spatial equity nyc
2022
︎︎︎ Project Website
︎︎︎ Report Card
︎︎︎ Openstreetmap Talks
Norman B. Leventhal Center for Advanced Urbanism & Civic Data Design Lab
Sarah Williams
Niko McGlashan
Daniela Coray
Hannah Shumway
Enrique Casillas
Kelly Fang
Jariyaporn Prachasartta
Adi Kupershimdt
Doris Qingyi Duanmu
Ziyi Tang
Chance Jiajie Li
Linh Nguyen
Sebastian Ives
Transportation Alternatives
Buck Design
︎︎︎ Project Website
︎︎︎ Report Card
︎︎︎ Openstreetmap Talks
Norman B. Leventhal Center for Advanced Urbanism & Civic Data Design Lab
Sarah Williams
Niko McGlashan
Daniela Coray
Hannah Shumway
Enrique Casillas
Kelly Fang
Jariyaporn Prachasartta
Adi Kupershimdt
Doris Qingyi Duanmu
Ziyi Tang
Chance Jiajie Li
Linh Nguyen
Sebastian Ives
Transportation Alternatives
Buck Design
Overview
What is Spatial Equity?
Spatial equity is a way to understand how public space is distributed and restricted, used and made unusable, and the different outcomes that result for different communities.
In New York City, streets and sidewalks make up the majority of public spaces — and it matters how this space is used. The width of a street, the presence of a bench, or the size of a park affects the health, accessibility, and resilience of any given community. Where a wide street means more traffic fatalities and more pollution, a narrow road can mean safer street crossings, cleaner air, and easier access to outdoor recreation — and as a result, improved outcomes in health, education, economic opportunity, and quality of life. The way that public space is used is the result of policy decisions that too often lead to inequities in public health, infrastructure access, and the environment.
In New York City, there is a direct correlation between who lives in a neighborhood and how public space is used. Simply put, public space in wealthier, whiter communities is less likely to be used for car and truck traffic, and more likely to be used for benches, street trees, bike lanes, and bus lanes. As a result, these communities see less asthma, fewer heat deaths, and fewer traffic fatalities and benefit from shorter commutes, more mobility choices, cleaner air, and a wealth of other positive outcomes. These relationships are reciprocal: Public space in low-income communities and communities of color is less well funded and more likely to serve people outside the community (such as a highway, as compared to a local bus or bike lane). As a result, the environment, health, and mobility of these communities suffer.
Solutions
The goal of Spatial Equity NYC is to empower New Yorkers with data about local disparities in public health, environmental resilience, and transportation access that result from how public space is used — and to provide concrete solutions to these inequities that can be implemented quickly on a local level. You can see how neighborhoods differ citywide and explore local solutions here.
Spatial inequity is a systemic problem, the direct result of racist and classist policy decisions. Small-scale, spatial solutions — which are the focus of Spatial Equity NYC — cannot alone solve these systemic issues. However, small-scale, spatial solutions can chip away at the harm caused by systemic racist and classist policies and make immediate and meaningful improvements to the lives of New Yorkers.
About NYC 25x25
In early 2021, Transportation Alternatives launched NYC 25x25: A Challenge to New York City’s Next Leaders to Give Streets Back to People. The report and accompanying campaign proposed a radical reimagining of how public space is allocated and used in New York City. The plan included a challenge to the next leaders of New York City: Convert 25 percent of current parking and driving space into space for people by 2025. By giving a fraction of the street back to people, the City of New York could save lives, improve air quality, build climate resilience into every roadbed, and set the tone for the future of New York as a vibrant and fair city with accessible, efficient transportation and robust, thriving street culture. NYC 25x25 is supported by a coalition of more than 200 disability rights, economic, educational, environmental, labor, and public health organizations across New York City.
Spatial Equity NYC is a continuation of this work. The data analysis on this site, which relies on publicly available data from the City of New York and the U.S. Census, provides proof of the widespread and deeply inequitable harms created by devoting so much of New York City’s finite public space to car traffic. Each of the local solutions prescribed on this site would advance the City of New York toward NYC 25x25 — converting space for cars into space for people to benefit our health, our environment, and the very accessibility of our city.
Credits
Transportation Alternatives
Transportation Alternatives (TA) is a New York City-based 501(c)3 advocacy organization whose mission is to reclaim New York City’s streets from the automobile and advocate for better walking, biking, and public transit for all New Yorkers.
For nearly 50 years, TA has led the movement for safe, equitable streets in New York City. TA believes that our streets belong to the people of New York City and works with New Yorkers in every borough to build a future that rises to the needs of our communities. TA uses a combination of neighborhood-level grassroots organizing and citywide advocacy to push for changes in public policy, street design, and resource allocation that transform our city’s streets for the better.
MIT Norman B. Leventhal Center for Advanced Urbanism
The MIT Norman B. Leventhal Center for Advanced Urbanism is committed to fostering a rigorous design culture for the large scale; by focusing our disciplinary conversations about architecture, urban planning, landscape architecture, and systems thinking, not about the problems of yesterday, but of tomorrow. We are motivated by the radical changes in our environment, and the role that design and research can play in addressing these. We embrace conversations with the world's top experts at MIT, to feed and foster our innovations. We take pride in the fact that participants in the Center do not just talk about things; they create projects, build things, and actively change our society out in the real world; and then come together to learn from each other's experiences, publish, and debate about future directions. The MIT Norman B. Leventhal Center for Advanced Urbanism has been established at the initiative of the Dean and department Chairs of the School of Architecture and Planning and reflects a renewed drive to excellence in urbanism.
Civic Data Design Lab
The MIT Civic Data Design Lab works with data to understand it for public good. We seek to develop alternative practices which can make the work we do with data and images richer, smarter, more relevant, and more responsive to the needs and interests of citizens traditionally on the margins of policy development. In this practice we experiment with and develop data visualization and collection tools that allow us to highlight urban phenomena. Our methods borrow from the traditions of science and design by using spatial analytics to expose patterns and communicating those results, through design, to new audiences.
Buck Design
BUCK is a talent-driven, global, creative company with offices in New York, Los Angeles, Sydney and Amsterdam. Founded in 2004, BUCK has built a reputation for outstanding craftsmanship and innovation through collaboration with a wide range of clients across the cultural and technology spheres, including Apple, Instagram, IBM, Nike, Airbnb, Paypal, and Pepsi. Recognized as an industry leader, BUCK’s trophy case includes an Emmy, multiple gold Cannes Lions, Clios, pencils, cubes, and over 150 other awards from the most prestigious competitions in the world.
Press
︎︎︎ New Data Tool Shows Rockaway Suffers From More Flooding Than Citywide Average. The Wave. 15 Mar 2024
︎︎︎ New online tool shows disparities, solutions for neighborhoods across New York City. BronxTimes. 8 Mar 2024
︎︎︎ A New Digital Tool Allows Users to Investigate Spatial Equity across New York City’s Communities. Archdaily. 20 Oct 2022
︎︎︎ New online tool tracks traffic density, air pollution, access to parks and more in NYC by neighborhood. CBS NEWS. 18 Oct 2022
︎︎︎ Report: New York Remains a Tale of Two Cities for Public Space Equity. Streetsblog NYC. 18 Oct 2022
︎︎︎ New Data Tool Shows Rockaway Suffers From More Flooding Than Citywide Average. The Wave. 15 Mar 2024
︎︎︎ New online tool shows disparities, solutions for neighborhoods across New York City. BronxTimes. 8 Mar 2024
︎︎︎ A New Digital Tool Allows Users to Investigate Spatial Equity across New York City’s Communities. Archdaily. 20 Oct 2022
︎︎︎ New online tool tracks traffic density, air pollution, access to parks and more in NYC by neighborhood. CBS NEWS. 18 Oct 2022
︎︎︎ Report: New York Remains a Tale of Two Cities for Public Space Equity. Streetsblog NYC. 18 Oct 2022