New York Central/Helmsley Building

On the way to an interesting talk on urban policy and social stability in China. Since 1955 the Chinese government has relied on the hukou policy, a household registration system, which historically allocated food and social services according to where you were born. Thus if you migrated from the countryside to the city, you were not entitled to schooling for your kids, your food coupon, and health care. It has been a way to control the growth of cities and balance the government's allocation of resources to rural and urban constituencies (typically the first is taxed while the second is compensated, in an attempt to appease urban dwellers). And has also served as a release valve in times of economic stress, such as in 2008, so migrants who lost their jobs would presumably return to the countryside.
Partial relaxation of the hukou is occurring but the goal is to direct rural residents to smaller cities (5 million or so), while making active attempts to retain population in the countryside. At the same time there is a much greater attempt to develop social services society-wide, as the government adjusts its growth model to encourage greater consumption (which involves discouraging excessive savings for retirement, medical care, and education by developing these services more fully).
Gotta get back to China soon.