New York City created a Google Maps layer to help residents and tourists alike more easily locate public restrooms.
Accessibility of public restrooms is an often overlooked yet critical aspect of the urban experience. Because if there is one universal truth, it is, “When you gotta go you gotta go.” According to a recent Bloomberg CityLab article, New York City recently acknowledged that truth when it built and released a Google Map layer that shows the city’s nearly 1,000 public toilets.
The new map, which Bloomberg reporter Sarah Holder reports was viewed 2.5 million times in the first few weeks of its launch, shows the location and operating hours of free restroom facilities in parks, plazas, libraries, and transit centers across the city. It is part of a broader city initiative called “Ur In Luck” to increase accessibility to public toilets, which also aims to create 46 new and renovate 36 existing park restrooms over the next five years. The plan includes an additional 14 self-cleaning public toilets as well.
Access to restrooms is one of humans’ most basic needs, which begs the question: Can a city be truly livable without it? With its current initiative, New York City seems to have acknowledged their importance. Will NYC serve as a role model for the many other U.S. cities that lack adequate restroom facilities?
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