by: Bria Donohue
The American Institute of Architects New York (AIANY) is thrilled to present its 2025 Policy Platform for New York City and New York State. AIANY represents over 5,000 architects and design professionals committed to positively impacting the physical and social qualities of our city. The purpose of this document is to share an overview of the top policy priorities of the architecture and design community for the coming year and present recommendations to improve the built environment.
In 2024, AIANY saw a number of victories, particularly on the housing front, with the passage of City of Yes for Housing Opportunity, a citywide zoning text amendment focused on enable increased density via transit-oriented development, ADUs, office conversions, affordable housing incentives, and more; elimination of the FAR cap; creation of an office to residential conversion tax incentive; and an extension of the 421a construction deadline as well as a replacement program. We also celebrated the implementation of Dining Out NYC, the permanent outdoor dining program, and authorization additional alternative delivery tools for DDC under specified circumstances. Additionally, in the early days of 2025, AIANY was thrilled to see Congestion Pricing implemented after years of advocacy, and we are eager to see the program’s impact on congestion, air quality, and street safety.
Our attention in 2025 will be set on enabling affordable housing development, prioritizing quality design in alternative delivery, employing creative tactics to fund public realm as public infrastructure, supporting efforts to reach net-zero carbon emission goals, and investing in state-of-good repairs and capital projects for critical infrastructure. New York City is facing crises like never before with affordable housing being out of reach for many New Yorkers, more frequent extreme weather events, and an uncoordinated use of public space. This document presents a number of recommendations to remedy these persistent challenges for New Yorkers and details opportunities to take legislative action.