Events

Panel: Jane Jacobs and the Future of New York: Is New York Losing Its Soul?

Today's New York City is safer and more economically robust than anyone could have imagined in the gritty 1970s, or even the early 1990s. But there is more to city life than economic success. As blocks and neighborhoods begin to respond to success, some have lost elements of the character that made them distinctive. National chain stores, bank branches, drugstores and cellphone outlets abound, seemingly beyond all measure, and housing costs have soared beyond the reach of the middle classes, never mind the bohemians.

By Aaron Donovan

7:18 PM EDT on September 13, 2007

Today’s New York City is safer and more economically robust than anyone could have imagined in the gritty 1970s, or even the early 1990s. But there is more to city life than economic success. As blocks and neighborhoods begin to respond to success, some have lost elements of the character that made them distinctive. National chain stores, bank branches, drugstores and cellphone outlets abound, seemingly beyond all measure, and housing costs have soared beyond the reach of the middle classes, never mind the bohemians.

Where does the life of the city come from? Is New York on the verge of losing its creative edge? What can be done to ensure the city’s ongoing vitality? Join a celebrated panel for a provocative discussion on whether the texture of the city—the tangible and intangible components that create its soul — is eroding or evolving.

Clyde Haberman, The New York Times — moderator
Rocco Landesman, Jujamcyn Theaters
Alison Tocci, Time Out New York
Darren Walker, Rockefeller Foundation

Aaron Donovan

Before he began blogging about land use and transportation, Aaron Donovan wrote The New York Times Neediest Cases Fund's annual fundraising appeal for three years and earned a master's degree in urban planning from Columbia. Since then, he has worked for nonprofit organizations devoted to New York City economic development. He lives and works in the Financial District, and sees New York's pre-automobile built form as an asset that makes New York unique in the United States, and as a strategic advantage that should be capitalized upon.

Events