Livable Neighborhoods Program
The MAS Livable Neighborhoods Program
A day-long workshop on understanding and becoming part of the community planning process. Classes range from zoning to electronic mapping.
About the ProgramLivable Neighborhoods offers New York City-specific workshops on a range of planning topics including community organizing, the use of census data to understand neighborhood concerns, the role of environmental impact statements and economic development as well as instruction on the creation and implementation of comprehensive plans. Participants also have access to an online toolkit and an extended network.
Classes offered for 2011 session (attend as many as you like):
- Community Organizing
- Planning and Advocating for Parks and Open Space
- Zoning
- Using Maps and Data
- Uniform Land Use Review Procedure and Environmental Impact Statements
- Historic Preservation and Preserving Cultural Assets
- Economic Development
- Sustainability
- Affordable Housing
- 197-A Planning
The Livable Neighborhoods Program is made possible through the generous support of the Altman Foundation.
Created in consultation with grassroots planners and community advocates and first launched at Hunter College in 2007, the program is free and open to the public with a special preference given to members of community boards, community-based organizations, neighborhood associations, and other grassroots community groups.
A Serious Need
The population of the average New York City community district is comparable in size to Bridgeport, New Haven or Waterbury, Connecticut — cities that have hundreds of employees and multi-million dollar budgets to provide services. The responsibilities of New York’s community boards are met by a small staff, typically consisting of the district manager and two administrative assistants. Any extra personnel, such as a planning expert, must be paid for out of the board’s annual budget of approximately $200,000.
For 30 years the city has relied on its 59 community boards, their members, and civic-minded New Yorkers to make critical planning and budgetary decisions on a range of geographically-based issues without regularly providing them with up-to-date training on key land use topics or the latest map-making technology. Instead, the boards must draw on their modest funding to pay for these tools and for a knowledgeable planner to put them to effective use.
How It Works
The Livable Neighborhoods Program, generously funded by the Altman Foundation is designed to address these gaps and to demonstrate that when sufficient resources and training are provided to communities, their ability to make good, consensus-based planning decisions increases enormously.
The resource component of the program is a comprehensive planning “toolkit” containing chapters on major planning topics such as community organizing and visioning, data collection, zoning, 197-a planning, “brownfield” planning, historic and cultural resources preservation, electronic mapping and the budget process.
A Meaningful Role
Enhanced training and resources serve grassroots planners in their efforts to transform and revitalize neighborhoods. Another key outcome — demonstrating that effective neighborhood planning depends on sufficient resources — may help convince decision-makers to commit additional city funds to community planning. The Livable Neighborhoods Program helps prepare people to take on new planning responsibilities as part of a broad civic agenda, and to take control over the future of their neighborhoods.
