Plan 2050 Launch Event

LAUNCH EVENT

PENN STATION AND A POST-MOSES NEW YORK 

Robert Moses’ legacy continues to shape our city, from Penn Station to the outer limits of the region and everywhere in between. By ReThinking how we invest in our infrastructure, we can build a world-class regional transportation network that makes it possible to get from anywhere to everywhere.

The Great Hall at The Cooper Union | May 9th, 2017

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1. INTRODUCTION + OPENING REMARKS

JIM VENTURI

ReThink Studio

ROBERT PAASWELL

The City College of New York

RUN OVERVIEW VIDEO

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2. HISTORICAL CONTEXT

SAM ROBERTS

The New York Times

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3. RETHINKNYC PRESENTATION

Presented by:

LANE RICK

ReThink Studio

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4. PANEL DISCUSSION + CLOSING REMARKS

CHRISTOPHER JONES

Regional Plan Association

WILLIAM MENKING

The Architect’s Newspaper

MARGARET NEWMAN

ARUP

JIM VENTURI

ReThink Studio

VUKAN VUCHIC

University of Pennsylvania

SAM SCHWARTZ

Sam Schwartz Engineering

GINA POLLARA

ReThink Studio

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SPEAKERS

JIM VENTURI is the founder and principal designer of ReThink Studio and ReThinkNYC. Through his experiences in information technology, planning, and architecture, Venturi focuses on solving the infrastructural, social and economic challenges of transportation planning. This holistic approach is reflected in both his work at ReThink Studio and his past work as a network architect, bridging analytical and creative assets by building early technology networks and developing software. He founded Creative Technologies, a boutique systems integration technology firm catering to architects and designers, and later designing and implementing email and network migration for Fortune 1000 companies. Venturi is the 2015 recipient of the James Parks Morton Promise for the Future Award, which was given in part to recognize the ReThinkNYC project.

LANE RICK is a principal at ReThink Studio, where she has helped develop the ReThinkNYC plan. As an architect, illustrator, and writer in New York, her work interrogates spatial and cultural idiosyncrasy, narrative, and transformation. Lane has build work in China, the U.S. and Canada; her drawings have been exhibited in galleries in New York, Shanghai, and Atlanta. She is a co-founder of the Brooklyn- and San Francisco-based architecture studio, Office of Things. Lane received a Master of Architecture and B.A. from Yale University.

Dr. ROBERT PAASWELL is a Distinguished Professor of Civil Engineering at the City College of New York, where he also served as Interim President from 2009 — 2010. He is the emeritus Director of the College’s University Transportation Research Center, which he led for 19 years and the founding Director of the CUNY Institute for Urban Systems (CIUS). A civil engineer and former CEO of the Chicago Transit Authority, Dr. Paaswell is an internationally recognized expert in public transportation issues and consulting. He is an appointed member of the NY State Governor’s High Speed Rail Task Force and recently served as a member of the Expert Jury for the Redesign of the Port Authority Bus Terminal.

SAM ROBERTS has been a reporter, columnist, editor, urban affairs correspondent and obituary writer for The New York Times and host of The Times’ weekly television program, “The New York Times Close Up.” He is the author of 10 books, including “A History of New York in 101 Objects,” “The Brother: The Untold Story of the Rosenberg Atom Spy Case,” and “Grand Central: How a Train Station Transformed America.”

CHRISTOPHER JONES directs research and planning for Regional Plan Association. Since joining RPA in 1994, he has written extensively on regional development and urban policy and led many multidisciplinary initiative to improve economic, social and environmental conditions in the New York-New Jersey-Connecticut Region. He is currently leading research for RPA’s fourth regional plan, a long-range blueprint for the metropolitan region due out in the fall of 2017. Prior to joining RPA, Chris was the special assistant to the deputy mayor for planning and development in New York City.

MARGARET NEWMAN With over 25 years of experience as an architect and urban planner, Margaret Newman is an Associate Principal at ARUP with the Integrated Planning team in New York.  Working across the many disciplines of engineering and design, Ms. Newman is designing public realm projects that are not only strategic and economical, but also projects that prioritize people to better integrate planning and transportation into the fabric and context of cities.  Prior to joining ARUP, Ms. Newman headed up her own consulting firm More Urban, advising on design, urban planning, and development projects and served as Executive Director of the Municipal Art Society of New York, advocating for excellence in all aspects of the built environment. Under Mayor Bloomberg and Commissioner Sadik-Khan, Ms. Newman served as Chief of Staff at the New York City Department of Transportation. She received a Master’s degree in Architecture from Princeton University, is a certified LEED AP, BD+C professional and a Fellow of the American Institute of Architects.

SAM SCHWARTZ is President and CEO of Sam Schwartz Engineering (SSE), a firm that specializes in transportation planning and engineering. He is a columnist for The New York Daily News, and the NY Downtown Express. Mr. Schwartz is also the Inaugural Ted Kheel Fellow at Roosevelt House at Hunter College. Previously Mr. Schwartz was New York City’s Traffic Commissioner and was the Chief Engineer of the NYC Department of Transportation. He started his transportation career in the late 1960’s as a NYC cabbie and joined the Traffic Department, as a junior engineer, in 1971. Mr. Schwartz specializes in creative problem-solving for seemingly intractable situations. He is an expert at getting people out of their cars and into other forms of transportation. He’s been called an Urban Alchemist for making grass grow from asphalt. Mr. Schwartz, often referred to by his nom de plume “Gridlock Sam,” released the word “Gridlock” into the lexicon during the 1980 NYC Transit strike.

Dr. VUKAN VUCHIC is Emeritus Professor of Transportation Systems Engineering and of City and Regional Planning at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia. His research on urban transportation systems, planning and policies, has been published in his “Transit Trilogy.” He has been consultant to US Department of Transportation, cities of Belgrade, Beijing, Lima, Naples, Perth, Philadelphia, Rome, Singapore and transit agencies BART, WMATA, NYCT, SEPTA, TTC, Moscow Metro, and many others. Professor Vuchic retired in 2010. In 2014 the American Public Transportation Association gave him a Lifetime of Academic Distinction Award. 

WILLIAM MENKING is an architectural historian, writer, critic, and curator of architecture and urbanism. He is professor of architecture, urbanism, and city planning at Pratt Institute and has lectured and taught at schools in the United States and Europe. He has been published in numerous architectural publications, anthologies, and museum catalogues. He has curated and organized international exhibitions on the visionary British architects Archigram, the Italian radical architects Superstudio, and contemporary English design, and he served as Commissioner of the U.S. pavilion at the 2008 Venice Biennale. He has participated in various juries including the 2006 and 2008 New York City AIA New Practices, 2007 and 2008 San Francisco AIA Honor Awards, and the 2007 Lumen awards for lighting.

THANK YOU TO OUR SPONSORS

RETHINK STUDIO TEAM

Jim Venturi

Lane Rick

Aurelie Barbier

Karim Ahmed

Liam Blank

Bartholomew Caro

Jenny du Pont

Diego Gonzalez

Sang Jung Kim

Hannah Miller

Cezar Nicolescu

Victoria Pai

Yubi Park

Gina Pollara

Stefano Trevisan

ADVISORY BOARD

Christine Berthet

Tom Bishop

Lance Brown

Joe Lhota

Martin Robins

Sam Schwartz

Samuel Turvey

Dr. Vukan Vuchic

PUBLIC RELATIONS

Nicholas & Lence

Zohny PR

SPECIAL THANKS TO

Harry Bolick

Richard Cameron

Emma Exley

Frank Gehry

Laurie Hawkinson

Sigmund Lerner

Karlyn Michelson

Jim & Pamela Morton

Anita Naughton

Kolin Pope

Bika Rebek

Ivan Saleff

Denise Scott Brown

Henry Smith-Miller

Patricia Steadman

Robert Venturi

In Memoriam

Diane Lewis

Frederic Schwartz