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Urban Affairs Review, Vol. 43, No. 3, 325-351 (2008)
DOI: 10.1177/1078087407306325

Dispersing the Crowd

Bonus Plazas and the Creation of Public Space

Gregory Smithsimon

Barnard College

Research has found that most bonus plazas in front of Manhattan office buildings are barren, uninviting spaces. But there has been little study of why that is so. Existing explanations suggest unusable plazas are unintended consequences of other processes—architects' slavishly reproducing modernist architectural styles, or developers' minimizing costs by neglecting public spaces. Such explanations are found to be unsupported by the facts. This study of 291 Manhattan bonus plazas and the development process in New York—including site observations; analysis of newly available plaza data; and interviews of architects, planners, and building managers-reveals that spaces were intentionally made uninviting, and that developers acted to make the plazas inaccessible. Implications for the study and creation of public space are discussed.

Key Words: public space • bonus plazas • architects • developers • New York City


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