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Design Guide

Interim Public Plazas

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Interim public plazas transform underutilized areas of roadway into public spaces for surrounding residents and businesses. Using low-cost materials, such as epoxied gravel, movable planters, and flexible seating, interim public plazas reconfigure and revitalize intersections that might otherwise be unsafe or underutilized.

Like parklets, interim public plazas are the result of a successful partnership between the city and a neighborhood group or business association. Partners maintain, oversee, and program the space. While many public plazas proceed from an interim phase to final reconstruction within 3–5 years, the intermediate application allows the community to build support for and benefit from the public space in the near term, before major capital construction.

SAN FRANCISCO, CA

Application

Interim public plazas are most commonly applied under the following circumstances:

  • A dedicated partner, typically a business or neighborhood association, or a community with unmet demand for public space, wants to activate, program, and take ownership of an underutilized road space and can maintain it throughout the year.
  • An underutilized street segment has low vehicle traffic, pedestrian demand is unmet, and foot traffic is overflowing into the roadway.
  • Safety or operational issues with existing traffic call for a temporary reconfiguration of the intersection.
  • Funds have been allocated to the permanent installation of a plaza, but capital implementation remains several years away.

Benefits & Considerations

Public plazas have the potential to:

  • Make intersections safer, more compact, and easier to cross for pedestrians.
  • Slow traffic speeds and mitigate potentially dangerous intersection conflicts.
  • Activate a public place by reclaiming space unused or underused by motorists.
  • Energize surrounding streets and public spaces, creating foot traffic that can boost business and invigorate street life in a neighborhood.1 Measuring the Street: New Metrics for 21st Century Streets (New York: New York City Department of Transportation, 2012). ↩︎

Critical

1Parking shall not be allowed or permitted within the public plaza. Parking may be maintained adjacent or parallel to the plaza, but should be designed along the footprint of the future capital implementation.

2Interim public plazas shall be constructed with ADA-compliant tactile warning strips at the cross walks. Extra attention should be paid to how sight-impaired individuals will navigate these spaces.

Stripe a double white line along the edge of the plaza to legally prohibit vehicles from entering the space.

Plazas should be defined using low-cost, durable materials, such as epoxied gravel, paint, and thermoplastic.2

Street Design Manual, (New York City: New York City Department of Transportation, 2009), Ch. 3. ↩︎

Climate factors into the selection of specific materials and their long-term durability.

3Plazas should be designed with a strong edge and defined using a combination of striping, bollards, and larger fixed objects, such as granite rocks and/or planters.

Prior to implementation of a public plaza, cities are advised to post an informational placard advertising the plaza to ensure that local stakeholders are aware of the installation.

Tables and seating may be movable to permit flexible use of the space and to limit costs. Whether or not to secure seating at night should be determined by the maintenance partner.3

The Madison Square public plaza in New York City is maintained by the Flatiron/23rd Street Partnership and the Madison Square Conservancy. Staff removes tables and chairs each night to prevent theft and clean the space.

Sabina Mollot, “Flatiron street to become pedestrian plaza,” Flatiron 23rd Street Partnership, accessed June 3, 2013, http://www.flatironbid.org/documents/flatiron_triangles.pdf. ↩︎

Corners and other areas of a plaza subject to encroachment by errant or turning vehicles should be reinforced using heavy objects and bollards that alert drivers of the new curb line.

Adequate lighting should be provided at plazas at all times of day.

Optional

4Heavy planters, granite blocks, moveable seating, and other street furniture elements may be incorporated into the interim design.

Bicycle parking may be installed in coordination with the installation of a temporary plaza.

Art installations, performances, vendors, and markets can improve the quality and identification of a public plaza, while engaging local artists, communities, and business owners

Plazas should be designed to accommodate freight loading and unloading where access to the curb is required at early morning hours for adjacent businesses.

Drainage should be considered in the design of the pilot plaza. Sites should have minimal cross slope or be designed using edge treatments that mitigate the overall slope.

BROOKLYN, NY Granite blocks help define the edge of a new plaza.LOS ANGELES, CA

New York City Plaza Program

The New York City Department of Transportation’s (NYC DOT) Plaza Program converts underutilized road space into neighborhood amenities through partnerships with local nonprofit organizations and communities. The program, launched in 2008, is currently in its sixth round of applications and has realized 22 new public spaces for New Yorkers.

Community Partnerships

The Plaza Program accepts proposals from community-based nonprofit organizations to create neighborhood plazas through an annual competitive application process. NYC DOT funds plaza design and construction and incorporates community input through public visioning workshops. The non-profit partner is responsible for conducting community outreach, participating in design meetings, formulating a funding plan, providing insurance for the plaza, undertaking maintenance, and programming activities and events to ensure that the plaza becomes a vibrant neighborhood destination. Locally known and respected neighborhood nonprofits bring on-the-ground insight and expertise and help NYC DOT secure approval from the local community board, an essential milestone in realizing any plaza project.

Design

The Plaza Program generally involves capital reconstruction, though NYC DOT now awards more funding for projects that initially use interim materials, such as moveable tables, planters, and umbrellas. Interim materials give plazas a degree of flexibility—assuaging opponents, streamlining the design and construction process, using funding more efficiently, and allowing community members to enjoy the plaza’s benefits sooner. Once interim plazas are in place, local support for permanent construction tends to grow. Whether permanent or temporary, using standard materials simplifies work for NYC DOT operations crews.

Funding

Dedicated, long-term funding for the Plaza Program was secured through PlaNYC 2030, New York City’s long range plan released in 2007. PlaNYC set a goal to ensure all New Yorkers live within a ten-minute walk of a park, and the Plaza Program helps fulfill that goal.

  1. Measuring the Street: New Metrics for 21st Century Streets (New York: New York City Department of Transportation, 2012). ↩︎
  2. Street Design Manual, (New York City: New York City Department of Transportation, 2009), Ch. 3. ↩︎
  3. The Madison Square public plaza in New York City is maintained by the Flatiron/23rd Street Partnership and the Madison Square Conservancy. Staff removes tables and chairs each night to prevent theft and clean the space.

Sabina Mollot, “Flatiron street to become pedestrian plaza,” Flatiron 23rd Street Partnership, accessed June 3, 2013, http://www.flatironbid.org/documents/flatiron_triangles.pdf. ↩︎

Temporary Street Closures

Intersections

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