Historical maps and old aerial photographs show New York's shores wrapped with piers reaching out into the water to connect the streets and businesses of a port city to the world.

Hester Street Collaborative's Anne Frederick and Dylan House discuss a temporary pop-up public space on the Lower East Side that creates an asset for the neighborhood while informing and building momentum for the design of a future permanent park.

In honor of the re-opening of the Statue of Liberty after eight months of repairs following Superstorm Sandy, Peter Lehrer, who managed the ambitious reconstruction of the iconic monument between 1984 and 1986, describes in detail this complex feat of historic preservation.

Yukie Ohta looks at the dramatic transformation of SoHo over the past 50 years, from a center for light manufacturing, to a desolate and dangerous wasteland, to one of the most affluent neighborhoods in New York.

Deborah Helaine Morris, one of two runners-up of the Fuzzy Math writing competition, charts the shifting demographics of one pocket of Brooklyn through the dairy aisle of her local supermarkets, delis, and specialty food stores.