Housing the “Front Office to the World”

Abstract

The planning philosophy of David Rockefeller and his Downtown-Lower Manhattan Association shaped the development of New York’s Battery Park City. Although the project’s plans evolved from a superblock development resembling a space station to an example of New Urbanism, each design was aimed at creating a walkable, mixed-use, twenty-four-hour city in Lower Manhattan that would support the nearby financial district. Overall, the history of the project demonstrates that continuity exists between a philosophy of slum clearance urban renewal and current urban planning thinking. Additionally, Battery Park shows how planners sought to remake financial districts at a time of urban crisis.