Amanda Burden

Amanda Burden, AICP, is chair of the New York City Planning Commission and director of the Department of City Planning. Since she became chair, she has spearheaded Mayor Bloomberg’s economic development initiatives with comprehensive urban design master  plans intended to catalyze commercial and residential development throughout the city and to reclaim its waterfront. Among these are plans for the East River waterfront in Lower Manhattan, Downtown Brooklyn, Long Island City and Jamaica in Queens, as well as the Hudson Yards on the far west side of Manhattan.

Under her direction, the Department of City Planning has initiated rezonings that provide new housing opportunities in neighborhoods such as Greenpoint/Williamsburg, East and Central Harlem, and Port Morris in the Bronx. Other rezonings have protected the low density of neighborhoods of special character throughout the city.

Burden served on the City Planning Commission from 1990 until her appointment as chair. From 1983 until 1990 she was responsible for the planning and design of Battery Park City and oversaw the design of all open spaces, including the Esplanade and the thirty acres of parkland.

Burden’s many awards and honors include the Cooper-Hewitt National Design Museum’s 2004 Design Patron award and the 2005 Center for Architecture Award from the New York chapter of the American Institute of Architects.
Burden has long been involved with the city’s cultural community and civic groups. She served as chair of the board of Creative Time Inc. and as board member of the Center for Arts Education, the Nature Conservancy, the Architectural League, and the Fund for the City of New York. She is a trustee of the Louis Comfort Tiffany Foundation.

Source: University Programs and Events Planning Resources, September 2009