Privately Owned Public Space [noun phrase] 1. a plaza, arcade, or other outdoor or indoor space for public use provided by a private owner in return for a zoning concession 2. a plaza, urban plaza, residential plaza, public plaza, elevated plaza, arcade, through block arcade, through block galleria, through block connection, covered pedestrian space, sidewalk widening, or open air concourse as defined by New York City’s Zoning Resolution 3. one of 525 or so zoning-created public spaces in New York City 4. law’s oxymoronic invention 5. [slang] POPS
A note to our website visitors…
On behalf of Advocates for Privately Owned Public Space at the Municipal Art Society of New York (APOP@MAS), we are delighted to welcome you to our “beta” website about New York City’s remarkable collection of 525 or so zoning-created plazas, arcades, and other outdoor and indoor privately owned public spaces. Read more…
POPS in the Inventory: 50 East 89th Street
Read more about this space…On the north side of East 88th Street between Park and Madison Avenues, this commodious plaza (park-like open space) at the back of the through-block lot offers such amenities as landscaping, lighting, and a sitting area. The location and basic configuration recall the plaza at the back of 300 East 75th Street, except that here, buildings to the east, west, and south conspire to minimize the amount of sunlight reaching the ground. A concrete framed metal fence stretches across the opening, with an entrance gate at the western side for access to the slightly elevated plaza floor. At a recent site visit, the space was not accessible, and no record of City approval for such denial of access has been found. The square displays a mixture of open space and low brick wall planters filled with trees and bushes. There is plenty of ledge seating and wooden benches attached to planter walls. Where an old sign previously prohibited ball playing, bicycling, littering, frisbees, and dogs, the new sign delivers its message of cultural updating by prohibiting chalk writing, radios, running, and skating (in-line, it is assumed). A landscaped open area is located at the front of the building, on East 89th Street between Park and Madison Avenues. It has landscaping, but little open area. The unusual names for these spaces come from a restrictive declaration filed by the owner and a City Planning Commission approval of such declaration.