PRIVATELY OWNED PUBLIC SPACE

432 PARK AVENUE
New York, New York
2011–2015

Rafael Viñoly Architects

Piggybacking Tactic
Share a Resource to Multiply Use

New York City’s PRIVATELY OWNED PUBLIC SPACE (POPS) PROGRAM has been responsible for the creation of more than five hundred publicly accessible parks, plazas, and other open spaces since its inception in 1961. The program was an early and notable example of a now widespread urban development strategy in which the public sector leverages private development in an attempt to advance the public interest—usually through some form of concession. New York’s POPS program, for example, incentivizes private property owners to design, construct, and manage publicly accessible open spaces on their property by granting developers an increase in the total allowable floor area they may build within the profit-generating component of their project. Thus, in an era of low taxes and shrinking public budgets, the city relaxes its regulatory authority to trade one perceived public good (limitations on building height and mass) for another (more public space). This incentive has proved to be a powerful one in Manhattan, where buildable space is limited but costs and demand are high. In the recent case of 432 Park Avenue, designed by Raphael Viñoly Architects, the provision of a publicly accessible plaza facilitated the construction of eight additional floors in one of the tallest and most expensive residential developments of the post-recession era. With the POPS program, the public sector leverages its regulatory authority to piggyback on the profitability of private development while steering it toward its own intended ends—seeking to advance the public interest by serving a narrow, private one.

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