New York City: Places, Spaces… and Road-Free

Kirsten Fry
Urban Design

They say that New York City is ‘The City That Never Sleeps’, and 24 hours after I had arrived in the city, I completely understood why this label has stuck.

The public spaces are continually filled with people; whether they are making the most of their holiday stay, travelling to or from work, walking their dogs, grocery shopping, having lunch at a street side café or hailing a taxi.
The majority of these activities occur in the spaces between buildings; the spaces traditionally identified as roads (routes of transportation for road vehicles from one place to another). Today in NYC, however, roads no longer exist. Instead, roads have evolved into community public spaces, with vehicular transportation being only one of many functions.

NYC streets are wider than you would expect, creating the opportunity to leak programme from the buildings onto the footpaths. And as the soaring building heights cast substantial amounts of shadow over the street, wider streets allow more sunlight to infiltrate the spaces. These, accompanied by the ample amount of public seating provided, seek to encourage people to use the street as you would a park or a square. With the lack of private open space and internal living areas, people happily make the most of these public spaces, making the streets vibrant, diverse and full of energy.

Project for Public Spaces (PPS) is helping NYC streets to become usable public spaces. In 2005, PPS co-founded The New York City Streets Renaissance campaign, a grassroots initiative that has driven the transformation of the city’s transportation policy and brought exciting change to NYC streets. PPS has the vision to convert NYC’s streets into vibrant public places for a more livable city.

As cities expand and destinations spread further and further apart, the corridors linking these destinations become transit routes, as driving becomes the easiest, safest and preferred mode of transport. Isolated destinations can also create dead districts in traffic dominated areas, which people feel are dangerous and worth avoiding. This damages the experience of a city and the accessibility of places. Strengthening the quality of the pedestrian network and the program of street edges will provide a safer, more inviting public space within streets to improve connectivity between destinations such as parks, stations and institutions, and encourage walkability and public transportation creating a more inviting, livable city.

As more people rely on public transport such as the subway and buses, and less on the private motor vehicle and taxi, the quality of the spaces formerly known as ‘roads’ will increase, creating a safer, more pedestrian friendly, and distinctive public realm within New York City for the community as well as vacationers to enjoy.

Email us if you would like to see some of Kirsten's New York snaps.

Kirsten was the recipient of THG's inaugural Study Tour award - winning up to $10,000 towards an international study trip that has relevance to both THG and our clients.  As part of THG's Urban Design team, Kirsten understands that a sense of community comes through unique and innovative design. Living and working in the places they create, they understand the complex environmental, social and economic factors that play a vital part in creating our communities.  Visit www.thg.com.au if you would like to know more.