Imagine New Amsterdam

The 400-year anniversary of Henry Hudson’s discovery of the Hudson River, provides a vantage point for understanding how the Dutch have influenced lower Manhattan’s residential, vacant and publicly-owned land markets from the days of New Amsterdam to the Wall Street of the future for the world’s financial center. Solutions to New York City’s current fiscal crisis, can be found in the preservation of the historic land policies, settlement patterns, economic strategies and financial plans formulated during the Dutch legacy. Peter Stuyvesant’s negotiations with the British during the 1664 takeover of New Amsterdam, laid the foundation for many aspects of the U.S. Bill of Rights and Constitution. The innovative plan for bringing this important story and sense of place to life through the process of “Imaging New Amsterdam” is the subject matter of this book.