plans: NYC 2030

by Tom Angotti
February, 2007

When Mayor Michael Bloomberg announced a plan for New York City in the 
year 2030, he said it was needed because the city will be getting much 
bigger, the infrastructure will be getting older, and the environment 
will be at risk. Plan NYC 2030 (or, the way the Office of the Mayor 
actually writes it, plaNYC) is based on the prediction that in the 
coming decades there will be a million new residents requiring some 
265,000 new housing units.

Only once before has there been something similar – a master plan known 
as The Plan For New York City, in 1969 – but it was never approved. For 
the first time in the city’s history, City Hall is focusing on:

• the long-term environmental and health effects of growth (both past 
and present)
• how the city’s energy and transportation systems can sustain quality 
of life and new growth
• the potential impacts of global warming.

It remains to be seen, however, whether this unique planning effort is 
itself sustainable, and will lead to policy changes that last beyond 
2008, when voters will elect a new mayor. That will depend on the extent 
to which the process can include and engage people in the city’s diverse 
neighborhoods and reflect their needs and aspirations.

cont'd....
http://www.gothamgazette.com/article/landuse/20070206/12/2095
http://www.gothamgazette.com/article/searchlight/20061212/203/2059