The growing role of public-private partnerships in New York City Parks

Keywords: Parks, Public private partnerships, public spaces, New York,
Session Type: Virtual Paper Abstract
Day: Tuesday
Session Start / End Time: 3/1/2022 05:20 PM (Eastern Time (US & Canada)) - 3/1/2022 06:40 PM (Eastern Time (US & Canada))
Room: Virtual 38

Abstract

In the last 40 years, New York City has seen the development of several public private partnerships and philanthropic initiatives to care for its parks and green spaces. This new park financing, and management model has been praised for its success at restoring some iconic parks, such as Central Park or Bryant Park or giving birth to new parks, such as the High Line. It is however vividly criticized for benefiting mostly parks located in wealthy neighborhoods and therefore creating an unequal repartition of resources between parks throughout the city, especially in a context of fiscal austerity.

A series of interviews led since the spring of 2019, the study of legal and financial documents and meeting minutes have shown that the implementation of public private partnerships has indeed led to financial and material inequalities between parks throughout the city.

This situation raises interrogations from an environmental justice perspective. Parks provide different services and amenities that research has found to be essential for the well-being and the health (physical and mental) of urbanites. Ensuring access to quality public parks is therefore essential.