INFRASTRUCTURE WE CAN LIVE WITH:
The Neighborly Substation

WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 14, 2009
New York City, NY

All over the world, cities integrate electrical substations into the streetscape and bury them beneath buildings and parks—keeping them out of eye and earshot. If London, Tokyo, and Anaheim can do it, why not New York?

One reason is the city’s zoning code, which relegates substations—electricity’s local distribution hubs—to the industrial areas of New York’s past. The results: land used inefficiently and substations sited more by zoning and politics than by engineering. Substations need to be located near businesses and homes. Lower Manhattan’s 7 World Trade Center demonstrates what’s possible in New York—substation and offices together in a handsome building. It should not have to be the lone example.

REPORT PRESENTATION:

HOPE COHEN
Deputy Director, Center for Rethinking Development
The Neighborly Substation: Electricity, Zoning, and Urban Design

PANELISTS:

RONALD H. BOZGO
Vice President for Engineering, Con Edison
JAMES T. GALLAGHER
Senior Vice President, NYC Economic Development Corporation, Chairman, Mayor’s Energy Policy Task Force
ASHOK GUPTA
Air and Energy Program Director, Natural Resources Defense Council
JANNO LIEBER
President, World Trade Center Properties, Silverstein Properties

MODERATOR:

PETER W. HUBER
Senior Fellow, Manhattan Institute

IN THE PRESS
Changes we can all believe in, Grist Magazine, 01-28-09
Why Not Bury Ugly Power Substations?, The New York Times' City Room Blog, 01-16-09 (This article was linked on USA Today, 01-16-09)