The history of New York City's urban development often centers on titanic municipal figures like Robert Moses and on prominent inner Manhattan sites like Central Park. 'New York Recentered' boldly shifts the focus to the city's geographic edges - the coastlines and waterways - and to the small-time unelected locals who quietly shaped the modern city.

Introduction.Benefactor planning: Barnum's bridgeport and Steinway's Queens -- Laying out the trans-Harlem city -- Working-class leisure on the Upper East River and Sound -- Designing a coastal playland around Long Island Sound -- "They shall not pass": opposition to public leisure and state park planning -- "From dumps to glory": Flushing Meadows and the New York World's Fair of 1939-1940 -- Epilogue: the limits of the world of tomorrow.