At New Yorkers for Parks we act as technical assistance providers, we provide in-depth data on open space across the city, and offer advocacy support for communities undergoing rezonings. But we understand that our data is limited. We need to know what aspects of parks and open space we aren’t capturing. 

In the fall of 2017, with the support of The Rockefeller Foundation, we joined forces with WXY architecture + urban design to find out what will encourage professionals, decision-makers, and advocates to join us in demanding that parks are planned for, funded, and maintained as essential urban infrastructure. We identified four areas of focus: value; development and design; policy and financing; and rezonings at the neighborhood level. We interviewed experts who gave us a greater understanding of these issues, and helped us craft the questions we raised at our first round of Open Space Dialogues. 

This report, Open Space Dialogues: A New Perspective, identifies what we learned and where we go from here. We present excerpts from our interviews and present the most essential takeaways from the Open Space Dialogues. 

Download the report.