Kensington is a neighborhood in the center of the New York City borough of Brooklyn. It is the area south of Prospect Park and the Green-Wood Cemetery. It is bordered by Coney Island Avenue to the east, Caton Avenue/ Ft. Hamilton Parkway to the north, McDonald Avenue and 37th St to the west, and Foster Avenue and 47th Street to the south. The neighborhoods that border it are Ditmas Park and Prospect Park South to the east (both of which are parts of Flatbush), Windsor Terrace to the north, Borough Park to the west, and Midwood to the south.

Kensington is a predominantly residential area consisting of housing types that run the gamut from brick rowhouses, to detached one family Victorians and apartment buildings. Pre-war brick apartment buildings dominate the Ocean Parkway and Coney Island Avenue frontage, many operating as co-ops. The main commercial streets are on Coney Island Avenue, Church Avenue, and Ditmas Avenue. Ocean Parkway bisects the neighborhood. Kensington is patrolled by the NYPD's 66th Precinct.

Kensington is a very diverse neighborhood, containing Ukrainian, South Asian (Bangladeshi and Pakistani), Chinese, Orthodox Jewish, Hasidic, Irish, Polish, Italian, Albanian, Russian, Latino, Mexican, and Caribbean communities. More than 300 immigrants from Darfur have also settled in Kensington, as of 2010.

Kensington, originally colonized by Dutch farmers, was settled in 1737. Developed in 1885 after the completion of Ocean Parkway, the neighborhood was named after the place and borough in West London, at the turn of the century.

Ocean Parkway, which starts in Kensington, was finished in 1880; it features five miles of landscaped malls, benches, chess tables and walking and biking paths, linking Prospect Park to Coney Island, and is now part of the Brooklyn-Queens Greenway. Homebuilding began in earnest in the 1920s and attracted Italian and Irish immigrants to the neighborhood. Brick and brownstone townhouses coexist with single-and two-family homes with yards and garages. Five- and six-story pre- and post-war apartment buildings and co-ops are also common.

The IND Culver Line (F G trains) runs along the western part of the neighborhood and stops underground at Fort Hamilton Parkway and Church Avenue. The line rises above ground to an elevated structure (F train) to serve the Ditmas Avenue and 18th Avenue stops. In addition, Kensington is served by the B16, B35, B67, B68, B8, and B103 local buses, as well as the BM1, BM2, BM3, and BM4 express buses to Manhattan.

Kensington Stables is the only remaining stable in Prospect Park. The barn was built in 1930 as the last extension of the riding academy at 11 Ocean Parkway, 57 Caton Place (1917). The original riding academy closed in 1937 and is now a warehouse. Kensington Stables gives lessons in The Shoe in Prospect Park.

Beginning in 2006, a neighboring development project at 22 Caton Place became the subject of controversy. Some residents of Kensington, including the residents of 81 Ocean Parkway (which adjoins 22 Caton Place) are lobbying for modifications to the development plan.[citation needed]

Founded as a deposit station in 1908 by the Mother's Kindergarten Club of PS 134 and the Kensington Improvement League, Kensington quickly outgrew two locations before becoming a full-fledged branch on McDonald Avenue in 1912. When it again needed more space, in 1960, it moved to its current location at 410 Ditmas Ave. between East 4th & East 5th Streets, a former catering hall known as "the Manor" that was leased and renovated, arousing national media interest.

ATURA  Barren Island  Bath Beach  Bay Ridge  Bedford  Bedford-Stuyvesant  Bensonhurst  Bergen Beach  BoCoCa  Boerum Hill  Borough Park  Brighton Beach  Brooklyn Chinatown  Brooklyn Heights  Brownsville  Bushwick  Canarsie  Carroll Gardens  City Line  Clinton Hill  Cobble Hill  Coney Island  Crown Heights  Cypress Hills  Ditmas Park  Downtown  Dumbo  Dyker Heights  East Flatbush  East New York  East Williamsburg  Farragut  Fiske Terrace  Flatbush  Flatlands  Fort Greene  Fort Hamilton  Fulton Ferry  Georgetown  Gerritsen Beach  Gowanus  Gravesend  Greenpoint  Greenwood Heights  Highland Park  Homecrest  Kensington  Little Poland  Madison  Manhattan Beach  Mapleton  Marine Park  Midwood  Mill Basin  Navy Yard  New Lots  New Utrecht  Ocean Hill  Ocean Parkway  Park Slope  Pigtown  Plum Beach  Prospect Heights  Prospect Lefferts Gardens, Brooklyn  Prospect Park South  RAMBO  Red Hook  Sea Gate  Sheepshead Bay  South Park Slope  Starrett City  Stuyvesant Heights  Sunset Park  Vinegar Hill  Weeksville  White Sands  Williamsburg  Windsor Terrace  Wingate