West Village Streetscape Master Plan

In collaboration with the West Village Business Improvement District, Sasaki has developed a compelling vision for 7th Avenue South as a vibrant corridor that instills a strong sense of place and celebrates the neighborhood’s history. By refocusing the street on people, celebrating green infrastructure, and supporting thriving small businesses, the West Village Streetscape Master Plan creates a vibrant, inclusive space that will endure for generations.

The study area encompasses a half mile segment of 7th Avenue South, extending southward from West 11th Street to Carmine Street. The current condition of this segment faces multiple challenges, such as cluttered sidewalk zones, outdoor dining encroachment, a wide, vehicle-dominated corridor, and overall poor pedestrian safety.

The project site is situated within a central and historically significant portion of Lower Manhattan, specifically within the core of the well-established West Village. The site exists as a historic center, nexus of neighborhood activity, and key connector.

Honoring a Cultural Melting Pot

The history of the West Village is synonymous with resilience and reinvention. Prior to Dutch settlement, the area thrived as a fishing and planting ground for the Sapokanican-Lenape encampment, and by the 19th century, it had evolved into a thriving neighborhood. The 20th century solidified the neighborhood’s identity as a bohemian sanctuary, attracting artists and activists from around the world. Today, the West Village remains a nexus of artistic legacy, LGBTQIA+ resilience, and community-driven identity with its irregular streets and landmarks as living testaments to its layered past.

In the 1960s, the West Village emerged as a LGBTQIA+ stronghold, with Marsha P. Johnson claiming the Christopher Street Piers as a safe space for the marginalized queer community and the 1969 Stonewall Uprising, sparked by the infamous raid on the Stonewall Inn and years of discriminatory masquerade laws and brutal police tactics targeting the LGBTQIA+ community. Now site to the Stonewall National Monument, the Christopher Park area is the revered heart of the neighborhood.

The West Village’s history is a living testament to resilience and reinvention, woven from Indigenous roots, colonial transformation, and cultural defiance.

A Gateway to the Village

One of the big moves of the project is creating a memorable gateway experience at Christopher Park that welcomes people to the West Village. The historic identity and authenticity of the district are guiding principles for creating an accessible and inclusive streetscape that is adaptable to future needs yet built to last. Improved materials, paved intersections, educational signage, and gateway elements will further define the new gateway to Christopher Park.

A destination for residents and visitors alike, the area surrounding the historic Christopher Park and Stonewall National Monument seamlessly integrates with the strategies outlined in the ‘Reimagining Stonewall’ report produced by Pride Live and NPCA.

Born from Collaboration

In April 2025, Sasaki and the West Village Business Improvement District (BID) launched an ambitious initiative by convening a dedicated Streetscape Committee composed of local community members. This committee was tasked with identifying key concerns and establishing neighborhood priorities. Drawing on the insights of this group, the project team developed an engagement strategy that featured a range of outreach methods including stakeholder interviews, surveys with business owners and residents, interactive pop-up events, and dynamic engagement sessions at the Stonewall Visitor Center.

This collaborative approach ensured that outreach efforts were both focused and inclusive, capturing a range of community perspectives to help shape a unified vision for the district’s future. As the first step in a broader, long-term initiative, this plan establishes a strong foundation for continued engagement and partnership with stakeholders in the years to come.

Diverse engagement efforts represent a critical step in developing this plan, ensuring its foundation in local knowledge and advocacy.

A resident survey explored priorities for the area’s future and invited them to share oral histories, including personal memories.

Design Principles

The Streetscape Master Plan adopts five principles that aim to improve the pedestrian experience, streamline streetscape operations, and support the small business that make up this historic neighborhood. Guided by community input and best practices, this plan enhances the unique character of 7th Avenue South while improving functionality, and placemaking, ensuring a vibrant future for this vital West Village corridor.

The project site is defined by five urban gestures to unify the streetscape.

Activated Gateways create bold, memorable entrances that mark each crossing into the West Village with distinctive materials, layered plantings, and lighting that invite curiosity and discovery.
Strengthened Green Triangles transform each triangular park into a vibrant mini-oasis, introducing whimsical gardens, welcoming seating, and a neighborhood character that offers both respite and opportunities for casual connection.
Honoring LGBTQ+ Legacies will infuse the corridor with art, signage, and placemaking that actively celebrate LGBTQ+ history, making the monumental legacy of Stonewall and local champions a living, visible part of everyday life.
Optimized Movements will reimagine the street for seamless, safe, and joyful experience, designing crossings, sidewalks, and bike lanes that make walking and wheeling easy, intuitive, and safe for everyone.
Celebrating Community Life through designing public spaces as dynamic stages for gatherings and local events. Think flexible plazas, pop-up markets, and performance corners that foster belonging and honor the West Village’s energy and diversity.

Five Urban Gestures were established to inform the spatial interventions of the West Village Streetscape Master Plan: Activate Gateways, Strengthen Green Triangles, Honor LGBTQIA+ Legacies, Optimize Movement, and Celebrate Community Life.

The streetscape strategy incorporates a series of distinct zones to create a rationalized framework along the length of 7th Avenue South: driving lanes, flexible furniture zone, bike zone, pedestrian (clear) zone, frontage zone, and bus lanes.

An iconic view when travelling down 7th Avenue South, One World Trade emerges at the center of your horizon. Rationalized sidewalks and curb bump-outs at this six-way intersection provide a widened streetscape experience.

Clear streetscape zones set up a rationalized public realm with the opportunity for outdoor activity.

Unique triangle parks create a bustling commercial corner that extends into the intimate residential streets of the Village.

An iconic view when travelling down 7th Avenue South, One World Trade emerges at the center of your horizon. Rationalized sidewalks and curb bump-outs at this six-way intersection provide a widened streetscape experience.

Clear streetscape zones set up a rationalized public realm with the opportunity for outdoor activity.

Unique triangle parks create a bustling commercial corner that extends into the intimate residential streets of the Village.

Strategic Implementation

Public art, signage and lighting, enhancing triangular pocket parks, and pop-up events offer tactical interventions designed to make impactful changes. Catalytic projects, such as celebrating the existing open streets program, offer more substantial initiatives to spark economic growth, while capital projects such as full-street reconstruction and the expansion of plazas offer long-term, infrastructural developments.

By ensuring a vibrant future for this vital West Village corridor, this Streetscape Plan enhances the unique character of 7th Avenue South while improving its functionality and placemaking. The design transforms 7th Avenue South into more than a street, it becomes a living testament to resistance, creativity, and collective memory, weaving the West Village’s past into a shared vision for the future.