The directorship of New York’s City Planning Department is not ordinarily a high-profile position, but Amanda Burden is taking a stab at making it one. “She has not only repeatedly sent architects back to the drawing board, but also spurred commercial development in once-dormant neighborhoods… Compared with a Robert Moses, the think-big public works czar who imposed a sweeping vision on highways and parks across the city from the 1930’s to the 60’s, Ms. Burden might be considered an aesthetic watchdog,” imposing an unfamiliar discipline on development projects in a city whose style has always been “bigger, not better.”