The planet is in crisis and the city can and must be a central medium of renewal. New York City (Steady) State is an alternative plan for New York based on a single predicate: it is possible for the city to become almost entirely self-sufficient within its political boundaries. Its nine areas of study—energy, building, movement, social economics, water, food, air and climate, waste, and manufacturing—assess the history and development of the system, and the current demand and supply behavior of New York, as a point of departure for reinventing the city's metabolisms. The project will investigate the social, environmental, and morphological consequences of a steady state for New York while compiling an inventory of available and likely technologies, infrastructures, and architectures; it will serve as a model for cities everywhere, at any stage of their ambitions, to take greater responsibility for their own consumption and respiration.

Robin Balles is a full-time research associate at Terreform Inc. She obtained her BArch degree from Pennsylvania State University and her graduate degree in urban planning from the City College of New York. She is an LEED accredited professional. Balles has previously worked with the Center for Connective Architecture at Cooper Carry in Atlanta, Georgia, and prior to that lived in Italy studying art, architecture, and the Italian language. She brings together her interests in sustainability, art, architecture, and the social sciences for a holistic approach to urbanism.

Christian Eusebio is a full-time research associate at Terreform Inc. He obtained his BArch from Parsons School of Design and his graduate degree in urban planning from the City College of New York. His interests lie in exploring ideas of sustainability and quality of life. He has been actively involved with several grassroots and non-profit organizations doing disaster relief projects around the world.

Michael Sorkin is principal of the Michael Sorkin Studio, a global architectural practice with a special interest in sustainability and the city, and president of Terreform Inc., both based in New York. Sorkin is Distinguished Professor of Architecture and the director of the Graduate Urban Design Program at the City College of New York. Previously, he has been a professor at numerous schools of architecture including the Architectural Association, Cooper Union, Columbia, Yale, Harvard, Cornell, Nebraska, Illinois, Pennsylvania, Texas, Michigan, and Minnesota. Sorkin lectures around the world, is the author of several hundred articles in a wide range of both professional and general publications, and is currently contributing editor at Architectural Record, for which he writes a regular column. For ten years, he was the architecture critic for the Village Voice. He is the author of seventeen books, including Variations on A Theme Park, Exquisite Corpse, Local Code, Giving Ground (coedited with Joan Copjec), Indefensible Space, and Twenty Minutes in Manhattan.