Parks Without Borders: Community Input

In winter 2015-16, we asked park goers to help us choose the parks that would benefit most from the Parks Without Borders approach to design. New Yorkers across the city commented on parks in every borough, sharing insights on their local parks. From these results, we selected eight parks that will best showcase this innovative design initiative.

Where New Yorkers Want to See Parks Without Borders

We received 6,176 suggestions relating to 692 parks, including parks in each of the city's 59 community districts. This table shows, for each borough, the number of total votes, and the top five parks nominated by users. The parks displayed in bold were chosen as the winning projects.

Bronx Brooklyn Manhattan Queens Staten Island
Van Cortlandt Park 286 Prospect Park 968 Seward Park 661 Flushing Meadows Corona Park 51 Faber Pool and Park 9
Hugh J. Grant Circle & Virginia Park 49 Fort Greene Park 194 Jackie Robinson Park 63 Forest Park 53 Great Kills Park 70
Ferry Point Park 44 Owl’s Head Park 130 Madison Square Park & Worth Square 240 Macneil Park 44 Seaside Wildlife Nature Park 11
Pugsley Creek Park 36 Cuyler Gore Park 42 Marcus Garvey Park 154 Yellowstone Park 40 Silver Lake Park 10
Soundview Park 36 Shore Park and Parkway 38 Thomas Jefferson Park 59 Kissena Park 38 FDR Beach and Boardwalk 9
                Willowbrook Park 9
Total Votes 896 Total Votes 2016 Total Votes 2295 Total Votes 697 Total Votes 264

We selected the eight winning projects based on three criteria: those that had the strongest community support, those that would expand park access, and those that had the right physical conditions and context to benefit most from this innovative design approach.

While chosen projects were strongly influenced by the number of votes received by a particular park, we also evaluated the park's context and conditions to determine which projects would be most successful. We intend to use all your feedback to help shape future improvements at all these sites.

What did New Yorkers Want to See?

People asked for a lot of different things at different parks based on their knowledge of all these unique sites. Here's how often each of the following categories of park improvement were selected.

    Percent of Comments
Street Trees 24%
Ground Plantings 32%
Seating 35%
Water fountains 27%
Other furnishings 7%
Repair paving 37%
Decorative pavement 20%
Lower or remove fence 15%
Decorative fence 17%
Widen entrance 13%
Lower or remove gate 15%
New entrance 27%
Improve accessibility 30%
Food 16%
Art 20%
Performances 18%
Other activities 8%