A

AIA CES Credits

AV Office

Abstract Publication

Academic Affairs

Academic Calendar, Columbia University

Academic Calendar, GSAPP

Admissions Office

Advanced Standing Waiver Form

Alumni Board

Alumni Office

Architecture Studio Lottery

Assistantships

Avery Library

Avery Review

Avery Shorts

S

STEM Designation

Satisfactory Academic Progress

Scholarships

Skill Trails

Student Affairs

Student Awards

Student Conduct

Student Council (All Programs)

Student Financial Services

Student Health Services at Columbia

Student Organization Handbook

Student Organizations

Student Services Center

Student Services Online (SSOL)

Student Work Online

Studio Culture Policy

Studio Procedures

Summer Workshops

Support GSAPP

Close
This website uses cookies as well as similar tools and technologies to understand visitors' experiences. By continuing to use this website, you consent to Columbia University's usage of cookies and similar technologies, in accordance with the Columbia University Website Cookie Notice Group 6

Jameson Doig

Tue, Feb 28, 2017    1:15pm

The Port Authority and Regional Planning: From Elegant and Powerful Creation to Politics-Riven Dinosaur
Jameson Doig
Professor Emeritus, Politics and Public Affairs, Woodrow Wilson School of International and Public Affairs, Princeton University

The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey was created in 1921 by the two state governments - over the opposition of New York City and Newark elected officials - and given the power to construct and maintain large transportation projects in a bi-state area that included more than 300 cities and towns. In its first 30 years, the PA’s efforts (including bridges and tunnels, airports, and marine terminals) were widely praised, and its independence from close democratic accountability was viewed as a proper sacrifice in order to “get [these] things done.” But then unruly ambition - in the PA’s ranks and in Trenton and Albany - eroded public support, and now the agency seems adrift.

How did the PA go wrong, and how might it have avoided the problems that enmesh it? What is its future? (Should it be broken apart as some suggest?) And what lessons does the 95-year history of this agency offer for urban planners more generally?

The Lectures in Planning Series (LiPS) is an initiative of the Urban Planning program at Columbia University’s Graduate School of Architecture, Planning and Preservation.

All lectures are free and open to the public; refreshments are provided. For more information or to make program suggestions, email lipscolumbiaplanning@gmail.com.