According to the New York City Department of Parks & Recreation the early 1900s, Brownsville, New York was a densely populated neighborhood with an estimated population of 25,000. Many lived in severely overcrowded tenements with very little open space. Brooklyn, in general, had very few playgrounds with only eight in the entire borough by 1913.

In 1915, Betsy Head Park (BHP) was developed by the Public Recreation Commission and turned over to NYC Parks later that year. The park included a rest pavilion, wading pool, playground, school farm garden, bath building, field house, running track, tennis courts, and the city's first outdoor public swimming pool. It was one of the most complete and popular facilities of its time, embodying all the ideas current in recreation.

In 1936 the park was redesigned extensively, and an Olympic-sized swimming pool was constructed. One of eleven pools built by the Works Progress Administration during the summer of 1936, the BHP pool represented the forefront of design and technology. They attracted aspiring athletes and neighborhood children. The influence of the pools extended through entire communities, changing the way millions of New Yorkers spent their leisure time.
In 2016, the mayor of New York announced a $150-million investment fund given to NYC Parks Department to provide substantial capital improvements to five expansive, regional parks across each of the five NYC boroughs. The "Anchor Parks Initiative," provided a stabilizing, centering force for the communities. The goal of this initiative was to transform significant parts of these beloved public spaces, so they better serve the community.

In 2020, Betsy Head Park was one of the parks renovated under the Anchor Park Initiative. Landscape Architects with Abel Bainnson Butz, LLP (ABB) were chosen to collaborate with New York City Department of Parks & Recreation to redesign the 106-year-old site. This multi-phase, $30-million project refreshed the two diagonally located land parcels that make up Brownsville's largest park to create a cohesive, inclusive, and multi-generational green space.

ABB led a team of design consultants to develop a project vision that upgraded infrastructure, accommodated a versatile balance of active and passive programming, provide a varied experience for all ages and abilities while refreshing this influential 10.5-acre urban park to serve generations to come.

 
Community Engagement Process

The Betsy Head Anchor Park project provided an opportunity to reimagine the century-old park for today's needs through a comprehensive community engagement process. Given the park's age, size, and proximity to a significant portion of the population, it was critical for the design team to obtain as much information from the community to inform the programming and develop a list of must-haves and desires. The design team recognized that for the park to be successful and remain successful for decades to come, the programming and design must be led by the community.

Before any design efforts, the process began with listening and visioning sessions with the Brownsville community. Flyers were placed throughout the community and a social media campaign was developed to also inform the public of the various meetings. These outreach efforts led to a large turnout of residents of all ages and abilities at each meeting. At the initial visioning session, the community was organized into small groups led by ABB and NYC Parks to record their ideas onto large posters. The smaller groups then reconvened as large groups to discuss their findings and further refine priorities. The information from this meeting was collected, organized, and distilled into conceptual diagrams prepared by the design team that was presented to the community later for comment and approval.

With overwhelming community support, the design team prepared and presented a refined, schematic design to the public and local community board for approval. This successful process was duplicated and implemented for each phase; north parcel (phase I), south parcel (phase II), and comfort station (phase III).
The new design offers areas for relaxation for adults and areas for fitness and sports activities tailored towards the most active residents. Exciting new features include the first-ever constructed New York City Parkour fitness course and inclusionary self-competitive basketball course.

The northern project site which formerly sat on an expansive, underutilized asphalt lot, now shares a city block with a reconstructed playground known as Imagination Playground. This area programmatically caters to young children. The design of the northern parcel complements the existing geometries to the southern, incorporating curvilinear, sweeping pathways to ensure the entire park feels like one cohesive space.

ABB collaborated with award-winning skate park design firm Spohn Ranch to design a 6,000 square foot plaza-style skate park whose contemporary design seamlessly integrates with the rest of the park. Quarter-pipes and other transition elements line nearly every inch of the perimeter, creating exciting lines and avoiding dead ends. Precast and cast-in-place concrete skate features are intertwined to create an exciting and challenging skate park. Spectator viewing areas are integrated into the design and provide a unique experience for spectators while taking in the mature London Plane trees that were preserved around the elevated perimeter of the site to provide shade and natural beauty to the historic park.

A Parkour fitness course caters to adults and teenagers who have outgrown the play equipment geared towards younger children located in the playground. The parkour equipment, manufactured by Lappset in Finland, and installed on safety surface tiles, allows users to create a unique, individualized workout experience each time they use the equipment. Park visitors scan a QR code located on equipment signage to view videos showing the various equipment uses.

A critical objective for the southern parcel was to accommodate a varied assortment of athletic programming and transform the well-used natural turf ballfields into synthetic turf. The multi-sport synthetic turf field accommodates five sports including, Softball, Football, Soccer, and Lacrosse. There is also a 4-lane recreational running track that provides cardiovascular exercise year-round and outdoor fitness stations. The outdoor fitness equipment was manufactured by Kompan which is brightly colored and was installed over safety surface tiles. Fitness equipment provides a well-rounded workout and includes wheelchair-accessible stations. Other site amenities include granite domino and chess tables, a multi-purpose space, handball courts, seating areas, outdoor fitness equipment, basketball courts, new LED security lighting, and new LED sports field lighting. One side of an existing handball wall was reconstructed and repurposed as a bright and colorful traverse wall as well.

An expansive concrete bleacher at the northwest corner of the site used to visually and physically block the community from the park was removed and replaced with an ADA-accessible entry. Several new mid-block and corner entries that feature seating were tied into the design to increase accessibility and connection from the surrounding community.

The existing comfort station (restrooms) also underwent significant renovation as part of this project. The architectural renovations, which include complete reorganization and upgrade of the facility to address security, circulation, and functional programmatic requirements, were led by Li Saltzman Architects, P.C.
Specific Impacts

Although Betsy Head Park has served as a hub for Brownsville residents for more than a century, it had not seen investment for significant improvements by New York City in decades. Through active community engagement and thoughtful design, the new Betsy Head Park has become a multigenerational community-wide destination with an adaptable design that champions openness, accessibility, and the specific needs of an underserved neighborhood. The vision of the design team aimed to provide proximity to outdoor public spaces with opportunities for active and passive recreation. The primary goals of the project were safety, inclusivity, and connectivity. Although the design team could not have anticipated the ramifications of a pandemic, the park took on a renewed importance and adapted well to the community's present-day needs and now serves as a centralized and much needed public use area in this densely populated borough of New York.