New York City gets first public realm chief

New York Mayor Eric Adams has appointed the city’s first-ever Chief Public Realm Officer.

Ya-Ting Liu will coordinate across city government, community organisations and the private sector to create “extraordinary public spaces” and aid the city’s economic recovery.

“Our city’s public spaces are too important to fall through the cracks of bureaucracy, and now they won’t,” said Mayor Adams.

“New Yorkers need to know there is one person at City Hall whose number one goal is to improve their quality of life by creating incredible new public spaces and ensuring the ones we have are clean, equitable and safe.

“As someone who knows how to think big and ‘get stuff done’ for New Yorkers, Ya-Ting Liu is the right person to serve as the city’s first-ever Chief Public Realm Officer.”

‘Everyone’s living room’

For the last year, Liu has served as Chief Strategy Officer to Deputy Mayor for Operations, Meera Joshi, and she will continue to hold the title concurrently with Chief Public Realm Officer.

Before entering city government, Liu worked as the director of government affairs and policy for rideshare company Via.

“In New York City, the public realm is everyone’s living room. It’s where we eat, play and gather,” said Liu. “Having beautiful public spaces accessible to all people is one of our greatest assets – it is what makes New York City so special.

“I look forward to working with our businesses, community partners, and city agencies to build vibrant, attractive and inclusive public spaces in all five boroughs.”

On the agenda

Liu will work on projects including a plan to invest US$375 million to create and expand high-quality public spaces across boroughs, which includes the Broadway Vision plan, a full reconstruction of Jamaica Avenue from Sutphin Boulevard to Merrick Boulevard, and permanent upgrades to Open Streets in the Bronx and on Staten Island.

She will also lead the administration’s work to deliver a permanent outdoor dining programme, with clear design guidelines and accessible tools for restaurant owners and communities.

The Mayor’s Office said Liu will also “advance forward-thinking reforms” to make it easier for community groups and the private sector to partner with the city to become stewards of public spaces and for city agencies to pilot innovative designs and technologies that improve public space management.

Other cities have created similar roles. Boston, for example, has a Public Realm Director and a Chief of Streets. In 2018, Christopher Hawthorne, then the architecture critic for The Los Angeles Times, was recruited as the City of Los Angeles’ first Chief Design Officer. He left in October last year to teach at Yale School of Architecture and has not been replaced.