ABSTRACT
Bonus spaces are the public spaces included in many high-rise building projects in New York and other cities. They include outdoor plazas as well as indoor arcades, sidewalk widenings, public passageways, and a host of other spatial forms. The term bonus derives from incentive zoning regulations that give builders additional floor area ratio (FAR), allowing them to build larger, taller buildings in exchange for providing public plaza space at street level. Thus, the bonus FAR and the plaza represent a contract between a developer and the city (and its citizens), in which public access is provided in exchange for private benefits. Unlike other privatized spaces, the city recognizes the public’s rights to the space such as the right of anyone to use the space as long as he or she is not disruptive. Because of such requirements, bonus plazas meet common standards for a public space, namely, that people can access it, use it, claim it, and (modestly) modify it (Lynch 1981; Carr et al. 1992; Dijkstra 2000), even though the plazas are not publicly owned.
