Planning New York

New York City’s Planning Department undertakes to make the city a better place to live, to maintain what works and improve what doesn’t. How does it face today’s most pressing challenges?

New York and London have many similarities: global presence, population size, demographic and economic profile, but also severe housing shortage and growing inequality. But they have radically different systems of government. NYC’s Planning Department has the tricky task of balancing housing provision and job creation, through – amongst other tools – the complex process of ‘zoning’. It also has to manage the classic top-down bottom-up dynamics that shape and re-shape the urban and social landscapes of these global cities. Marisa Lago, Chair of the New York City Planning Commission, reflected on the challenges of delivering change under Mayor Bill de Blaiso’s administration.

This event was co-hosted with LSE Cities and held on 5th November 2019.