When it comes to growth in the region, we have to think more about more than just housing. With people comes all the things needed for everyday life: places to work, go to school, shop for groceries, and interact with neighbors. One of these keys to good growth is to target more development in urban core areas which already have this infrastructure – jobs, stores, transit, walkability – that can support more people and more homes.

But in these areas, another important component of a good community, open space, can be tough to find. We usually think of this space as parks or nature, but in dense neighborhoods you are likely to come across another type of open space – privately owned public space (POPS) – plazas, covered arcades, ground floor atriums, or other open and accessible spaces owned by private building owners, not the public. These spaces almost always come about by allowing a building to be built larger than it would otherwise be, a win for the public and the developer. POPS go beyond just Manhattan or even New York City. You can also find them in other urbanized areas in the region like Jersey City, N.J., and Stamford, Conn., but most are found in the high-rise districts of Manhattan.

Recently, POPS have been in the news, both for breaking agreements on use and accessibility of the spaces, and also for proposals to convert some of the public space to shops. On Wednesday, New York City Council’s Land Use Committee called an oversight hearing on POPS, which at which RPA testified, calling for a citywide task force to study how to upgrade existing POPS, as well as a flexible ​“no-net-loss” policy when it comes to our open space - vitally important as our urban sidewalk space continues to get more and more crowded.

RPA believes that we have an opportunity and obligation to improve the quality, quantity and accessibility of these spaces over the next decades, especially as our population in the urban core continues to grow. Already good public spaces, whether privately or publicly owned, are better for everyone. They improve our urban fabric while at the same time boosting the value of nearby businesses and building owners. This is why better quality and quantity of these spaces doesn’t need be a trade-off. We can, and should, have both.

Photo: Zuccotti Park by FotosCanon // Flickr Creative Commons