Downtown Brooklyn has a number of parks and plazas where you can relax, have lunch, watch a show, shop at the Greenmarket, and more. This is just one reason why Downtown Brooklyn is home to thousands of students, residents, workers, and visitors. Visit any of these parks for a taste of the food, music and excitement of Downtown Brooklyn.
Concert at Columbus Park
Concerts in MetroTech Commons.
Free Public WiFi in Downtown Brooklyn
Columbus Park
Located in the heart of Downtown Brooklyn's Civic Center, Columbus Park is a popular gathering place adjacent to Brooklyn Borough Hall. Stop by the park, visit the Greenmarket, and have lunch at the many bistro-style tables and chairs made available by the Court-Livingston-Schemerhorn BID. Also at this location, you can log on to one of Downtown Brooklyn's Free WiFi Hot Spots.
MetroTech Commons
Right in the heart of the bustling office campus known as MetroTech Center, the Commons is a large open space where you are bound to find everyone from workers having lunch outside to parents playing with their children after work. The Commons is the location for major events, such as the Brooklyn Academy of Music's Rhythm & Blues Festival during the summer, the MetroTech BID's Arts on the Commons concerts, fairs, and more. Public art -- both temporary and permanent works -- are also on display thanks to the Public Art Fund.
Willoughby Plaza
A quiet respite amidst the bustling shopping district of Fulton Street and the nearby MetroTech Center, Willoughby Plaza is where you can find summertime jazz concerts and a place to sit and relax. Willoughby Plaza was created in 2006 after a highly successful pilot project that closed part of Willoughby Street to improve pedestrian movement and safety. This plaza is programmed and maintained by the MetroTech BID. Also at this location, you can log on to one of Downtown Brooklyn's Free WiFi Hot Spots.
Albee Square
This new 17,000 square foot public space, adjacent to the historic Dime Savings Bank on Fulton Street and Bond Street, opened in June of 2011 as part of the Fulton Streetscape Project. The plaza features new seating, lighting and trees, and is the perfect place for shoppers to take a break! This plaza is programmed and maintained by the Fulton Mall Improvement Association.
Fort Greene Park
Located on a hill overlooking Downtown Brooklyn and New York Harbor, Fort Greene Park is a popular neighborhood hangout and a site of historical significance. The 30 acre park plays host to the year-round Greenmarket, the annual Artisan's Market, which takes place throughout the summer, and many other events. Several tennis courts and playgrounds help residents young and old relax on those beautiful Brooklyn afternoons. The park also holds a Revolutionary War fort and a monument to prisoners held by the British under unbearable conditions on ships just across the harbor.
Future Parks & Open Spaces
Planning is underway for four projects -- Willoughby Plaza, Willoughby Pedestrian Plaza, the BAM District Grand Plaza, and Brooklyn Bridge Park. These publicly funded projects will create beautiful public spaces for Downtown's residents, workers, students and visitors to enjoy.
The following parks and gardens in Brooklyn are easily accessible by public transportation and should not be missed.
Prospect Park
Prospect Park is a 585-acre urban oasis located just one mile from Downtown Brooklyn. The masterpiece of famed landscape architects Frederick Law Olmsted and Calvert Vaux, who also designed Central Park, Prospect Park features the 90-acre Long Meadow, the 60-acre Lake and Brooklyn's only forest. The nation's first urban Audubon Center, the Prospect Park Zoo, and the Celebrate Brooklyn! Performing Arts Festival are just a few of the cultural attractions that make their home here at the Park. Popular activities range from skating at Wollman Rink to pedal boating on the lake to picnicking on the Long Meadow on a beautiful Brooklyn afternoon.
Brooklyn Botanic Garden
Growing from its humble beginnings as an ash dump in the late 1800s, the Brooklyn Botanic Garden (BBG) has come to represent the very best in urban gardening and horticultural display. Founded in 1910, the Garden is a 52-acre living museum where beauty, romance, and fun blossom among world-class plant collections and specialty gardens. Admired as an urban horticultural and botanical resource, featuring more than 10,000 different kinds of plants, BBG inspires visitors to discover that plants are essential to life.