Neighborhood Commons
A Retrospect on Public Realm Management in Commercial Districts
Last week, TPA Principal Nur Asri moderated a lively discussion on the issues and opportunities facing public realm management and placemaking in NYC’s downtowns and commercial districts. The panel was intended to serve as a moment of reflection following a year since the conclusion of the Design Trust for Public Space’s Neighborhood Commons program funded by the NYC Department of Small Business Services.
As a quick recap, the Neighborhood Commons policy brief and recommendations addressed three key issues uncovered through citywide stakeholder engagement and extensive regulatory and policy reviews:
Complicated City permitting processes
Limited financial and resource capacities amongst place-based organizations managing the public realm in commercial districts
Limited communication, collaboration, and support amongst City agencies
With the appointment of the City’s first ever Chief Public Realm Officer by the NYC Mayor in 2022 (whose mandate is to think about all things public realm), it would seem the challenges identified would quickly become a thing of the past… but boy, were we off. In our conversation with Ya-Ting Liu, Chief Public Realm Office of the City of New York, Elana Ehrenberg, Director of Strategic Partnerships at the Design Trust for Public Space, and Zach Owens, Executive Director of the West Village BID, we broke down the wins, the failures and the ongoing work that must be done to reimagine public space governance and placemaking in commercial districts.
The Wins
The Chief Public Realm Officer meets regularly with operational representatives of various City agencies, including Department of Transportation and Department of Sanitation, to coordinate myriad projects and issues concerning the public realm in both residential and commercial districts (but primarily in our commercial districts!)
The City has increased its levels of support to place-management organizations to enhance and expand placemaking throughout the five boroughs’ commercial districts, both through financial means (more grants through the Department of Small Business Services focused on open street activations, creative lighting installations, etc.) and technical assistance (the West Village BID was able to leverage the City’s legal team in ongoing class-action lawsuit).
The Not-So-Wins
Citywide rules and regulations being set forth in the new Open Streets program are not one-size-fits-all, and may in fact result in the elimination of a significant number of outdoor dining opportunities in older, historic neighborhoods with limited sidewalk widths and/or inhibiting creative brand activations.
Liability, liability, liability! Numerous times throughout our discussion, both panelists and audience members raised the issue of the lack of ability for most place-management organizations to take on the liability for public realm management and activation. IYKYK.
Ongoing/Upcoming Work to Watch Out For
The City appears to be looking into the potential for accepting ‘group’/’alliance’-type applications for public realm activation permits. This might allow for collectives of various organizations (each with varying financial and legal capabilities) to come together as a group to organize public realm activations, whether major events and festivals or public art installations.
Thank you to the panel for the fun and honest conversation. And of course, thank you to the American Planning Association New York Metro Chapter for bringing us together under one roof to discuss this hot button issue before we gear up for another year of fighting for our public spaces.
If you’re interested in exploring alternative models for public space management, examining potential new funding mechanisms for public space maintenance and programming, or refining existing governance frameworks to enable inclusive decision-making processes, get in touch with us in the new year!
