Environment

Steve Duncan — historian, photographer and explorer — reflects on wastewater infrastructure, underground rivers, and the thrills and urban lessons he's discovered beneath the surface of cities.

Kerri Culhane explains how geographical, historical and architectural factors make the Two Bridges neighborhood uniquely suited to realize the environmental, economic and social benefits of green infrastructure.

Tyler Caruso and Erik Facteau explain their scientific study of the value of urban farms, an effort to produce hard data that can challenge nay-sayers and inform policies and regulations that support agriculture in the city.

Peter Syrett introduces Transparency, an online database of the health effects of building materials, and reflects on architectural responsibility, scientific uncertainty and buildings as instruments of public health.

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.

In our final video on complex urban systems, writer Elizabeth Royte offers a snapshot of the past, present and future of what happens to New Yorkers' trash once it leaves the curb.

David Briggs and Anthony Deen share the winning designs from the first of a series of competitions that address the challenges of developing contaminated urban areas.

Documentary filmmaker Ian Cheney talks to us about light pollution, the disappearance of the night sky and what we can do to reconnect our city to the stars.

A broad partnership dedicated to restoring oysters to New York Harbor is using science, policy and community engagement to improve the health of our waterways and stabilize our shorelines.

In the final installment of a Country of Cities, Vishaan pens a love letter to Japan, a country that has shaped his beliefs in the importance of dense urban living.