On July 25, 1916, New York City passed the first comprehensive zoning law, forever changing how cities everywhere would be shaped. Now, on the 100th anniversary of that resolution, the AIA New York Planning & Urban Design Committee commissioned a series of short essays by leading officials and practitioners that explore their personal or professional relationship to the Zoning Resolution, available at zoning100.com.
We invite you to browse through the website and read these insightful texts that illuminate how the zoning resolution has shaped our city.
Below, we’ve included an excerpt from the “100 Years of Zoning” by Carl Weisbrod, Director, NYC Department of City Planning, and Chair, NYC Planning Commission.
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Zoning is to the city what the riverbed is to the river – it doesn’t fill the river or make it flow, but it plays an essential role in shaping and directing it. And the riverbed itself is also reshaped over time as the waters press against its limits, as rain and drought occur, and as the surrounding environment changes. Zoning is dynamic, not permanent nor rigid. It is, in a real sense, a system of priorities that shift to reflect the needs and consciousness of changing times. Continue reading “A Century of Zoning”
