 comprehensive revision."" --Planning ""The main idea in this volume edited by Todd W. Bressi is that the premise that planning equals zoning doesn't work. A second message... is that in trying to make zoning do more than it perhaps should, we have got less than we could have... Although this book is nominally about New York City, it has much wider application. The specific circumstances that New York's zoning has been asked to address are familiar to planners everywhere: stimulating downtown development; preserving the historic or natural environment; providing housing of appropriate scale, cost, and location... Much of the discussion in Planning and Zoning New York City is explicitly about zoning. But the book is implicitly a dialogue about planning, and therein lies its importance... Articles in issues of both this journal and the Journal of Planning Education and Research have reopened discussion of the appropriate nature and scope of planning. The discussion should be expanded to include zoning as well as the relationship between planning and zoning. Planning and Zoning New York City begins that expansion and is thus as important for planning theorists and educators as for practitioners who see their zoning codes massaged and manipulated until, like New York's, they are less than the sum of their parts."" --Patricia Burgess, Journal of the American Planning Association ""A first-rate primer on public finance . . . relevant for understanding the hard choices facing other states."" --Publius ""A guide to responsible fiscal behavior in all states."" --Growth and Change ""[A]n excellent book."" --Book News ""[A] stimulus for further studying the problems of big cities in general and New York City in particular."" --Business Library Review ""About New York C ity [but] has much wider application... [It is] as important for planning theorists and educators as for practitioners."" --APA Journal ""Interesting to non-New York City planners for its cogent analyses of alternative regulatory strategies."" --Journal of Planning Education and Research ""[A] stimulus for further studying the problems of big cities in general and New York City in particular."" ""--Business Library Review"" ""About New York C ity [but] has much wider application... [It is] as important for planning theorists and educators as for practitioners."" --APA Journal ""Interesting to non-New York City planners for its cogent analyses of alternative regulatory strategies."" --Journal of Planning Education and Research ""Planning and Zoning is based on a January 1992 symposium held in observance of two 1991 anniversaries: the 75thanniversary of New York's 1916 zoning resolution, often called the nation's first comprehensive zoning law, and the 30thanniversary of its 1961 comprehensive revision."" --Planning ""The main idea in this volume edited by Todd W. Bressi is that the premise that planning equals zoning doesn't work. A second message... is that in trying to make zoning do more than it perhaps should, we have got less than we could have... Although this book is nominally about New York City, it has much wider application. The specific circumstances that New York's zoning has been asked to address are familiar to planners everywhere: stimulating downtown development; preserving the historic or natural environment; providing housing of appropriate scale, cost, and location... Much of the discussion in Planning and Zoning New York City is explicitly about zoning. But the book is implicitly a dialogue about planning, and therein lies its importance... Articles in issues of both this journal and the Journal of Planning Education and Research have reopened discussion of the appropriate nature and scope of planning. The discussion should be expanded to include zoning as well as the relationship between planning and zoning. Planning and Zoning New York City begins that expansion and is thus as important for planning theorists and educators as for practitioners who see their zoning codes massaged and manipulated until, like New York's, they are less than the sum of their parts."" --Patricia Burgess, Journal of the American Planning Association ""A first-rate primer on public finance . . . relevant for understanding the hard choices facing other states."" ""--Publius"" ""A guide to responsible fiscal behavior in all states."" ""--Growth and Change"" ""[A]n excellent book."" ""--Book News"" ""[A] stimulus for further studying the problems of big cities in general and New York City in particular."" ""--Business Library Review"" ""A first-rate primer on public finance . . . relevant for understanding the hard choices facing other states."" ""--Publius"" ""A guide to responsible fiscal behavior in all states."" ""--Growth and Change"" ""[A]n excellent book."" ""--Book News"" ""About New York C ity [but] has much wider application... [It is] as important for planning theorists and educators as for practitioners."" --APA Journal ""Interesting to non-New York City planners for its cogent analyses of alternative regulatory strategies."" --Journal of Planning Education and Research

[A] stimulus for further studying the problems of big cities in general and New York City in particular. --Business Library Review

<p> [A] stimulus for further studying the problems of big cities in general and New York City in particular. <p> --Business Library Review

-Interesting to non-New York City planners for its cogent analyses of alternative regulatory strategies.- --Journal of Planning Education and Research

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Todd Bressi

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