In the classic book The Death and Life of Great American Cities, Jane Jacobs once said, “Cities have the capability of providing something for everybody, only because, and only when, they are created by everybody.” And this same theory could, and should, be applied when analyzing New York University’s 2031 expansion plan.
Whether you agree or disagree with the project, there’s one huge flaw that sticks out in the city’s overall planning process here. For all its proposals, studies, special zoning districts and other tools available to the public, the New York City Department of Planning has no institutional master plan in place, as thoughtfully pointed out by Gary Hack, professor of urban design and former dean of PennDesign at the University of Pennsylvania’s School of Design at the Municipal Art Society’s recent debate about the project.
Hack said other cities, such as other “university towns” like Philadelphia and Boston, have these plans set-in place to provide a blueprint for how colleges, universities and institutions can grow, and to showcase where economic growth is needed. This approach could not only pinpoint where additional development could be supported, but where the additional density makes sense.
New York, despite its image as the financial and media capital of the world, is quietly one of America’s biggest college towns. According to data from the city, the city’s five boroughs are home to 500,000 students across 110 higher education institutions. And with a student population of 40,000+, NYU is large chunk of that.
But NYU, a private institution, has its sights set across three different locations: its core Greenwich Village campus, the Health corridor on First Avenue and Downtown Brooklyn, where it plans to construct six million square feet of new academic and commercial space. And according to the NYU 2031 website, the university does not consider its plan as a master plan because the school “does not have a large, continuous campus over which it can exert control,” and rather, it is a “citywide strategy for how to provide the physical space needed for NYU’s long-range academic goals.”
But based upon the backlash from the local community (and not only here, but during Columbia University’s battle over the “Manhattanville” expansion in Harlem), a master plan developed by the city could help set clear goals by the municipality and its citizens about what growth should look like. It can also target designated areas for growth, like the Bronx, central Brooklyn or large swaths on Staten Island, which could benefit economically from the addition of more students and jobs. Universities can be an excellent stabilizing force.
I am not for or against the project in either way. NYU, a strong economic contributor to the Village economy and one of the city’s top employers, has a need to compete on a international level with other universities in the wake of global competition. The West Village, on the other hand, is one of the city’s most cherished historic neighborhoods that should be protected and valued for generations to come. Striking a deal between these two has – and always has been – a delicate balancing act.
With Borough President Stringer’s resolution about whether to support or reject the plan coming on April 12, I am hoping to see a project that allows the school to expand while respecting the community’s wishes to cut down on some of the density. But it won’t be an easy task. Stringer is between a rock and a hard place: his constituents and the most powerful university in the entire city, in addition to real estate lobbying groups, labor unions and construction trade organizations.
But as Ronald Shiffman, a professor at Pratt’s Graduate Center for Planning, so eloquently put it, “it is important that we look at this in its full-dimension rather than just a real estate deal.”
Want to continue reading?
Become a Free ALM Digital Reader.
Once you are an ALM Digital Member, you’ll receive:
- Breaking commercial real estate news and analysis, on-site and via our newsletters and custom alerts
- Educational webcasts, white papers, and ebooks from industry thought leaders
- Critical coverage of the property casualty insurance and financial advisory markets on our other ALM sites, PropertyCasualty360 and ThinkAdvisor
Already have an account? Sign In Now
*May exclude premium content© 2024 ALM Global, LLC, All Rights Reserved. Request academic re-use from www.copyright.com. All other uses, submit a request to [email protected]. For more information visit Asset & Logo Licensing.
