Lower Manhattan is experiencing one of the fastest residential transformations in New York City. Across the Financial District, Seaport, Civic Center, Chinatown and Two Bridges, office buildings are being converted into apartments and major new residential developments are moving forward.

As many as 10,000 new housing units—and roughly 18,000 additional residents—could be added over the next five years.

Yet the public spaces needed to support this growth are not keeping pace.

Today, residents of these neighborhoods have access to only about 0.9 acre of public open space for every 1,000 people—roughly 40 square feet per resident. That is far below the city’s planning guideline of 2.5 acres per 1,000 residents. Without meaningful investment in new parks, playgrounds, recreation facilities and waterfront spaces, the amount of open space available to each resident could decline by another 10% to 15% within five years.

This is not simply a planning problem. It is an issue of economic justice.

Residents with greater financial means may have access to private terraces, rooftop gardens, health clubs, second homes or the ability to travel elsewhere for recreation. Most working families do not. Public parks,playgrounds, ballfields, community centers and waterfront spaces are their backyards, gathering places and places to exercise, cool off and breathe.

The burden of inadequate public space falls most heavily on people who already have the fewest private resources: public-housing residents, low-income families, children, older adults and people living in crowded apartments. Many of these residents have helped sustain Lower Manhattan for generations. Theyshould not be pushed aside as new development increases land values and brings thousands of more affluent residents into the area.

Development creates enormous economic value. Property owners benefit from higher rents and risingproperty values. The city receives additional tax revenue. Businesses gain new customers. But the public should also receive a fair return.

It is unjust to approve thousands of new apartments without making a comparable investment in the public infrastructure that makes a neighborhood healthy and livable. The benefits of growth cannot remain privatewhile the costs—crowded parks, overused playgrounds, limited recreation and shrinking open space per resident—are borne by the community.

The East River waterfront is one of the last major opportunities to correct this imbalance. It can provide connected parks, recreation facilities, playing fields, community spaces and meaningful access to the water for residents from the Battery to Two Bridges and beyond.

Lower Manhattan should not become a place where new luxury housing rises while public space becomes scarcer for everyone else.

Economic justice requires that growth benefit the people who already live here as well as those who arecoming. Every child deserves a safe place to play. Every older adult deserves a nearby place to walk and rest. Every family deserves access to open air, recreation and the waterfront, regardless of income.

Housing growth without public-space investment is not equitable development. It is time for the city, state, developers and other beneficiaries of Lower Manhattan’s transformation to invest in the public realm with the same urgency and ambition they bring to private development.