Greener Corridors in Action: Planting the Grand Concourse

The distinguished Grand Concourse stretches more than four miles through the Bronx, from East 138th Street to Mosholu Parkway consisting of a central roadway, service roads, submerged transverse streets and landscaped malls. Constructed from 1897 to 1909, the boulevard was designed by Louis Aloys Risse, a French-born immigrant who worked for the New York City Department of Street Improvements. Risse’s innovative street plan drew inspiration from the world-renowned Champs-Élysées in Paris, Olmsted and Vaux’s design for Central Park, and Eastern and Ocean parkways in Brooklyn. The thoroughfare serves as the central landscaped boulevard defining the Grand Concourse historic district, which covers the blocks between East 151st Street and 167th Street as well as sections of Gerard and Walton avenues.

Greener Corridors in Action: Planting the Grand Concourse will place one of New York City’s most celebrated boulevards front and center to showcase the design of the boulevard and its evolution and phases of reconstruction to date. The day will kick off with a keynote address at 10:00 am by DOT Commissioner Ydanis Rodriguez and remarks from MAS Interim President Keri Butler, followed by discussions about the building blocks of greener, more resilient corridors for which civic groups like MAS advocate. The event will also include a dialogue about the role of civic art, emphasizing the importance of inclusivity, participation, and urban regeneration introduced by Shirley Solomon, The Bronx Museum’s Deputy Director and Co-Interim Director.

A planting-in-action volunteer day will be held from 11:00 am – 2:00 pm in the landscaped malls spanning 165th Street to 167th Street. The DOT Landscape Maintenance Program and U Arias crews will oversee the planting with the assistance of neighborhood volunteers, utilizing native plants courtesy of the Greenbelt Native Planting Center.
Simultaneously, guided walking tours of the boulevard and historic district will be held at 11:00 am and 1:00 pm led by our expert horticulturist and urbanists from MAS.

Starting also at 11:00 am, attendees will be able to visit the thought-provoking exhibition at The Bronx Museum entitled “Working Knowledge: Shared Imaginings, New Futures” which seeks to create resources and drive positive change at a grassroots level by inviting visitors to interact with artist-designed tools and systems that foster community building, cultural exchange, and creative problem-solving. The themes of the exhibit reinforce central ideas of the event program advocating for environmental stewardship and community engagement.