NYC’s Municipal Arts Society Announces Digital Restoration Of William H. “Holly” Whyte’s 1980 film, The Social Life of Small Urban Spaces; MAS Advocacy Updates: MAS Data Day With NYC Public Space App

Editor’s note: Most recently, Municipal Arts Society participated in a Staten Island event exploring local LGBTQIA+ landmarks with the Alice Austen House and a local author, titled “Queer Happened Here.”   And this year’s Jane’s Walk occurred in June, where local residents submitted locations for walks in all five boroughs of New York City. This year featured two Staten Island walks, one at New Dorp train station and at the H.H. Biddle House, part of Conference House Park Conservancy’s historic buildings.  

In partnership with the Project for Public Spaces (PPS) and Anthology Film Archives (AFA), The Municipal Art Society of New York (MAS) is proud to announce the digital restoration of William H. “Holly” Whyte’s 1980 film, The Social Life of Small Urban Spaces. A screening series at Anthology Film Archives, which digitally restored the film, will take place from Friday, September 26 to Thursday October 2, 2025.

The premiere will be on Friday, September 26 at 6:30 PM, featuring light refreshments and a panel conversation about the future of public space. The discussion will be led by Project for Public Spaces’ Co-Executive Director, Nate Storring. The panel will feature prominent urbanists and designers, reflecting on how social life and the public realm have evolved since the film’s original release by Direct Cinema Ltd. Panelists will include Claire Weisz, Founding Partner of WXY Architecture, Rosa Chang, Co-Founder & President of Gotham Park, and additional speakers to be announced soon.

Based on the book with the same title, the companion film is narrated by Holly himself and summarizes his breakthrough 1980 Street Life Project study of New York’s plazas that was a turning point in urban planning and design. Today, as Project for Public Spaces celebrates 50 years of bringing public spaces to life, PPS and MAS are pleased to look back on Whyte’s work, which inspired Fred Kent’s founding of PPS, and celebrate how Whyte led the charge in centering cities around people. To this day, Whyte’s thinking and simple observational methods for the shaping of public spaces have had profound influence in the world of placemaking and making cities more livable.

Join us for the premiere on Friday, September 26! Tickets will go on sale soon.

Interested in supporting the film screenings? Make a gift today!

Still from “Social Life of Small Urban Spaces” by William H. Whyte. Photo: Anthology Film Archive.

The Social Life of Small Urban Spaces

Light refreshments served in the lobby before the screening

MAS Advocacy Updates: MAS Data Day With NYC Public Space App

Data Day attendees using the NYC Public Space app in Brooklyn. Photo: Keri Butler.

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New York City is home to a diverse array of public spaces, including city parks, street plazas, Privately Owned Public Spaces (POPS), national parks, State parks, and more. Yet across the five boroughs, many communities still lack access to quality open space, and sites face year-round challenges to maintenance, planning, and resiliency. 

Last week at our Data Day meet up, MAS partnered with NYC Public Space app creator Chris Whong at the Brooklyn Public Library Greenpoint Branch to explore the use of civic technology in public space advocacy. Whong shared his process and experience creating the app and how he envisions its utilization. Afterwards, attendees broke out into groups to explore the nearby neighborhoods using the app. Groups trekked to Bushwick Inlet Park, Newtown Creek, Msgr. McGolrick Park, and smaller public spaces throughout Greenpoint and Williamsburg, reflecting on the characteristics, accessibility, and quality of these spaces. 

With the NYC Public Space app, for the first time users can explore the city’s public spaces in one easy-to-use map as well as contribute photos and descriptions to help build a more comprehensive guide to public areas. Community members can use this app along with the Vital Parks Explorer to find and evaluate open space in their neighborhoods and advocate for parks-access equity. 

We hope you will download the app and add your input as you explore the city. 

• Download the app on Apple here or on Google here. 

• View more photos from the Data Day event here. 

• Listen to Chris Whong discuss the app on WNYC here. 

• Use the Vital Parks Explorer here. 

• Support MAS’s data literacy and mapping work here. 

Chris Whong presenting on the NYC Public Space app. Photo: Genevieve Wagner.

Banner Image: Data Day attendees using the NYC Public Space app in Brooklyn. Photo: Keri Butler.