This video was produced by Nate Dorr and RPA and aired during the RPA Centennial Assembly on May 6, 2022 to commemorate the organization’s 100th anniversary.
The First Plan in Context
The New York-New Jersey-Connecticut metropolitan region was a thriving center for commerce, manufacturing, and culture at the turn of the 20th century. The population of the metropolitan region grew from approximately 5.4 million in 1900 to 9 million by 1920. By 1925, well over a third of New York City residents were immigrants.
But the living conditions lamented by Jacob Riis in 1890 had not improved much by the 1920s. Poverty and overcrowding were still endemic in many Manhattan neighborhoods. New York’s booming industries helped the economy grow rapidly, but had become a burden on city life, as the scale of the facilities necessary for shipping, warehousing, and manufacturing grew, along with the ancillary noise, traffic and air pollution. Freight shipped in and out of New York City ports increased by 50 percent from 1900 to 1925.
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Several new technologies developed that changed the urban landscape in significant ways. A network of underground and elevated subways was rapidly emerging across the city. New long-distance railroads were built to connect Manhattan with upstate New York, Connecticut, Long Island, and New Jersey, including some areas that had previously been accessible only by ferry. Private automobiles were becoming more affordable, just as more durable road surfaces were invented and applied to city streets. These new transportation technologies were changing the geography of the region by significantly expanding the area within a reasonable commute of downtown.
New York City and the region were growing with little but market forces at work. The Committee on a Regional Plan of New York and Its Environs introduced rationality to the region’s development and was intended to give residents a better quality of life.
From Chicago to New York
The first Regional Plan had its roots in Chicago. The 1909 Burnham Plan for Chicago helped reshape the city and was a major influence on the field of urban planning. One of the supporters of the 1909 Plan was Charles Dyer Norton, a member of the Commercial Club in Chicago. It was this success in Chicago that inspired Norton to launch a comparable effort in New York.
![Plan of Chicago by Burnham Bennett 1909 title pages copy](https://img.imageboss.me/general/width/300/quality:80/work/Reports/Archive-Featured-Reports/First-Plan/Plan_of_Chicago_by_Burnham__Bennett_1909_title_pages-copy.jpg?bossToken=9902eb5a6981321077d783dff37259ca39dcf9f43698d901ffb37d4e929a381b 171w, https://img.imageboss.me/general/width/600/quality:80/work/Reports/Archive-Featured-Reports/First-Plan/Plan_of_Chicago_by_Burnham__Bennett_1909_title_pages-copy.jpg?bossToken=df1216a2c049d96857ecf6c855b25ddcaf7d820fe2e1846b4e008b51d6322e03 343w, https://img.imageboss.me/general/width/900/quality:80/work/Reports/Archive-Featured-Reports/First-Plan/Plan_of_Chicago_by_Burnham__Bennett_1909_title_pages-copy.jpg?bossToken=3d392506bbfe74500309a41f007910e59c2b4488b50fd7bb2bfe7103f1a4746c 514w, https://img.imageboss.me/general/width/1200/quality:80/work/Reports/Archive-Featured-Reports/First-Plan/Plan_of_Chicago_by_Burnham__Bennett_1909_title_pages-copy.jpg?bossToken=a7ad308eb17d8b9672e6eee369c3b4ca3806ad913d99497dbbf359be68113ff2 686w, https://img.imageboss.me/general/width/1500/quality:80/work/Reports/Archive-Featured-Reports/First-Plan/Plan_of_Chicago_by_Burnham__Bennett_1909_title_pages-copy.jpg?bossToken=bd076c80b3a56696561db2253c654bfc80e87a6a704211a25b74936d282a49ac 857w, https://img.imageboss.me/general/width/1800/quality:80/work/Reports/Archive-Featured-Reports/First-Plan/Plan_of_Chicago_by_Burnham__Bennett_1909_title_pages-copy.jpg?bossToken=c0a0cf067c36de6bd0122900b3eac87dc87f29188c560d08dd8aa62370f8ca51 1029w, https://img.imageboss.me/general/width/2100/quality:80/work/Reports/Archive-Featured-Reports/First-Plan/Plan_of_Chicago_by_Burnham__Bennett_1909_title_pages-copy.jpg?bossToken=4e89f44076e9b9b3f3172b6826ded62f36e75aca64ec3637a6dece7033f46150 1200w, https://img.imageboss.me/general/width/2400/quality:80/work/Reports/Archive-Featured-Reports/First-Plan/Plan_of_Chicago_by_Burnham__Bennett_1909_title_pages-copy.jpg?bossToken=aa36482a07ec8070fb212bde9cd488223d8679c7b1391b9460f9eb6713961732 1371w, https://img.imageboss.me/general/width/2700/quality:80/work/Reports/Archive-Featured-Reports/First-Plan/Plan_of_Chicago_by_Burnham__Bennett_1909_title_pages-copy.jpg?bossToken=3546696cb6a3bdc3a97556abb090827b57cf3018bbc3b3f8c68c8c256b70efb2 1543w)
Norton was appointed Chairman of the Advisory Committee for the City Plan in 1914 by George McAneny, President of the Board of Alderman. Norton and the Committee reviewed the state of urban planning in New York and issued a report. They also discussed organizing a citizens’ group to finance and develop a plan independently of municipal officials. Norton recognized that a plan for New York City that failed to take into account the communities surrounding it wouldn’t succeed.
“No plan of New York will command recognition unless it includes all the area in which all New Yorkers earn their livelihood and make their homes.”
—Charles Dyer Norton, November 27, 1915
![Charles Dyer Norton](https://img.imageboss.me/general/cover/300x300/fp-x:0.51,fp-y:0.43,quality:80/work/Reports/Archive-Featured-Reports/First-Plan/Charles-Dyer-Norton.jpg?bossToken=af8a5b28836706dd61f7c00359b8b519354bb6ab386a424aa577d02c7f274830 171w, https://img.imageboss.me/general/cover/600x600/fp-x:0.51,fp-y:0.43,quality:80/work/Reports/Archive-Featured-Reports/First-Plan/Charles-Dyer-Norton.jpg?bossToken=c93b7ba7399d772cd6e9ff97bf068327904d90e158e509dfb39e2f918c1902a8 343w, https://img.imageboss.me/general/cover/900x900/fp-x:0.51,fp-y:0.43,quality:80/work/Reports/Archive-Featured-Reports/First-Plan/Charles-Dyer-Norton.jpg?bossToken=0e0e77b3f31ad0df5f5d604466f3dc8e89fd3dc1f697282d985751a9d5783e5e 514w, https://img.imageboss.me/general/cover/1200x1200/fp-x:0.51,fp-y:0.43,quality:80/work/Reports/Archive-Featured-Reports/First-Plan/Charles-Dyer-Norton.jpg?bossToken=f77a3b32355530d3490441b1d21237df6e2546f5f3e5a17deec746ba4fa0ebf2 686w, https://img.imageboss.me/general/cover/1500x1500/fp-x:0.51,fp-y:0.43,quality:80/work/Reports/Archive-Featured-Reports/First-Plan/Charles-Dyer-Norton.jpg?bossToken=520ebe55741183a09b3a4e8f8d74d3a93eee2486926211c19a020028c2c621e8 857w, https://img.imageboss.me/general/cover/1800x1800/fp-x:0.51,fp-y:0.43,quality:80/work/Reports/Archive-Featured-Reports/First-Plan/Charles-Dyer-Norton.jpg?bossToken=02c120f67aa840d1bf809096766a479c9e9994ad94c61d4be428c322e92dbecd 1029w, https://img.imageboss.me/general/cover/2100x2100/fp-x:0.51,fp-y:0.43,quality:80/work/Reports/Archive-Featured-Reports/First-Plan/Charles-Dyer-Norton.jpg?bossToken=c9159f8b19fa0bccc58d3bb9b49288731a597102b9ae9f78bd425360a4fd1c8f 1200w, https://img.imageboss.me/general/cover/2400x2400/fp-x:0.51,fp-y:0.43,quality:80/work/Reports/Archive-Featured-Reports/First-Plan/Charles-Dyer-Norton.jpg?bossToken=8a1e3a37cbc9321f0d7f4cd0c13246e9fa53fa5df4ce87a4c50bd3cb86ae9b64 1371w, https://img.imageboss.me/general/cover/2700x2700/fp-x:0.51,fp-y:0.43,quality:80/work/Reports/Archive-Featured-Reports/First-Plan/Charles-Dyer-Norton.jpg?bossToken=f7238a9a6254205795d0525ec89730af9e775af2368ec852c5cb9f790c6d77ca 1543w)
Supported By The Russell Sage Foundation
Efforts to create a New York City plan stalled in 1916. Undaunted, Charles Dyer Norton took his ideas to the Russell Sage Foundation, an organization dedicated to improving quality of life, with a significant portfolio allocated for the betterment of the New York region. Norton was a Trustee of the Foundation, and in 1919, he recommended that Russell Sage organize and finance a plan for New York and its environs.
Two years later, in 1921, the Russell Sage Foundation created the Committee on the Plan of New York and its Environs and appointed Norton as Chairman. The Committee commissioned preliminary surveys of the region by Nelson Lewis, former Chief Engineer of New York City, as well as an analysis of zoning laws by Edward Bassett, former Chairman of the Zoning Commission of New York. The first official Committee meeting was held on May 10, 1922 and included attendees such as Elihu Root, Lillian Wald, Charles Dana Gibson, Mrs. August Belmont, and Herbert Hoover.
“The lack of adequate open spaces, of playgrounds and parks, the congestion of streets, the misery of tenement life and its repercussions upon each new generation are an untold charge against our American life. The moral and social issues can only be solved by a new conception of city building.”
— Herbert Hoover, First Meeting of the Committee on the Plan of New York and its Environs, May 10, 1922
![Herbert Hoover 1917](https://img.imageboss.me/general/cover/300x300/fp-x:0.53,fp-y:0.26,quality:80/work/Reports/Archive-Featured-Reports/First-Plan/HerbertHoover_1917.jpg?bossToken=c260355fe85304525153c143e730e79f1d2430ae925bd8522b1a71e825f0fb70 171w, https://img.imageboss.me/general/cover/600x600/fp-x:0.53,fp-y:0.26,quality:80/work/Reports/Archive-Featured-Reports/First-Plan/HerbertHoover_1917.jpg?bossToken=f091035b344fcb49aac8abf51e2023247de1106f9725827641381ac11b697d8a 343w, https://img.imageboss.me/general/cover/900x900/fp-x:0.53,fp-y:0.26,quality:80/work/Reports/Archive-Featured-Reports/First-Plan/HerbertHoover_1917.jpg?bossToken=2fcedcb641b945aba8bd6b22e206082208f0a168c06a02b3172811f7acb54854 514w, https://img.imageboss.me/general/cover/1200x1200/fp-x:0.53,fp-y:0.26,quality:80/work/Reports/Archive-Featured-Reports/First-Plan/HerbertHoover_1917.jpg?bossToken=a710eaf848e24c56fe3219d630a12607abc246761ce1d513d8b97bd70146d872 686w, https://img.imageboss.me/general/cover/1500x1500/fp-x:0.53,fp-y:0.26,quality:80/work/Reports/Archive-Featured-Reports/First-Plan/HerbertHoover_1917.jpg?bossToken=66b5290da7e828d76bb4a8b70ce1cca220aa49171a0591cc3d35ee8de831990c 857w, https://img.imageboss.me/general/cover/1800x1800/fp-x:0.53,fp-y:0.26,quality:80/work/Reports/Archive-Featured-Reports/First-Plan/HerbertHoover_1917.jpg?bossToken=3e4d9e4e07c65fdaeff2815d8f9387d30ed75b9f9bfdc25ad43758f53bbf5e92 1029w, https://img.imageboss.me/general/cover/2100x2100/fp-x:0.53,fp-y:0.26,quality:80/work/Reports/Archive-Featured-Reports/First-Plan/HerbertHoover_1917.jpg?bossToken=d8b0dd95f99cdc143f0e1053abb30a8a56709a071fce628450099e0a6071bace 1200w, https://img.imageboss.me/general/cover/2400x2400/fp-x:0.53,fp-y:0.26,quality:80/work/Reports/Archive-Featured-Reports/First-Plan/HerbertHoover_1917.jpg?bossToken=1bec54fa0c6e6762954ae963841494dca0291f012ff14379c6890c433e88c3e1 1371w, https://img.imageboss.me/general/cover/2700x2700/fp-x:0.53,fp-y:0.26,quality:80/work/Reports/Archive-Featured-Reports/First-Plan/HerbertHoover_1917.jpg?bossToken=b1384ae5e535837953fa2bb01e8a4952106bf39ebc6ee108b2f9e1c25a5cb7e3 1543w)
Years in the Making
Unfortunately, Charles Dyer Norton did not live to see the first Regional Plan published. He died in 1923, shortly after the project officially began.
The Committee of the Regional Plan appointed Frederic A. Delano as Chairman and hired Thomas Adams as General Director of Plans and Surveys. Over the next few years, Adams and his team painstakingly analyzed the population density and distribution of the New York metropolitan region, its economy and industries, and its topographical and physical conditions, including highways, public transportation, parks, and open spaces. Zoning codes, land rights, and existing municipal plans were reviewed. Living conditions and impacts on the health and welfare of residents were also researched.
From 1927 to 1929, a series of technical volumes were published as precursors to the first Regional Plan.
- Vol I: Major Economic Factors in Metropolitan Growth and Development
- Vol IA: Chemical, Metal, Wood, Tobacco, and Printing Industries
- Vol IB: Food, Clothing, and Textile Industries, Whole Markets and Retail Shopping and Financial Districts
- Vol II: Population Land Values and Government
- Vol III: Highway Traffic
- Vol IV: Transit and Transportation
- Vol V: Public Recreation
- Vol VI: Buildings: Their Uses and The Spaces Around Them
- Vol VII: Neighborhoods and Community Planning
- Vol VIII: Physical Conditions and Public Services
Presentation of the Regional Plan
George McAneny, now President of Regional Plan Association, presented the first volume of the Regional Plan on May 27, 1929 to representatives of over 400 communities and organizations. Speakers included Lillian Wald of Henry Street Settlement, William Collins of the American Federation of Labor, as well as public officials from New York, New Jersey, and Connecticut.
The First Volume of the Regional Plan proposed an elaborate network of highways, railroads and parks, along with residential, commercial and industrial centers, as the foundation of the physical and social development of the region. It also identified specific natural areas that could be acquired for public use.
The Second Volume focused on urban design, including the relationship of development to open space, fitting buildings to streets, and pedestrian ways separated from vehicle traffic.
Mapping the Region
The first Plan produced definitive maps of the New York-New Jersey-Connecticut metropolitan area. They contained analyses of demographics, population distribution, economic conditions, land utilization, transportation, natural features, and other characteristics of the region, at a time when such data was difficult to come by.
The first Regional Plan presented a new way of thinking about development and governance, and inspired a whole movement of regional planning in the country and abroad. It put forth the idea that the creation of vibrant, livable, and sustainable urban communities did not stop at political boundaries. It built strong support for the principle that cities could improve their quality of life and efficiency as they grew and prospered, but only if they planned ahead for growth. As the world’s first long-range metropolitan plan, it inspired other cities around the world to create their own comprehensive, region-wide plans, such as the Abercrombie Plan for London in 1944.
Many proposals from the first Regional Plan were implemented in the 1930s and 1940s. During the Great Depression, when Franklin Delano Roosevelt needed ideas for public works programs to help unemployed workers, he turned to the first Regional Plan. The Plan inspired millions of dollars in infrastructure and city-building projects. RPA’s advocacy also led to the acquisition and preservation of large areas of open space for recreation throughout the region. In 1989, the first Regional Plan was designated a National Planning Landmark by the American Planning Association for its contributions to the field.
![RPA Plan1 Title page](https://img.imageboss.me/general/width/300/quality:80/work/Reports/Archive-Featured-Reports/First-Plan/RPA-Plan1-Title-page.jpg?bossToken=e9f84e2cf85c88645ac57be68609f4230bde49d8ca168453042fe3febc45071c 171w, https://img.imageboss.me/general/width/600/quality:80/work/Reports/Archive-Featured-Reports/First-Plan/RPA-Plan1-Title-page.jpg?bossToken=d2a3f810b2784f64634cc920b561576951d988b122df240ee593b5b8b2309b27 343w, https://img.imageboss.me/general/width/900/quality:80/work/Reports/Archive-Featured-Reports/First-Plan/RPA-Plan1-Title-page.jpg?bossToken=09e46cb4175001f767a0d8e3b7fdb58277cc586f904efc6ec491d819e2f0cd83 514w, https://img.imageboss.me/general/width/1200/quality:80/work/Reports/Archive-Featured-Reports/First-Plan/RPA-Plan1-Title-page.jpg?bossToken=823da4892b497f4cac4394c99ebd2e9b6d7bb5663c3f1c348fc6f7f74b9f660f 686w, https://img.imageboss.me/general/width/1500/quality:80/work/Reports/Archive-Featured-Reports/First-Plan/RPA-Plan1-Title-page.jpg?bossToken=76af0edc74adcb67d5bc7bb5d6e7882915f00527fd47d51ac0da7bb6716f37d2 857w, https://img.imageboss.me/general/width/1800/quality:80/work/Reports/Archive-Featured-Reports/First-Plan/RPA-Plan1-Title-page.jpg?bossToken=a4b568b195b6c2cac1fd674eaf5b5473f1b54c15039aa65d5de488cd27ceab17 1029w, https://img.imageboss.me/general/width/2100/quality:80/work/Reports/Archive-Featured-Reports/First-Plan/RPA-Plan1-Title-page.jpg?bossToken=9df9c45f8e74ddcabb6871855dbbb8f91b63fb6985fa996b83fc5f81edb6c34a 1200w, https://img.imageboss.me/general/width/2400/quality:80/work/Reports/Archive-Featured-Reports/First-Plan/RPA-Plan1-Title-page.jpg?bossToken=94533121b6546cdcb2ada473948ac001e09ef583a48411cede4e1b5873740276 1371w, https://img.imageboss.me/general/width/2700/quality:80/work/Reports/Archive-Featured-Reports/First-Plan/RPA-Plan1-Title-page.jpg?bossToken=5e7dbf398153671bd9aebca807cfae2d5c33d886dad5c35f789be935dc599481 1543w)
But the first Plan was not without its critics or its flaws. Its growth assumptions and recommendations to focus development in Manhattan were fiercely criticized by some leading planners. Most vocal among them was Lewis Mumford, who suggested that stronger efforts should be made to restrain development and de-concentrate New York’s urban core.
Much of the first Plan’s proposed highways, bridges, and parks were achieved in large part through the efforts of master builders such as Robert Moses. Some projects, like Orchard Beach in The Bronx, were seen as net positives. However, several projects had negative impacts on the surrounding communities, or the potential for it. For example, in the 1930s, RPA opposed Robert Moses’s proposal to build a bridge from Manhattan’s Battery Park to Brooklyn. Moses pilloried RPA and its Regional Plan in the press, but his bridge plan did not succeed.
On the subject of blight, the first Regional Plan suggested policy solutions, such as public housing projects and slum clearance through eminent domain, which would have repercussions on low-income communities. Additionally, the first Regional Plan’s proposed highway network helped enable sprawl after World War II, a challenge which was addressed in subsequent Regional Plans.
A More Connected Metropolitan Area
A goal of the first Regional Plan was to provide access to more of the region and give options for living beyond the overcrowded core. The concept of metropolitan planning driven by transit and limited-access highways created a blueprint for later development in the region. The construction of the region’s highway and parkway network followed the first Regional Plan closely. Between 1928 and 1940, more than a third of the first Plan’s 2,548-mile highway program was completed or in progress. By the time of RPA’s 25th anniversary, more than 400 miles of the arterial parkway system was developed, including the Belt Parkway, Henry Hudson, and East River Drive.
The George Washington and Verrazano-Narrows Bridges
The proposed network of highways led to the relocation of the planned George Washington Bridge from 57th Street to 178th Street in the 1920s. RPA understood the bridge would primarily be used for traveling through the region, and should therefore avoid the congestion of Midtown. This also prevented a limited access highway from being built across the southern boundary of Central Park, which would have separated the Park from Midtown. The metropolitan loop proposed in the first Regional Plan was completed in the 1960s with the construction of the Verrazano-Narrows Bridge, which connected Staten Island and Brooklyn.
Preserving Land and Doubling Park Space
The first Regional Plan identified natural areas that could be acquired for public use. The Plan was an important factor in the doubling of the region’s park space, as well as the establishment of Garret Mountain Reservation in Paterson, NJ, Great Kills Park on Staten Island, and the Palisades Interstate Park System. In 1933, John D. Rockefeller Jr. offered to transfer 265 key acres on top of the Palisades to the Palisades Interstate Park Commission along the general lines recommended by the first Regional Plan.
Planning for the Future
RPA helped local governments establish planning boards to advise on development decisions. 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.
Other Reports in this Series
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