Painting by Atsushi Ohashi

There are way fewer parks in NYC than you think.

An observation of park spaces near my home in Brooklyn, New York.

By Amanda Chen

NYC touts having over 30,000 acres of land, or about 16% of New York City, for its residents to enjoy. This includes more than 5,000 individual properties ranging from Coney Island Beach and Central Park to community gardens, local playgrounds, and neighborhood parks. The Trust for Public Lands rates NYC as having the 10th most effective park system in the US. The metric is based on park accessibility, acreage, amenities, and more. You can read more about it here. But, in taking a closer look at the data, and taking a look around me, I began to wonder how representative these numbers actually are.

It turns out, that there are lots of different types of lands that technically count as “park space,” falling under the jurisdiction of NYC Parks. This includes parkways, undeveloped, vacant lots, and historic properties that are typically not easily accessible to the public. With this in mind, a lot of NYC’s documented park space is actually not accessible for normal recreational use at all, and on top of that, those that are accessible to us, might not fit within the confines of what we think of as a “park”.

Staten Island

Queens

Historic House

Nature Area

Parkway

Flagship Park

Community Park

Staten Island

Queens

Park

Managed

7,664 acres of total park space

8,229 acres of total park space

Sites

Undeveloped

Neighborhood

Managed

Parkway

Waterfront Facility

Nature Area

Park

Sites

Waterfront Facility

Neighborhood

Community Park

Park

Flagship Park

Recreational

Fields

Triangle/

Playground

Undeveloped

Plaza

Bronx

Managed Sites

Community Park

Neighborhood

Manhattan

Brooklyn

Bronx

Community Park

Flagship Park

Manhattan

Brooklyn

Park

Flagship Park

7,225 acres of total park space

2,872 acres

4,857 acres

Parkways

Jointly

Playground

Triangle/

Community

Plaza

Operated

Playground

Park

Garden

Flagship Park

Recreational

Mall

Fields

Nature Area

Buildings/Institutions

Neighborhood

Nature

Park

Area

Parkway

Recreational

Neighborhood

Waterfront Facility

Fields

Park

Historic House

Nature Area

Parkway

Staten Island

Queens

Staten Island

Park

Queens

Flagship Park

Community Park

Managed

Sites

8,229 acres

7,664 acres

1,807 acres

1,971 acres

Undeveloped

Managed

Nature Area

Waterfront Facility

Neighborhood

Parkway

Sites

Park

Waterfront Facility

Neighborhood

Community Park

Park

Flagship Park

Recreational

Fields

Triangle/

Playground

Undeveloped

Plaza

Managed Sites

Community Park

Neighborhood

Man.

Brooklyn

Bronx

Community Park

Flagship Park

Man.

Brooklyn

Bronx

Park

Flagship Park

96 acres

1,070 acres

2,872 acres

4,857 acres

883 acres

7,225 acres

Parkways

Jointly

Playground

Triangle/

Plaza

Community

Operated

Playground

Park

Garden

Flagship Park

Mall

Recreational

Fields

Nature Area

Buildings/Institutions

Neighborhood

Nature

Park

Area

Parkway

Waterfront Facility

Recreational

Neighborhood

Fields

Park

Historic House

Nature Area

Parkway

Flagship Park

Community Park

Park

Staten Island

Queens

Staten Island

Queens

Managed

8,229 acres of total park space

7,664 acres of total park space

Sites

1,807 acres of inaccessible park space

1,971 acres of inaccessible park space

Undeveloped

Managed

Nature Area

Waterfront Facility

Neighborhood

Parkway

Sites

Park

Waterfront Facility

Neighborhood

Community Park

Park

Flagship Park

Recreational

Fields

Triangle/

Playground

Undeveloped

Plaza

Managed Sites

Neighborhood

Community Park

Community Park

Flagship Park

Flagship Park

Manhatt.

Brooklyn

Bronx

Park

Manhatt.

Brooklyn

Bronx

2,872 acres

4,857 acres

7,225 acres of total park space

96 acres

1,070 acres

883 acres of inaccessible park space

Parkways

Jointly

Playground

Triangle/

Community

Operated

Plaza

Playground

Park

Garden

Flagship Park

Recreational

Mall

Fields

Nature Area

Buildings/Institutions

Neighborhood

Nature

Park

Area

Parkway

Recreational

Neighborhood

Waterfront Facility

Fields

Park

Flagship Park

Historic House

Community Park

Nature Area

Parkway

Staten Island

Queens

Staten Island

Queens

Park

8,229 acres of total park space

7,664 acres of total park space

Managed

Sites

Undeveloped

Managed

Waterfront Facility

Neighborhood

Parkway

Nature Area

Sites

Park

Waterfront Facility

Neighborhood

Community Park

Park

Flagship Park

Recreational

Fields

Triangle/

Playground

Undeveloped

Plaza

Managed Sites

Neighborhood

Community Park

Flagship Park

Community Park

Manhattan

Brooklyn

Bronx

Manhattan

Brooklyn

Bronx

Flagship Park

Park

2,872 acres

4,857 acres

7,225 acres of total park space

Parkways

Jointly

Playground

Triangle/

Community

Plaza

Operated

Park

Playground

Garden

Flagship Park

Recreational

Mall

Fields

Nature Area

Buildings/Institutions

Neighborhood

Nature

Park

Area

Parkway

Recreational

Neighborhood

Waterfront Facility

Fields

Park

Here is a breakdown of NYC parkland according to New York State. This accounts for about 30,847 acres of land.

Here is a breakdown of what kinds of parks make up this 30,000+ acreage of land.

Parkways, undeveloped land, vacant lots, and other forms of inaccessible park space account for about 20% of NYC parks.

When you take this into account, only about 25,000 acres of land remain as park space you can walk to and use.

Great, so we New Yorkers have 25,020 acres of accessible park space right? That’s not too bad. When taking a look around on Google Maps, you’ll see green plots of land all around you signifying that there is a park—perhaps lined with trees and filled with grass—at least that is what I think of when I think "park".

Picture this: You are visiting New York City for the first time, it’s 90 degrees outside and you are in dire need of some shade. Almost instinctually, you pull out the Maps app on your phone and find the closest patch of green near you. Great, it looks like there is a park only 5 minutes away. But when you get there, THIS is what you see:

Thank you Explore NYC Parks for this lovely photo... and for helping me prove my point.

Sprinkled throughout Google maps, you will see many NYC parks marked as green. In reality though, what is often there instead is a cemented patch and maybe, if you are lucky, there will be a bench to rest on. Mistaking these so-called parks for green space is a common experience, even for me to this day, and so I wanted to see just how prolific these imposter parks really are.

I visited various NYC parks in neighborhoods near me to see what was actually there:

East Williamsburg, Brooklyn

Williamsburg, Brooklyn

Fort Greene, Brooklyn

Edmonds Playground

DeKalb Ave

Jaimie Playground

Underwood Park

Frost Playground

Morgan Ave

Macri Triangle

Albert Playground

Washington Ave

Greene Playground

Blue Playground

Cooper Park

Red Shed

Comm. Garden

Cuyler Grove

Marcie Green Parks

Brooklyn Queens Expy

Vanderbilt Ave

Strawberry

Playgrounds

Brooklyn Bears

Carlton Ave. Garden

Memorial Gore

Fulton St

Keap Fourth

Comm. Garden

Metropolitan Ave

Rodney Parks

Orient Grove

East Williamsburg, Brooklyn

Frost Playground

Morgan Ave

Cooper Park

Red Shed

Comm. Garden

Memorial Gore

Metropolitan Ave

Orient Grove

Jaimie Playground

Williamsburg, Brooklyn

Macri Triangle

Blue Playground

Marcie Green Parks

Brooklyn Queens Expy

Strawberry

Playgrounds

Keap Fourth

Comm. Garden

Rodney Parks

Edmonds Playground

DeKalb Ave

Underwood Park

Fort Greene, Brooklyn

Albert Playground

Washington Ave

Greene Playground

Cuyler Grove

Vanderbilt Ave

Brooklyn Bears

Carlton Ave. Garden

Fulton St

Here are the patches of green near my home in Brooklyn, as indicated by Google Maps.

Some are of these are in fact well known neighborhood parks filled with greenery and can accommodate recreational leisure.

Some are triangles or plazas built near busy streets.

Usually these plazas and triangles don't have much green space at all. Sometimes there are benches for a quick rest. Other than that, there are no additional amenities or designated recreational space. You probably won't be staying here for long.

A majority were actually playgrounds or sports courts.

Playgrounds and sports courts, much like triangles and plazas, usually don't have much green space either, but they are solely built for recreational use.

Lastly, there were some community gardens sprinkled around the neighborhood.

These charming plots of land are tended to by NYC residents, volunteers, and local community members. They can look drastically different from garden to garden and are only open to the public during certain hours of the week.

After visiting these 21 neighborhood spots, only about 6 included green space open for recreational use.

Of those 6, only 2 were parks that were open to the public and accessible everyday.

From what seems like what should be a very green Brooklyn neighborhood, this simple experiment suggests that there is actually way less park space around us than there is documented to be.

These parks, which all show up as ubiquitous green blocks of land on the map, are vastly different from one another. From a lone bench in a treeless cement plaza to small playgrounds for kids after school, to robust neighborhood gathering places with lawns and grills, the park scene is in NYC is way more complex than what it is portrayed to be.

Perhaps some re-contextualization to what defines a park in an urban space is necessary. Or, maybe maps should just do a better job at indicating the nuances. Overall, the lesson I learned here is don't always trust a map, and maybe Google a place before beginning your journey.