Learnings from New York

Transcription

1 Learnings from New York Insights from participants of the 6 th Leaders in Urban Governance Programme (LUGP) during their 5-days overseas component programme in New York (NYC). NYC is a very dense city with a growing and aging population 1. It is also very diverse, with as many as 800 languages spoken within the city. NYC is thus facing similar challenges as many cities in terms of planning for infrastructural needs and having sustainable economic growth. During the trip, the Mayor s office provided an overview of the OneNYC Plan which lays out the vision for NYC by The delegation also interacted with senior officials from the Department of Transport (DOT), the New York Economic Development Corporation (EDC), the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), urban experts and non-government organisations (NGOs); with site visits to initiatives implemented by the respective stakeholders. The key learning areas from NYC are: How NYC articulate its vision; NYC s economic planning and development strategies; NYC s transport system; How NYC leverage on NGOs, civic groups and businesses; and NYC s resilience strategies and initiatives. (i) The OneNYC Vision The NYC Mayor s Office provided an overarching vision for NYC through the OneNYC Plan. The OneNYC Plan charts a course for a sustainable and resilient city for all New Yorkers, and addresses the profound social, economic and environmental issues they face. The four visions and some of the desired outcomes by 2040 are:- Our Growing, Thriving City; Support office development in Central Business District and promote new space for emerging industries; Help small businesses succeed Our Just and Equitable City; Provide access to the right services at the right time through Community schools, Health Hubs, and online; Reduce crime and unnecessary incarceration through technology and data Our Sustainable City; Reduce greenhouse gas emissions from buildings by 30% by 2025 and chart long term plans; Expand NYC s organic programmes; Reduce risks of stormwater flooding 1 NYC s population is at an all-time high of nearly 8.4 million people on 790 km 2 of land. By 2040, New Yorkers over the age of 65 will surpass the number of school-age children.

2 Our Resilient City Strengthen community-based organisations; Implement nature-based strategies for resiliency OneNYC manages to integrate economic, social and environmental outcomes into an overall vision for the city. This has the advantage in that economic and environmental outcomes are embedded in a larger vision and could resonate better with the man on the street. It is also noted that OneNYC places great emphasis on building a Just and Equitable City. This is an area that will be relevant to many cities becoming increasingly diverse and concerns about social inequality become more acute. Equal opportunities for all, a low crime rate, a clean and green environment can be highlighted as efforts towards equity. City governments could adapt the approach of the OneNYC Vision in weaving the various seemingly disparate narratives together into a coherent vision with economic, social, environmental and resilience outcomes. In this manner, the people and community will better understand how the various government initiatives/plans are linked together and how the government is making progress towards a common vision. (ii) NYC s Economic Planning and Development Strategy One important vehicle through which NYC executes its economic development is the New York EDC 2. In the aftermath of the 2008 financial crisis, New York has come to realize that it has been too economically dependent on the financial sector; consequently, EDC has a strong focus on the technology sector and start-ups. To differentiate itself from other innovative regions in the United States like the Silicon Valley and Boston, the EDC is focusing on developing technologies in sectors where New York is already strong in; for example, media, arts, design, fashion, etc. These are also the same sectors for start-ups which EDC has been active in supporting. One key strategy of EDC to spur innovation is by working with the community. A specific example is the RISE (Resiliency Innovation for Strong Economy) NYC initiative. The objective of this initiative is to crowdsource existing technological solutions that SMEs can adopt to be more resilient in the event of a disaster like Hurricane Sandy which has disproportionately hurt SMEs. An example of a solution is a micro-grid for SMEs that can operate independently of the main power grid. The crowdsourcing competition held by EDC garnered more than 200 applications from around the world out of which 11 winning solutions were chosen. EDC funded these SMEs to adopt the technologies. Economic development agencies in cities could explore a similar crowdsourcing approach to help SMEs make productivity improvements as SMEs of specific sectors might have similar processes and challenges just like certain SMEs in NYC might possess similar vulnerabilities to natural disasters. 2 The objective of the EDC is to drive economic growth, stimulate innovation and create jobs in NYC. The EDC is a self-funded quasi government entity that reports to the Mayor. The EDC has the mandate to implement programmes to catalyse economic growth in the city, oversees infrastructure developments and manages about 200 real estate assets.

3 (iii) NYC s Transport System Transport strategies under the OneNYC Plan include the development of active mobility to address the first/last mile of journeys, wayfinding and street improvement projects for a more walkable neighbourhood, and Vision Zero (to improve street safety). Under Active Mobility, the city is expanding the bike-sharing network. This includes protected bike lanes (e.g. Prospect Park West) where on-street parking is located between road lanes and bike lanes. Near intersections, vehicles and bikes merge in mixing zones, where speeds are reduced and there is greater visibility for turning vehicles. NYC is also the first city in the world where companies pay the city to operate a bike share programme 3. It achieved this by selling the advertising rights through a tender process. The Citi Bike programme comprises a network of rental stations and is intended to provide an alternative mode of transport for one-way trips which are too far to walk and too short for cabs/subway, on a 24/7 basis. Bike share provides connection between major transportation hubs and less accessible areas. Bikers buy memberships (monthly/annual) that allows them to use the bikes for 30 or 45 minutes each time. This bike share model could possibly be adapted by city governments to connect housing estates to train stations/town centres in the heartlands and connecting train stations to key institutions/buildings in the city centre. As part of the WalkNYC Programme, DOT has in place a sign system to provide wayfinding information. This comprised a core family of maps/signs covering paths, areas, and neighbourhoods; and an extended family of signs for bike-share, select bus services, and subway neighbourhoods. The city-wide system provides an iconic design identity and information template with universally-accessible pictograms which are easily recognisable. For example, a typical sign includes an overview map and a focus map which shows key landmarks, amenities and the time taken for pedestrians to walk. NYC also has in place Vision Zero to improve street safety for both pedestrians and cyclists. One of the key achievements of the programme is that the number of accidents involving cyclists has stayed stable despite an increase in the number of bikes and cyclists. This could in part be due to the safety-in-numbers effect, but can also be accredited to the safety guidelines issued to bikers. (iv) Leveraging on NGOs, Civic Groups and Businesses Besides centralized economic development agencies like the EDC, there are also a number of regional entities in New York that contribute to economic development. These are known as Business Improvement Districts (BIDs). BIDs are non-profit economic development organizations that deliver public services to specific neighbourhoods to supplement the bundle of public services provided by the 3 Citigroup won the right to be the lead sponsor at $41mil for six years from 2013 (this can be extended in the future for up to 15 years for a further sum of money), and to advertise on every single dock and bike. Another company, Motivate, does the actual running, operations and maintenance of the bike programme. In addition to the initial investment, the companies have also invested another $30mil to upgrade facilities. Citigroup/Motivate also reimburses NYC for the parking revenue foregone from creating bike racks where there used to be parking meters.

4 government. BIDs are authorized by state legislation and are funded by mandatory assessment fees paid by merchants and property owners within the district. BIDs use the funds to provide basic services such as sanitation, security and neighbourhood amenities such as unified signage, street lights and street plantings. We met two such BIDs; Times Square Alliance and Downtown Brooklyn Partnership. Both BIDs have helped to transform the districts that they champion and have increased the commercial value of the districts. In particular, the Times Square Alliance has achieved spectacular success by transforming the old Times Square of 1992 which was chaotic and riddled with crime to the Times Square of today, the iconic public space of Manhattan. The Downtown Brooklyn Partnership has also made impressive strides to increase the occupancy of downtown Brooklyn and made the district more vibrant. Compared to a government agency, these BIDs appear to possess the following advantages: o More nimble and faster in coming up with district improvement programmes as they are not bound by bureaucratic processes like government s procurement rules; o More in touch with the needs of the businesses and residents in the district as the BID management is directly accountable to them; o Greater ownership by the merchants and property owners in the programmes/initiatives of the BIDs since they pay fees and are therefore invested in the success of the BIDS; o More driven in making a difference as BIDs are set up for specific districts and individuals that join the BIDs for the specific mission of the BIDs. Although BIDs are often set up as a way for cash strapped municipal government to provide services to specific neighbourhoods, and some cities do not face that same constraint, the successes of BIDs warrant a consideration for such set-ups. For example, in Singapore, there could be consideration for facilitating the formation of BIDs in certain key districts like Boat Quay, Chinatown, Little India, Orchard Road, etc. This would encourage the business and resident communities in these areas to take ownership of issues of common interests. For a start, the government could consider providing seed funding for budding BIDs and supporting consultancy/mentorship with experienced BIDs like Times Square Alliance. (v) NYC s Resilience Initiatives and Strategies It is evident during the trip that resilience has been built into many layers of NYC s society. After Hurricane Sandy, NYC s economy lost approximately US$19 billion and this resulted in the government acknowledging that climate change was a key risk to address. An Office of Recovery & Resilience was set up in NYC with the following three approaches:- o Ensure neighbourhoods, public services, etc. respond better and are able to withstand the impact from climate change; o Build stronger communities; and

5 o Adopt a multi-layered approach as there is no silver bullet solution to address this issue. The Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) also expanded their role beyond just addressing and delivering on post-hurricane Sandy re-building programmes by taking on longer term planning to address a broad range of risks that could take place in the future. This included social and economic resiliency such as small business resiliency, health, telecommunications, sanitation, etc. HUD added that they have since set up a task force to look at system interdependency and that currently all the critical information for planning and disaster response still resides with individual agencies. This is something they are trying to improve for response coordination and planning. City government could consider strengthening the interdependency analysis and studies effort by various agencies and emphasise collaboration to map out our critical infrastructures and information systems. This is an important step to identify cross-system interdependencies and vulnerabilities so as to enhance effective planning and development in the complex future environment. Separately, a comprehensive relook at emergency temporary housing during crisis events related to natural or industrial accidents or contamination that require mass evacuation would be useful to ensure various agencies are ready and prepared to implement effective contingency plans at short notice. Conclusion One of the key observations from this trip is the strong involvement of NGOs and the communities in the development of NYC, be it in transport (Citi Bike), businesses (BIDs) or development of public spaces (Brooklyn Park). This is often due to the lack of capacity and means by the government to react to issues on the ground. While Singapore is currently not in a similar situation, the government may wish to balance the need to be the only solution provider against raising public expectations and future manpower constraints. NYC is a showcase that community-led developments and initiatives can be successful with minimal interventions from the government and can in fact be complementary to the efforts of the government Centre for Liveable Cities All rights reserved. No part of this document may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without prior written permission of the Centre for Liveable Cities.