People Make Parks is a project to help communities participate in the design of their parks.

Physical changes happening in parks are a great opportunity for community involvement, allowing residents to have a tangible impact on the public space in their neighborhood. Community participation in the design process not only makes park improvements better and more responsive to the needs and desires of park users, but it is also a jumping-off point for ongoing stewardship. When people feel that their voice is heard during the design process, they tend to feel ownership over the park and will hopefully become the kind of park users whose involvement makes parks thrive.

The goals of People Make Parks are to:

• bring communities and the NYC Department of Parks & Recreation together to create a true culture of collaboration around capital projects;
• explain the capital process and the many levels of approvals, both inside and outside of the Department of Parks & Recreation, that a park design must go through;
• make available a variety of tools for gathering and presenting community input and ideas for park elements like gardens, temporary art, and signage that can be designed, built, or maintained by committed park stewards;
• share precedents of innovative park design to help people think creatively about what will work best for their park and their community;
• emphasize the importance of engaging non-English speakers and youth in creating a vision for their park;
• explain how to leverage the excitement of people who shared their input and keep them involved in the park once it reopens.

People Make Parks is a joint effort of Partnerships for Parks and the Hester Street Collaborative. Hester Street Collaborative (HSC) is a nonprofit that works to improve public space through a participatory design approach that engages under-served populations, especially youth and new immigrants, in the creation of meaningful places.

The Department of Parks & Recreation will inform the development of People Make Parks, working with HSC and Partnerships to ensure that communities get involved in capital projects in an informed, effective way. HSC and Partnerships will help communities compile local knowledge to develop a vision for their park, and bring them to the table with the Department of Parks & Recreation to learn about the capital process and communicate their vision.

People Make Parks will eventually take the form of a print guidebook or toolkit and an interactive website. One of the first components to be published will be a Roadmap to the Capital Process, outlining the steps in the capital process, from fundraising to ribbon-cutting, and the optimal moments to get involved.

For more information about People Make Parks, please contact Kate Louis at kate.louis@parks.nyc.gov or (212) 227-3626.