Through By the City / For the City, the Institute for Urban Design is inviting architects, planners,artists, designers, and students around the world to participate in a collaborative re-imagining of New York City’s public realm. From June 1st to July 14th, 2011, you can peruse more than 500 ideas submitted by the general public for improving the city’s public spaces, systems, and social fabric. Using the buttons at the top of this page, you can view Trends that emerged among all the ideas, or explore individual suggestions through our Map or List.

By the City / For the City is unlike other design competitions in that we are inviting you to define your site. Ideas are categorized and numbered to allow you to search for the sites and situations that you find most provocative. You can respond to one idea or combine several across a neighborhood, borough, or the entire city. Whatever your interests, By the City / For the City enables you to find a challenge somewhere in the five boroughs that inspires you and share your vision for improving the city with urban luminaries and New Yorkers of every stripe.

From a call to fix dangerous intersections in Brooklyn, to a borough-wide demand for a more enjoyable public realm in the Bronx, and all the way up to suggestions for implementing a comprehensive system of rooftop gardens, the ideas collected from the public cover a wide range of issues across every scale and corner of the city, from the pragmatic to the fanciful.

As such, the IfUD has assembled a distinguished jury whose experiences and interests cover the spectrum of urban design. Entries to By the City / For the City will be evaluated by how they address five qualities in New York City’s public realm: Connectivity, Beauty, Enjoyment, Accessibility, and Equity.

The jury will select ten winners to receive $500 prizes; they will designate a winning project in each of the five boroughs, and then select the remaining five prizes at their discretion. As many entries as possible will be featured in a publication, the Atlas of Possibility for the Future of New York, and exhibition during the first-ever Urban Design Week festival in New York City from September 15-20, 2011.

Once you’ve found your site, you can register for the By the City / For the City design competition here: http://www.urbandesignweek.org/by-the-city

Good luck!