The Local Center is thrilled to release three Public Realm Vision Plans from our community partners in Sunnyside, Brownsville, and the Capitol District.
Public spaces are essential to safe and thriving commercial corridors, yet public space investment is still deeply uneven throughout New York City. Decades of segregation and disinvestment have left too many New York City neighborhoods without access to quality public space and without enough resources to plan and design public space improvements.
This last year, the Local Center’s Connected Corridors program aimed to address this gap by supporting the Sunnyside Shines BID, Pitkin Avenue BID, and 161st Street BID with funding and technical assistance to engage local communities in envisioning the future of their public spaces. After 12 months of community engagement and collaboration with designers, each BID produced a public realm vision plan that outlines short- and long-term strategies to transform public spaces in their commercial corridors through installations, programming, and capital improvements. These plans will serve as tools for our BID partners and their communities to advocate for continued investment in public space activations and improvements that strengthen community connection, safety, and local economies.
Explore the full vision plans and learn more about how our BID partners are realizing bold community visions for public space.
Public Realm Vision Plans
Explore the team’s full report on their process, findings, and vision for what’s next.
Explore the team’s full report on their process, findings, and vision for what’s next.
Explore the team’s full report on their process, findings, and vision for what’s next.
About Local Center Connected Corridors
A partnership between Urban Design Forum and the Association for Neighborhood & Housing Development, the Local Center is a community design initiative to equip local leaders with the technical assistance, funding, and connections to reclaim public spaces in their neighborhood. The Local Center’s Connected Corridors: Envisioning the Future of Our Main Streets program supported small BIDs to reclaim and reimagine public spaces in their commercial corridors through creative installations, activations and capital improvements.
Support
Connected Corridors projects are made possible with support from National Grid’s Project C, NYC Department of Small Business Services, Charles H. Revson Foundation, Deutsche Bank, the NYC Green Fund, administered by City Parks Foundation, and Lily Auchincloss Foundation. The Local Center is supported, in part, by public funds from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council. Urban Design Forum 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 the Local Center, please contact Katherine Sacco, katherine@urbandesignforum.org and Lauren Nye, lauren.n@anhd.org.