Hudson Yards Rezoning

In order to support anticipated population growth and to position New York City as an office center in the 21st Century, the City undertook a comprehensive planning and zoning of West Midtown. The area under study is delineated by 29th Street to the South, 42nd Street to the North, Seventh Avenue / Herald Square to the East, and the Hudson River. The Eastern Portion is the densely developed Garment / Fashion while the Western Portion includes low density industrial uses, scattered housing, railyards and the Javits Convention Center.

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Human Development Overlay District (HD-OD)

The Environmental Simulation Center (ESC) received a three-year grant from the Ford Foundation to develop the Human Development Overlay District (HD-OD^TM).  This initiative will harness emerging information technologies to connect the often fragmented social service and physical planning processes in neighborhoods undergoing rapid change due to catalytic development projects. 

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Infill Housing Study

Linden House, with infill development; Brooklyn, New York

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John Jay College Condemnation Trial

Prepared as evidence for a legal proceeding, the ESC developed an HTML presentation that detailed a huge amount of information visually, intuitively and completely directed by the user. 

The materials were designed to support a condemnation proceeding and were prepared to show how a single property compared to 39 other properties based on dozens of variables including items ranging from the floor area to the character of the neighborhood.  Because the materials would be used by a wide audience, including both professionals and novices, the ESC chose HTML and Java technologies that required users to have very basic requirements (Internet Explorer and Windows) to view and explore at their own pace and direction. 

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Kona - Community Development Plan

The ESC, along with ACP Visioning and Planning and Wilson Okamoto Associates, was selected to produce a Community Development Plan (CDP) for North and South Kona on the Big Island of Hawaii.  The CDP takes the County's General Plan and recommends specific locations and guidelines for growth, as well as capital improvement recommendations and a sustainable "green infrastructure" plan that creates ecological and cultural linkages across the landscape.

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