ABSTRACT
Without favourable political and economic factors outside of the city’s control, New York’s dizzying pace of development in the past years clearly would not have been possible. At the same time, however, several scholars have pointed out that the extent of New York’s recent development boom is also at least in part owed to shifts in local policy. Observers argue that the city’s current administration, under the leadership of business CEO and media mogul Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg, has made a particularly signifi cant contribution to the restructuring and remaking of New York’s urban space (Angotti 2008; Brash 2006; Fainstein 2005). Since taking offi ce in 2002, Bloomberg has abandoned the city’s earlier lopsided policy focus on tax breaks, zoning waivers, and other giveaways to attract development, and fully embraced the transformation from an industrial to a post-industrial economy by embarking on a proactive, top-down development agenda, which has consisted of numerous area rezonings, several property-led urban redevelopment ventures, and efforts to improve the city’s transport infrastructure and to expand and enhance public space. The stated aim is to prepare New York for future population growth, to fuel economic development, and to specifi cally enhance the city’s attractiveness to investors, middle-and upper-class residents, and visitors.
