Design Trust for Public Space

06/02/2026

We’ve partnered with the to build new pathways to urban planning careers! Our New York: City Designed program offers students cohort-based summer internships at some of NYC’s top city agencies, nonprofits, and private-sector design and architecture firms, including , , .landmarks, , , and with our team at the Design Trust!

Link in our bio to learn more about the program and meet the 2026 cohort.

04/27/2026

04/22/2026

ICYMI watch a recording of last night’s Reimagining the Enslaved African Burial Ground at Van Cortlandt Park panel with Van Cortlandt Park Alliance and Lehman College, featuring the three teams selected from the project’s Design Ideas Competition to envision memorial and community healing in the Bronx, 🌸 link in our bio!

04/20/2026

Last fall, we opened our 12th open call for public space project ideas on the theme of Water: Designing an Equitable Water Future for NYC, aiming to transform the five boroughs’ relationship to water through funding and a guided project development incubator.

We are honored to announce the five winning project proposals. Scroll through to meet our Water Cohort and head to the link in our bio to learn more.

04/16/2026

04/15/2026

In the latest issue of , Opening the Edge Lighting Design Fellow illuminates how this Design Trust project set out to replace a fenced-off plot with a vibrant community outdoor space, designed by and for Lower East Side public housing residents. Kate describes her role in the work as “less about lighting space and more about how a community defines safety, identity, and ownership.”

won a Special Citation for Community Involvement in the Lighting Design Process from the 2026 National Lighting Bureau Tesla Awards!

💡🔗Read the article at the link in our bio.

04/14/2026

Get your tickets now for our annual Benefit for Public Space! We’re returning to the New York Public Library Stavros Niarchos Foundation Library rooftop to honor innovative leaders who are instrumental in the positive transformation of the city’s shared landscape. Join us for cocktails, hors d’oeuvres, and sunset cityscape views, all while supporting our work to unlock the potential of NYC’s public spaces. This year we’re celebrating affordable housing for NYC!

Access to well-maintained and sustainable housing is integral to the future of the five boroughs. Connecting housing to our public spaces builds more connected and thriving neighborhoods. Our 2026 Honorees demonstrate housing initiatives that center design excellence and community needs.

🔗🌇 Learn more about their work, tickets, and sponsorship packages, at the link in our bio

04/09/2026

The Reimagining the Enslaved African Burial Ground at Van Cortlandt Park project, led by Van Cortlandt Park Alliance, Design Trust for Public Space, and Immanuel Oni of Liminal sp, has selected three design teams through its Design Ideas Competition, aiming to generate new visions for a memorial honoring the site.

Meet the Design Ideas Lab cohort and register for an upcoming panel on the project, hosted by CHASE, Lehman College's Campus Honors & Scholar Engagement, at the link in our bio!

04/02/2026

How do New York City’s public spaces feel like “home” to you?

We’ve brought our Photo Urbanism program to at , asking young photographers to explore the theme of “Home Without Boundaries” in a paid, guided photography fellowship led by the Design Trust for Public Space Photo Urbanism Teaching Fellow Barnabas Crosby

🔗📸Meet the cohort at the link in our bio and stay tuned for a final exhibition of their work to be announced this summer

03/23/2026

Last fall, we opened our 12th call for public space project ideas on the theme of Water:Designing an Equitable Water Future for NYC. Our inbox overflowed with pitches, spanning the five boroughs and all facets of public life, from connecting New Yorkers to their waterways, to neighborhood drinking water, flood preparedness, swimming safety, and beyond.

We are proud to share our 26 semi-finalists and their bold visions to transform our relationship with water in the public realm.

🔗💧Explore their proposals at the link in our bio.

Up to five final winning projects will be selected from this list by our Advisory Committee of experts working across water sectors later this spring, and receive a $10,000 stipend and the opportunity to participate in our nine-month guided project incubator.

Water Graphic Design by