NYC Planning Labs is a digital services team within the New York City Department of City Planning. Launched in 2017, it was established to build practical digital tools for the department and the public, using open technology and sharing code and knowledge where possible.612 Its initial director was civic technologist Chris Whong; later reporting identifies Andrew Cochran as the team’s director.311
The team’s work has focused on mapping applications and data tools that help planners and residents understand land use, zoning, demographics and planning processes across New York City’s five boroughs.610 It has aimed to deliver small projects quickly, often in four-to-six-week development cycles, working with the department’s internal divisions.56
Its best-known project is ZoLa, the city’s Zoning and Land Use Map. The web-based GIS application lets users look up zoning and related information by property, explore map layers and find planning initiatives and neighborhood proposals.89 The map includes information such as historic districts, flood-insurance zones and inclusionary-housing areas.3 Other projects include the Zoning Application Portal search, Community Profiles, Population FactFinder, Metro Region Explorer and NYC Street Map.6 The work is local in scope, serving New York City and its planning agency.