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Secretly Public in
125 Broad Park Plaza: a rather desolate POP with a waterfront view at 125 Broad Park Plaza. (Image courtesy APOPS@MAS);
Zucotti Park, home of Occupy Wall Street, was one POP widely covered by the press – helping to raise public awareness. (Image courtesy nyclovesnyc.com);
805 Third Avenue: do you want to go chill in this public space? (Image courtesy APOPS@MAS)
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If it sounds oxymoronic, it’s because it is: a “privately-owned public space” (POPS) is an area within a private building that’s technically open to anyone – that is, anyone who can find it. Established in the 1960s by the New York City government, POPS earned property owners bonuses like extra floor space not otherwise allowed by zoning restrictions. These bizarre urban nether-regions have come under criticism; many of the 525 POPS are inaccessible, uninviting, or downright unusable. However, recent initiatives have been crowd-sourcing public knowledge to map and document them, in an effort to yank city-space back into public hands. Next time you’re in NYC, maybe this interactive map by APOPS@MAS can help you find a strange, secluded place away from it all – and close to you.
(ew)
POPS can make you rich: For including a through-block arcade, the owners of 55 East 52nd Street earned 78,000 extra square feet of office space – which earned them an extra 76 million dollars. (Exterior view: Fisherbrothers.com, interior view of the lovely arcade: htsuchiya/Flickr)
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