Overview of the Fourth Regional Plan

Work on The Fourth Regional Plan began by talking with and listening to people from across the region. What the Regional Plan Association heard was that people loved where they live, but they had serious concerns. Housing was too expensive. Commutes were long and unreliable. The destruction brought by Hurricane Irene and Superstorm Sandy underscored the region’s vulnerability to climate change and raised questions about how prepared we were for the storms to come.

On Tuesday, November 6 the Bloustein School will present “An Overview of The Fourth Regional Plan” by Tom Wright, President and CEO of the Regional Plan Association. The event will be held at the Gov. James J. Florio Special Events Forum at the Bloustein School’s Civic Square Building, 33 Livingston Avenue, New Brunswick, NJ. It will begin at 5:00 p.m.

The event is free and open to the public but RSVP requested by visiting http://go.rutgers.edu/5s91529

As President and CEO of RPA, Mr. Wright led the production of The Fourth Regional Plan, released in November 2017, proposes 61 recommendations to improve prosperity and quality of life in the New York-New Jersey-Connecticut metropolitan region. Recommendations include reforming public sector institutions, modernizing our transportation systems, addressing the challenge of climate change, and providing affordable and livable communities for all residents in the region. The Fourth Plan is the product of five years of research and public engagement with a wide range of stakeholders. Like the plans released before it, The Fourth Plan is intended to help elected officials, policymakers, and advocates plan for the region’s future.

Prior to being named RPA’s president in 2015, Mr. Wright was RPA’s executive director. He helped lead many key RPA initiatives, including the historic Civic Alliance to Rebuild Downtown New York following the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks; the campaign to create a mixed-use district at Manhattan’s Hudson Yards; the protection of the New Jersey Highlands; and a vision plan for the City of Newark. Mr. Wright was also the project manager for A Region at Risk, RPA’s influential third plan for the metropolitan region published in 1996.

Before his current tenure at RPA began in 2001, Mr. Wright was deputy executive director of the New Jersey Office of State Planning, where he coordinated production of the New Jersey State Development and Redevelopment Plan. In the early 1990s, he was RPA’s New Jersey director and coordinator of the award-winning Mayors’ Institute on City Design.

1.5 AICP CM credits available for this event. A light reception will follow the event.