What do big projects like Battery Park City, the World Trade Center, Riverbank State Park, the Times Square redevelopment, the MTA, and the Mitchell Lama housing projects all have in common? The crucial, if often overlooked, role played by New York State in planning, financing, developing and managing these massive initiatives. Since the Great Depression, New York State has dramatically increased the scale and scope of its urban activity with the stated goal of counteracting central city economic decline. Three leading urban historians assess the competitions and collaborations of the state and city and debate what has worked, what has not, and why. Join us for a spirited discussion about New York State’s wide-ranging role in New York City’s housing and urban redevelopment plans since the 1950s.

Moderator: Carol Willis, The Skyscraper Museum.

Panelists:
Lizabeth Cohen, Professor, Harvard University, author of the forthcoming Saving America’s Cities: Ed Logue and the Struggle to Renew Urban America in the Suburban Age.
Lynne Sagalyn, Professor, Columbia University, author of Power at Ground Zero: Politics, Money, and the Rebuilding of Lower Manhattan.
Nicholas Dagen Bloom, Professor, Hunter College, author of How States Shaped Postwar America: State Government and Urban Power.

Skyscraper Museum programs are FREE, except when noted, but reservations are required, and priority is given to Members and Corporate Member firms and their employees.
All guests MUST RSVP to programs@skyscraper.org to assure admittance to the event.