NYC Transformed: City Planning Practice at a Time of Crisis
Channel: Columbia GSAPP
Date: 2021-02-10

NYC Transformed: City Planning Practice at a Time of Crisis

Panel Discussion with Brooke Wieczorek, AICP, Assistant Vice President, Land Use, New York City Economic Development Corporation; Neil Gagliardi, Director of Urban Design, NYC Department of Transportation; Calvin T. Brown, PhD, Assistant Commissioner of Neighborhood Development, NYC Department of Small Business Services; and Erick Gregory, Deputy Director of the Urban Design Office, NYC Department of City Planning.

Local government is not immune to crisis—and last year was replete with them. Planning practice in New York City was profoundly impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic, ensuing economic chaos, and a long overdue reckoning on race and police brutality. Local government officials were called on to mediate and manage these crises—while simultaneously dealing with new frictions in the internal functioning of their agencies. Yet, despite this, planning work continued to be done.

This panel considers planning practice during a time of uncertainty. Public-sector practitioners from diverse agencies will discuss their work in 2020: how they managed to advance projects and how they were forced to adapt. The panel will also consider the future of New York City, as it confronts a fiscal crisis, a new mayoralty, and the residual effects of the pandemic. Prospects for planning practice given these looming changes will also be discussed—with implications for would-be New York City practitioners, both in and out of government.