This week, NYC Parks unveiled the renovated Sensory Garden at Pelham Bay Park in the Bronx. The Sensory Garden project in the Playground for All Children has expanded the existing planting space within the playground and reconstructed the wheelchair-accessible planting areas. The new design has enhanced and diversified the existing plantings with colorful new foliage and flowers, offering playful light and shadow effects, sounds, touchable textures, and fragrances showcasing native biodiversity.
“I am so proud that, despite a pandemic, we have been able to complete the Sensory Garden project at Pelham Bay Park on time for the residents of the community,” said Bronx Borough Commissioner Iris Rodriguez-Rosa. “Thanks to the newly renovated paths in and around the garden, all children, including those with special needs, and adults will be able to come and enjoy this beautifully renovated greenspace and learn about nature in the process!”
“As questions of equitable access to parks and green space have become more widely discussed, the innovative Playground For All Children addresses an oft-overlooked type of equity: ensuring that children of all needs have space for play. It is special that this project was able to find a home in our very own Pelham Bay Park, NYC’s largest park, notwithstanding all of the obstacles the pandemic has presented to its completion,” said Council Member Mark Gjonaj.
Above, NYC Parks Bronx Borough Commissioner Iris Rodriguez-Rosa joined City Council Member Mark Gjonaj and State Assembly Member Michael Benedetto unveiling the renovated Sensory Garden within the Playground For All Children at Pelham Bay Park in the Bronx.
The $550,000 Sensory Garden project in Pelham Bay Park was initially funded by former City Council Member James Vacca, with continued support from City Council Member Mark Gjonaj.
Sensory Gardens engage all five senses, and help young ones, especially those with special needs, enjoy the outdoors with flora and fauna that are fragrant, colorful, interesting to touch, and make sounds in the natural breeze. The Playground For All Children is one of several throughout the city aimed at providing a recreation area that children of all abilities can enjoy. The first such playground in the city, also named Playground For All Children, opened at Flushing Meadows-Corona Park in Queens in 1984.