New York City: 9.5 Million People By 2025?

"New York might need an extra million or so slices of cake for its 400th birthday party in 2025."

Or at least that is what city planners are thinking. Despite already having a record population (8.2 million people, baby!) New York City, unlike most other cities in the Northeast or Midwest, is most definitely getting bigger.

And that's a bit of an issue for our city government, see. Not because we can't handle more people, we can, but because if we don't start planning for it now those new people might not have the best of experiences here. Enter the seemingly inescapable Dan Doctoroff, deputy mayor for economic development: "We have the capacity through rezoning and underutilized land to go well over that number, but you cannot simply divorce the issue of growth from the infrastructure required to support it. It opens up great opportunities only if the growth is smart, if we have the things that make cities worth living in."

So what does that mean? Basically, it means that a series of population projections are about to be used by the City to try and push through some pretty large redevelopments. Or, in other words, a projected population growth is providing a chance to explore growth opportunities citywide and in "188 individual neighborhoods." Land use regulations will need to be changed, not to mention school districts, mass transit routes, parks, and electrical systems. What ever actually happens to the population in the future, we're going to be hearing about this for some time, at least as long as Bloomie is in office we suspect.

So, assuming that Gotham''s population is going to grow to 9.5M in the next twenty years, how do you think the city should prepare?

Graphic from the NY Times.