Danish delegation visits Street Lab at work in Washington Heights

Last week, a visiting delegation from the Mayor’s Office in Copenhagen, Denmark, joined us on 164th St in Washington Heights to learn about Street Lab—how we use pop-up to support community groups, partner with city agencies, and get new ideas on the streets.

Our host in this location was Community League of the Heights (CLOTH), which has been running two play streets on 159th St and 164th St since the start of the pandemic, building on a long history of play streets in the neighborhood. Street Lab has been supporting these play streets by providing a selection of pop-up programs, with support from NYC Dept. of Transportation.

We brought several programs and designs—PLAY, BUILD, One Big Table, One Big Bench, and Street Marker—along with a prototype of a design element—a misting river—from our newest program called OASIS NYC. We’ll take what we learned back to the studio: adults and kids said the river made them “feel calm”, like being “in a rain forest.” Our next test will add native marsh grasses and will expand the length down the street. More coming soon!

(Thanks Ray’s Pizza Bar on Amsterdam Ave for delivering pizza to the street for all!)

Visiting Washington Heights from Copenhagen:

  • Mia Nyegaard (RV): Mayor of Culture and Leisure, Copenhagen Municipality and Chairperson of the Culture and Leisure Committee
  • Stine Finné Toft (EL): Member of the Culture and Leisure Committee
  • Lea Friedberg (S): Member of the Culture and Leisure Committee
  • Karina Bergmann (K): Member of the Culture and Leisure Committee
  • Niels Peder Ravn (K): Member of the Culture and Leisure Committee
  • Kashif Ahmad (RV): Member of the Culture and Leisure Committee
  • Klaus Mygind (SF): Member of the Culture and Leisure Committee
  • Louise Theilade Thomsen (V): Member of the Culture and Leisure Committee
  • Søren Tegen Pedersen: Municipal Director, Department of Culture and Leisure, Copenhagen Municipality
  • Lars Laustrup: Director of Resources, Department of Culture and Leisure, Copenhagen Municipality
  • Aravni Jakobsen: Director of Department, Department of Culture and Leisure, Copenhagen Municipality
  • Rikke Egelund: Head of the City Hall Secretariat, Department of Culture and Leisure, Copenhagen Municipality
  • Frederikke Krabbe Milling: Personal Assistant to the Mayor of Culture and Leisure, Copenhagen Municipality

Street Lab returns to 164th Street every week through August. See you there!