The Struggle is Real Estate

In Berlin’s city center, an activist-led redevelopment scheme is setting a bold example for rescuing financially valuable public land from privatization and gentrification.

Peak Problems

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

Cleaning Up?

Hidden Maladies and Misplaced Remedies

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

Swim Lessons

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.

Cleaning Up?

Gasworks, Lost and Found

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?

Cleaning Up?

Air Grievances

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

Cleaning Up?

Bless This Mess

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?