Simply nyc's growth would be inhibited in such a scenario. The existence of rivers and such would contain sprawl.
Van Nuys used to be a separate city, so did Hollywood.
Weren't Queens, the Bronx and Staten Island originally separate cities?And the San Fernando Valley took up a vote on whether to leave LA a few years ago. It didnt pass but the fact the idea was put to vote speaks volumes. And Santa Monica, Culver City, Burbank, Pasadena, and Beverly Hills are still separate, to name a few. Small neighboring cities usually like to maintain their independence from the larger ones.
Not so much separate cities in and of themselves but a patchwork of towns and communities.Weren't Queens, the Bronx and Staten Island originally separate cities?
With a building height restriction in place, businesses would likely have to migrate outwards towards the Bronx, Yonkers, Mount Vernon, Brooklyn, Queens, and Hempstead.With more traffic into New York, particularly Manhattan, where do they all park? You could end up with the tallest building in New York being a parking garage.