Christopher Coonce-Ewing writes on urbanization and its influence on slavery in New York. Here’s his claim
While claims have been made that it was the American Revolution that sparked the drive for abolition and manumission of the enslaved Africans in New York, slavery increased within the state after the Revolution. In fact it was the urbanization and manufacturing development of New York combined with the immigrations of large numbers of Europeans providing inexpensive labor that lead to the end of slavery in the Empire State.