302.6 Title and Furman Center Logo Over Aerial NYC

New York City covers 302.6 square miles of land. And on every block, and every borough, land use regulations shape the city’s life: where we live and where we work, our monthly rents and our daily commutes, who attends which schools and breathes what air. The next mayor—through their control over agencies like the Department of City Planning and their influence in the City Council and in Albany—will play a critical role determining the city’s land use policy and faces difficult choices in imagining the city’s land use future.

The NYU Furman Center’s series, How New York’s Next Mayor Can Shape Land Use and Planning, explores some of the most important and pressing land use questions facing the next administration. The series covers six key issues: where the city should prioritize new residential development; how best to use inclusionary zoning to produce affordable housing; how to balance neighborhood, citywide, and regional interests in land use; what outreach and studies should be performed before a rezoning; whether to allow different, often-smaller, types of residential unit than are currently permitted; and how to approach land use on NYCHA’s campuses. The series aims to provide the background and policy analysis to inform a public debate on these central issues.

302.6 was written by Noah Kazis, Jay Cullen, Adam George, and Charles McNally.