Building like Moses with Jacobs in mind: Redevelopment politics in the Bloomberg Administration

For decades the legacies of Jane Jacobs and Robert Moses have loomed over redevelopment politics in New York City, serving as ideological opposites in ongoing struggles to influence the form of the city's built environment. Yet recent revisionist readings have sought to reframe popular perceptions of the pair. Moses' supporters argue that his public works have positioned the city to remain ascendant into the 21st century (Ballon and Jackson); opponents counter that Jacobs' ideals continue to provide the prescription for curing contemporary urban ills (Municipal Art Society, Klemek). In devising its own vision of the city, the administration of Mayor Michael Bloomberg has sought to bridge this divide, countering that it is "building and rezoning today once again like Moses on an unprecedented scale but with Jane Jacobs firmly in mind,..." (Burden, 2006). This project aims to critique the narrowness of this debate, arguing that both Jacobs and Moses represent a class-based strategy for remaking the city. While Moses' modernism might appear to stand in stark contrast to Jacobs' localism, when synthesized in the Bloomberg agenda both represent a call for the building and rebuilding of the city for people of middle rather than lesser class privilege.