New City Critics
Uber 911
With the exorbitant costs of healthcare, untrained rideshare drivers are increasingly forced to take on the role of emergency medical professionals.
What Water Wants
The low-lying Jewel Streets neighborhood, once coastal marshlands now cut off from the waterfront, is prone to extreme flooding. What happens if planners and advocates learn to go with the flow?
The Planks of Theseus
New York City generates more than 2 million tons of construction and demolition debris every year. An age-old parable suggests that waste is in the eye of the beholder.
Temu’s Last Mile
The river of packages running through the city inscribes a hidden geography of resource-intensive e-commerce.
Desire Paths
During a three-month experiment, a critic forgoes algorithmically determined pathways through the city by courting and cataloging her chance encounters with strangers.
Pothole Chic
Civic leaders have long expressed their allegiances and courted public trust through sartorial choices. Can the current mayor’s OSHA-compliant uniform inspire a new guard of civic engagement?
New City Critics 2025–26: City en Regalia
Join the New City Critics on June 17 for a publication launch and conversation.
A Way Out of No Way
Contact with life’s sharper edges guides artist Guadalupe Maravilla’s quest to assist the most vulnerable New Yorkers.
Notes from the Industrial Zone
New York was founded on industry. As e-commerce rewrites the supply chain, how are we protecting the small businesses left behind?
A Labor of Love
Up a marble staircase, in the attic of City Hall, a trio of civil servants steward an eclectic archive of city objects.
Three Ways to Reclaim Wood
Brooklyn-based studio Tri-Lox intervenes on the city’s waste stream, repurposing wood to furnish everything from Shake Shack interiors to Shakespeare in the Park.
The Plaza Paradox
In the shadow of the Flatiron, a writer spends an hour conducting her own public space audit.
Power on Wheels
How a Pakistani Rastafarian DJ in Germany came to lead a 25,000-member-strong New York City taxi workers union
New City Critics 2025-2026: Object Lessons with Anna Kodé and Oliver Wainwright
Join the New City Critics on March 4, 2026 for a conversation with Anna Kodé & Oliver Wainwright.
Wonder is All Around Us
Ordering pad thai on an iPad in the muzak of a takeout food chain created in the pressure cooker of the post-pandemic economy.
The Future, Encapsulated
With a fragment of the Tokyo Nakagin Capsule Tower preserved for posterity, a MoMA exhibition provides more than one perspective on planned obsolescence.
Signs of Change
Posting the experiences of shelter residents and staff in the public realm, artist Alex Strada creates a walking meditation on the right to housing.
The Hottest Club
A contemporary "bathhouse" draws on ancient traditions to heighten experience, but is untethered from the more convivial aspects of bathing culture.
Medieval Times
The MTA’s latest military-inspired tactics to curb fare evasion may be fighting the wrong enemy.
About this Series
New City Critics is a joint project of Urban Omnibus/The Architectural League of New York and Urban Design Forum to encourage a more expansive conversation on the future of cities.
The views expressed here are those of the authors only and do not reflect the position of The Architectural League of New York or Urban Design Forum.
