community design
East River Waterfront
In 2005, the NYC Economic Development Corporation launched a plan to dramatically redevelop the waterfront of the Lower East Side and Chinatown, yet the plan was not viewed as responsive to the local community’s needs. As a response to this plan, HSC worked with the O.U.R. (Organizing & Uniting Residents) Waterfront Coalition to develop and conduct a visioning process to allow community participation and input into the renovation of this important public space. HSC compiled the results of this visioning process in a document called “The People’s Plan for the East River Waterfront.” Released in 2009 (click link), the Plan highlights the differences between the community’s vision and the NYC EDC’s plans for the space. Today, HSC is using this plan to advocate for the City’s inclusion of the community’s needs for accessibility, health and quality of life, cultural diversity, safety, and community autonomy in the space’s redesign. During the Summer and Fall of 2011, HSC is conducting a series of workshops, called the Waterfront on Wheels, that engage local residents around envisioning the future for public park space specifically on Pier 42 of the East River waterfront.
Follow the Waterfront on Wheels during the Summer and Fall of 2011
A People’s Plan for the East River Waterfront
People Make Parks
People Make Parks is a project to help communities participate in the design of their parks. When residents engage with government and weigh in on design, government builds better parks and the public continues to care for places that they have helped to create. Based on this idea, People Make Parks facilitates collaboration in park design between invested communities and the NYC Department of Parks & Recreation.
HSC, working with Partnerships for Parks, created the People Make Parks Toolkit to inform residents about the process of making physical improvement to parks, help them collect information that is relevant to design, communicate it to park decision-makers in a timely way, and transition into long-term park stewardship.
The People Make Parks Toolkit encourages a diversity of participants to lead in the creation of meaningful places. The initiative will engage people from a variety of backgrounds, including youth and non-English speakers.
We are currently developing and testing People Make Parks tools in several Lower Manhattan parks, to help inform how community groups can use them:
Luther Gulick Park, a People Make Parks Case Study Site
HSC and Partnerships for Parks are working with the Friends of Gulick Park to support efforts to improve the park. The Friends of Gulick Park is a community-based organization working to create a greener, livelier, and safer Luther Gulick Park & Playground on the Lower East Side. Formed in June of 2009 in response to over a decade of park neglect, the group decided to take the lead catalyzing its revitalization.
Through this activism, the Friends of Luther Gulick Park have successfully secured funding for the renovation of the park. They are currently using People Make Parks tools to learn about the DPR Capital Design process and gather input from the local community to develop design recommendations for the playground.
Sara Delano Roosevelt Park
HSC was a lead participant in the redesign and reconstruction of the Hester Street Playground at Sara Delano Roosevelt (SDR) Park on the Lower East Side of Manhattan. HSC became involved in response to the local community’s advocacy for the improvement of the park. Residents were concerned about the lack of appropriate recreational spaces for children, and HSC worked with the NYC Department of Parks & Recreation to ensure that SDR Park received priority designation for funding and revitalization.
HSC worked with a broad coalition of neighborhood groups to carry out a visioning and planning process that involved over 1,000 residents participating in interactive park visioning activities. Based on this process, many of HSC’s recommendations for the park’s renovation were adopted. In 2010, the reconstructed playground opened and a permanent art installation created by local youth in HSC’s Ground Up program was installed in the new space. Today HSC continues its active participation as the Chair of the SDR Park Coalition to ensure community park stewardship is fostered and advocating for the further revitalization of the park.
Allen & Pike Pedestrian Malls
HSC has been leading the effort to reclaim the Allen & Pike Street Pedestrian Malls as a viable public space for the Lower East Side since 2004. The Malls are one of the largest areas of public open space in the neighborhood stretching from the East River waterfront at South Street north for 14 blocks to Houston Street.
As part of the United Neighborhoods to Revitalize Allen & Pike (UNRAP), HSC advocated for capital funding for the renovation of the corridor and engaged community members in a participatory design process. Our process included site analysis, surveys, usage studies, and community visioning events working with local residents, organizations, elected officials, and city agencies. These activities were all designed to build consensus and generate design recommendations for the Department of Parks and Recreation (DPR) and Department of Transportation (DOT), as both agencies are responsible for the site. The recommendations are gathered into a report (link), which HSC used to advocate for the City’s attention to community needs.
Today, the DOT and DPR have unveiled and begun implementing their plans and next steps toward reconstructing the malls. HSC successfully integrated many community priorities in the design of the malls, including safer pedestrian crossings and protected bike paths. This is a major victory for HSC and the Lower East Side community, which will benefit from a safe, newly renovated, and culturally relevant open space.
Public Art at the Allen & Pike Street Malls
Though the renovation of the Allen & Pike Street Malls is moving forward, it will take many years to complete the entirety of the proposed project. Even then, the renovations will only include five of the 14 Malls.
Throughout our work around the Allen Street corridor, HSC has used community art installations as a mechanism to activate and draw people to the Malls, and build upon our advocacy work for their renovation. These art installations have been instrumental in facilitating community participation in the space and play a vital role in modeling what a more vibrant park space could be like. The installations invite people to ponder the built environment and explore their neighborhood while having a little fun.
Current Installation:
Mall-terations:
Mall-terations was created by artists Carolina Cisneros, Marcelo Ertoteguy, Mateo Pintó, and Sara Valente. Through a series of five “compass” benches that rotate around maps and way-finding information of the Lower East Side, the project evokes the history of the Allen Street corridor and elevated railway that was once there. The benches are constructed out of reclaimed railroad ties and car tires, and timelines of the history of immigration waves to the Lower East Side are depicted through a “track” connecting the bench locations. Visit this installation through Spring 2011!
Past Installation:
Avenue of the Immigrants
“The Avenue of the Immigrants,” our first installation, celebrated immigrants, artists, activists, and even buildings that have contributed to the rich cultural history and diversity of the neighborhoods adjacent the Allen Street malls. The installation was a culmination of a two-year inter-generational collaboration of local residents, cultural organizations, and public school students at M.S. 131. This project highlighted the community-led effort to reclaim the Allen & Pike Street corridors and advocate for preservation of the Lower East Side’s diverse communities. (2006-2008)
Allen and Pike Final Report
NYC DOT Allen/Pike Street Improvements
Mall-terations
