Agglomeration
January 9th, 2003, 11:30 PM
(Forgive me for sounding a little corporate, but I want to state the hard facts about this little-known agency.)
The New York Department of City Planning is the main agency responsible for watching over the land use of the city blocks, plus the height of the buildings on them. Keep in mind that the floor area ratio maps for city blocks and neighborhoods are very complex; generally, the further away from Downtown or Midtown, the lower the height allowed for buildings in a given area.
It also rezones certain areas, composed of sections of blocks called lots, for any use depending on the need of its residents or current economic conditions. *As of January 2003 its chairman, or rather chairwoman, was Amanda Burden.
Its website has good maps of city sections called community districts and shows each of the 59 official areas with lots slated for commerical, industrial, residential, or community use. The districts also show population characteristics such as density, income, race, and Latino-Hispanic origin.
Since the 9-11 Attacks, the CP Department has been working on a grand plan of sorts for the city. They include loosened height restrictions on the West Side, rezoning of parts of Long Island City, an extension of the 7 line to the West Side, and so on. For now the plans are still preliminary, but it's a good start.
Look up http://www.nyc.gov/html/dcp/home.html, and make comments on the department and its shortcomings if you wish.
Agglomeration
The New York Department of City Planning is the main agency responsible for watching over the land use of the city blocks, plus the height of the buildings on them. Keep in mind that the floor area ratio maps for city blocks and neighborhoods are very complex; generally, the further away from Downtown or Midtown, the lower the height allowed for buildings in a given area.
It also rezones certain areas, composed of sections of blocks called lots, for any use depending on the need of its residents or current economic conditions. *As of January 2003 its chairman, or rather chairwoman, was Amanda Burden.
Its website has good maps of city sections called community districts and shows each of the 59 official areas with lots slated for commerical, industrial, residential, or community use. The districts also show population characteristics such as density, income, race, and Latino-Hispanic origin.
Since the 9-11 Attacks, the CP Department has been working on a grand plan of sorts for the city. They include loosened height restrictions on the West Side, rezoning of parts of Long Island City, an extension of the 7 line to the West Side, and so on. For now the plans are still preliminary, but it's a good start.
Look up http://www.nyc.gov/html/dcp/home.html, and make comments on the department and its shortcomings if you wish.
Agglomeration