John Surico

Streets / Space / Coffee

Hello there! As the title indicates, my name is John Surico. And I wear a couple of different caps.

For years, as a journalist, teacher and researcher, I’ve focused specifically on issues of mobility, sustainability and open space. My reporting has appeared in The New York Times, Bloomberg, New York Magazine and elsewhere. I teach undergraduate reporting on cities at New York University’s Arthur L. Carter Journalism Institute, my alma mater, and recently served as the Senior Fellow for Climate and Opportunity at the Center for an Urban Future, a leading policy organization in New York City. I am also helping to write a book on tactical urbanism (what’s that?) with Street Plans. And occasionally, I try to wax poetic about other topics, like British pies and New Yorkers who adopt rats. (Ask me about that sometime.)

Bridging the worlds of journalism and urban planning inspired my monthly newsletter, Streetbeat. I have reported from cities like Havana, Stockholm, Mexico City, Rio de Janeiro (that nice place behind me) and London. But I call the borough of Queens, New York, home. That work also drove me to pursue an MSc in Transport & City Planning from University College London’s The Bartlett School of Planning.

In the past few years, I’ve pushed for more livable streets where I live as the chair of the volunteer nonprofit that runs the 31st Avenue Open Street, a pop-up weekend public space. Today, I am the first-ever executive director of the Friends of the QueensWay, a community-led effort to transform an abandoned rail in Central Queens into a linear park and greenway. And not too far away, I serve on the board of the Alliance for Flushing Meadows Corona Park, the borough’s signature green space.

So, yeah, that’s me. If you want to chat about anything, email me at jsurico15 [at] gmail.com. Click on ‘Clips’ to see what I’m working on at the moment. And thanks for stopping by :)