Citywide Priorities and Interagency Planning

NYC Parks works closely with other City agencies on initiatives that affect our parks. The planning work being done at NYC Parks is an essential part of Mayor Bill De Blasio's City-wide effort to prioritize the growth of economic opportunity, social equity and livable neighborhoods. Quality, well-maintained, accessible parks are critical public assets in our neighborhoods, and their expansion and improvement must be coordinated with other City-wide priorities. Parks is in close conversation with other City agencies regarding opportunities to advance open spaces in tandem with other crucial priorities. Some examples of projects requiring ongoing inter-agency coordination include:

Walk to a Park

The Walk to a Park initiative focuses on increasing access to parks and open spaces, concentrating on areas of the city that are under-resourced and where residents are living further than a walk to a park. We are exploring approaches to reach this target, from forming partnerships and coordinating with public and private institutions to improve existing open space to acquiring and developing private property to create new parks.

To read more about our plans, visit our Walk to a Park page.

Affordable Housing

The Mayor's Office has committed to building and preserving 200,000 affordable housing units over 10 years in an unprecedented $41 billion investment. This ambitious effort will fundamentally reshape many of New York's neighborhoods. Parks will work with the Mayor's Office, the Department of Housing, Preservation, and Development, the Economic Development Corporation and others to insure that open space remains a priority in planning for large-scale neighborhood change.

Vision Zero Action Plan

Vision Zero is the Mayor's plan to create the safest city streets in the nation by and putting an end to traffic deaths and injuries. Parks shares this commitment to safety on park properties and the streets and sideways that connect them. Parks is building on a long-term collaboration with the NYC Department of Transportation, Vision Zero's lead agency, on planning for bicycle-and-pedestrian greenways across all five boroughs. By prioritizing bicycle and pedestrian safety in its greenway planning, Parks plays a key role in advancing Vision Zero.

Resiliency

The Mayor has committed to rebuilding stronger, more resilient communities to protect against risks of a changing climate, while better engaging communities, and has launched a new Office of Recovery and Resiliency (ORR) to oversee the effort. Resilient parks are a central component of this initiative, and NYC Parks works closely with ORR to ensure Parks' resiliency efforts -- both ongoing and new -- support overall City goals.

To read more about NYC Parks and Resiliency Planning, visit our Park Resiliency page.

Resilient Neighborhoods

NYC Parks is also coordinating with the NYC Department of City Planning around DCP's Resilient Neighborhoods initiative, which uses zoning and land-use changes to improve resiliency and neighborhood quality in select communities in the coastal flood zone. NYC Parks is in ongoing partnership with DCP on the role of open spaces in resilient neighborhood planning.

NYCHA Anti-Violence Initiative

In an effort to reduce instances of violent crime on and around NYCHA property, the Mayor, the City Council, and the housing authority have launched a major Anti-Violence Initiative. The initiative takes a multi-pronged approach to violence prevention, expanding employment of trained former gang members as "violence interrupters" while increasing community presence through programming and alternative activities in priority areas. NYC Parks is coordinating efforts with NYCHA through the Framework for an Equitable Future to help reduce violence by expanded recreational programming for children and teens at targeted NYCHA developments.

Middle School After School

The city will be investing more than $130 million in targeted athletic, cultural, and academic programs for middle school-age children at a critical time in their development.