URBAN Magazine

The Spring 2012 issue of URBAN has arrived! Pick up your copy in the Planning Studio, or in newsstands around campus. A low-resolution preview is available online  and can be downloaded HERE. If you would like a high-res PDF, please email urban.submissions@gmail.com

The Fall 2011 Special Zoning issue of URBAN has arrived! Pick up your copy in the Planning Studio, or in newsstands around campus. A low-resolution preview is available online under “issues,” and can be downloaded HERE. If you would like a high-res PDF, please email urban.submissions@gmail.com

Urban hits the Columbia stands in a few days.

Sneak peak at the cover:

Every day, New York City’s intersections play stage to a never-ending dance performed by its drivers, pedestrians, and cyclists. It is a suspenseful drama filled with strong wills, daring exploits, and narrow escapes. Most of the time, these players make out safely to the next intersection and the next charade. But for around 140 unlucky New York City pedestrains and cyclists every year, this show will be their last.

Ron Gabriel, a New York City artist and activist, created a campaign called “3-Way Street” for his graduate thesis project at the School of Visual Arts. The campaign is composed of a video, posters, and a website, and promotes a three-way balance of street priority for motorists, cyclists, and pedestrians. “3-Way Street” asks New Yorkers to reconsider some of their longstanding bad habits such as jaywalking and running reds.

The campaign comes at a time when the city’s Department of Transportation is investing considerable effort into expanding bike lanes and transforming car-dominated Broadway into a series of pedestrian-friendly plazas. But infrastructure improvement is only half the battle. Attitudes must change too. As Gabriel writes on his blog, “old habits exacerbate attempts to expand ways to use our streets; existing dysfunction makes change more difficult.” As anyone who has crossed a busy Manhattan avenue can attest, there is still a long way to go.

This Wednesday, the MAS is hosting a panel discussion on New York City’s landmark 1961 Zoning Resolution — arguably the single most important factor dictating the city’s built form. From height and setbacks to parking lots and preservation, there’s little zoning doesn’t influence.

Yet at fifty, the zoning code is beginning to show its age. A product of 1960s planning theory, it is perhaps the last remaining holdout of an era the profession has largely turned its back on. With the code now full of special districts, quality housing provisions and parking waivers that actively seek to remedy past mistakes, the document has grown to an unmanageable 900-plus pages.

But is a new code really the answer, or can more amendments throw out the bathwater while saving the baby? That’s what Philadelphia Deputy Mayor Alan Greenberger, midtown planning consultant Michael Parley and general counsel for New York City’s DCP will be discussing Wednesday, June 8th at 6pm.

As planning students, we’re automatically members of MAS, bringing the price of attendance down to $10. If you’re thinking of writing for the next issue — which is a special edition on zoning — or are just interested in this landmark document, come check out the talk.

What: The Zoning Resolution at 50: Addressing the Challenges of the Next 50 Years
Where: Scandinavia House, 58 Park Avenue (between 37th and 38th streets)
When: Wednesday, June 8th @6pm
How Much: $10 for MAS members (all us students) and $15 for non-members
Register at: MAS Website or call 212-935-2075

A reception will follow.

URBAN’s summer issue hits the newsstands this afternoon. Be sure to get yourself a copy either around campus or at GSAPP’s ‘End Of Year Show’ tomorrow night.

In this issue, we cover New York City’s flea market scene, growing homeownership in the South Bronx and weigh in on the city’s contentious bike lane debates.

Further from home, we look at Jane Jacobs’ impact on Toronto — her adopted home after leaving Hudson street in the ’60s — as well as regional governments in Brazil and street culture in Rome.

A low-resolution digital copy will be posted online shortly, but if you’d like to get your hands on a print version of this or any other issue, please email us at urban.submission[at]gmail.com.