Residential Development and Its Impact on School Access in New York City

Patrick Li

Residential development in New York City has been increasing since 2010. This increase is due to both private and public players in the built urban environment, as developers try to push the limits of the luxury market, while the city has plans to increase and preserve the stock of affordable housing throughout the city. Such increases in residential development, however, have negative impacts on public amenities by adding pressure in the form of overcrowding, noise pollution, or traffic. This study seeks to explore such consequences of residential development, specifically its impact on access to schools in New York City. By looking at access as spatial accessibility, consulting publicly available data, and proposing a methodology adapted from others established in academic literature, this study reaffirms the notion that residential development has a negative impact on access to...