NYC has 1,200 fewer sidewalk sheds than in January, and you can now walk under two brighter new designs downtown

New York City has about 1,200 fewer sidewalk sheds than it did in January, a decline of more than 15% in 10 months, Mayor Zohran Mamdani's office announced Monday. The administration also put two new shed designs on a city sidewalk for the first time, outside the Department of Buildings headquarters in Lower Manhattan, SILive reported. It is the first time either design has been installed on a city sidewalk, the release said.

"New Yorkers shouldn't have to accept dark, obstructed sidewalks as a fact of life," Mamdani said in the release. Buildings Commissioner Ahmed Tigani credited stepped-up DOB oversight with pushing owners to start long-delayed repairs, which leads to sheds coming down, and invited New Yorkers to visit the display over the next several weeks.

The two new sheds on display

• Baseline Shed (PAU): comes in heavy-duty and light-duty versions, with transparent polycarbonate decking and an angled roof that lets daylight through and keeps storefronts visible.
• Speed Shed (PAU): a lighter-duty shed with an angled roof of rockfall netting that catches debris but lets light in. Detachable wheels let crews move it quickly, which suits short jobs and emergency repairs.

Earlier this summer DOB displayed two sheds by the engineering firm Arup, the Flex and the Rigid, at the same spot. TIME magazine named Arup's designs one of its Best Inventions of 2026 last week, the release said. Altogether the city commissioned six designs: the Air, Baseline, Flex, Rigid, Speed and Wide Baseline sheds, according to DOB's sidewalk shed page. The city owns them, and anyone may copy them for free.

When you might see them on your block

Not yet. DOB proposed a rule in August to make the six designs standard, pre-approved packages; public comments closed Sept. 24. The rule is not in effect, and DOB expects to finalize it before the end of the year. Even then, a registered architect or engineer will still have to prepare a site-specific design for each shed, and owners can keep using older-style sheds that meet the building code.

Why the number is falling

Under Local Laws 48 and 51 of 2025, DOB now requires more frequent shed permit renewals and imposes stronger penalties when a shed stays up with no active work. The department has also set rules limiting how much open space sheds can cover on large campuses such as NYCHA developments and universities. DOB's Sidewalk Shed Monitoring and Removal unit targets buildings whose sheds have been up for more than five years, pressing owners to make facade repairs so the sheds can come down.