A New York Times article describes guided tours given by a former Occupy Wall Street participant to Zuccotti Park, the now-famous POPS, and the covered pedestrian space at 60 Wall Street, a support space for the movement. To read more about Zuccotti Park’s role in Occupy Wall Street, click here.
A Canadian radio program talks about POPS that exclude the public.
The Current, a Canadian radio program, discusses designs for POPS and other public spaces intended to prevent some members of the public, including homeless individuals and skateboarders, from using public space. Listen here.
Privately owned public spaces, Thames River-style, raise questions about public access and privatization.
The Guardian newspaper reports about the Thames Path, a 213-mile pedestrian route that runs along London’s famous river. According to the article, while the Path is required by law to be open to the public, properties along it provide varying levels of public access to the water, from complete access to “permissive access” to no access. Read more here.
San Francisco sprouts POPS signs.
In a sign of the times, San Francisco’s city planners have found that many San Francisco owners have failed to post required signs at their POPS. Following an expose written several years by San Francisco Chronicle urban design writer John King, the City enacted a law requiring larger and better signs. Following the recent inspection, at least a dozen new signs have appeared viagra en 25. Read more here.
Proposal in San Francisco would offer developers the option of paying into a public space fund rather than providing a physical POPS on-site.
According to KTVU News, San Francisco is proposing to allow developers to pay money into a public space fund instead of providing a physical POPS (or POPOS as San Francisco calls them). This might even apply to existing POPS, allowing an owner to petition to convert an existing POPS into a private space upon payment of money. The proposal is apparently pending. Read more here.
Plans for Essex Crossing, a six-acre project on the Lower East Side, include a 15,000 square foot POPS.
Last week, developers of the 1.9 million square foot Essex Crossing project on the Lower East Side released plans for the first phase of the project. Along with housing, retail, and a rooftop urban farm, the first phase of the project includes a POPS designed by West 8. See initial designs for the POPS here.
A British critic of privately owned public spaces announces her wish for 2015.
Anna Minton opines on British POPS.
POPS at Le Parker Meridien hosts City Harvest’s Gingerbread Extravaganza for charity.
The through block arcade at Le Parker Meridien is serving as the headquarters for City Harvest’s Gingerbread Extravaganza. Gingerbread houses created under the theme “Made in New York” are on display. Visitors can submit their vote for $1, which will be donated to City Harvest. Learn more here.
Privately Owned Public Space – For Whom, By Whom: An Interview with APOPS Founder Jerold Kayden
In an interview conducted by Lara Belkind for FunctionLab, the research arm of Farshid Moussavi Architecture (FMA), entitled “Privately Owned Public Space—For Whom, By Whom,” APOPS founder and Harvard Professor Jerold Kayden discusses the functional uses of privately owned public space in New York City, particularly since the publication of his book Privately Owned Public Space: The New York City Experience in 2000. Citing Zuccotti Park as a site of political protest during Occupy Wall Street, he describes how the occupation challenged everyone’s conception about how POPS may be used. He notes that the Zoning Resolution is silent with regard to what user conduct POPS owners may prohibit. What’s interesting, Kayden suggests, is that many of the POPS from the 1960s and early 1970s, bereft of public amenities such as seating or landscaping, present an opportunity to be defined by use rather than design. You can read the full interview here.
Proposed redesign of residential plaza at Rivergate apartments would reduce amount of public space, introduce a retail building, and offer some extra seating and other amenities.
The owners of Rivergate apartments at 401 E. 34th Street have filed an application with the City Planning Department to decrease the size of their residential plaza by developing a retail building in place of an existing playground and basketball court. The proposed changes also offer increased seating and a dog run and turf field. The change has not yet been approved by the City. Read more here.