Last year MAS and the RPA unveiled Penn 2023, a report outlining a bold vision for a new Penn District in West Midtown. This session will cover new ways of thinking about and enhancing the Penn district – including options for a relocated Madison Square Garden – and what these changes could mean for the country's busiest train station.
One of the hallmarks of successful cities is a dynamic creative sector that contributes to the vibrancy of neighborhoods, and to the life of the city as a whole. How do artists—as designers, as activists, as provocateurs, as bridge-builders—connect disparate parts of the city and different communities to one another?
New York City is one of the most important global centers of capital, a distinction it shares with few cities around the world. What trends are we seeing, and what challenges do we need to address, in maintaining our financial leadership? What can we learn from other centers of global capital?
Entrepreneurs have helped fuel an innovation economy in New York City over the last 200 years, but the rising cost of living and working, and other factors, are major deterrents to the kind of risk-taking that made New York “New York.” What steps must we take in order to sustain a creative, entrepreneurial class?
The Accidental Skyline maps created by the Municipal Art Society and the Urban Reviewer maps created by 596 Acres, allow for information that is technically publicly available – but typically inaccessible or incomprehensible – to be presented in a clear, concise manner to the public. These technologies can be used to demystify the planning process making it more transparent and accessible to all New Yorkers. They allow us to better understand our neighborhoods and become more informed and engaged residents. These Smart Talks will discuss the role of innovative technology in shaping and sharing city planning.
Stemming from the belief that we deserve to live in environments that have a positive impact on our health, happiness and wellbeing, Delos has engaged leading doctors, scientists, architects, designers, and thought-leaders to identify, develop and integrate features and technologies that create a healthy interior environment. As the pioneer of the WELL Building Standard® and founder of Wellness Real Estate™, Delos transforms indoor environments by placing health and wellness at the center of design and construction decisions. “Health in the Built Environment” will explore the principles behind engineering healthy spaces, providing insight into marrying design and construction processes with evidence-based health and wellness technologies.
New York City’s attention on the Tech and Information Technology Sector is well publicized, but several of the City’s life sciences research and healthcare institutions are also partnering with the City of New York to stimulate economic development, create more livable public environments, and leverage intellectual leadership in achieving scientific and clinical breakthroughs.
Andrea Lamberti, Partner at Rafael Viñoly Architects will discuss how a recent project—the master plan for Rockefeller University—demonstrates this trend through innovation that preserves historic structures and a majestic landscape, while simultaneously increasing open space.
From Hudson Yards to Atlantic Yards and One Vanderbilt to One World Trade Center, New Yorkers in every neighborhood are faced with the newest towers in development. 190 million square feet of commercial space, however, is comprised of existing stock in need of revitalization. In order to remain competitive and preserve New York’s unique culture, owners are opting to transform these facilities into Class A office space or high-end residential properties. Pat Hauserman, First Vice President with Tishman Construction, an AECOM company, will share how these transformations elevate our city and explain the significant community, business and sustainable benefits of repositioning occupied buildings.
Projects That Ignite is a pitch session that will showcase three exciting and innovative urban interventions, selected through an open call for submissions. The projects are unique in scope and scale but are united in their alignment with Jacobsian principles and their potential to positively transform the city. A diverse panel of experts will respond to each pitch with valuable feedback and the audience will actively engage in advancing projects to the next phase.
Greg Lindsay (Emcee) (Senior Fellow, World Policy Institute)
Mary Rowe (Keynote) (Director of Urban Resilience and Livability, MAS)
Robert Hammond (Co-Founder, Friends of the High Line)
Jeff Merritt (Senior Advisor, Office of the Mayor)
Erin Barnes (Co-Founder, ioby)
The Jane Jacobs Forum is hosted by the MAS Urbanists, with support from The Rockefeller Foundation. It is free and open to the public but space is limited and registration is required for guaranteed seating.As the world continues to rapidly urbanize, we look at the role that cities can play in delivering justice and opportunity for all their citizens. Where can we find examples of interventions that protect human rights, empower residents, and strengthen the social and economic capacity of the city?
Responding to what has called "a crisis of affordability," Mayor de Blasio launched an ambitious plan to add or preserve 200,000 units of affordable housing in the next ten years. New York City Director of City Planning Carl Weisbrod will provide an update on the program, and explain the city's approach and progress to date.
Cities face many challenges with competing solutions: climate change, economic inequality, lack of access to resources and opportunities, and social and political conflict. Can we plan and design for outcomes that serve nature and human rights of people? Join Toni L. Griffin, Director of the J. Max Bond Center on Design for the Just City and David Maddox, Founder and Editor of The Natures of Cities, as they initiate a year-long collaboration with the MAS Global Practitioner Network on creating green and just cities.
Cities are global incubators of economic and social innovation. How can we continue to position cities as worthy of investment?
Community-based planning emphasizes the role of community members in envisioning their neighborhood’s future. In this session, a short video will highlight how that approach guides MAS’ planning efforts in Brownsville, and a panel of grassroots planners will discuss their own work in the neighborhood.
The W. Allison and Elizabeth Stubbs Davis Award is named in honor of the parents of former Parks Commissioner Gordon J. Davis and is awarded to a deserving employee of the New York City Department of Parks and Recreation.
The award will be presented this year to Jerry Childs, Center Manager, Brownsville Recreation Center.
Exploring design at the intersection of time, place, program and identity, Ms. Rodriguez will discuss her work as catalysts for change throughout the boroughs of New York City. Her talk will address the importance of design at the intersection of architecture and the public realm—an approach that creates buildings that forge lasting and memorable connections to their immediate sites as well as the community at large. At its best, architecture can also redefine a neighborhood (the Frank Sinatra School for the Arts now anchors the Kaufman Arts District in Queens); recontextualize a long-standing debate (as does the Sackler Center for Feminist Art at the Brooklyn Museum); repurpose a building typology for societal good (as Schermerhorn House now shelters the formerly homeless, low-income artists and a non-profit performance space); and serve as an example of how institutional vision can create unique public buildings at the intersection of culture and transportation (New York Botanical Garden Parking Garage). Ms. Rodriguez will examine design as it operates in both visible and invisible ways in our City—all in the service of catalyzing change in the public realm.
Neighborhoods across New York are experiencing development and growth, whether it takes the form of super-tall towers and gentrification, new waterfront spaces and housing opportunities, or green building construction. What can our Borough Presidents tell us about the transformations underway in their boroughs?
Historically New Yorkers have thought about the East River as the city’s edge, but it is poised to become the city’s new center. With new development, public space and transportation sprouting up on both sides of the river, proposals for further intensification, and pressing challenges of affordable housing and sea level rise, the East River presents a series of compelling new challenges. This panel will explore this fascinating future, with an eye towards what the River offers New York as a place to live, work and play.
Cities need well maintained and modern infrastructure to thrive and grow yet many are facing hard choices about how to pay for these necessary improvements. What are some new strategies to raise money necessary to keep these systems thriving? How has borrowing money crippled the budgets of our infrastructure agencies, and how will it affect future generations. What are new ideas to address this very real crisis?
Fragile Success - Smart Talk by Thomas K. Wright
Capital vs. Labor: It’s not just for Karl Marx! - Smart Talk by Nicole Gelinas
Smart Ways to Fund Transportation - Smart Talk by Veronica Vanterpool
Paying for the City: New Forms of Finance - Smart Talk by Shalini Vajjhala
The Community Growth Corporation: The Art and Science of Community Finance - Smart Talk by Jesse M. Keenan
The de Blasio administration was elected last year on a platform of change, with a mandate to re-balance inequality in the city and ensure broader opportunities for all New Yorkers. In this exciting culmination of the 2014 Summit for New York City, a panel of resourceful, imaginative New Yorkers will offer their insights on top priorities and ideas for the city in the coming year, in response to ideas submitted by Summit attendees over the course of the two days.
"Boards and Chains"
Choreographed by Michelle Dorrance and Nicholas Young
Dancers: Elizabeth Burke, Michelle Dorrance, Leonardo Sandoval, Byron Tittle, Gabe Winns and Nicholas Young