From Industry to Innovation Economy

LEARNING OUTCOMES

• Understand geographic shifts and evolving space needs of the new urban economy.
• Identify strategies for updating industrial zoning and planning policies to meet the needs of today's growing sectors.
• Learn strategies to address political challenges and equity concerns about promoting economic change in industrial areas.

MORE SESSION DETAILS

American cities must update their zoning codes and other planning policies to support the new urban economic growth that is reviving their historic industrial areas.

Before World War II, many cities across the United States were home to thriving manufacturing hubs, often adjacent to residential working-class neighborhoods. With advances in technology and increased economic competition, many of these jobs left the country, and these historic industrial areas declined. Now, with surging urban growth, these areas are once again becoming thriving job centers. Creative and tech-driven office businesses are moving into converted loft buildings, and new types of artisanal and advanced manufacturing are growing and increasingly compatible with other land uses.

Planners need to rethink zoning regulations and strategic infrastructure investments to reflect the need for modern workspaces and more diverse mixes of uses in industrial areas. In doing so, they also must confront significant public policy debates, identify strategies for equitable job growth, and recognize the need to connect workers without college degrees to new opportunities. This panel explores the efforts of New York, Boston, and San Francisco to use innovative policy tools to rethink the economic role of industrial neighborhoods in today’s American cities.
 

Session Speakers

Andrew J. Grace
Speaker
Boston Redevelopment Authority
Jamaica Plain, MA

Jennifer A. Gravel, AICP
Moderator
New York, NY

Jeremy Shaw, AICP
Speaker
City of San Francisco
San Francisco, CA

Sulin Carling
Organizer and Speaker
Brooklyn, NY