HOLIDAY HIATUS The holidays are upon us. And while we busy ourselves this week with buying urban-themed gifts for loved ones, we are also planning to take a little extra time in the first days of the new year to do some Omnibus brainstorming, housecleaning, and party-planning. So we will be back in full force on January 9th, just in time to celebrate our third birthday, preview an exciting new line-up of features, forum posts and special projects for 2012, and invite you officially to our second annual benefit party, which will take place on February 28th. Mark your calendars! And don't forget your pens, pencils or...

Two of the co-founders of an innovative “video map” of New York discuss personal expression, urban exploration and the civic possibilities of video.

PLACEMAKING THROUGH LIGHTING The City's plan to make Lower Manhattan more vibrant after dark goes beyond simply installing more lights. The title of the New York City Economic Development Corporation's Request for Proposals, "Placemaking through Lighting," explains the initiative's priorities: to use creative illumination to enhance Lower Manhattan's identity, to attract visitors and investment and to create a sense of place for the area...

Announcing a juried competition for essays that reflect on the Manhattan street grid as paradigm, rubric or muse for urban life, in honor of the 200th anniversary of the plan that established Manhattan's street grid. Deadline: February 1st, 2012

Gregory Wessner, curator of The Unfinished Grid, moderated a panel discussion about the living legacy of the 1811 plan and new proposals imagining Manhattan’s infrastructural future.

David Vega-Barachowitz investigates the policies, stakeholders and theories that have historically shaped street design standards in the US, and calls on designers to rethink how we share and use our roads.

DARKER CITIES, BRIGHTER STARS The drive to limit light pollution has taken on increased prominence lately, with specialists across fields stressing its importance. The Atlantic Cities' Nate Berg last week highlighted this growing movement and how one small town, Homer Glenn, barely 30 miles outside of ...

This week, two exhibitions opened at the Museum of the City of New York (MCNY) that celebrate the evolving legacy of Manhattan's street grid.

Landscape designer David Seiter champions the ecological and aesthetic benefits of informal plants - weeds - in urban space, and catalogues the uses and cultural significance of New York's native flora.

HAIKU TRAFFIC SAFETY With ubiquity comes invisibility. And words can be arranged with the same economy and elegance as high quality graphic design. These two precepts are the inspiration behind the DOT’s latest spate of traffic signs. By combining a little bit of poetry with…