Hester St. Collaborative & Partnerships for Parks

People Make Parks

New York City

2005 to present

Many people might fantasize about turning an underused space in their neighborhood into a lush green park but most wouldn’t know where to begin. The New York design-build nonprofit Hester Street Collaborative and the Partnership for Parks, a program of New York City’s Parks & Recreation Department, created People Make Parks (PMP) to change that. PMP is a digital platform that helps communities to participate in the design of new parks in their neighborhood, clearly explaining the step-by- step process of what must happen, from advocacy and design to funding, construction, and maintenance. When citizens engage in park design, governments build better parks, and the public continues to enjoy and care for places they helped make.

Community, Information, Pleasure, Sustainability
200,000
3 year project to create participatory toolkit
30
Problem - residents’ desire to participate in the design of their parks
Solution - step-by-step toolkit outlining design process for local communities and government