New York City’s privately owned public spaces get an enticing new logo

The New York City Department of City Planning and the Municipal Art Society put an open call out earlier this year for a new logo for the Big Apple’s POPS – the privately owned public spaces which account for around 3.8 million square feet of the city.

Having garnered over 600 entries from across the globe, the Department of City Planning (DCP) plumped for a logo submitted by NYC-based designer Emma Reed. The final decision was made by a seven person panel, but a public vote – which garnered 17,000 responses – also played a part.

Emma’s winning entry was a design cleverly incorporating the DCP’s desire to broadcast just how important readily available seating is to the numerous amenities that fall under the POP umbrella. Her trio of artfully arranged chairs will let residents and tourists alike know that they’re more than entitled to lollop around the area in question if they’re safe in the knowledge that they’re lolloping in a privately owned public space. The designer’s logo also replaces a rather quaint looking grid-and-tree logo that looks sort of like the desktop icon of a long-forgotten RPG you played a demo of a few times back in the late 1990s.

Emma is quoted as saying: “I’m so honoured to have my design chosen as New York City’s new Privately Owned Public Spaces logo.” She adds, “I’ve spent many of my lunch hours in a POPS in lower Manhattan which, in part, inspired me to submit a design!”

Described by Elizabeth Goldstein, president of The Municipal Art Society as “a beacon,” that invites "New Yorkers to take a break from the bustle of everyday life,” Emma’s winning design will be rolled out across the city’s vast network of POPS by 2021.

So next time you find yourself strollin’ Fifth Avenue, or knee-deep in Bushwick looking for somewhere to rest your weary feet without having to fork out for a pint of jet black coffee, look out for a trio of jauntily arranged chairs. In fact, a full map of those all-important POPS can be found right here.