Privately Owned Public Space: The New York City Experience

"Jerold Kayden has contributed to the renaissance of writing on New York City and its architecture of recent years an extraordinarily detailed and sensible account of the hundreds of open spaces that have sprouted around skyscrapers in the wake of the zoning reform of 1961. It is a remarkable book and every lover of New York City will want to consult it."–Nathan Glazer, Professor of Sociology and Education Emeritus, Harvard University "This is an indispensable guide to New York City′s 500–plus privately owned public spaces. The book′s marathon undertaking is required reading for anyone interested in the history and development of modern New York."–Laurie Beckelman, Vice President, World Monuments Fund "New York City has 40 years of experience in creating public spaces on private property through zoning. This book covers it all–from sorry examples to brilliant successes. Other cities should learn from this experience."–Con Howe, Director of Planning, City of Los Angeles

THE CONTEXT. History. Law: Design, Operation, and Enforcement. Record. Research. THE SPACES. Lower Manhattan. Midtown Manhattan. Upper Manhattan. Brooklyn and Queens. Afterword. Notes. Bibliography. Table: Privately Owned Public Spaces, by Address and Classification. Photography Credits. Contacts. Index.

JEROLD S. KAYDEN, a lawyer and urban planner, is Associate Professor of Urban Planning at the Harvard University Graduate School of Design. He has published widely, coauthoring Landmark Justice: The Influence of William J. Brennan on America′s Communities and coediting Zoning and the American Dream: Promises Still to Keep. THE NEW YORK CITY DEPARTMENT OF CITY PLANNING guides the City′s physical development and formulates land use plans and strategic policies with major goals that include encouraging housing and economic development, improving the City′s quality of life, and preserving its neighborhoods. THE MUNICIPAL ART SOCIETY OF NEW YORK is a private, nonprofit membership organization that champions excellence in urban design and planning, and preservation of the best of New York′s past. Situated in the Urban Center in midtown Manhattan, the Society engages citizens on issues of the city′s built environment.

"This extensive work provides for the first time a detailed look at the city′s experience, pro and con, through photographs, maps, site plans, observed behaviors, and extensive notes." ( Urbanparadoxes.com , 5/08) "The Introduction to Privately Owned Private Space is a history of New York City′s attempts at planning and zoning beginning in 1916 and continuing to the present. The detail of the history is sharp while not talking down to the novice, and the politics is fascinating." (ArchitectureWeek.com, April 25, 2001) "The book should also appeal to any enthusiast of urban spaces anywhere in the world, because the lessons learned in the "Big Apple" are applicable anywhere. This is a history book, an incredibly detailed map of the New York City, and a lesson in civics all rolled into one." (F.L. Andrew Padian, ArchitectureWeek.com) "This long overdue collaborative effort among urban planning professor Jerold Kayden, New York City′s Department of Planning, and the Municipal Art Society, and involving dozens of researchers, is one of the most important books to be published about New York City in years.... Along the same lines, in today′s publishing environment, most commercial trade publishers would not likely be interested, and too many high–quality, general interest, New York City–related titles must vie for the limited resources of a few university presses or very small publishing houses that do not have the resources to take on this kind of project –– congratulations to John Wiley for publishing this book." (Bradley Beach Books, 9/01)