A Region at Risk: The Third Regional Plan For The New York-New Jersey-Connecticut Metropolitan Area

On February 13, 1996, the Regional Planning Authority (RPA) released its third regional plan, asserting that the New York-New Jersey-Connecticut region faces relentless decline in its global competitiveness unless it changes its present course. This document is RPA's plan to improve the quality of life in this region. The book describes a series of initiatives aimed at not only improving quality of life, but also at increasing economic competitiveness, encouraging more sustainable patterns of growth, and expanding opportunities and choice in employment, housing, and community. Five major campaigns are presented, each of which combines the goals of economic, equity, and environmental improvements. They are as follows: Greensward - to protect and restore large natural resource systems at the periphery of urbanized ares; Centers - to recenter cities and towns that have experienced decades of sprawl growth; Mobility - to transform existing transit infrastructure to create a regional express rail network that would dramatically improve public transit, reduce highway congestion, and speed freight movement; Workforce - to provide the region's workforce with the skills and opportunities needed to participate in the economy of the future; Governance - to refocus the activities of existing authorities, encourage service sharing among municipal governments, and encourage more effective state and regional land use planning programs.