M. Paul Friedberg, a landscape architect whose playgrounds, pocket parks and plazas transformed areas of New York City, died on Feb. 15 in Manhattan. He was 93.

Mr. Friedberg grew up in rural Pennsylvania, but he believed in the promise of cities to create happier, healthier societies with inviting public parks and plazas. In New York and other cities across the country, he became the go-to designer for reinvigorating public space. He tucked vest-pocket parks into vacant lots and the dead space between buildings. He set plazas on top of parking garages, and playgrounds on rooftops.

“I think we tend to destroy the creative side of human nature, and in play is where we are most creative,” Mr. Friedberg said in his oral history. “There are people whose whole life is dedicated to play, and those are the people we call artists.”