This chapter argues that a combination of global, national, and local factors in the 1970s prompted successive mayoral regimes in New York City to reconstitute the city as an economic project to attract newly globalizing industries in the late twentieth century. The result was a sharp increase in inequality and spatial disparity, as global industries and city resources concentrated in a limited set of locations and demographies within New York, while other neighborhoods and communities struggled to catch up. The reconstitution of New York City as this economic project led to the creation of spatial divides in the city which manifested as multiple crises from the 1980s onward. Events following the 2008 Global Financial Crisis, such as Occupy Wall Street, threw these issues into the limelight, challenging the ongoing project of New York as a site for global capital. Even as city governments in the 2010s worked to address these challenges, the 2020 pandemic has highlighted the continuation of deep inequities in New York, raising the need for new economic visions for the city to adopt as it moves into the future.