Recent Event Tuesday, Oct. 15

Panel

Off the Rails: Megadevelopment and the Future of the City

10:30pm – 12:00am

Jerry H. Labowitz Theatre for the Performing Arts, 1 Washington Place, New York, NY 10003

Register

Organized by:
Urban Democracy Lab at NYU Gallatin

It may be time for urbanists to call this “the era of the megadevelopment.” Everywhere one turns, a rail-yard is being transformed into a futuristic shopping district, highways are becoming greenways, and pop-up neighborhoods are being accessed through gated, securitized portals.  From some perspectives, we are watching utopias take the place of underutilized urban land, while, from others, large-scale development reads as undisguised dystopia. As megadevelopments rise worldwide, often financed by the taxes we pay, we ask: How much was the public involved in determining their outcomes, or in deciding whether a development was necessary at all? How are public benefits integrated into these plans and how beneficial are they in reality?  What is the consequence of megadevelopments on democracy, displacement, and the city of the future?