New York City's Privately Owned Public Spaces
Classifications
The classifications attributed to each space and the definitions of the classifications listed below are taken directly from Privately Owned Public Space: The New York City Experience, by Jerold S. Kayden, The New York City Department of City Planning, and the Municipal Art Society of New York, published by John Wiley & Sons, 2000.
Destination space is high-quality public space that attracts employees, residents, and visitors from outside, as well as from, the space's immediate neighborhood. Users socialize, eat, shop, view art, or attend a programmed event, although they may also visit the space for sedentary, individual activities of reading and relaxing. The design supports a broad audience: spaces are usually sizable, well proportioned, brightly lit if indoors, aesthetically interesting, and constructed with first-class materials. Amenities are varied and frequently include some combination of food service, artwork, programmatic activities, restrooms, retail frontage, and water features, as well as seating, tables, trees, and other plantings. From time to time, a single amenity like a museum will be so compelling that it alone transforms the space into a destination space.
Neighborhood space is high-quality public space that draws residents and employees from the immediate neighborhood, including the host building and surrounding buildings within a three-block radius. Users go to neighborhood space for such activities as group socializing, taking care of children, and individual reading and relaxing. Neighborhood spaces are generally smaller that destination spaces, are strongly linked with the adjacent street and host building, are oriented toward sunlight, are made with good construction materials, and are carefully maintained. Amenities typically include seating, tables, drinking fountains, water features, planting, and trees, but not food service and programmatic uses sometimes found at destination spaces.
Hiatus space is public space that accommodates the passing user for a brief stop, but never attracts neighborhood or destination space use. Usually next to the public sidewalk and small in size, such spaces are characterized by design attributes geared to their modest function, and include such basic functional amenities as seating. Hiatus spaces range from high to low quality in terms of design, amenities, and/or aesthetic appeal.
Circulation space is public space that materially improves the pedestrian's experience of moving through the city. Its principal purpose is to enable pedestrians to move faster from point A to point B, and/or to make the journey more comfortable by providing weather protection for a significant stretch. Circulation space is sometimes uncovered, sometimes covered, and sometimes fully enclosed. It is often one link in a multiblock chain of spaces. Size, location, and proportion all support its principal mission. Functional amenities that provide a reason to linger are not taken into account when classifying a space as a circulation space.
Marginal space is public space that, lacking satisfactory levels of design, amenities, or aesthetic appeal deters members of the public from using the space for any purpose. Such spaces usually have one or more of the following characteristics: barren expanses or strips of concrete or terrazzo, elevations above or below the public sidewalk, inhospitable microclimates characterized by shade or wind, no functional amenities, spiked railings on otherwise suitable surfaces, dead or dying landscaping, poor maintenance, drop-off driveways, and no measurable public use.

Privately Owned Public Space:
Introduction
Downtown -- Manhattan District 1
Greenwich Village -- Manhattan District 2
Clinton and the Upper West Side -- Manhattan Districts 4 & 7
Central Midtown -- Manhattan District 5
East Midtown -- Manhattan District 6
Upper East Side -- Manhattan Districts 8 & 11
Downtown Brooklyn -- Brooklyn District 2
Long Island City -- Queens District 2