4C / Four corridors initiative

RPA’s three previous strategic plans—published in 1929, 1968, and 1996—used design to project fantastic visions of the future, illustrate new forms of regulation, and generally communicate the wholesale transformation of different communities. 

Design once again played an essential role in shaping and describing the future in the Fourth Regional Plan. In collaboration with the Rockefeller Foundation and Princeton University School of Architecture, RPA identified four corridors in the metropolitan region—the Highlands, the Suburbs, the City, and the Coast—each representing a common set of needs and opportunities. 

A jury selected four design teams to work on these four corridors. PORT Urbanism + Range took on the Highlands; WORKac looked at the Suburbs; Only If + One Architecture studied the City; and Rafi Segal A+U + DLANDstudio explored the Coast. This diverse group of designers created a wide range of visions—an essential asset in the context of a regional plan with an extensive scope of issues, enormous geography, and most challenging of all, a time horizon to mid-21st century and beyond.

 The corridor framework allowed for the development of designs that transcend the limits of a given place, while anchoring innovative proposals for future change. Collectively, the four corridors identified and explored the diverse, and often contradictory, demands and concerns that coexist in the greater region.

Please visit 4c.rpa.org (archived version) for more information.

Staff

Chris Jones, RPA
Rob Lane, RPA
Paul Lewis, Princeton University
Juliette Michaelson, RPA
Lucrecia Montemayor, RPA
Guy Nordenson, Princeton University
Catherine Seavitt, City College of New York

Competition Jury

Barry Bergdoll, Columbia University
Shaun Donovan, U.S. Office of Management and Budget
Mary Margaret Jones, Hargreaves Associates
Mark Lee, Principal, Johnston Marklee
Annabelle Selldorf, Selldorf Architects
Karen Seto, Yale School of Forestry and Environmental Studies

Advisors

Sam Carter, Rockefeller Foundation
Vishaan Chakrabarti, Practice for Architecture and Urbanism
Felipe Correa, Somatic Collaborative
Rosalie Genevro, The Architectural League of new York
Maxine Griffith, Columbia University
David Kooris, State of Connecticut
Jill Lerner, KPF
Paul Lewis, LTL Architects
Guy Nordenson, Guy Nordenson Associates
Catherine Seavitt, City College of New York
John Shapiro, Pratt Institute
Courtney Smith, Rockefeller Foundation
Darius Sollohub, College of Architecture and Design, NJIT
Marilyn Taylor, University of Pennsylvania
Richard Weller, PennDesign