A Region at Risk

Book excerpt: Regional Plan Association, the nation's oldest regional planning organization, has worked since 1929 to improve the quality of life in the New York-New Jersey-Connecticut metropolitan area. The Association has crafted two long-term plans and successfully promoted their implementation through advocacy and coalition building. The Association's Third Regional Plan describes a series of key initiatives aimed at not only improving quality of life, but also at increasing economic competitiveness, encouraging more sustainable patterns of growth, and expanding opportunities and choice in employment, housing, and community. The Plan presents five major campaigns, each of which combines the goals of economic, equity, and environmental improvements. They are: Greensward -- to protect and restore large natural resource systems at the periphery of urbanized areas Centers -- to "recenter" regions that have experienced decades of sprawl growth Mobility -- to transform existing transit infrastructure to create a regional express rail network that would dramatically improve public transit, reduce highway congestion, and speed freight movement Workforce -- to provide the region's workforce with the skills and opportunities needed to participate in the economy of the future Governance -- to rationalize the activities of existing authorities, encourage service sharing among municipal governments, and encourage more effective state and regional land-use planning programs While focusing on the New York-New Jersey-Connecticut metropolitan area, the Plan's broad themes have universal applicability to regions throughout the industrialized world.