NEW YORK – The Federal Reserve Bank of New York today released a special issue of the Economic Policy Review featuring three papers discussed during “The Future of New York City: Charting an Equitable Recovery for All,” a hybrid event held in March 2022. The event was the New York Fed's first public event with an in-person component since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic two years earlier. It brought together key leaders and thinkers working to foster an equitable economic recovery for New York City, which is an important region in the New York Fed's Second District.
“The global pandemic was a historic blow to both New York's people and its economy,” said Andrew Haughwout, Interim Director of Research and Head of the Research and Statistics Group at the New York Fed. “This event focused on charting a path to an inclusive recovery, featuring presentations and discussions on topics including why New York City has thrived through pandemics, depressions, wars, and recessions; how to foster a recovery that reduces urban inequality; and big ideas from local innovators.”
The papers included in the issue correspond with panels held during the “Future of New York City” event, which focused on: how work locations are changing in a post-pandemic world; the future of working arrangements and the impacts to the demand for office space in New York; and the city's affordable housing shortage and racial equity planning. The article on “The Promises and Perils of Racial Equity Planning” is being published for the first time in this issue.
The three articles in this issue are:
“Covid and Cities, Thus Far,” which examines how cities changed during COVID-19 and considers how the persistence of new ways of interacting, particularly remote work, will shape the development of cities in the future.
By Gilles Duranton and Jessie Handbury
“Flexibility and Conversions in New York City's Housing Stock: Building for an Era of Rapid Change,” which discusses how allowing greater flexibility in building uses—including by reducing the distinction between short- and long-term use and rethinking the separation of uses embedded in the city's zoning code—could help to facilitate the conversion of commercial spaces into additional housing.
By Ingrid Gould Ellen and Noah M. Kazis
“The Promises and Perils of Racial Equity Planning,” which considers the use of racial equity analysis, or racial equity planning, as a tool to remedy the inequality that has been structured into the built environment through past and ongoing discriminatory and racially insensitive land use regulations and planning.
By Lance Freeman
For further insight on New York City and other regions across the New York Fed's Second District, including regional economic indicators and monthly surveys, visit the Regional Economy webpage.
About the Economic Policy Review
The Economic Policy Review is a policy-oriented journal focusing on macroeconomic, banking, and financial market topics. It publishes new research by Federal Reserve Bank of New York economists, papers by affiliated economists, and the proceedings of Bank-sponsored conferences. As of 2019, the Review also includes a Shorter Article series for research and policy insights that can be conveyed more concisely.
