Amanda Burden. The Woman Who Changed NYC

Amanda Burden is one of the most influential people in the world when it comes to urban planning and public-private sector relations. In her long career, she led New York City’s Department of City Planning from 2002 to 2013, carrying out one of the city’s largest re-planning operations -intervening in 124 neighbourhoods, nearly 40 per cent of the city- and catalysing new housing opportunities in several communities across New York’s five boroughs.

Throughout her career, Burden has emphasised the role of communities in improving urban landscapes, working to restore waterfronts and create dynamic new public spaces, such as the East River Esplanade and the High Line.

For Amanda Burden, becoming an urban planner meant being able to truly change the city she lived in and loved: before joining Mayor Bloomberg’s administration, Burden helped establish the Midtown Community Court in Times Square, praised as a model of community justice that offers alternatives to fines and prison as a response to low-level crime.

Today, Burden is a key figure within Bloomberg Associates, the philanthropic consulting arm founded by Mike Bloomberg.