Street Lab helping Washington Heights community build momentum towards a pedestrian plaza on Audubon Ave

Street Lab works with communities across New York City to create and support new Open Streets in low- to moderate- income areas of the city. In 2024, we began an effort to to support a new Open Street on Audubon Ave in Washington Heights, offering Street Lab pop-ups and a community design process for a mural that we painted with volunteers, students, and the NYC DOT Commissioner. Following the success of the Open Street and positive response from the community, NYC DOT is now proposing to formally redesign the block as a pedestrian plaza. So this Spring, Street Lab is partnering with NYC DOT to activate the street twice a week in June and also host a series of pop-ups using our IMAGINE program to help the community think through what they might want to see in the space and what’s important to them. Through a partnership with NewYork Presbyterian, we also activated the street twice a week in May, including bringing our partner WNYC to give residents a chance to tell their stories on the radio, which aired on June 10.