Streetscapes for Wellness

“Well-designed public space is a critical part of improving our collective physical, mental, and emotional health. As the city continues to recover strongly, our administration is planning a city that is more resilient, not only to climate change but also to future public health challenges — and equity must be, and is, at the heart of that work. Every New Yorker, regardless of neighborhood or identity, deserves access to high-quality open spaces, and that’s what our administration is working to deliver.”

—New York City Mayor Eric Adams

Designing New York: Streetscapes for Wellness is a collaboration of the New York City Public Design Commission, The Fine Arts Federation of New York, the New York Chapter of the American Society of Landscape Architects, the New York City Department of City Planning's Urban Design Office, a broad interagency working group, and many contributors who are involved in the planning, design, maintenance, and programming of streets.

Streetscapes have proven to be a critical player in the wellbeing and quality of life of the neighborhoods they inhabit and connect. At a moment when the public realm is being significantly altered to address issues of public health and security, social, racial, and climate justice, Streetscapes for Wellness explores how innovative public realm initiatives focused on wellness can inform and inspire the future of New York City’s streetscapes.

Streetscapes for Wellness includes approximately 30 case studies from New York City and a handful of other communities to suggest ways of reimagining public spaces to further social and environmental justice while enhancing public health. An analysis of community health data, provided by the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene, underscores the importance of designing and building high-quality public spaces to address inequities across New York City

This publication serves both as a point of reference and a source of inspiration, and it demonstrates that considering wellness should inform how we plan, design, maintain, and program our public realm for years to come.

Download the publication here.

In the News:

• Press Release: "Streetscapes for Wellness": NYC Public Design Commission Unveils Landmark Report on Innovation, Inequity, Health in Public Space
  
  
• StreetsBlog NYC: We Must Put Wellness at the Center of Public Space Design
• New London Weekly: London and New York Look to Healthier Streets
• Harlem World: City Unveils Landmark Report on Public Space from Harlem to Hollis
• Gotham Gazette: People and Places are Key to New York City's More Livable, Prosperous Future

“The case studies in ‘Streetscapes for Wellness’ showcase ideas from some of our city’s most creative innovators, and they also inspire opportunities for growth. This publication shows the great value of public-private partnerships and community collaborations. The lenses of wellness highlighted in this book — physical health, mental well-being, social adhesion, and environmental resilience —should continue to inform how we plan, design, maintain, and program our public realm for years to come. Investing energy into these efforts is central our administration’s goals of building a safer and more equitable and resilient city.”

—New York City Deputy Mayor for Economic and Workforce Development Maria Torres-Springer

“We know from the pandemic that the city’s built environment is critical to the health and well-being of New Yorkers. The ‘Streets for Wellness’ report shows what can happen when we reimagine public spaces to become people-first. From a crisis, the city created meaningful public space changes that continue to make our streets and people thrive. We must look at these spaces only as starting points, as we move towards an even more vibrant public realm for all New Yorkers.”

—New York City Deputy Mayor for Operations Meera Joshi

Upcoming Event:

• The Restorative City: Designing New York City with Health at the Center - Thursday, May 11, 2023
  A one-day convening that will bring together urban planners, city officials, neighborhood advocates, and public health experts to center health equity in the design and planning of New York City.
  

Streetscape design encompasses a vast number of elements on the street—from benches and bus shelters to wayfinding signage, Wi-Fi kiosks, and electric vehicle charging stations—many of which are redundant, obsolete, or serve only a single purpose. Now, our streets are also filled with outdoor dining, retail, and learning spaces. As such, all of these elements compete for space in our public realm and can create clutter and confusion and substantially impact environmental health and quality of life. A holistic and integrated approach for a safer public realm should not only comply with public health and security concerns, but also improve aesthetics, usability, and public perception to support an inclusive and thriving urban environment and public life that is allowed the flexibility to shift and adapt in conjunction with the city.

Streetscapes for Wellness and past programming provides guiding principles for the quality design of public streetscapes and adjacent open spaces, with a particular focus on the urban response to holistic wellness and public health since the beginning of the pandemic.

Video coverage of the Streetscapes for Wellness virtual launch event on December 2, 2020, can be found here.

A list of shared resources can be found here.

Streetscapes of New York

Download Streetscapes of New York, a pocket zine created by the NYC Public Design Commission, in collaboration with the NYC Department of City Planning's Urban Design Office for WE Walk: Streets for Connection, a 2020 PARK(ing) Day event:

• Read the zine here.
• Print an 11" x 17" foldable copy of the zine here and find folding instructions here.

Community engagement at WE Walk: Streets for Connection event, photos by PDC Staff.

PARK(ing) Day at the Clean Air Green Corridor:

Public Design Commission Staff participate annually in planning PARK(ing) Day community engagement events with the New York Chapter of the American Society of Landscape Architects (ASLA-NY). In 2021 and 2022, PARK(ing) Day was hosted at West 182nd Street in the Washington Heights neighborhood of Manhattan. This corridor is the site of the Clean Air Green Corridor, a youth-led community initiative led by a group of students at the neighboring Washington Heights Expeditionary Learning School (WHEELS), which is one of approximately 30 case studies that is featured within the forthcoming Streetscapes for Wellness publication.

PDC Staff and ASLA-NY engage with community members and lead hands-on activities—folding miniature zines, decorating terra cotta pots, and planting herbs—at the 2022 PARK(ing) Day at the Green Corridor event, photos by PDC Staff and Futures Ignite.

Upcoming Events:

• The Restorative City: Designing New York City with Health at the Center - Thursday, May 11, 2023
  A one-day convening that will bring together urban planners, city officials, neighborhood advocates, and public health experts to center health equity in the design and planning of New York City.
  

Related Events:

• OHNY Public Policy Talk: Learning from Streetscapes for Wellness - Wednesday, May 3, 2023, the inaugural Public Policy Talk hosted by Open House New York, in collaboration with the Public Design Commission, with a series of discussions about the importance of community-driven streetscape design. Department of Parks & Recreation Commissioner Sue Donoghue and Department of Transportation Commissioner Ydanis Rodriguez, alongside Sreoshy Banerjea, Executive Director of the Public Design Commission, discuss how this comprehensive resource will guide decision making and priority setting for projects in their relevant agencies. Streetscapes for Wellness author, Jenna E. Miller (PDC), Streetscapes for Wellness partner Jennifer Nitzky (ASLA-NY and The Fine Arts Federation of New York), and other thought leaders who contributed to this groundbreaking resource including representatives from the Department of Parks & Recreation, Department of Transportation, Department of Health & Mental Hygiene, and Van Alen Institute, highlight the importance of community-driven streetscape design and highlight notable case studies. 
• Rethinking the Public Realm - Wednesday, March 8, 2023, a panel discussion hosted by the BHA at Packer Collegiate Institute, Brooklyn Heights, NY
• NYLON: Healthy Streets - Thursday, October 20, 2022, an online event hosted by
  New London Architecture, AIANY Center for Architecture, and Urban Design Forum
• 2022 PARK(ing) Day at the Green Corridor - Friday, September 16, 2022, at
  West 182nd Street between Amsterdam Avenue and Audubon Avenue, Manhattan
• Streets for Care, a 2022 roundtable discussion hosted by the Urban Design Forum
• Streetscapes for Wellness: Whose Wellness Are We Talking About?, an ASLA 2021 National Conference education session, Nashville, Tennessee
• Día de Calle Verde, a 2021 PARK(ing) Day event
  West 182nd Street, Manhattan
• Streetscapes for Wellness
  Online Event
• WE Walk: Streets for Connection, a 2020 PARK(ing) Day event
  West End Avenue, Manhattan
• Shared Spaces: Designing People-Friendly Urban Streets, a 2019 NYCxDesign event
  4 Times Square
• Reshaping Streetscapes
  New York Foundation for the Arts