NEW YORK CITY-Just before the entrance of the Holland Tunnel, a half-acre site slated for construction on Canal Street between Sixth Avenue and Varick Street has become LentSpace, a temporary public art park. On the Lower East Side, a stalled construction site on 145 Ludlow St. has morphed into a rentable ‘backyard’ with grills, sprinklers, wading pools and live bands. In Downtown Brooklyn, a stalled mixed-use development has been transformed into Dekalb Market, home to six urban farms, independent retailers, eateries and work-sell spaces.

These are just some of the many examples cited by “Arrested Development: Breathing New Life Into Stalled Construction Sites” released by the Office of the Manhattan Borough President Scott M. Stringer on Monday, available for download here. The report calls for creative land use solutions and new policies to help transform stalled places into vibrant public spaces that generate revenue and create real estate opportunities.

"New York should be encouraging such projects and follow the lead of cities like Seattle, which have passed laws that streamline approvals for temporary uses,” Stringer says, advocating that the city should introduce legislation that would allow the city to partner with developers to convert stalled construction sites to become temporarily accessible to the public. “Imagine a city where stalled construction sites are not simply inactive, dead vacant lots, but one where they boost the health and vitality of a neighborhood,” he says, in a statement. “That’s the kind of sidewalk renaissance we need in New York City."