According to PlaNYC, an effort released by Mayor Bloomberg in 2007, in 2030 all New Yorkers will have a park/public space that is within a 10 minute walk. Parks have been the most cherished forms of public infrastructure for generations. Despite the importance of parks and public spaces, many New Yorkers do not have access to a quality park within a 10 minute walking distance. New Parks and Public spaces will be created and it will require creative new strategies. New York City will continue to turn unconventional sites in parks like the Concrete Plant Park in the Bronx which was a former industrial concrete mixing plant or the High Line which was an abandoned freight rail line.

To meet the goal, NYC will continue to improve existing parks, identify underutilized sites throughout the city that can be transformed into parks and enhance stewardship of our public spaces. It is important to promote stewardship of the public spaces so that they are sustainable. In addition, NYC plans to promote and protect nature. They want to conserve natural areas and plant one million trees.

As of 2014, the City has added 109 acres of new parkland. In addition, the City is working on expanding its Blue Belt wetland system to allow for more opportunities to enjoy the waterways and restore coastal ecosystems. The City’s efforts are focused on improving parks and open spaces, building plazas and greenstreets, growing more trees, and restoring waterfronts.

Three new pop-up cafes were opened in 2014 and there are currently 44 plazas that are open to the public and 21 in design and planning. Over 20 greenstreets are being engineered. The MillionTreesNYC program has planted over 865,000 trees throughout the five boroughs and plans to finish planting the million trees by the end of 2015.