Placemaking on Myrtle Avenue

What makes a public space attractive and interesting? Some people say it’s the trees and plants, other say cleanliness or safety. Although the answer may be elusive and difficult to grasp, for the last two years we’ve been gathering input from the public and feedback from consultants to answer these difficult questions in order to develop plans to improve Myrtle Avenue’s underutilized public space. We are proud to announce the completion of conceptual designs that we hope will transform Myrtle Avenue’s public spaces into active, safe, and creative destinations.

From the beginning, it has been our intent that this be a community-based planning project and that it should include all relevant topics, such as streetscape design and public art, open space and greening, pedestrian and bicycle accommodations, transportation, transit, and parking, lighting, business activity, housing and real estate, historic preservation, safety and security, storefront design and building architecture, event programming, and partnerships. Participants of the planning workshops went to Myrtle Avenue to conduct a Street Audit Form to rate the quality of the space. With this form, participants assessed the street from the perspective of the end users; it rated each site’s comfort & image, access & linkages, uses & activities, and sociability.

The geographical scope of the project was focused on four Myrtle Avenue sites: (1) Myrtle from Carlton to Ashland, (2) the intersection of Myrtle and Vanderbilt, (3) the intersection of Myrtle and Clinton, and (4) Myrtle from Hall to Emerson, along the four-block section with a service road. These sites were selected because they received the most interest by participants of the first workshop and they each have significant underutilized public or quasi-public space.

Our participatory-planning effort was broad based as is evident by the quantity of participants. Over the last two years we held three public meetings with over 100 participants and many stakeholders, including the Community Board and elected officials, landlords, merchants, residents of the Ingersoll and Whitman Houses and the rest of the Fort Greene, Clinton Hill, and Wallabout areas, and various City agencies, including the Department of Transportation, the Department of City Planning, and Department of Parks and Recreation. By including a diverse range of participants from the beginning, we have developed concepts that include the various perspectives of this community.

Here is brief overview of the milestones over the last two years:

• Novermber 2005 – The Myrtle Avenue Brooklyn Partnership collaborated with Pratt Institute to hold Envisioning Myrtle Avenue (PDF Report, 2 MB), a public workshop that highlighted Myrtle Avenue’s strengths and weaknesses
• June 2006 – The Partnership begins collaboration with Project for Public Spaces to survey, analyze, and generate placemaking ideas
• October 2006 – The Partnership and PPS hold a Placemaking Workshop to gather site specific comments for Myrtle’s underutilized public spaces
• March 2007 – The Partnership and PPS hold another Placemaking Workshop in collaboration with the Ingersoll and Whitman Tenant Associations to allow for more comments to ensure that all voices and perspectives are included
• August 2007 – The Partnership and PPS complete research and PPS delivers recommendations and concepts to improve four underutilized sites on Myrtle Avenue

Although the overall goal of this project is to improve underutilized public space on Myrtle Avenue, each site is distinct; each site has different challenges and opportunities. For example, Myrtle from Hall to Emerson consists mostly of retail use with much space allocated for cars (four parking lanes and three travel lanes) whereas Myrtle from Carlton to Ashland is principally of residential and park use. For this reason, we invite you to browse the documents that interest you most. In addition, we hope to continue this iterative placemaking process by getting your feedback.

To see an overview of the four study areas, as well as links to each of the final reports, visit our Placemaking & Public Space Enhancements page.