Livable Neighborhoods Program

Planning

Helping New Yorkers become stronger advocates for their neighborhoods

2007–present

The Livable Neighborhoods Program (LNP) was founded on the principle that community involvement is essential to city planning. Each year, MAS works with a cohort of community advocates—such as organizers, community board members, and other local leaders—to help them develop the knowledge and tools needed to participate effectively in public review processes around land use issues, like rezonings. Sessions range from exploring how planning decisions are made in New York City to supporting local advocacy efforts through focused neighborhood workshops.

LNP participants are selected from responses to an annual Request for Proposal (RFP). The application period for the 2023 Livable Neighborhoods Program ended on July 24.

Partnerships

Since 2007, LNP has collaborated with dozens of community-based partners across the five boroughs. Past work has included workshops on navigating City Environmental Quality Review (CEQR) and the Uniform Land Use Review Procedure (ULURP) as a community member, placemaking exercises, and a land use curriculum for a youth summer program. See the map below for past partnerships.

This program is supported, in part, by public funds from the National Endowment for the Arts.

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Past Participants

  • Ascendant Neighborhood Development Corporation
  • Asian Americans for Equality
  • Bronx Community Board 5
  • Bronx Community Board 7
  • Brownsville Partnership
  • Brownsville Community Justice Center
  • Flatbush-Nostrand BID
  • Greater Flushing Chamber of Commerce
  • HABNET Chamber of Commerce
  • Justice for All Coalition
  • Council Member Ben Kallos
  • Council Member Nantasha Williams
  • Landmark East Harlem
  • Long Island City Coalition
  • Northfield Community LDC
  • Council Member Powers
  • Red Hook New York Rising Community Reconstruction Program
  • Queens Community Board 4
  • South Bronx Overall Economic Development Corporation (SoBro)

Resources

The following is a sampling of introductory materials on topics that are covered in LNP, including an overview of City processes that govern decision making and information on opportunities for public input in land use and historic preservation projects. Also included are several panel discussions that MAS has hosted on related topics.

Unit 1: How are policy decisions made?

Unit 2: What does land use and zoning look like in NYC?

Unit 3: What does historic preservation look like in NYC?

Unit 4: What is the land use review process in NYC?

Unit 5: How can the public get involved in the decision-making process?

Related videos

LNP Materials Version 2023.1

Contact

You can contact the Livable Neighborhoods Program at lnp@mas.org.

  • LNP partners and workshop participants in Queens CB 4
    LNP partners and workshop participants in Queens CB 4
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  • speaker and audience at workshop
    LNP kick-off event in Red Hook.
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  • workshop participants walk down sidewalk
    Mapping creative and cultural assets in Bedford Park
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  • participants join hands at workshop
    Acting out the “spirit of the South Bronx” in Mott Haven
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  • Members consult at a Livable Neighborhoods Workshop
    Members consult at a Livable Neighborhoods Workshop
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  • close up of workshop booklets
    LNP program materials
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  • workshop participants review maps
    Debriefing a community mapping exercise in Red Hook
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  • people raise hands at workshop
    LNP workshop in Flatbush
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Funding Support
  • logo for the National Endowment for the Arts
content partners who have contributed their expertise to the workshops:

Brooklyn Borough President’s Office
Center for Urban Pedagogy (CUP)
Friends of the Upper East Side Historic Districts
Good Old Lower East Side (GOLES)
Hester Street
Historic Districts Council
Hunter College Center for Community Planning and Development
In Our Back Yard (IOBY)
Larisa Ortiz Associates
Manhattan Borough President’s Office
National Consortium for Creative Placemaking
New York City Environmental Justice Alliance
New Yorkers for Parks
NYC Department of City Planning
NYC Independent Budget Office
NYC Landmarks Preservation Commission
Partnership for Parks
Pratt Center for Community Development
Pratt Institute’s Programs for Sustainable Planning and Development (PSPD)
Sustainable South Bronx
Transportation Alternatives