Architecture
Reciprocal City
Awnings, cisterns, and icehouses — defunct minor infrastructures — inspire speculative proposals for a more intentional give-and-take between the built and natural environments.
A People’s Architect
A new biography spotlights Max Bond and his exemplary practice of architecture, in which social commitments outweighed spectacle and collective good trumped individual recognition.
Meet the 2026–2027 New City Critics Fellows
New City Critics fellows will turn their critical gaze over the city.
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.
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.
Locations, Locations, Locations
Location scouts have shaped representations of New York for decades. Now, changes to the film industry and the built environment both threaten a carefully cultivated way of seeing.
Keep the Change
Landmarking has long been one of the few tools available to preserve a building. Can historic preservation adapt to protect affordability and utility alongside cornices and columns?
Waste Watering Holes
Bird watching at an unlikely urban oasis: the Newtown Creek Wastewater Treatment Plant
Dancing About Architecture
How have dancers and their movements shaped the built environment of New York — and how has the city shaped them in return?