Walking Tour: Keeping Off Midtown Streets

In the "post-modern era," New York City planning principles encouraged innovative public spaces to be maintained by private entities. These spaces typically offer shelter and shortcuts. We’ll beat winter by touring public atriums, passageways, lobbies and underground walkways, a more intimate side of Midtown. Leader: Jack Eichenbaum, urban geographer.

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Putting the Public Back in Midtown’s Privately Owned Public Spaces

By Jake Schabas |
“It’s a private property with public access,” a security guard explained after stopping me from taking photos of a mid-block passageway through the Metropolitan Tower on 56th Street. The space in question, which connects 56th to 57th Street between Sixth and Seventh Avenues, is one of more than 150 privately owned public spaces in central Midtown, many of which […]

Love Broadway’s Car-Free Spaces? Take the DOT Survey

By Brad Aaron |
Tell DOT you prefer the safer, saner Times Square. Photo: nickdigital/Flickr DOT is gathering feedback on its "Green Light for Midtown" projects, which include new car-free spaces on Broadway at Times Square and Herald Square, along with new bike infrastructure near Columbus Circle. If you weren’t able to attend the recent public input sessions, the […]

Parking it in Midtown

By Aaron Naparstek |
Today is International Park(ing) Day. Also known as a "parking squat," Park(ing) is a quasi-legal reclamation of urban street space in which a metered, curbside parking spaces are transformed into urban parkland complete with sod, benches, trees and human beings. Here is how Park(ing) Day is being celebrated this morning in Midtown Manhattan on 8th […]

Coming Soon: The Broadway You’ve Been Waiting For

By Brad Aaron |
Vehicles will be redirected from Broadway to Seventh Avenue, as the orange sticker says, "Starting Sun May 24" DOT Commissioner Janette Sadik-Khan today officially announced that work on new pedestrian spaces at Times and Herald Squares — the "Green Light for Midtown" pilot program — will enter a new phase this Sunday night, when auto […]

Eyes on the Street: Chowing Down in Midtown’s Public Spaces

By Ben Fried |
Yesterday the 18th Annual Taste of Times Square filled up the crossroads of the world, serving dishes to throngs of people. DNAinfo reports that the event broke with tradition a little bit, and the vendors were better off for it: This year the festival concentrated all its booths on Broadway, instead of to placing them […]