The Second Plan in Context
By the early 1960s, the recommendations of RPA’s First Regional Plan were largely implemented, with one glaring exception: the transit connections. The failure of the region to invest in transit, along with an explosive growth in car ownership and Federal policies that supported new construction outside of city centers, led to the unprecedented suburbanization of the New York region after World War II.
- The economic base of the region shifted. In the 1930s, 55 percent of the region’s population growth was in New York City. After World War II, there was a massive move to the suburbs - in just 15 years, the suburban population doubled. The number of jobs in the suburbs also grew, while at the same time, manufacturing jobs rapidly left New York City.
- This migration was enabled a highway network that had tripled in size between 1945 and 1969. As more people purchased cars, ridership on public transportation plummeted.
- Land consumption in the region skyrocketed. The surface area of developed land in the region more than tripled between 1935 and 1965. Residents occupied four times as much land in 1965 than in the three decades prior. Open, undeveloped natural spaces were becoming a finite resource.
Multiple Reports, One Plan
The Second Regional Plan consisted of a series of comprehensive reports on the challenges facing the region in the 1960s. The reports ranged from analytical studies on the economic and demographic features of the region to specific case studies that illustrated novel ideas advanced in the Plan, such as more public participation in planning and the redevelopment of regional city centers.
A Radical Central Tenet
At a time when the general consensus was that the automobile-enabled decentralization of growth was good, the Second Regional Plan called for building the transit network necessary for regional city centers to thrive. The Plan identified and quantified the alarming trends caused by sprawl, including environmental degradation and decline of the region’s older city centers. It proposed a bold program of concentration of employment in cities. RPA called for Manhattan to be the commercial and financial hub of the region, and for regional city centers such as Downtown Brooklyn, Jamaica, Newark, New Brunswick, Paterson, Stamford and others to grow and thrive.
Major Reports of The Second Regional Plan
The Future of the Counties
RPA released a series of place-based supplemental reports for the Second Regional Plan. From 1969 through 1974, RPA released reports on Connecticut counties such as Fairfield; New Jersey Counties such as Bergen, Passaic, Middlesex, and Morris; and New York counties such as Dutchess, Nassau, Orange, Suffolk, and Westchester.
Through meetings, conversations, and workshops involving thousands of volunteers, RPA identified the major concerns that formed the backbone of the Second Regional Plan.
The Second Regional Plan broadened the concept of public participation from simple dissemination of proposals to community engagement and consultation. This new approach consisted of several steps: preparation of basic projections for the region’s future, creation of sketches based on these projections illustrating what the living conditions might be like if present trends and policies continued, and presentation of the sketches to the public in organized meetings and workshops. RPA also coordinated a 125-member Committee, composed of civic, business, educational, labor, professional, and religious leaders, to provide feedback on the Plan.
In 1968, RPA presented the Second Regional Plan as draft for discussion to around 1000 individuals in New York, who then broke out into smaller groups to discuss the issues raised and fill out questionnaires. Concerns raised by residents included: a growing separation of rich and poor, inadequate housing, long commutes, racial segregation, the loss of green space, and a lack of a sense of community.
The public participation approach used by RPA in the Second Regional Plan provided a template for community engagement in urban planning.
The Second Regional Plan introduced some key urban planning concepts that are still relevant today:
- “Only public transportation investment can help the motorist out of congestion.” In the Second Regional Plan, RPA clearly articulated that providing additional roadway capacity in a dense region would not improve conditions, as new drivers would quickly fill up any additional space.
- The Plan called for varied housing types and income groups in each community, and for housing to be near employment and retail – what today is called mixed-income, mixed-use neighborhoods.
Major recommendations of the Second Regional Plan that continue to shape the region include:
Federal Support for Urban Mass Transit
The federal Urban Mass Transportation Act adopted RPA’s principle of federal support for capital costs for urban mass transit. By ensuring adequate funding, the region’s transit agencies were able to plan for the long term. RPA supported the formation of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority, which brought together the subway, bus, commuter rail, and many bridge-and-tunnel toll facilities under one roof.
Traci Lawson
A Renewed Lower Hudson River Area
The Second Regional Plan identified the need to develop better infrastructure, housing, and public parks in the Lower Hudson area. Its vision for Manhattan, Hoboken, and Jersey City has largely become reality, with better transit, an attractive waterfront, and mixed-use development.
A. V. Flores
Regional Centers Revived
The Second Regional Plan highlighted the issues facing regional city centers of rising taxes, disinvestment, and growing segregation. The Plan recommended more investment in public services, such as increased funding for education, and advocated for greater federal share in these investments. It also proposed patterns of urbanization that would focus development in regional city centers that would lead to greater access to jobs and higher education for low-income residents and communities of color. RPA called for the revival of regional centers such as Downtown Brooklyn, Jamaica, Newark, New Brunswick, Paterson, and Stamford.
J. J. Bers
Preserving and Protecting Natural Spaces
RPA called for an aggressive program to acquire, protect, and permanently preserve natural landscapes for future generations. Between 1961 and 1973, local governments in the region acquired 210 square miles of additional parkland, including $2 million in federal funds for acquisitions directly conforming to RPA proposals. Significant acquisitions included the creation of several new national and state parks, including Fire Island National Seashore. RPA led the effort to create Gateway National Recreation Center, which in 1972 became the first major federal recreation area in an urban setting.
National Park Service
Acknowledgements
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Other Reports in this Series
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