For almost a century, the Regional Plan Association (RPA) has been at the forefront of efforts to address economic, environmental, transportation, and infrastructure challenges in the New York metropolitan area.
RPA’s work is important and often visionary, so I was delighted to be invited to help draft RPA’s Fourth Regional Plan – a document that will establish goals and define options for decision-makers throughout the Tri-State region.
OK, that sounds a little grandiose, so to be more specific, I am one of about twenty members of the Financing and Governance Working Group, which is itself one of eight working groups contributing to the whole process. In other words, a very small cog in a pretty big machine. But it’s still an honor to be included, and I am impressed (and a little intimidated) by the caliber and talent of the others involved.
To give you just a taste of the challenges, check out this interactive feature (still a work in progress) illustrating access to jobs. You can filter by field of employment, commute time, mode of transportation, and so on. These kinds of tools really help to illustrate the relationship between infrastructure and job opportunity and can be useful for modeling the real-world effect of the choices made by government.
You can also learn more in this video.