ABSTRACT

The design of three major New York City large-scale redevelopment projects (Grand Central Terminal, Rockefeller Center, and the original World Trade Center) was intended to modernize and invigorate the downtown economy by attracting new businesses. To the degree that they made pedestrian and vehicular circulation easier and faster, provided attractive and easy-to-use additions to the public realm, and induced property owners to make improvements to their property, they were able to generate the widespread and sustained private market reaction that is the product of successful city planning and urban design.