NEW YORK CITY-Several weeks ago, Eldad Gothelf, a senior planning and development specialist and a member of the Herrick, Feinstein Land Use Group, penned a piece for GlobeSt.com on his vision for zoning in the city. Framed in the context of the 50th anniversary of the 1961 Zoning Resolution, Gothelf outlined several key concepts to keep New York City vibrant in the future. GlobeSt.com caught up with him to follow up on these concepts and to find out why he advocates for bigger, taller buildings and more conservative landmark preservation.

GlobeSt.com: What part of the 1961 Zoning Resolution had the largest impact on the City in your view?

Gothelf: The 1961 zoning was a complete overhaul of zoning as it was known here in New York City. There was zoning before that—there was a 1916 resolution. But in 1961, the zoning resolution that passed revamped completely the way that zoning was looked at in New York City. It introduced everything we know about the specific technicality about zoning—height and bulk and floor area ratio—in ways that didn’t exist previously in and it dealt with use in ways that didn’t exist previously in New York City. It separated uses in a way that the City wasn’t used to and it created new zoning for every part of New York City, which was obviously a massive undertaking and it really began to shape the City in a completely different way moving forward.