Last week we met with Yukie Ohta, an archivist and founder of the Soho Memory Project, in order to discuss our findings after photographing Williamsburg, Greenwich Village, and the Financial District. Our meetings with her will help us to think critically about what the comparisons show, and the context behind the development and preservation in these neighborhoods. The general topics we covered were zoning, landmarking, and preservation societies. This post is a summary of what she shared regarding each of these aspects of preservation. Zoning is used to regulate the city, and it has a tremendous impact on a neighborhood or area. We learned about FAR (floor-to-area ratio), which determines how high a building can be built in relation to its width and length. This varies in the city; the general FAR in Midtown is higher than in Soho. Using zoning in context, Yukie described how it varied in neighborhoods close to us. Greenwich Village is zoned for residential and commercial use, Soho zoning does not allow big companies to occupy large spaces, and West Chelsea zoning recently changed and is responsible for the rapid increase in luxury apartments on the west side. We spoke to Yukie soon after visiting Greenwich Village, which is a landmarked district, so she told us about the idea behind landmarking. While a large part of Greenwich Village is landmarked, landmarking can also be designated to individual buildings. Once a building is landmarked, it is difficult to alter or renovate it. The Landmark Preservation Commission must approve any alteration, and they are especially averse to alterations on the facade of the building. We had noticed that unlike Williamsburg and the Financial District, Greenwich Village appeared the most untouched. The advocates behind landmarking are often preservation societies. One of our essential questions asks what determines if something is landmarked, so we asked Yukie about the motivation behind preservation. She said the motivation is often nostalgia and pride, but the action is fueled by political and financial influence. While many people would like to see preservation in their neighborhood instead of excessive development, the neighborhoods that succeed in stopping development are often wealthier. The preservation societies in these areas are wealthy and have a lot of political power and influence, so they are more able to act on their passion for preservation.