In the spring of 2023, I designed a proposal for a public garden project in New York City, called the Sidewalk Shed Gardens. My garden proposal focused on revising New York City’s infamous scaffolding and sidewalk shed setups into structures that would add greenery, garden square footage, and clean air to the city. 

 

New York City has one of the largest scaffolding systems in the world. Currently, there are 9,014 buildings in city limits with scaffolding and sidewalk sheds. The average age of these sidewalk sheds is 492 days. If you were to line up all of the scaffolding side by side, they would stretch to 340 miles long. Scaffolding can be quite annoying, as it  reduces natural light, impedes walkways, and is generally  an eyesore. As a resident of New York City, I find that scaffolding also has had a negative impact on my mood. 

 

I wanted to focus on containing the site to New York City. I moved to the city almost a year ago, and I absolutely love it here. There is so much to appreciate it about New York City, and I personally feel that it’s the best city in the world. I hope that my garden will make a positive impact on residents and visitors of New York City, for years to come. 

 

My proposal, called the Sidewalk Shed Gardens Project, would add some much-needed greenery to the streets of New York City, as well as offset the ugly designs of scaffolding beams. The plan incorporates vertical garden attachments that are compatible with scaffolding beams. Vertical gardens can be considered one of the best and most efficient gardening methods in an urban environment. Vertical gardens encourage biodiversity and pollination, absorb pollutants, purify air, reduce noise pollution, and have a great impact on the environment, all while bringing beauty and greenery to the cityscape. According to many studies, plants can reduce stress, meaning that vertical gardens could even have a positive impact on stress and anxiety that is often prevalent in large cities. 

 

My plan is to implement the Sidewalk Shed Gardens into each building in New York City that has a sidewalk shed. Each building will be required to have at least one Sidewalk Shed Garden attached to their scaffolding. 

 

The Sidewalk Shed Gardens would consist of vertical garden attachments that are compatible with sidewalk shed scaffolding beams, and would be implemented on every single building within NYC limits with scaffolding up. These attachments would measure 12’x12’, and would be made from canvas, which is a biodegradable eco-friendly material. There will also be a 6’x6’ option, for buildings with lower or smaller sidewalk sheds. 

 

There are many details that need to be considered when choosing plants for the Sidewalk Shed Gardens Project. Chosen plants must be able to adapt to  a vertical structure, do not  require  much soil, and are compatible with New York City’s biodiversity and climate. According to the USDA Plant Hardiness Zone Map, New York City is in agricultural zone 7. This zone has a medium length growing season, with the last frost around April 15th, and the first frost around November 15th. Zone 7 is a temperate zone with a warm & humid summer, and the region doesn’t reach minimum temperatures very often in the winter. Some plants that are suitable for vertical gardens and New York City’s agricultural zone are Sword Fern, Trumpet Honeysuckle, Wisteria, Climbing Rose, Clematis, and Sedum. In depth research on each of these plants is provided at the bottom of the proposal. 

 

While each of these plants are considered  very low maintenance, there will be occasional upkeep needed such as trimming and watering. The maintenance will be provided by the New York City Parks Department. When scaffolding comes down on a particular building, any plants that are still in good condition can be recycled and moved to a new garden.

 

These small gardens undoubtedly have a big impact on both the environment and the morale of the city. If every building were to add one sidewalk shed garden, there would be an additional 1.3 million square feet of garden space in New York City. That is the equivalent of 5 Madison Square Parks! The Sidewalk Sheds Project would be planting over 150,000 new plants in the NYC Metro area, and as a result would produce 331,500 cubic meters of oxygen each year, enough to fill 140 Olympic-Sized Swimming Pools.