The map above is the 1807 Commissioners’ Plan for New York, the basis of the numbered street grid north of Houston Street. It is not a city plan as we understand that term today, but it had an enormous effect on how New York developed.
In “The real answer is ‘maybe’“, Karrie Jacobs argues that New York needs a modern urban plan. It would be an enormous undertaking, but I agree that it’s needed. A plan wouldn’t stop private development, but would provide a more predictable context for such development and relieve the zoning code from being used as an ad hoc plan.
