Our work at NYC Plazas

August 2012.

July 2012

Pedestrian plazas have long been a common feature of European cities. Here in NYC, they began appearing in greater numbers starting around 2008, organized by community-based groups with the help of NYC DOT’s Plaza Program. And contrary to what many people may think, most are not in high-traffic, tourist areas of Manhattan, but in the transit and shopping hubs of neighborhoods in Brooklyn, Queens, and the Bronx.

Plazas are of special significance to the city’s low income and immigrant communities. In many cases, they offer much-needed physical open space for simply sitting and watching people go by. And they also offer symbolic space that can contain a community’s aspirations, and instill pride. These are the new centers of New York City, and we should pay attention to what happens in them.

Below is a look at some of our recent work in NYC Plazas. If you are a community group working on a plaza, contact us!

Corona Plaza, July 2018. See more photos.

Blog posts about our work at NYC Plazas:

At the 2018 Hindsight Conference with NYC DOT

At the 2018 Hindsight Conference with NYC DOT

We created a special pop-up reading room in partnership with NYC DOT at Hindsight 2018, an annual conference focused on diversity and planning organized by the Diversity Committee of the New York Metro Chapter of the American Planning Association. In between sessions,...