Aaron Donovan

There are economic realities that underlie development and change in the city, all the more so in flush times. In facing the challenges of the growing city, New Yorkers need to consider these truths and their implications. This, the first of two panels on what Jane Jacobs called "oversuccess," will consider these issues primarily from the developer's perspective — with the objective of opening up a conversation about economics, land value and other issues that shape the city.

More than 40 years ago, Jane Jacobs opposed the construction of New York University’s monolithic Bobst Library on Washington Square South. The world has changed since then, but institutional expansion remains a major force in cities. Plans by Columbia University, New York University, Cooper Union and the United Nations have all met with considerable controversy. This panel will address the specific cases but also the larger issues of urban investment, preservation and regeneration.

This panel will explore the social and historical context in which Jane Jacobs emerged, while examining the ways in which she has influenced urban design and planning today. What factors contributed to the paradigm shift she abetted? Are her principles still applicable and efficacious? To what extent has the world changed to match her vision, and to what extent are today’s challenges of a different caliber?

Jane Jacobs was not beholden to any strategy for making change happen. And today, the complexity of the city and its needs are such that activists also employ a diversity of approaches. While some embrace the protest and resistance models that Jacobs used to oppose the Lower Manhattan Expressway, others focus on effecting social, cultural and political change while working within existing structures.

Jane Jacobs and other activists were canny media strategists, and they worked both mainstream and alternative outlets to spread their messages, affect public perception and try to create both community and change. Today, blogging and other virtual forms of journalism are being used to greater and lesser effect by activists, developers and others trying to shape the debate over the city's future.

Today's New York City is safer and more economically robust than anyone could have imagined in the gritty 1970s, or even the early 1990s. But there is more to city life than economic success. As blocks and neighborhoods begin to respond to success, some have lost elements of the character that made them distinctive. National chain stores, bank branches, drugstores and cellphone outlets abound, seemingly beyond all measure, and housing costs have soared beyond the reach of the middle classes, never mind the bohemians.

The annual gala to benefit the Tri-State Transportation Campaign.