The Newark Planning Board unanimously approved the Newark360 Master Plan, the blueprint that will shape the equitable physical development of Newark for the next 10 years.
Rooted in Mayor Ras Baraka’s core principles of creating a more equitable, healthy, and resilient city, Newark360 provides key actions to better connect Newarkers to their neighborhoods and job centers, create more affordable housing, strengthen Newark’s historical and cultural fabric, and address environmental injustices. These actions are complemented by recommendations for updating the underlying land use and zoning codes that will provide the legal framework for implementing the proposed actions.
“Newark360 encompasses the ideas, visions, dreams, and aspirations of Newarkers themselves, not academic or bureaucratic planners. It was created through nearly two years of community engagement, the most wide-ranging and inclusive outreach the City has ever undertaken. We are grateful for people from every neighborhood and walk of life who participated, because Newark360 could not exist without the voices and priorities of Newarkers,” Baraka said.
Last December, the city launched an interactive website—www.newark360.org—to give residents the opportunity to share their opinions and priorities about a wide range of issues such as affordable housing, jobs and economic development, transportation, parks and open space, the environment, infrastructure and more. Website users were be able to share what they like about their neighborhoods, what they want to change, and how they envision their neighborhoods 10 years from now.
Community engagement included more than 10,000 touchpoints—from a highly interactive website where people could give their ideas and review documents, Facebook Live discussions, two in-person community workshops in every ward, focus groups, statistically valid surveys, and the Newark Story Bus—to gather the thinking of Newark’s youth.
The name “Newark360” was coined to describe how the Master Plan will encompass a 360-degree view of the city and its future. Newark 360 is an imaginative re-thinking of many of Newark’s physical features.