Regional Plan Association
Encyclopedia
The Regional Plan Association (RPA) is an independent, not-for-profit regional planning organization, founded in 1922, that focuses on recommendations to improve the quality of life and economic competitiveness of the 31-county New York
-New Jersey
-Connecticut
region. Its main office is in New York City
, and it has separate Connecticut, Long Island, and New Jersey offices.
RPA's First Plan in 1929, developed under the leadership of Thomas Adams (architect)
, provided a guide for the area's road and transportation network. The Second Plan, completed in 1968, aimed at restructuring mass transit and reinvigorating deteriorating urban centers. The RPA's Third Regional Plan, issued in 1996, "A Region at Risk," recommended improving regional mass transit, increasing protection of open space and maintaining employment in traditional urban centers.
The RPA program represents a philosophy of planning described by historian Robert Fishman as "metropolitanism," associated with the Chicago School of Sociology. It promotes large scale, industrial centers and the concentration of population rather than decentralized development. Its critics point out that this results in windfall real estate profits for downtown interests. Whether this approach to regional planning is efficient, particularly because of the infrastructure and energy required to sustain such concentration, has been questioned by scholars including James Howard Kunstler.
See Robert Fishman, "The Metropolitan Tradition in American Planning," _The American Planning Tradition: Culture and Policy_ Johns Hopkins University Press, 2000.
New York
New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
-New Jersey
New Jersey
New Jersey is a state in the Northeastern and Middle Atlantic regions of the United States. , its population was 8,791,894. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York, on the southeast and south by the Atlantic Ocean, on the west by Pennsylvania and on the southwest by Delaware...
-Connecticut
Connecticut
Connecticut is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States. It is bordered by Rhode Island to the east, Massachusetts to the north, and the state of New York to the west and the south .Connecticut is named for the Connecticut River, the major U.S. river that approximately...
region. Its main office is in New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
, and it has separate Connecticut, Long Island, and New Jersey offices.
RPA's First Plan in 1929, developed under the leadership of Thomas Adams (architect)
Thomas Adams (architect)
Thomas Adams was a pioneer of urban planning. Born on a farm near Edinburgh and a farmer in his early years, Adams moved to London where he worked as a journalist...
, provided a guide for the area's road and transportation network. The Second Plan, completed in 1968, aimed at restructuring mass transit and reinvigorating deteriorating urban centers. The RPA's Third Regional Plan, issued in 1996, "A Region at Risk," recommended improving regional mass transit, increasing protection of open space and maintaining employment in traditional urban centers.
The RPA program represents a philosophy of planning described by historian Robert Fishman as "metropolitanism," associated with the Chicago School of Sociology. It promotes large scale, industrial centers and the concentration of population rather than decentralized development. Its critics point out that this results in windfall real estate profits for downtown interests. Whether this approach to regional planning is efficient, particularly because of the infrastructure and energy required to sustain such concentration, has been questioned by scholars including James Howard Kunstler.
See Robert Fishman, "The Metropolitan Tradition in American Planning," _The American Planning Tradition: Culture and Policy_ Johns Hopkins University Press, 2000.