Making Midtown, a project of the Design Trust in partnership with the Council of Fashion Designers of America (CFDA), will provide a strategy and vision for the future of the Garment District in Midtown Manhattan.
Released at a press conference on October 17, 2012, the Making Midtown report provides actionable recommendations for how New York City can strengthen the Garment District as a vital hub for creative production by way of zoning and land use regulations, programming, branding and other strategies to ensure the enduring success of the District.
Phase I of this project, Made in Midtown, demonstrated that the District's dense network of designers, factories and suppliers function as a research and development hub for the fashion industry, enabling designers to create the innovative styles that make New York City a global fashion leader while also providing thousands of manufacturing jobs.
This second phase, culminating in the publication of "Making Midtown: A New Vision for a 21st Century Garment District in New York City" has brought together all of the key stakeholders to develop a shared vision and specific actions to ensure that the Garment District will continue to be an extraordinary source of fashion innovation and jobs, as well as a desirable destination neighborhood for businesses and people of all kinds.
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The Design Trust recognized that plans for the Garment District must consider the neighborhood as a whole along witih its broader Midtown context, and must be developed in partnership with all of the District's key stakeholders. The Design Trust assembled a new team of Project Fellows (listed at right) who conducted the following activities:
• Comprehensive analysis of the Garment District's real estate dynamics, zoning, and finances
• Documented the Garment District's built environment, including its building stock, streetscape, traffic patterns, public realm and neighborhood identity
• Led a participatory planning process with District stakeholders through one-on-one interviews and a series of small working group sessions workshops, where the team identified priorities for charting the District's future.
• Convened more than 60 City officials, property owners, factory owners, and fashion designers to generate and test strategies to guide future development in the District.
• Developed and published
innovative, realistic recommendations to steer planning, development and creative placemaking activities in the Garment District
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