Why New York Is Filled With Empty Plazas - Cheddar Explains

New York City is home to more than 590 plazas or privately-owned public spaces. These spaces could be centers of culture and conversation like Piazza del Campo in Siena or Trafalgar Square in London. But most of them look empty and lifeless. Why? Well, they weren’t really designed for us anyway.
Further reading:
NYC.gov
www1.nyc.gov/site/planning/pl...
Curbed
ny.curbed.com/2019/7/25/20707...
NYTimes
www.nytimes.com/2016/07/26/ny...
Forbes
www.elegran.com/blog/2016/07/...
Untapped Cities
untappedcities.com/2011/12/07...
The Skyscraper Museum
old.skyscraper.org/zoning/
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[@nlpnt]

In most other American cities instead of "public" plazas you get surface parking lots.

[@Feuer_Kampfer]

"Privately owned public spaces" that sounds like an oxymoron

[@CharlieHM]

Once you've seen a shopping plaza, you've seen the mall

[@NovelNovelist]

I've never been to NYC and can't speak from direct experience there, but personally I'm much more likely to sit in and enjoy an outdoor public space if it DOES have restaurants, coffee shops, bars, ice cream/snacks, book stores, etc adjacent to it -- shops/storefronts in general, but not like hard core shopping/retail ones. Ones that encourage snacking/eating/socializing or the kind of slow, leisurely, aimless browsing of a book or music store.

[@rud]

Well, you know, they can’t have all that riffraff hanging around. You need to bring your WALLET to enjoy those “public” spaces. 😂

[@captainoutrun1136]

places where you’ll get a weird look if you sit there or they’re blocked off/security

[@JonathanWrightSA]

Toobin Plaza at the original World Trade Center fulfilled a pretty good public use role. Granted, it was operated by the Port Authority until it was subject to a 99 year lease from July 2001. And then got destroyed.

[@jayski9410]

Did anybody notice that at

[@jerroldkazynski5480]

If the property is privately owned and maintained, it is private property. Government programs or policies (building regulations etc) have consequences.

[@common_c3nts]

How can the first floor of the building count as a plaza? Some of those 1st floors are buildings with foundations that takes up the entire lot.

[@robertbangkok]

The plaza in front of the Seagrams building is regularly used for noon concerts by a variety of ensembles. Also, many people sit around the edges enjoying their lunch in warm weather. So this space most definitely is used by the public regularly.

[@davidkoenig8592]

Seagram is my favorite building in all of NYC, a masterpiece in my eyes. I visit every time I am there. The plaza area is beautiful and the original intent was to have people gather, get sun, eat lunch, etc. Other developers thought they were nuts to design it like that.

[@Renwoxing13]

…instead of asking people to leave a comment - you should ask them to make individual complaints against all non compliant spaces !

[@MrJord274]

I was just visiting NYC and after watching this video I realized Cafe 53 is likely once of these plazas as it was situated at the base of a building in Midtown. I enjoyed the atmosphere and it was a good place to sit back and relax while enjoying a coffee.

[@GoalHornGeek]

In a sense, cities like Raleigh are getting stuff like this. Right now, a lot of it is parking lots and smaller buildings, but many of the new developments feature 5+ story parking decks with a 30-story building on top. The roof of the parking pedestal then becomes a greenery & open space.

[@Trainlover7]

55 Water St is one of my favorite places in the city. The elevated acre is relatively quiet, secluded, and a great view of the east river

[@duncanbeggs4088]

As a NYC resident this seems a little sensational to me. Yes, these plazas are all over the place but no one is going to stop you from using them in the typical case and in fact many people do use them. I use them all the time to take a break from a walk, eat a quick lunch or chat outside with friends while enjoying the landscaping. One near me even has a farmer's market on Thursdays. Sure, there are some exceptions where developers seem to have made it intentionally feel exclusive but they aren't the norm from what I've seen.

[@benqurayza7872]

Sociologist William Whyte produced a nice documentary about improving plazas a few years ago, "Public Spaces People Places". I don't remember it all, but his first recommendation was to give people places to sit !

[@SpinThwomp]

the plaza in the thumbnail isnt even there anymore lmao

[@francischang]

I hate all the "public spaces" that you can only visit 9-5 on weekdays. Man, I have a job on the weekdays, I can't enjoy these spaces.