9/11: Reclaiming Ground Zero

Put 5,000 New Yorkers in a room and ask what should be done with Ground Zero—what would you expect, a fistfight? Instead, what happened was democracy at a scale that hasn’t been seen before or since.

After the 9/11 attacks, after the smoke was gone, after the rubble cleared away, New Yorkers had a city to rebuild. In response to fast-tracked redevelopment plans, more than 5,000 people gathered in the largest town hall in American history. They came to vote on the city’s six proposals for rebuilding Ground Zero. But instead, the people rejected the top down approach and successfully charted a new path forward. Their work determined what is at Ground Zero today. And their story is an example of what democracy can look like.