Capital of the United States until 1790, New York was displaced by the planned city of Washington D.C.--but only as the seat of government.  In every other aspect of national identity New York is arguably the nation’s capital: economically, culturally, and symbolically as the original site of the ‘American Dream’, a nexus of immigration and the melting pot of the country.  New York is the global city of the United States, only marginally rivaled by Los Angeles. New York surpasses any other American city in terms of the density and intensity of development, opportunity, and wealth--powers that have given it an utterly distinctive urban form.