On this week’s Masters in Business radio podcast, I speak with public/private space expert Dan Biederman.You may not have heard of this week’s guest, but he likely influences more people who have no idea who he is than any other guest we have had on the show. He re-invented public spaces with private funding by developing a brand new model to optimally “program a park.”
A little background: In the 1970s and 80s, Bryant Park was a dangerous, drug-infested shit hole (my words); Biederman tells the story of how Mrs. Astor, accosted by “ruffians” in the park, subsequently bumped into fellow NY Pubic Library board member David Rockefeller, saying “We must do something about this terrible park.”
Biederman said it was serendipitous that he was tapped for the (non-profit) job. After the success of Bryant Park, he took the model elsewhere in the city, the state, and nationally. More recently he has consulted for cities in Canada and Asia.
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