Call for Applications: Living Routes

To build a healthier, more equitable city, New York must rethink how we fund, design, and account for the work to steward our streets.

Overview

New York City must create new strategies to care for green streets and public spaces in every neighborhood.

Natural systems in cities clean our air, capture carbon, manage stormwater, reduce heat, and protect us from floods. But access to these benefits is uneven. Neighborhoods with the resources to care for trees, gardens, and green infrastructure often thrive, while communities that have faced decades of disinvestment and environmental harm struggle to sustain them.

Streets are the connective tissue of our city — yet they hold untapped potential as spaces for nature. Green streets can cool neighborhoods, reduce flooding, and make our city more livable. But they only fulfill their promise when nurtured and cared for over time. City-led initiatives, like the NYC Department of Transportation’s Open Streets and Department of Environmental Protection’s Green Infrastructure programs, have taken important steps in this direction. However, many city agencies lack the capacity and dedicated funding needed to maintain public green spaces, leaving some neighborhoods neglected and community groups stretched thin.

To build a healthier, more equitable city, New York must rethink how we fund, design, and account for the work to steward our streets — treating them not just as infrastructure, but as shared landscapes that require collective care. The city is investing big in resilience projects, but they need creative maintenance ideas to enable their success.

What role will government, residents, and associations need to play to bring nature into the streets and public spaces in every neighborhood?

We invite you to join the 2026 Forefront Fellowship, Living Routes, to realize a New York City where public spaces are transformed into living, adaptive, and sustaining landscapes of care.

Structure

The Forefront Fellowship is an action lab for emerging urbanists. Through this nine-month, 84-hour leadership development program, Fellows will explore different kinds of leadership in New York City, connecting with changemakers who have made an impact at their organizations, neighborhoods, and in city government. Fellows will take what they learn and create change through research and creative projects.

Part 1: Foundation

Fellows will dive into the year’s theme, building a shared understanding of the roles of city agencies, residents and associations in repairing neglect and sustaining long-term care of our streets and public spaces, particularly green spaces. Fellows will also build relationships within the cohort to foster interdisciplinary learning and collaboration.

Part 2: City Partnership

Fellows will partner with the NYC Department of Transportation (DOT) to identify and analyze local, national and international landscape stewardship models. Fellows will conduct site visits to publicly- and privately-funded green spaces across the five boroughs; interview design experts, city officials, and maintenance staff; and analyze research findings. Fellows will also highlight opportunities for the city to invest in the maintenance of green streets, particularly in environmental justice areas where these investments are needed most. 

Part 3: Independent Team Proposals

Fellows will work in independent, interdisciplinary teams to offer creative solutions to systemic issues identified in their research with NYC DOT. Each team will produce original proposals that envision New York City’s public spaces as thriving, resilient, and equitable – addressing the neglect of green spaces, promoting abundant nature, and ensuring their long-term care in the public right-of-way. Proposals can range from creative policy briefs to interactive educational exhibits to place-based proposals grounded in research and designed for real-world impact.

Calendar

Who Should Apply

We are committed to building a cohort that reflects the dynamic city we serve. We are proud to be an equal opportunity organization and do not discriminate based on race, ethnicity, religion, gender identity or expression, sexual orientation, age, disability, or any other protected status. We especially encourage candidates whose voices and experiences have been historically excluded from design, planning, and public policy, or who have been personally impacted by this year’s theme, to apply.

Interests & Experience

Forefront Fellows are architects, landscape architects, organizers, policy wonks, urban planners, engineers, developers, public officials, data scientists, lawyers, scholars and journalists. Fellows are typically early- to mid-career professionals with five to ten years of working experience.

This year, we welcome candidates with an interest in environmental justice, community-driven design and planning, public space design, and maintenance design. We encourage candidates with experience in economic research, landscape architecture and construction, botany and horticulture, climate mitigation and adaptation, policy research, or data analysis. If your background or discipline speaks to this year’s theme but doesn’t fall within the disciplines mentioned above, we still encourage you to apply.

Additional Criteria

Fellows must live or work in the five boroughs of New York City for the duration of the Fellowship to be considered.

Apply Now

Support Our Work

Forefront is supported by the Robert Sterling Clark Foundation. This program is also supported by our Board of Directors, Circle Members, and company and individual members. Our programs are made possible by the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of the Office of the Governor and the New York State Legislature.

To learn more about supporting Living Routes, please contact Miranda Bellizia, miranda@urbandesignforum.org.