The Regional Plan Association is an independent, not-for-profit regional planning organization, founded in 1922, that focuses on recommendations to improve the quality of life and economic competitiveness of a 31-county New York–New Jersey–Connecticut region in the New York metropolitan area. Headquartered in New York City, it has offices in Princeton, New Jersey, and Stamford, Connecticut.
History In 1922, the Russell Sage Foundation appointed the Committee on the Plan of New York and its Environs with the goal of creating a comprehensive development plan with to enhance quality of life for residents. The first Committee meeting was held on May 10, 1922, including prominent attendees such as Herbert Hoover, Charles Dyer Norton, Elihu Root, Lillian Wald, Charles Dana Gibson, and Eleanor Robson Belmont. Between 1927 and 1929, a series of ten technical volumes on manufacturing, transportation, and community planning was published as precursors to the first Regional Plan. In 1929, the RPA was formally incorporated. That same year, the first Regional Plan was published, the first regional plan in the United States.
First Regional Plan In 1930, George McAneny became RPA's first president. The first plan included ambitious proposals such as building a new city upon the New Jersey Meadowlands that would fit five million people at the cost of $125 million. In 1931, Volume II of the First Plan was introduced, which focused on urban design. This plan included plans such as demolishing blighted areas on the Lower East Side.
Expansion of public parks was another important factor in the first plan, as it identified several natural areas to be acquired for public use. This included the establishment and expansion of sites including Garret Mountain Reservation in Paterson, NJ, Great Kills Park on Staten Island, and the Palisades Interstate Park System.
In the late 1930s, the RPA successfully prevented Robert Moses's proposal to build a bridge between Battery Park and Brooklyn, resulting in the Brooklyn-Battery Tunnel being built instead. Throughout the 1930s and 1940s, the region's highway and parkway network largely followed the RPA's plan, including projects such as the George Washington Bridge, the Belt Parkway, the Henry Hudson Parkway, and East River Drive (now FDR Drive). Since the 1930s, the RPA recommended a highway between the Triborough Bridge and Gowanus Parkway, which later became the Brooklyn-Queens Expressway when it was completed in 1964.
In 1942, a study was conducted by the RPA about traffic and parking in Manhattan below 61st Street, where they planned to build parking structures near transit, as well as advocating for a form of congestion pricing.
During World War II, the RPA worked to address housing, transportation, and civilian protection efforts, particularly due to the convergence of workers in defense industries. Following World War II, population growth exploded in the suburbs, as opposed to New York City and other urban areas as it had been decades prior. The suburban population doubled, and the newly built road network encouraged sprawl. The RPA advocated for the development of land near to transit and to Manhattan. RPA advocated for comprehensive community planning, improved building codes, and large-scale development of regional city centers. In 1947, the RPA released a report called Airports of Tomorrow, which called for improvements to the region's airport system.
In the late 1940s, the RPA advocated for the "neighborhood unit", which promoted design principles for neighborhoods, including garden apartments, walkable shopping centers, and minimal through-traffic. These ideas were implemented in places such as Fresh Meadows and Forest Hill Gardens in Queens, and Radburn, New Jersey.
In 1950, the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey opened the Port Authority Bus Terminal in response to a growing need to handle suburban bus traffic.
In the 1950s, some board members of the RPA considered the dissolution of the organization, claiming that the goals of the First Plan had largely been completed with the construction of the Verrazano–Narrows Bridge. Instead, the RPA was tasked with analyzing the impact and alternatives to suburban sprawl, particularly the rapid rise in lot size requirements and scattering of nonresidential development.
In 1960, the RPA's "The Race for Open Space" study led to the creation of various parks, including Delaware Valley, Island Beach State Park, Lake Wawayanda, Round Valley, and Sandy Hook in New Jersey; Fire Island, Lloyd Neck, Moriches Inlet, and the Shawangunks in New York; as well as the Taconic Tri State Park in New York, Connecticut, and Massachusetts, three of which became national parks. RPA’s study was cited in the introduction of the first federal aid for open space.
In 1961, the RPA's Commuter Report concluded that public transportation was essential to the region, and called for federal aid for public transportation and railroad investment. As a result, the three State Highway Departments all became Departments of Transportation, which sought to modernize buses and rail. In 1964, as the private railroad operators were approaching bankruptcy, the RPA advocated for one regional public transportation agency in charge of operating the private railroads, although multiple agencies were created instead. The Urban Mass Transportation Act of 1964 was passed in response. This led to the creation of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) in 1965.
In 1962, the RPA began working on the Second Regional Plan, as the 1929 First Plan was outdated. Over the 1960s, they conducted public meetings and surveys to figure out public desires for regional planning.
Second Regional Plan The Second Regional Plan was released in 1968, which called for more federal investment in public services for low-income communities and communities of color, more compact development to reduce suburban sprawl, minimize auto travel, and protect open space.
In the 1960s, the RPA supported Robert Moses's idea of building the Lower Manhattan Expressway, although they disagreed with Moses on how it should be constructed. The idea died after Moses's removal of his post in 1966. They advocated against the construction of a fourth major airport in the region, instead seeking ways to minimize air travel growth and improving runway capacity.
The second plan included recommendations for developing regional city centers outside of Manhattan. This was implemented in cities and areas such as Jamaica, Queens, Paterson, New Brunswick, Bridgeport, and Stamford. In 1983, the released a study regarding Downtown Brooklyn development, which led to the creation of projects such as the MetroTech Center. In the 1980s, released development plans for several counties until 2000, including Fairfield, Morris, Westchester, and the Bronx. Also in the 1980s, the RPA argued for the waterfront of New Jersey in Hudson County opposite Manhattan, which was largely undeveloped or industrial, to become a continuous waterfront catering to pedestrians, cyclists, boaters and transit riders with the development of a light rail system. This eventually did lead to development along the waterfront, the creation of the Hudson River Waterfront Walkway, the build out of the Hudson-Bergen Light Rail and restoration of cross-Hudson ferry service.
In 1968, the nation's first national park in an area was created, Gateway National Recreation Area. They also helped preserve the final stretch of undeveloped oceanfront in NYC, Breezy Point. In 1972, the RPA advocated for the protection of Paterson Great Falls, which later became a National Park in 2011. The RPA's desire to protect the Meadowlands from continuing to be used as a dumping ground led to the creation of the Hackensack Meadowlands Development Commission (now New Jersey Meadowlands Commission). In 1992, the RPA reviewed brownfields in New Jersey that could be revitalized for development. In 1995, the RPA spearheaded the effort to transform Governor's Island from an abandoned Coast Guard base to an urban park.
CHOICES for ’76 was an Emmy award-winning series of televised town hall meetings. RPA created several one-hour documentaries which asked viewers to weigh in on planning decisions about housing, transportation, the environment, poverty, and cities and suburbs. The town halls were featured on every major news network in the region.
In 1973, the RPA published a study demonstrating the link between higher urban density and lower per capita energy consumption during the oil crisis.
The RPA continued to be an advocate against cars and in favor of multimodal transportation approaches during the 1970s. The agency successfully fought against the addition of new lanes to the Lincoln Tunnel and a new tube in the Queens-Midtown Tunnel. The RPA advocated for extending bus networks, more free and discounted transit programs, and creating more transit in transit deserts. They also published a report advocating for pedestrian needs, including wider sidewalks, closing selected streets to vehicles, and pedestrian-friendly building design.
In 1978, Jimmy Carter created the first National Urban Policy, which replicated much of the RPA's policies.
In 1979, New Jersey Transit was formed at the support of the RPA, which operated the state's bus and rail systems.
Third Regional Plan In 1996, the Third Regional Plan was published, which called for a seamless mass transit system, a network of protected natural resources, and maintaining half the region's employment in urban centers. The plan also considered the fact that continued economic growth was not guaranteed following an economic downturn in the early 1990s.
In 1999, the RPA was tasked by CSX Transportation with how to reuse the High Line, which was eventually decided on being a recreational trail, later implemented during the 2000s-2010s. In 2004, the vision for Manhattan's Far West Side was included in the third plan, which sought to include a mixed-use development, later becoming Hudson Yards, which began construction in 2012. In 2007, the RPA advocated for the conversion of the James A. Farley Post Office into a transportation hub, which was later completed in 2021 as Moynihan Train Hall. In 2009, Times Square was pedestrianized, something that had been in the RPA's Second Plan, as well as numerous other pedestrian-oriented improvements in the city.