Latest news with #WXY
Fast Company
02-07-2025
- General
- Fast Company
This neighborhood in Queens has a brilliant plan to turn a busy street into a park
One of the most positive legacies of the COVID-19 pandemic stretches across 26 blocks in the Jackson Heights neighborhood of Queens. The 34th Avenue Open Street emerged out of a New York City-sanctioned program in the early days of the pandemic that allowed neighborhood groups to temporarily close streets to car traffic and use the space for outdoor recreation and other purposes. In Jackson Heights, one of the early epicenters of the pandemic, the open street that emerged from this program became a kind of lifeline for the neighborhood. Now, after running strong for more than five years, a plan is taking shape to make the project on 34th Avenue, now known as Paseo Park, permanent. The concept for the park was commissioned by the Alliance for Paseo Park, a volunteer group that has overseen the open street since the beginning, when it was little more than metal barriers at the end of each block. The group hired the architecture and urban design firm WXY to envision a more formal park space along the 1.3-mile length that includes a mix of recreational areas, seating and meandering zones, multiuse playspace for the 10 schools on and near the street, dense landscaping, paths for cyclists and pedestrians, as well as required emergency vehicle access areas. And because New York Mayor Eric Adams's administration allocated $89 million in funding in 2022 to permanently build out the 34th Avenue Open Street, there's a good chance this design concept will take shape. It could be a model for other neighborhoods in New York—and other cities—for how to thoughtfully turn streets into neighborhood amenities. 'There's so many streets that are doing one thing, serving cars and parking,' says Rob Daurio, a senior associate and director of urban sustainability at WXY who led the 34th Avenue design project. 'This is a big opportunity to really think ambitiously about how to provide more significant public space.' The need is acute. A report from New York City's Independent Budget Office found that Jackson Heights has as little as two square feet of park space per resident. 'It's one of the lowest amounts of park space in the city,' says Daurio. The creation of the open street during the pandemic 'did start to serve this really important and meaningful role for the community,' he says. Subscribe to the Design latest innovations in design brought to you every weekday Privacy Policy | Fast Company Newsletters WXY worked directly with the Alliance for Paseo Park on deep community outreach to learn what neighbors and users of the space wanted from a permanent version of 34th Avenue's open street. The main priority was to ensure that the linear park would be safe and pedestrian first, provide room for the schools in the area, and use its planting to combat the effects of climate change. WXY interpreted those priorities in a range of active, passive, and school-centric areas. 'We tried to come up with not just one solution, but a range of different block typologies that really did respond to the needs of the individuals in those particular areas,' Daurio says. The design concept is based on two main typologies that can define each of the 26 blocks in the park. WXY calls them the Super-Median and the Super-Sidewalk, and they essentially stretch out either the existing median in the street's center or the sidewalks on its edges to create more usable public space. 'Neither the sidewalk nor the median are big enough to actually take on a more significant use,' Daurio says. 'But if you just widen them to enough space that you're still allowing for your emergency access lanes and drive lanes, either of those options are viable to really create a more significant open space.' These designs also balance the need for the street to remain a viable path for transportation—just not for most cars. In the years since 34th Avenue became an open street, it has become a highway for cyclists and, to the chagrin of some residents, delivery drivers on fast-moving electric bikes, mopeds, and other alternative forms of mobility. It's particularly a problem for the youngest users of the space. According to a survey of children that was conducted by a local Girl Scout troop, 66% of children said that the thing they wanted most to change about the open street was for there to be fewer cars and mopeds on the street. WXY integrated these concerns into their design by looking beyond the edges of 34th Avenue, proposing streetscape changes on another nearby arterial street, Northern Boulevard, which could be redesigned to handle more of the cross-neighborhood non-car traffic that has dominated 34th Avenue. 'It's a little bit of a Swiss Army knife of a street right now, where it's a park, and it's also a place for school drop-offs and a route for delivery people,' Daurio says. 'We're thinking about other opportunities to help take the burden off of 34th Avenue for doing everything.' Luz Maria Mercado, board chair of the Alliance for Paseo Park, says people in the neighborhood are enthusiastic about the design concepts. 'Our neighbors see their feedback represented in ideas like creating a front yard for the six public schools that line Paseo Park, the addition of green space, and the flexibility of different design types for different blocks with different needs,' she says. Right now the design is still just a concept, and one that, despite official support from the Alliance for Paseo Park, is subject to input from the broader community. Claire Weisz, founding principal of WXY, says permanently closing any street to traffic, even one that's had such a long and successful pilot stage, is going to be a challenge. 'It's not without its controversies, because, well, people love cars,' she says. This design concept is a hopeful wager that people will realize they love public space even more. 'We're trying to do something that's never been done before in New York City, but is being done around the world,' Mercado says. 'It is hard, but it is not impossible.' The advance-rate deadline for the Fast Company Innovation Festival is Friday, July 11, at 11:59 p.m. PT. Claim your pass today!
Fast Company
19-05-2025
- Fast Company
This simple change could make NYC's subway feel safer
In recent months, the New York City subway system has seen a string of shocking and deadly incidents of violence, including several passengers who have been shoved from the platform into the paths of moving trains. A recent report finds that misdemeanor and felony assaults within the subway system have tripled since 2009. For everyday riders and visitors alike, there is now a lurking fear that their next trip on the subway could be dangerous. Many, including the governor of New York, are seeking solutions, which range from adding more police presence to increasing surveillance to installing more lighting to combatting fare evasion. But there's another approach that could go a long way to improving security and safety in the subway system. Through specific and targeted design interventions, the subway system itself could be retrofitted to reduce violent crime. This is one of the conclusions of What To Do (and Not To Do) About Subway Safety, a new set of policy recommendations from the urban policy journal Vital City. Based on input and research from criminologists, behavioral scientists, transit experts, and policy wonks, the recommendations include focusing on mental health and substance abuse among users of the system, increasing access to social workers, and using police forces more strategically. Claire Weisz, cofounder of the architecture and design studio WXY, contributed to the report with ideas for design interventions that could increase a sense of security and comfort for subway riders. These design ideas include improving sight lines within the system's underground stations, increasing visibility between passengers, and reducing dead ends and other areas that can isolate people. Rather than calling for a wide scale and expensive investment in safety infrastructure like Japanese-style platform barriers, the design ideas proposed here are lower lift interventions. The standout design idea from Weisz and WXY is the addition of highly reflective surfaces throughout subway stations. Lining ceilings, walls, and even the areas right above the edge of the platform, these shiny surfaces passively increase visibility, spatial awareness, and navigation within the sometimes circuitous underground world of a subway station. 'Mirrors or mirror-like surfaces, which could be stainless steel, in the right places can actually help people see around columns, see down hallways, see around corners, but also get a sense that I'm getting closer towards an exit, or I'm getting farther away, or here's where a platform is,' Weisz says. 'Right now, there isn't kind of intuitive wayfinding.' Reflective surfaces can also increase a sense of security. Directly influenced by the violent shoving incidents that have been happening in recent months, the subway design interventions feature a curved reflective surface just overhead of the tracks, called a soffit. This gives people standing and waiting for trains the ability to catch glimpses of their surroundings without having to look behind their backs. 'When you're standing and waiting for the subway, you can see other people,' Weisz says. The soffit also visually tightens the station interior, making it feel more compact. 'It closes down the space between the platform and the third rail on the tracks, so that you're not as open to the whole track.' The idea behind these reflective surfaces comes from the world of hotel design, Weisz says. Hotel hallways and elevators are commonly outfitted with mirrors that let people see themselves but also, perhaps subconsciously, understand that they are also going to be seen by others in this public place. It's a bit of social engineering informed by behavioral science that encourages more self-awareness and courteous behavior. The surfaces become like eyes on the platform. Adding these reflective surfaces could be a form of tactical design, improving conditions in subway stations without the need for a drastic and expensive redesign. But for a transit system with nearly 500 subway stations —and almost every one having a unique design—making widespread improvements will not be easy. 'Everything's expensive, but I do think a couple of pilots in stations that are complex would go a long way,' Weisz says. 'My hope is some of these discussions are going to bring money forth from philanthropy or from academia to do a couple of pilots that really get monitored and recorded to find out if this is changing how people feel in these spaces as they move through the subway.' Weisz acknowledges that while the shoving attacks that have been reported in the subway system are rare, they've created outsized impacts on riders' perceptions of safety within subway stations. To maintain the system's essential role in the functioning of the city, she argues, those perceptions of safety must be improved. 'Good design allows people to behave in a way that optimizes the use of public space in the system,' she says.
Yahoo
04-05-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
FCPS considers redistricting 980 students to balance elementary enrollment
A draft option of redistricting would move 980 students between four elementary and two middle schools in Frederick County Public Schools in anticipation of a new school. In addition, the school system is considering moving the boundaries of two other schools — one elementary and one middle — but the current proposal doesn't include moving students from those schools. Elementary School #41 is scheduled to open for students in August 2026. The school, which does not have a name yet, will be built at Whiterose Drive and Mussetter Road near New Market. The redistricting is to balance enrollment between the new school and five other elementary schools: Blue Heron, Oakdale, Deer Crossing, New Market and Spring Ridge. The attendance boundaries of three middle schools — Gov. Thomas Johnson, New Market and Oakdale — will also be affected. Based on 2024 enrollment, 6,086 students combined attend the eight schools. Elementary School #41 is expected to have a state-rated capacity of 882 seats. Oakdale Elementary School is operating close to 170% capacity, according to FCPS' Educational Facilities Master Plan's 2024 enrollment. The draft option included moving: * 681 students from Oakdale to Elementary School #41 * 104 students from Spring Ridge to Oakdale Elementary School * 86 students from Blue Heron to Oakdale Elementary School * 2 students from Deer Crossing to Elementary School #41 * 107 students from Oakdale to Gov. Thomas Johnson Middle School The draft option for the redistricting is scheduled to be presented to the Frederick County Board of Education at its meeting on Wednesday. The school board will not be voting on whether to approve the draft, but will discuss the draft and potentially direct staff members to make certain changes. As required by FCPS Policy 200, which governs school attendance areas and redistricting, several community engagement sessions are scheduled throughout May and June, including virtual and in-person meetings, and a general feedback form. No dates have been set yet. FCPS hosted two community engagement sessions last month. A public hearing for the redistricting is also scheduled for October. A date has not been set yet. The school board is scheduled to vote on a final redistricting plan for the area in November or December, which would take effect at the beginning of the 2026-27 school year. WXY Architecture + Urban Design of New York led the redistricting study and created the draft option. The redistricting will cost the school district approximately $250,000 from Elementary School #41's project fund. The agency has previously provided reports and recommendations to Prince George's County Public Schools and Montgomery County Public Schools for school district boundary changes. After the draft option is presented to the school board, WXY plans to post the draft option to the project website, which is available at To create the draft option, WXY looked at student enrollment data, such as the number of students who are eligible for Free and Reduced-Price Meals, who are eligible for an Individualized Education Program and who attend special programs at any of the eight schools. FCPS recently accepted submissions for a name for the new elementary school. Submissions closed on April 25. On May 8, the school district is scheduled to announce a list of five to 10 names for the community to provide feedback. The deadline to provide community feedback on the shortlist of names is May 23. The committee will then select three names to recommend to the school board in August. The school board makes the final decision.
