The 1961 Zoning Revision and the Template of the Ideal City

This chapter discusses the 1961 revision of New York City's zoning resolution in the context of the economic and social conditions in the city after World War II. There was a disjunction between the ideal city envisioned by planners and the forces that were shaping the city, though a disjunction that contributed to many of the conditions that the authors find in the city today. The 1961 zoning revision proposed a postwar version of the prewar ideal city. The 1961 zoning revision envisioned a city with a strong manufacturing base, an active port, and a robust middle class, with Manhattan as the focus of the region and with developers enjoying the economies of and profits from large-scale construction. The participants in the 1961 zoning revision included people who had been active in planning and development and putting these ideas to work for several decades.