Timeline

As RPA’s President for its first decade, George McAneny worked to turn the ideas of the First Regional Plan into reality. George McAneny also served as Manhattan Borough President, Comptroller of the City, and coordinated the 1939 World’s Fair.

The Meadowlands are wetlands located in Northern New Jersey that serve as a sanctuary for wildlife and a critical convergence of infrastructure. At the turn of the century, several planners in Newark and New York wanted to develop rather than preserve the Meadowlands as open space. In 1930, RPA released a report which recommended filling in the Meadowlands to create a city large enough to accommodate five million people. The cost of filling in the ​“swamp lands” was estimated to be $125 million in 1930. In later years, RPA would come to recognize the importance of preserving wetlands.

“The Rebuilding of Blighted Areas” is a Depression-era book that defined blight and suggested policy solutions, such as public housing projects and slum clearance through eminent domain. It specifically highlighted Manhattan’s Lower East Side. In earlier publications, RPA recommended the construction of a riverfront park of 50 to 100 acres and the acquisition of a number of playgrounds to improve living conditions in the Lower East Side.

From 1929 to 1939, the number of planning boards in the region increased from 61 to 204. In 1936, the planning commission for New York City was formed. RPA’s chief administrative officer at the time, Lawrence Orton, was one of the first commissioners, and he served in that role for 31 years.

The First Regional Plan recommended a bus terminal in Midtown to handle suburban traffic, and in 1950, the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey opened the first bus terminal in Manhattan. However, in recent years, it has become readily apparent that more capacity is needed to move commuters across the Hudson River into the City.

RPA has a long history with the Brooklyn-Queens Expressway. In the 1930s, RPA recommended the construction of the highway between the Gowanus Parkway and the Triborough Bridge, which was completed by 1964, with the promenade opening in 1954. However, as the environmental and social impacts of highway construction have become increasingly clear, RPA became a strong advocate for reducing car dependency and providing reliable and affordable alternatives to private vehicle travel. In 2019, New York City released a plan to rebuild the BQE’s triple cantilever that called for a temporary six-lane highway on the Brooklyn Promenade. RPA published, ​“Reimagining the BQE,” a pivotal report that recommended demand management strategies to reduce traffic on the BQE, fundamentally shifting the dialogue among agencies and stakeholders. The report spurred the Mayor to appoint a panel of the City’s leading experts, including RPA’s President Tom Wright, to examine new solutions.

In the 1950s, some members of the Board of RPA considered its dissolution, on the grounds that its mission, the promotion of the First Regional Plan, was largely complete with the building of the Verrazzano Bridge. Then, RPA was asked to undertake a new project analyzing the impacts and alternatives to sprawl. Over the next three years, RPA’s Board grew, $1.5 million was raised for research, and the term ​“spread city” was created to describe the region’s new settlement pattern. RPA identified a rapid increase in lot size requirements that was spreading housing and scattering non­residential development. Open land would be urbanized at a breakneck rate, the study showed. ln fact, by 1970, 2,200 square miles had been urbanized, nearly five times the area urbanized in 1925.

The U.S.’s first planned industrial city, Paterson, NJ, is home to one of the largest waterfalls in the country, Paterson Great Falls. In 1972, RPA advocated for the Great Falls and the surrounding area to be transformed into a national park and recommended that the city preserve its historic factories and encourage office development downtown. In 2009, President Barack Obama made the 77-foot waterfall and the area surrounding a national historical park. It was formally added to the National Park System in 2011.

In plans for the Meadowlands, RPA shifted its thinking from development to preservation. It advocated for the creation of the Hackensack Meadowlands Development Commission to coordinate land use in the wetlands. RPA also recommended preserving 3,100 acres, redirecting waste that was disposed in the wetlands, and moving office development to cities such as Paterson and Newark. The 1972 plan for the Meadowlands was modified on RPA’s suggestions.

The Committee on Minority Affairs (COMA) was composed of 57 members, chaired by H. Carl McCall, President, Inner City Broadcasting Corp and chairman of the editorial board of the Amsterdam News, and led by Executive Director Junius Williams, a Newark at­torney. It was established because Black and Puerto Rican members of RPA noted that urging residents to engage in planning for their communities, while giving little voice to Black and Puerto Rican members in planning for that involvement, was contradictory. To strengthen the CHOICES project, RPA allocated a large portion of project funds to COMA and COMA had autonomy in their engagement with residents. COMA provided their own background reading and questionnaires for the town halls focused on housing and poverty.

Reducing the number of cars in Manhattan in favor of more public transit has been a longtime goal of RPA’s. RPA convinced the New Jersey Turnpike Authority to route new highway lanes to the George Washington Bridge, instead of to the Lincoln Tunnel, and challenged a proposal to add a third tube to the Queens-Midtown Tunnel. Additionally, RPA proposed extending the bus system to connect low‐income areas to nearby manufacturing districts, more free bus transfers, discounts on off-peak train tickets, and creating more subway stations in transit deserts.

During the 1973 oil crisis, RPA announced the results of a study demonstrating for the first time the direct relationship between higher urban densities and lower per capita energy consumption. That study helped to make the concern over oil supplies a powerful force for recentralizing activities in cities.

“Urban Space for Pedestrians” took approaches for analyzing vehicle traffic and applied it to the needs of pedestrians. The report recommended expanding sidewalks, selectively closing streets to vehicle traffic, and designing buildings to give more space for walking and amenities. It set off nationwide studies and plans for improved conditions for pedestrians.

The region suffered heavily during the 1970s recession. As New York City teetered on the edge of bankruptcy, President Gerald Ford refused to commit federal funds. RPA called for New York, New Jersey, and Connecticut to work together to overcome their economic difficulties, and recommended the three states collaborate rather than compete with each other for resources.

In 1978, President Jimmy Carter announced the first National Urban Policy, which reflected many of RPA’s recommendations. In a telegram sent to RPA on the eve of its 50th anniversary dinner, President Carter stated that RPA’s support and leadership had been critical for his administration’s policy.

RPA supported the creation of New Jersey Transit, which operates buses and commuter rail across the state. Formed in 1979, NJ Transit was the third-largest provider of public transportation in the country in the 2010s. It was considered a model transit system in the 1980s and 1990s, with several expansions, including the Hudson-Bergen Light Rail, Midtown Direct, Montclair Direct, and Secaucus Junction. NJ Transit also electrified rail lines, rationalized fare systems, and extended the Newark Subway.

As RPA geared up for its Second Regional Plan, it warned that the region was in danger of decline due to racial and economic segregation. In the late 1970s, RPA conducted extensive surveys in several New Jersey cities, including Newark, Elizabeth, Clifton, East Orange, and Passaic, and argued that lingering prejudice could stall efforts to rebuild smaller cities. Published in 1979, ​“Segregation and Opportunity in the Region’s Housing” was a major research effort which demonstrated that regional segregation was the result of racial discrimination rather than income differentials between White and Black Americans. The study reported that discrimination was a major reason why two-thirds of Black families in the region were confined to about 1.35 percent of the residential land. It also recommended five steps toward improving the situation, including strengthening public and private fair housing organizations at the county level, creating a region-wide network of housing counseling, information, and referral services, and an active enlistment of the real estate industry through both incentives and sanctions in the effort to end housing segregation.

There are tens of thousands of brownfield sites, or potentially contaminated underutilized land, across the U.S. RPA’s Metropolitan Brownfields Initiative was a multi-year project in the 1990s that reviewed brownfields that could be recycled and revitalized within New Jersey. Staff members inventoried a number of sites, including former industrial properties, abandoned waterfronts, and other environmentally degraded landscapes, and assisted communities in reclaiming them. The final report of the Brownfields initiative, ​“Making Redevelopment Accessible in New Jersey,” was published in 1998.

RPA’s advocacy for open space continued between the publication of the Second and Third Regional Plans. The organization’s focus shifted to linking regional open spaces via a network of greenways. One example was the Merritt Parkway, a limited-access expressway stretching 37.5 miles in Connecticut. RPA stated that the parkway should have a trail to provide recreation benefits for Fairfield County, whose residents suffered from the third worst air quality in the nation in the 1990s. RPA consolidated its recommendations in ​“Building a Metropolitan Greensward,” which was presented at a meeting of environmentalists, planners, and government officials in 1993.

The gap between the rich and poor accelerated in the late 20th century. RPA and the United Way of Tri-State released a report in 1986 warning that inequality would strain the region. Then, a severe economic downturn hit New York, and from 1989 to 1992, the region shed 770,000 jobs, one of the largest job losses of any U.S. metropolitan region since World War II. Lack of investment in the region’s schools, rail systems, community design, and natural resources slowed the economic recovery. Ridership fell by 20 percent on the New York City subway system. By the time of the Third Plan’s publication in 1996, it was still not clear if the economy could fully recover. Success in the region could no longer be defined in simple terms of economic growth without accounting for social and environmental costs and benefits.

Connecticut took steps to address its public transportation gaps at the turn of the century. In 2010, the Transit for Connecticut coalition commissioned a study by RPA that analyzed vehicle trip patterns to determine where additional public transit service might serve the most new riders. Around that same time, the New Haven - Hartford - Springfield corridor received High Speed Rail stimulus funding, and the Hartford - New Britain Busway was expected to receive federal New Starts funding. RPA argued that these two projects, along with other efforts statewide to expand bus and rail service, would provide Connecticut communities with a level of transit access that had been absent for generations. To reap the greatest economic, mobility, and environmental benefits, RPA stated that their implementation must go hand in hand with land use planning for transit-oriented and walkable downtowns and neighborhoods. It would help break the State’s dependence on cars and achieve carbon reduction goals.

RPA supported Access to the Region’s Core (ARC), which would increase rail capacity under the Hudson River. RPA released several reports between 2003 and 2010 analyzing the project, including a statistical analysis that predicted that ARC would add a cumulative $18 billion to home values within two miles of NJ Transit and Metro-North Port Jervis and Pascack Valley train stations. Unfortunately, the ARC project was cancelled in 2010 by Governor Chris Christie.

“Upgrading to World Class” recommended adding new runways at both Newark Liberty International Airport (EWR) and John F. Kennedy International (JFK) airports in order to accommodate future demand. Guided by an Airport Stakeholders Group, the report looked at a wide variety of solutions, including improved technology for managing air space, diverting air passengers to Amtrak by improving intercity rail service, and making greater use of smaller regional airports. RPA suggested several land-side and ground access improvements, including a one-seat AirTrain ride from JFK to midtown Manhattan and rethinking the central terminal area at EWR. In 2018, RPA published a follow-up report delving deeper into how expansions could occur, calling for a dramatic reconfiguration of EWR and a number of feasible options for added runways at JFK.

Since 2004, Brooklyn Greenway Initiative (BGI) and RPA have advocated for the creation of the Brooklyn Waterfront Greenway, miles of landscaped space that would connect four large parks and neighborhoods on the waterfront. In 2012, the NYC Department of Transportation announced an implementation plan for the Greenway. As of 2020, two segments, West Street in Greenpoint and Flushing Avenue near the Brooklyn Navy Yard, are in progress.

In 2012, while plans for the nation’s 397th National Park in the Great Falls Historic District were being developed, RPA, the City of Paterson, and other key stakeholders produced a framework for how the arts could be integrated with park planning efforts. RPA worked with local residents and artists to brainstorm ideas, identified the most opportune areas for using the arts to revitalize the community, and laid out a set of implementable recommendations.

RPA and the National Park Service joined forces in 2011 to improve access to the Jamaica Bay Greenway and waterfront for neighboring communities. The Jamaica Bay Greenway, a 19-mile loop route in Brooklyn and Queens, would serve approximately 300,000 people who lived within a 20-minute walk as well as millions of annual visitors, connecting them to more than 10,000 acres of federal, state, and city parkland. The Jamaica Bay Greenway Coalition also organized bike and hike tours, and released a report on water trails in the Bay.

The U.S’s first suburb went from being one of the most affordable places to raise a family to one of the least. In a 2013 report, RPA found that, more than any other part of the region, Long Island had far fewer rental homes and was building the fewest townhouses and apartments. Hurricane Sandy revealed how scarce rental apartments were as thousands of suddenly homeless residents had nowhere to go. RPA warned that the shortage of affordable rental homes was straining Long Island’s economy, and would make it much harder to compete for jobs in the years ahead.

In the mid-2010s, the MTA considered shutting down the L train tunnel under the East River for more than a year to repair the severe damage caused by Hurricane Sandy. RPA released a series of reports on the shutdown, including a community consensus proposal, which recommended a comprehensive investment plan to take advantage of a rare extended shutdown of one of the City’s busiest subway lines. RPA recommended that the MTA rebuild a quarter of L stations to modern standards, and make a series of additional investments to unlock the line’s capacity. In January 2019, less than four months before the shutdown was due to take effect, Governor Andrew Cuomo cancelled the MTA’s plan to close the L train tunnel for repairs and proposed an alternative plan. Under the new plan, the L train would run 24 hours, but service would be reduced on weeknights and weekends for repair work. Repairs to the tunnel were set to be completed by April 2020.

Following Hurricanes Irene and Sandy, RPA prepared an in-depth study of buyouts as a tool for adaptation against flooding. Of the billions of federal aid spent on resilience and recovery in the New York metropolitan region, at least $750 million was spent on buyouts by 2014, which alleviated the flood risk for more than 1,500 homes. However, the vast majority of recovery efforts focused on other measures of adaptation. RPA provided an overview of flooding risk, a detailed summation of buyout programs in and outside of the region, quantitative analyses, and case studies of the fiscal impact of buyouts on selected communities. The research drew from original analysis, interviews with buyout program staff, planners, conservation experts, and other stakeholders, and a round table workshop hosted by the Lincoln Institute of Land Policy and RPA in December 2014.

RPA worked with community members of East Harlem in Manhattan for more than a decade. In a 2016 report, RPA estimated that East Harlem could lose between 200 and 500 units of affordable housing each year over the next 30 years if existing programs were not extended or made permanent. In anticipation of East Harlem’s rezoning, a coalition requested RPA’s continued support and technical assistance as they developed their own neighborhood plan for East Harlem. Participants included more than 100 community-based organizations, more than 500 community residents, and over a dozen city agencies.

RPA’s First Regional Plan tied urban planning with public health outcomes. ​“State of the Region’s Health” investigated the urban systems that influence residents’ health. RPA’s report analyzed health statistics in New York, New Jersey, and Connecticut, as well as socioeconomic factors that impact health, such as transportation, housing, inequality, and resilient infrastructure systems.

“Pushed Out” highlighted the negative impact of rising rents and neighborhood change on households in the region. RPA conducted interviews with low- and moderate-income residents in order to better understand current living conditions and experiences with displacement. This was paired with a detailed analysis of the region in order to determine where residents vulnerable to displacement lived, and what neighborhoods were experiencing price pressures and gentrification. RPA found that 46 percent of walkable, accessible neighborhoods in the region shifted towards a more expensive housing market, with significant increases in the proportion of homes renting for more than $2,000 or being valued at more than $500,000.

With more than 3,700 miles of tidal coastline, the region’s states and local communities faced the daunting challenge of making the physical and regulatory changes necessary to adapt to sea level rise. Restoring wetlands, building sea walls, raising buildings, retrofitting infrastructure, and buying out vulnerable homeowners were among the actions that RPA recommended in 2017. RPA also called for New York, New Jersey and Connecticut to create a Regional Coastal Commission (RCC). The commission would be empowered to help mobilize resources and coordinate regional strategies to address climate adaptation needs.

In May 2018, Andy Byford launched Fast Forward, a plan to completely modernize New York City Transit. RPA co-hosted an event at NYU School of Law for the report’s release, which echoed many of RPA’s recommendations in the Fourth Regional Plan.

Following a year of meetings, a working group of more than 40 organizations and elected officials released a white paper containing recommendations on how to make New York City’s land use governance more inclusive, especially of community voices. The ​“Inclusive City” report sparked a renewed conversation about comprehensive city planning in New York.

RPA launched the Public for Penn coalition in 2018, building support for major infrastructure improvements at Penn Station. In January 2020, Governor Cuomo announced his Empire Station Complex plan, which included extending Penn Station one block south. Governor Cuomo’s plan reflected key recommendations of RPA’s Fourth Plan. To fully leverage added capacity at Penn, however, RPA maintained that it was still necessary to build new tunnels under the Hudson River.

New York City has been gripped in a housing crisis. Homelessness almost doubled in 10 years, and more than 30 percent of renters paid more their half of their income in rents in the 2010s. ​“The High Cost of Bad Landlords” sought to define who constituted a bad landlord and described the challenges they created for residents. RPA also found that bad landlords were not evenly distributed in the city. People living in buildings owned by landlords with high levels of evictions and violations were disproportionately concentrated in The Bronx, as well as in a few specific neighborhoods in the other boroughs.

In its Fourth Regional Plan, RPA offered a vision for Bridgeport, Connecticut as a green and healthy regional center. In 2019, reflecting RPA’s longstanding partnership with the City, the Office of Planning and Economic Development published Plan Bridgeport, a 10-year comprehensive plan containing several guiding principles from the Fourth Plan.

RPA hosted the Healthy Regions Planning Exchange, a first-of-its-kind symposium convening 31 planners, public health officials, and community advocates from around the country to discuss how meaningful community partnerships inform better planning, and how race and racism shape planning, often to the detriment of communities of color. RPA’s work with the Planning Exchange continued through 2020, including webinars, discussions, and a second symposium in New Orleans, LA. The Exchange has since expanded, becoming a nationwide urban planning network consisting of 33 organizations from 11 regions. The group’s breadth of knowledge and experience will elevate best practices for addressing racial and health equity.

The rapidly deteriorating state of the New York City Housing Authority (NYCHA), home to more than 400,000, became readily apparent in the late 2010s. It was estimated that, due to years of neglect and disinvestment, NYCHA needed $45 billion in capital repairs. As more news came out regarding the precarious state of NYCHA, RPA analyzed its physical infrastructure and finances. RPA’s 2019 report, ​“Time to Act: Restoring the Promise of NYC’s Public Housing,” aimed to rapidly address NYCHA’s unmet capital needs, streamline and restructure systems of management and accountability to improve operations, and form a dynamic civic coalition to advocate for residents.