Events

Panel: Jane Jacobs and the Future of New York: The Oversuccessful City, Part 1: Developers’ Realities

There are economic realities that underlie development and change in the city, all the more so in flush times. In facing the challenges of the growing city, New Yorkers need to consider these truths and their implications. This, the first of two panels on what Jane Jacobs called "oversuccess," will consider these issues primarily from the developer's perspective — with the objective of opening up a conversation about economics, land value and other issues that shape the city.

By Aaron Donovan

7:51 PM EDT on September 13, 2007

There are economic realities that underlie development and change in the city, all the more so in flush times. In facing the challenges of the growing city, New Yorkers need to consider these truths and their implications. This, the first of two panels on what Jane Jacobs called “oversuccess,” will consider these issues primarily from the developer’s perspective — with the objective of opening up a conversation about economics, land value and other issues that shape the city.

Jane Jacobs explored these realities and the ways that economic considerations influence political decision-making and cultural development. Real-estate developers have a particular interest in (and control over) how urban land is used, especially in New York, where the costs of land and construction are so stratospheric. The economic logic of development today — and the regulatory climate in which it occurs — seems to favor high-density, high-revenue developments. How has this reality affected the fabric of the city as a whole? What motivates developers and what constrains them?

Charles V. Bagli, The New York Times — moderator
Douglas Durst, developer
Eugenie L. Birch, University of Pennsylvania
Greg O’Connell, developer
Carlton Brown, Full Spectrum NY

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.

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