In 2014, Artist and Lawyer Jane Greengold submitted a project to Design Trust's "Energetic City" request for proposals, calling to remove fences around inaccessible grassy areas of public housing developments and inspire resident use of the green space.

Since then, we have been working with NYCHA and a coalition of residents to reimagine what public space for public housing campuses can be. Opening the Edge has laid the blueprint for activating NYCHA's open spaces across the five boroughs, and beyond.

Over ten years ago, the Design Trust for Public Space announced a call for project proposals on the theme of "Energetic City: An Open Call to Build Connectivity in the Public Realm," seeking to expand definitions of public space and explore new links between the built and natural environment. 

Selected projects ranged from "Future Culture: Connecting Staten Island’s Waterfront," to "Design Guidelines for Neighborhood Retail," and "The World's Park: Reconnecting Corona Park with its Neighbors."

The fourth winning project idea was called "Opening the Edge," proposed by Jane Greengold and developed in partnership with the New York City Housing Authority (NYCHA). Jane noticed that many of NYCHA's public housing campuses contained fenced-off and unused empty grass plots, creating what she saw as "physical and psychological barriers" between residents and their neighborhoods.

"Many NYCHA developments face inward," she wrote in her proposal. "Surrounded by empty grassy spaces, they provide visual open space, but not functional open space... But the empty, fenced grassy spaces offer an opportunity to connect people." 

One such plot was displayed prominently at the Lillian Wald Houses in the Lower East Side, between the sidewalk on Ave. D and the campus' 3rd street entrance. The Wald Houses were identified as an ideal candidate to take down the fence and prototype a welcoming open space instead.

From there, the Design Trust brought together a group of Wald residents to form a “Community Design Team” and brainstorm how exactly they would like to use their green space once they had access to it. Throughout the project, Opening the Edge has held more than 25 meetings and dozens of outreach events to prototype a new design, working closely with Davies Toews Architecture, The PARC Foundation, and NYCHA’s Asset & Capital Management Division. Through multiple participatory design workshops, funded by the New York State Council on the Arts (NYSCA), residents expressed that beyond the desire to move through the space freely without a fence, there was a need for more outdoor seating and space allowing for cultural programming, including planned or impromptu performances and events.

Along the way, many Lower East Side neighbors, design professionals, and community leaders found ways to get involved with the Opening the Edge's potential. 

We brought on Active Design Fellow Immanuel Oni to help lead the participatory process, Lighting Designer Kate Sweater at Dwaal Lighting Design, Landscape Architect Consultant Nancy Owens, and Landscape Architecture Fellow Rebecca Hill, who sadly passed away in 2020 but whose impact will live on in the space. Residents stepped into leadership roles and brought their own unique skills to the project. Community Engagement Fellow Destiny Mata built deep relationships with her Lillian Wald neighbors through photography projects. Community Organizing Fellow Javan Blackshear helped share the early prototype designs with neighbors. Art Fellow and Riis Houses resident, Lee Jimenez worked on public art ideas. Community Engagement and Resident Art Fellow Dr. Mollie Serena created "Lighting the Edge," an art installation of plexiglass hung around the fence to raise more awareness of the barrier and proposed solution, and continues to make art and steward the space, as well as run social media updates for the OTE page.

This project was awarded capital funding by Council Member Carlina Rivera and then-Borough President Gale Brewer. Additional funding to bring the community design team's vision to fruition was generously provided by the NYC Department of Cultural Affairs, PARC Foundation, Trinity Church Wall Street Foundation, Public Housing Community Fund, National Endowment for the Arts, New York State Council on the Arts, NYC Building Congress Foundation, and the Shelley & Donald Rubin Foundation.

The process resulted in a final blueprint with benches to relax and catch up with neighbors, a sloped platform for performances, new pathways, new lighting, a vision to support a resident-led friends group that can program and steward the space into the future.

Of course, doing things differently takes time. The novel project ran into permitting red-tape, complicated procurement practices, funding searches, and pandemic slowdowns, but finally, Opening the Edge is moving towards a ribbon-cutting this year.

On April 4th, 2025, the fence finally came down. Construction on the space is expected to be completed later this Summer, with support from Sterling Project Development, Davies Toews Architecture, Langan Engineering & Environmental Services, TYLin, and Dubner Landscaping & Construction.

Although this hard-fought victory for Wald Residents took longer than initially planned, public housing communities across the five boroughs are already benefiting from the impact of the project's transformative approach. There are more than 2,000 football fields worth of open spaces across NYCHA campuses. Most of the space is fenced off, like at Lillian Wald, or overdue for an upgrade. 

Public housing has been an integral, and sometimes controversial, piece of the fabric of American cities for nearly a century. Over 1.6 million Americans live in public housing. 1 out of every 17 New York City residents lives at NYCHA. Despite the positive impact on reducing housing insecurity and improving health and economic stability outcomes, NYCHA and Public Housing Agencies across North America face enormous pressures from federal underfunding, disinvestment, and maintenance backlogs, often leaving open spaces and community areas at these sites as an afterthought. At the same time, the park equity gap reduces the wellness benefits of close-to-home green spaces for over 100 million residents. How can public space and public housing support each other as public goods to build thriving neighborhoods? Having a way to interact with green space outside our doorsteps makes neighborhoods more vibrant, healthier, and happier.

Opening the Edge served as a case study for NYCHA's Open Space Master Plan and Connected Communities Guidebook, rethinking how public housing environments are designed and interconnected within their New York Neighborhoods, cared for, and funded, from community gardens to basketball courts, to picnic tables.

Motivated by the link between access to green space and overall community health, Design Trust collaborated with the Public Housing Community Fund, Center for Justice Innovation,and NYCHA to create and activate community-designed green space at four more NYCHA public housing developments for 14,000 residents in Brooklyn and the Bronx, selected based on climate vulnerability. Now in its third year, the Green Space Connections program is planning groundbreakings and ribbon-cuttings on resident-designed open spaces over the next year. To amplify the lessons of the project and empower a wider reach of New York public housing residents, Green Space Connections released a practical design and resources guide for non-profit organizations and resident leaders to navigate the process of bringing open space projects to their communities through more private-public partnerships.

Looking ahead, we are exploring how to scale these ideas nationally and learn from Public Housing Authorities across the country to further link the benefits of public housing and public space. With the Trust for Public Land, we will be announcing a national convening of experts on these issues later this year.

And it all started with a fence! Seemingly small improvements to how we move through the built environment can have seismic effects. 

In celebration of our 30th anniversary in 2025, Design Trust is resisting our expansive project roster and imagining the next 30 years of unlocking the potential of public space. Follow along at www.designtrust.org/news/ or subscribe to our newsletter for event invites, and more.