Creating New Public Spaces

Abstract

New York City was the first city in the US to establish a pedestrian plaza program to create public spaces in neighbourhoods that have insufficient public space in 2009. The Department of Transportation (DOT) operates the program in partnership with local neighbourhood organizations to create these spaces through an incremental process that can be used for a variety of activities. In the research reported here the process of creating these spaces was documented through interviews with government officials and scrutiny of government documents and five plazas were studied in depth in Brooklyn and Queens. Sources of data included: sit observations, surveys with occupants, and interviews with sponsors and city government officials. The findings demonstrate that the process of designing and managing the plazas poses significant challenges for the DOT and for the sponsoring organizations but once these challenges are met, the plazas meet an important need in urban neighbourhoods that previously lacked sufficient public space for recreation.