Privately Owned Public Space

The City of London has created its own dataset of the city’s privately owned public space.

Boston Harbor Now, a nonprofit organization dedicated to protecting the public realm along Boston’s Harbor, has published a map locating POPS and their amenities along the Harvard.d

Long-time San Francisco Chronicle urban design critic John King writes about POPS and the challenge of keeping some of them public and usable in San Francisco.

John Hill’s “A Daily Dose of Architecture” blog entry weighs the new owner’s proposal to eliminate the arcades and through block covered pedestrian space at the once named “AT&T” and “Sony” building, designed by Philip Johnson, and replace the CPS with a larger through block outdoor public plaza.

Submitted by Ruth Grigorov

I approached The Cohen Brothers Park at 135 East 57th Street by walking south on the west side of Lexington Avenue. As I was half a block away, I saw the massive circular sculpture looming over the busy corner of 57th Street and Lexington Avenue. The pillars, made of dark heavy marble, held up a circular structure resembling a huge cement donut. I rounded the corner so as to get a better view of the structure and felt very small. Inside the circular pavilion, benches are carved into structure to provide seating. On each side of the structure, there are several plants, and a small waterfall. There are steps up to the pavilion from the corner of the block, and ramps to enter the plaza from both sides.

135 East 57th Street is a property owned by Cohen Brothers Realty, a global property management company. What is interesting about this property, is that it actually contains two privately owned public spaces. The first is the entrance described above, and the second is a small park, much more secluded, around the corner from the main building. This offers a dramatically different experience than the main plaza area on the corner of 57th and Lexington. As opposed to the grand theatrical experience a visitor feels upon approaching the plaza, the park is deep, narrow, and much more intimate, as it penetrates into the block north of 57th street. Unfortunately this park was closed when I visited on Sunday afternoon, so I was unable to go inside. However, a view through the gate provided me with plenty of information. At the back there is a waterfall, and on the sides of the park there are several benches surrounded by plants, flowers, and trees. In the middle there are tables and chairs for more seating.

The two POPS are interesting in relation to David Harvey’s spatial theory. The two spaces located on the same property lot are, of course, absolute spaces within themselves. They can be considered relative in that they provide platforms on which circulation of energy and people take place at all hours. They are relational in that they were created on the basis of laws which were made to re-define the standards of space in New York City; a change to the history of Manhattan. Furthermore, I found this location similar to the Panopticon in that it is circular in nature, and directly visible by the security desk in the lobby of the main building on the plaza. I stepped inside the building for a brief moment and observed that whoever is standing guard at the desk has a full view of the entire plaza from one end to the other. I couldn’t help but wonder if this was an intended design feature for the building and plaza.

Overall, I found this POPS to be very successful according to New York City standards for a POPS. Both areas were ADA accessible, and had plenty of greenery to create a sense of calm to distract from the busy neighborhood. The waterfalls also added to this effect.The circular design of the plaza allowed for functional circulation of pedestrians, as well as lots of visibility to ensure a sense of safety and openness. There were more than enough seating areas to accommodate a large number of people, making this POPS an ideal place for a quick break from the office.

Senior tech reporter Stephanie Lee writes about Apple’s efforts to make, some would argue brand, its stores into “town squares.” Her article poses the question whether and to what extent privately owned space is ever public.

This examination of London POPS popularizes the phrase “pseudo-public space” and provides maps and other data for thinking about the relationship of private and public parties in the provision of public space.

The Boston Globe editorializes in favor of creating a New York-style POPS inventory.

In 2017, the New York City Council passed a new law about privately owned public space (POPS) requiring (1) annual reporting by the Department of City Planning to the Mayor and Speaker about all POPS, the posting of POPS information on the Department’s website including an interactive map and a mechanism for electronically filing complaints, (2) proactive inspections of all POPS every three years and an annual report to the mayor and speaker about POPS complaints and enforcement actions by a city department (presumably the Department of Buildings), and (3) the posting of signs with information about POPS at every POPS in the city. The City Council passed the bill on June 21, 2017, following a June 29, 2016 public hearing held by the Council’s Land Use Committee, chaired by Council Member David Greenfield, to examine City oversight of POPS.  Sixteen members of the Council, including Barron, Chin, Cohen, Dickens, Garodnick, Gentile, Kallos, Koo, Lander, Levin, Mendez, Reynoso, Rose, Torres, and Williams attended the hearing. Witnesses who testified included Edith Hsu-Chen, Director of the Manhattan Office in the Department of City Planning, Anita Laremont, General Counsel of the City Planning Commission, Patrick Wehle, Assistant Commissioner for External Affairs in the Department of Buildings, Joseph Ventour, Chief of Special Operations in the Buildings Department, Harvard professor and Advocates for Privately Owned Public Space founder Jerold S. Kayden, and representatives of various civic groups interested in POPS. Information about the hearing, including a video of the hearing and a transcript, can be found at the City Council’s website here..

Jason Sayer reports in the ArchitectsNewspaper about approved modifications to the privately owned public spaces at 701 Lexington Avenue, formerly known as the Citicorp Center. Some have expressed concerns about changes to the Sasaki-designed open air concourse. The spaces fall under the concurrent jurisdictions of the City Planning Commission and the Landmarks Preservation Commission.