54 newyork| october12–25, 2020
structedofmasstimber—layersofwood
formedintoslabsthathandlefire,weather,
andearthquakesaswellasconcreteand
steel, with much less environmental
impact—equippedwithterracesandtopped
witha pergolaofsolarpanels.Designoften
ge tslost inthescrumoverpolicy, zoning,
andgentrification,butit’s oneofthebest
toolswehave.Goodarchitectureis tougher
tooppose,moreef ficienttomaintain,and
easiertoprotectwhenit growsold.That
whichis lovedlastslonger.
Eachclauseinthelawhasa historyand
a purpose,usuallytosavea lifeorpreserve
health.Many arebornfromtragicexperi-
ence.Butthereis alsoanoverlayofobso-
lete,evenharmfulrules.Vasttractsofthe
outer-boroughspermitonlysingle-family
detachedhouses,butintheclimate-change
era,that kindoflowdensity can’t besacro-
sanct. In many areas,developersareforced
toaddindoorparking,shelteringcarsat the
expenseofshelteringpeople.Buildingcode
forbidsusingmasstimberfortallbuildings.
Evenmoreobstaclesaretuckeddeepinthe
ganglionof property taxesthat accountsfor
morethan 40 percentofmunicipalreve-
nue.Ingeneral,thelaw favorshomeowners
overrenters,theaffluentoverthepoor, and
gentrifiersoverresidentsofperpetuallyun-
hotneighborhoods.Onejury-riggedrem-
edyis the421-ataxabatement,whichsome
developersinsist keepstherentalmarket
fromgrindingtoa haltandopponentscon-
sideranobscenelubricantofluxury.
WhatNewYorkneedsfromitsnext
mayorandCity Councilis thekindofradi-
calpragmatismit takestounderstandand
thenclearaway thelegalunderbrush,the
disincentives,andthegladiatorialcombat
thatgetintheway ofbuildingwhat makes
sense.NewYorkcannolongercounton
bulldozingslums,colonizinglandfill,clear-
ingflood-pronelowlands,orrepossessing
thousandsofneglectedpropertiestodoso.
Somevacantareascouldstillaccommodate
Manhattan-styledensity:SunnysideYard
inQueens,say. Buta lessrestrictivefuture,
anda willingnesstorezonerichneighbor-
hoodslikeSoho,couldalsoleadtoa renais-
sanceofinfill,theincremental,block-by-
blockinsertionof buildingsthat areneither
housenorhigh-risebutmedium-size,well
built,andbeautiful.
Work
F
ora century,thepracticehasbeen
tosegmentthecityintoseparatefunc-
tions:Workhere,livethere,withroads
and railss ng betweenthose
zones.(Mi eisa development
buzzword,butrealizingit is challeng-
ingandcostlyenoughthat it generally
resultsinpreciousenclaveslike Hudson
Yards.) Thesedays, though, homes do triple
dutyasworkplaces and schools. Streets
functionasrestaurants, parks as gyms, clos-
etsasZoomstudios, while entire purpose-
builtdistricts lie vacant. These intense dis-
ruptionshave made it clear that if we can
changetheway we use the city, we can also
changethecity to suit the way we want to
live.Wecanmake it simultaneously easier
andlessnecessary to cover miles every day
justtogettowork, see a doctor, buy fresh
food,orfinda pickup game. Paris is pio-
neeringthedecentralized 15-minute city,
whereeachneighborhoodis nearlyaninde-
pendentsmall town. New Yorkshould
embracethekind of helter-skelter neigh-
borhoodswhere light manufacturing takes
placeinconverted parking garages, store-
frontsbecome apartments, office buildings
containartists’ live-in studios, and rooftops
earntheirkeep as vegetable gardens. That
meansscrapping the zoning that prevents
suchpromiscuous land use.
Traditionalzoning categories areembed-
dedinreal-estate values, which are now in
upheaval.The rise of online shopping, accel-
eratedbythepandemic, has helped create a
glutofreal-world square footage that runs
theriskofturning lively arteries into blank-
walledra vines. New apartment buildings
alreadyoftensit on top of cavernous stores
thatliedormant for years as property own-
ersholdoutfor a high-rent tenant that, now,
maynevercome. But a surfeit of street-level
spaceinthedensest parts of thecity is a
problemonly if we think narrowly about
howto fillit. The pandemic has drawn store-
frontbusinesses out to the street; the recov-
erycandraw the street into storefronts.
“Installgarage doors instead of glass so you
cankeepthespaces open and ventilated,”
exhortsClaire Weisz, co-founder of the
public-spirited architecture firm WXY. She
envisionslinking blocks-long stretches and
leavingthem open, creating networks of
storefrontarcades. “If there were incentives
torentthemat minimum amounts, you
wouldge t a flourishing of uses”: vendors,
farmers’markets, tutoring centers, confer-
encerooms,offices for nonprofit organiza-
tions,study-hall rooms. The first and final
answertosomany new ideas and visionary
ambitionsis almost always no. Resistance to
developmentcuts across class lines, racial
divisions,andra tionales. The affluent com-
plainthatnew construction eliminates
charm,low-income New Yorkersprotest
thatit forcesthem out, and those with the
mostheartfelt objections wind up dominat-
ingtheconversation. “We have to be careful
thatwhoeverclaims to speak on behalf of
thecommunity is actually doing so,” says
Adams,whoalso plans to run for mayor.
Theritualsin this conflict are ancient but
not inviolable. The next administration
could start by reviewing the adventures of
Amazon in Queens. Last year, in a rare act
of seamless collaboration, de Blasio and
Governor Cuomo struck a secret deal to lure
the corporate giant to Long Island City: bil-
lions in incentives in exchange for the prom-
ise of 25,000 jobs and a tide of workers tak-
ing the subway to, instead of from, Queens
every morning. Community groups and
elected officials, blindsided by the agree-
ment and shocked at its scale and the size of
its giveaways, depicted it as an attack on the
peoplebya corporate-governmentcartel.
After staring into the mud pit of New York
real-estate politics, Amazon bolted. Maybe
the whole debacle was doomed toplay out
that way, but the experience suggests ways
not to repeat it. Start by asking and listening
to the people who live next door, rather than
springing a fait accompli. Line uppolitical
support ahead of time. Make sure the devel-
opers understand the turf. Build in a set of
public benefits from the beginning, local
and citywide, immediate and long-term.
Don’t leave it up to local opponentsto go up
against brigades of lawyers and fight for
crumbs of public space.
None of these strategies ensuressuccess.
Just weeks ago, the owners of Industry City
were forced to abandon a sweeping expan-
sion proposal that would have transformed
that giant waterfront hunk of Brooklyn
manufacturing into an even more hopping
commercial hub. This was no stealth mega-
project, like Amazon; discussions with the
Sunset Park community had been going on
for years. But in the end, the details mat-
tered less than political winds and revulsion
at the sweeping plan. Failures likethe one
at Industry City leave the next mayor and
City Council with a daunting challenge:
how to surf the anti-capitalist Zeitgeist and
avoid turning the world capital of capital
into an economic backwater.
Shipping, manufacturing, finance,
tourism—each has buoyed the city,then left
a wake of wreckage. The next mayor will
have to continue to find new ways to spread
the risk, and one path to a sturdier, fairer
future might run through the past. “Ours
was an agrarian city. We had farmland in
the Bronx and Queens,” Adams says. “With
today’s technology, we can growfood on
rooftops and in vertical spaces.” That busi-
ness could quickly expand beyondthe ear-
nest niche it occupies now. New York has
about 40,000 acres of rooftop space; the
Milwaukee urban farmer Will Allen once
claimed that his three-acre plot could feed
10,000 people. Adams envisions a citywide
network combining rooftop gardeners with
companies like AeroFarms, which con-
verted a steel-supply plant in Newark into
NEW YORK ON THE BRINK ... OF SOMETHING ...
