Environment
Meet the 2026–2027 New City Critics Fellows
New City Critics fellows will turn their critical gaze over the city.
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.
Tide and Current
Over more than 20 years, an artist ferrying passengers through New York’s waterways in small boats has shared a unique vantage on an always-changing island city.
Infrastructure Enclaves
In a dense city, borders and barriers made of steel, concrete, and asphalt can create unexpected pockets of protection for habitat-starved plants and animals.
Waste Watering Holes
Bird watching at an unlikely urban oasis: the Newtown Creek Wastewater Treatment Plant
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.
Nooks and Crannies
Local birds evicted from their usual habitats find themselves nesting and hunting atop skyscrapers, power lines, and traffic lights.