New York Rising is a richly illustrated history of real estate development in Manhattan that draws on the wealth of books and historical objects in the Durst Collection at Avery Architectural & Fine Arts Library, Columbia University. Editors and authors Kate Ascher and Thomas Mellins invited ten Columbia scholars to compose narratives of their areas of expertise, ranging from Dutch governance of Manhattan to recent reclamation of the city’s waterfront as a public space. The resulting volume is a story of speculation and innovation – of the big ideas, big personalities, and big risks that collectively shaped a city like no other.
Kate Ascher is a partner at BuroHappold Engineering, where she leads their cities group, as well as the Milstein Professor of Urban Development at Columbia GSAPP. She formerly served as assistant director at PANYNJ and as executive vice president of the Economic Development Corporation for the City of New York. She is the author of numerous books, among them Skyscraper Museum bestsellers The Heights: Anatomy of a Skyscraper and The Works: Anatomy of a City.
Thomas Mellins is an architectural historian and independent curator specializing in New York. He is the co-author, with Robert A. M. Stern, of New York 1880, New York 1930, and New York 1960. He has organized numerous exhibitions, including at the Museum of the City of New York, the National Building Museum, and The New York Public Library.
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