Open Space

The Metropolitan Greensward is RPA's vision of a system of protected landscape and water bodies that distinguish the cities and suburbs of the New York/New Jersey/Connecticut metropolitan region. These region-shaping open spaces harbor the region's most critical natural resource systems, its recreational opportunities and its working landscapes of farms, forests, and waterways. Together, these protected open lands will help shape future patterns of growth in the tri-state region by limiting development at its periphery and enhancing the quality of life in its cities and suburbs.

To realize this vision, RPA undertakes landscape assessments and plans that identify critical natural resources and support the establishment of individual parks and regional institutions. Our policy research provides insight on critical issues, especially on how conservation practice and ecosystem services can help sustain other economic uses in these landscapes. We advocate for the long-term stewardship of these places, including creating new coalitions and organizations.

Working together with hundreds of public agencies and civic leaders, RPA has seen considerable success since its campaign was launched. These include establishment of New York State's Third Forest Preserve and the Pine Barrens Commission to protect and manage the 100,000 acre central Pine Barrens of Long Island; Acquisition of the jewel of the Appalachian Highlands, the 18,000 acre Sterling Forest and establishing a 400,000 core preservation area through the Highlands Water Protection and Planning Act in New Jersey; The reinvention of the New York Harbor as a major recreational amenity, with political commitments and more than $1 billion of public and private funds invested in Hudson River Park, Riverside South, Brooklyn Bridge Park, and Governors Island; and the creation of the 500-acre Keyspan State Park and a commitment to create a Long Island Sound Stewardship System that will help protect thousands of additional acres.

View the Greensward Map

See the links below for more information on current initiatives in three critical region-shaping landscapes

Recent News

A Job Well Done in the New Jersey Highlands

March 15, 2012

As Eileen Swan moves on from her post as executive director of the New Jersey Highlands Council, Regional Plan Association and New Jersey Future would like to recognize her public service to the state.

The Highlands Council is charged with meeting the goals of the Highlands Water Protection and Planning Act: balancing growth and protection in the 1,343-square-mile Highlands region of the state, which serves as a source of drinking water for more than five million residents.

Since taking the helm of the Highlands Council staff in 2007, Ms. Swan's achievements - earned through superb negotiating and mediating skills - include:

• Seeing through the adoption of a Regional Master Plan that protects the region's critical resources while preserving economic vitality;
• Implementing the Regional Master Plan by working closely with local leaders and residents in 40 Highlands communities so that their master plans and ordinances are now "in conformance", with another 20 municipal petitions pending;

Report: Large Landscape Conservation Key to Nature Preservation

February 15, 2012

Conservation needs to be approached at the regional level in order to ensure that wildlife habitat, water supplies and working farms and forests throughout the U.S. Northeast are protected for future generations, a new report by Regional Plan Association and America 2050 concludes.

The research examines how landscape conservation initiatives are working across the Northeast to protect vital natural and cultural resources. The report, "Landscapes: Improving Conservation Practice in the Northeast Megaregion," makes recommendations for improving conservation efforts that stretch across city and state boundaries, from addressing governance questions and ensuring adequate financial resources to creating tools for measuring the impact of these regional efforts.

Read the Release | Read the Report (Web) (Print) | Read the Project Summary

Housing Changes Key to Long Island's Prospects

January 19, 2012

Long Island is at a tipping point, possessing tremendous innovation potential but hamstrung by a shortage of affordable housing, limited downtown development and gaps in science education, new research suggests.

Three studies issued by the Long Island Index, a 10-year-old research initiative, describe the opportunities and challenges facing the Island. Long Island Profile 2012, written by Regional Plan Association, documents the region's progression from America's poster child of postwar optimism to a place experiencing a midlife crisis of uncertainty. A new poll conducted by the Center for Survey Research at Stony Brook shows Long Islanders concerned about the future but more open to new ways to grow, such as building more apartments in Long Island's downtowns. And the Innovation Index, written by Collaborative Economics, points the urgency of connecting Long Island's research institutions, skilled work force and other assets to restore a high-wage, dynamic economy.

Long Island's economic competitiveness will be on the agenda at a town hall meeting in Hauppauge in Suffolk County on Jan. 31. Everyone is welcome.

Brooklyn Greenway to Get New Park at Navy Yard

December 9, 2011

More green space is coming to the Brooklyn Navy Yard neighborhood.

The Brooklyn Waterfront Greenway, an initiative co-led by Regional Plan Association, won a $890,000 New York State economic-development grant to build a long-sought park at the Brooklyn Navy Yard. RPA and Brooklyn Greenway Initiative, a community-based nonprofit, have worked for the past decade to develop a 14-mile landscaped path along Brooklyn's waterfront.

Small neighborhood parks like this one and others in the works will enhance the greenway by creating open spaces and amenities along the route. The Navy Yard park will be built on a 1.7 acre site at the Navy Yard that once housed a hospital cemetery.

A New Collaboration for Jamaica Bay

October 28, 2011

On Thursday, October 27, 2011 Mayor Michael Bloomberg and US Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar signed an agreement to jointly manage over 10,000 acres of federal and city land in and around Jamaica Bay improving parks and water quality throughout the Bay, including Floyd Bennett Field. This collaboration was the key recommendation of the RPA-staffed Floyd Bennett Field Blue Ribbon Panel. City Hall and the US Department of the Interior will now move forward to develop a jointly-managed vision and governance structure, creating a Jamaica Bay master plan that will guide the redevelopment and management of both the Jamaica Bay Unit of Gateway National Recreation as well as adjoining city parkland, like Marine Park and Rockaway Beach. One specific goal will be to increase the accessibility of these parks, including improvements to the Jamaica Bay Greenway, where RPA is leading a public -private coalition.

"The parks in and around Jamaica Bay are natural and recreational treasures, all the more so because of their location right in the heart of the Nation's largest metropolitan area" said Robert D. Yaro, President of Regional Plan Association. "We congratulate Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar and Mayor Michael Bloomberg for establishing the framework that was needed to make this area a premier regional destination."

Click here to see the Floyd Bennett Field Blue Ribbon Panel Report. Click here to see the press release. Click here to see video coverage of the event.