Policy

New York City’s peaker plants are conspicuous emblems of a carbon-intensive energy economy — and its disastrous consequences.

Toxic industrial legacies — and their hazards — extend far beyond high-profile parcels. Measures to remediate them need to treat a broader urban landscape, too.

Pools are sites for recreation and fun. But as much as any public space in New York, they also carry the weight of the city's complex histories of race and place.

Manufactured gas plants disappeared from cityscapes long ago. In most cases, so did awareness of their toxic traces. Can neural networks now detect the hazardous remains that elude regulators?

In environmental justice communities, knowledge about air pollution hotspots comes from the ground up. Shouldn't remedies start there too?

The urban landscape is formed by uneven practices of denial and redemption, while stuff stays with us. What are we doing when we are cleaning up?

As cities, and the way we understand them, have changed, so has the reputation of a preeminent urban thinker. If gentrification and structural racism are the problems, does Jane Jacobs still have the answers?