The New York Space Agency (NYSA) is a collaborative research project dedicated to understanding and reimagining the urban spaces we collectively inhabit. We believe that all New Yorkers deserve a city built around human and community needs rather than economic interests exclusively. By identifying spatial injustice*** in New York and cities around the world, we aim to envision and realize a new emancipated urban landscape.
This is an ambitious goal, and accomplishing it will require a departure from formal urban planning practices. NYSA will therefore conduct research on how spaces appear in our perception, imagination, and memory, and offer alternative methods of understanding and being within the modern city.
In practice, NYSA will serve as a third space for ideas, providing a hybrid publishing platform to make room for writing, art, and music from our community. We plan to produce a print magazine, develop a shared digital community space, host events, and take action to foster creative engagement and dialogue about spatial justice.
*** spatial (in)justice refers to an intentional and focused emphasis on the spatial or geographical aspects of justice and injustice. As a starting point, this involves the fair and equitable distribution in space of socially valued resources and the opportunities to use them. - Edward W. Soja (The City and Spatial Justice, 2009)