“Moment to Moment—Space”

In the early 1970s, New York stood on the edge of financial ruin. Suburban flight threatened to depopulate the center; the urban infrastructure was desolate and entire parts of the city dilapidated. Stagflation brought the United States to the “limits of growth”—the title of a book commissioned by the Club of Rome and published in 1972. The dollar lost much of its former value when President Richard Nixon took it of the gold standard. Increasing oil prices set by OPEC (Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries) triggered a recession, the Watergate scandal shook American self-confidence, and the Vietnam War divided the country.