In both Building Like Moses With Jacobs In Mind and A Region At Risk the ideas of The Third Region Plan are discussed. The RPA had a concept of The Three E’s- Economy, Equity, and Environment. These three things must be in balance and no one idea should be thought of to be more important than any other. In the times of Moses and Jacobs, these three components were not working as a unit. They needed to be reconnected in order for the city to gain success. The RPA introduction speaks about the tendency of the era to be “narrow-focused” focusing on one issue at a time, which does not work for this plan. In the Cornell University video, Professor David Lee speaks about sustainability and its past, and contribution to society today. He speaks about how different civilizations use this basic concept in order to thrive, even agricultural civilizations in the Andes. This idea that any community must have a balance of these three concepts, no matter if it is a city, or in the Andes. He uses the definition of World Commission Environment and Development (Brundtland Commission), 1987 stating that sustainability is “…development that meets the needs of the present generation without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.” So, in terms of NYC during the planning process and NYC today, are we a sustainable city?
When Moses was planning and building outwards- into the suburbs of Long Island- and upwards, with Superblocks and skyscrapers, he was thinking of the future, the automobile was his main focus. So he was thinking if it in that case, as well as environmentally (green spaces, parks, beaches), economically, he created jobs for building his projects and jobs that would come out of his projects, and equity, of the roadways he was building and what doors those doorways could open into more space for living which would ultimately make values grow because of the jobs it would create in the outer areas as well. He build the city to be sustainable. Did he succeed though? According to Tom Angotti, a professor at Hunter College, sustainable NYC is something that still needs to be worked on. PlaNYC2030 has fallen by the wayside and NYC’s future is no longer being thought of, or the plans are not being followed through by City Hall. He says the plans are too linear, just what A Region At Risk advises to avoid, and each “E” is not being thought as a cohesive unit. In the last section he even speaks about the lasting environmental setbacks the new plans would have. The Three E’s plan in theory should make the city become a sustainable and quite successful place, but it is very difficult to think of all three aspects together and get them working in cooperation to create what is needed for this success.
Works Cited
Lee, David. “Toward a Sustainable Future: Sustainability: Economics, Environment and Equit.” National Academy of Engineering Regional Symposium. Cornell University, Ithica, NY. 16 May 2012. Cornell.edu. Web. 11 Mar. 2015. <http://www.cornell.edu/video/sustainability-economics-environment-and-equity>.
Interesting video. Nice choice of a source.
David Lee clearly subscribes to the philosophy of the Three E’s. He does bring case studies as evidence for his ideas in his discussion of sustainability.
Lee’s point is about the usefulness of economics in the study of sustainability, not a critical evaluation of the three E’s. He accepts those as given.
One thing you did not address is the validity of the premise behind both “A Region at Risk” and Lee’s video: that economy, equity and environment are the solution to New York’s problems. I think that philosophy deserves to be analyzed further rather than just accepted.