Architecture

For decades, Crime Prevention Through Environmental Design has touted the efficacy of bollards, gates, and cameras in deterring violent acts — with scant evidence. At what cost do we build “defensible space”?

In the thorny thicket of housing problems, from cost to supply to quality, what roles can architects play? Architects Susanne Schindler, Jared Della Valle, and Deborah Gans offer possibilities.

Photographer Kris Graves tracks all 77 NYPD precincts from Tottenville to Edenwald, looking to these buildings — sometimes humble, sometimes imposing — for the face and footprint of law and order in the neighborhood.

The buildings where fates, freedoms, and justice are decided sit at the center of our image of the justice system. What form should they take? How should they work?

The city oversees an experiment: Can new signage and instructions improve experiences in New York’s busiest criminal courthouse?

The NYC LGBT Historic Sites project puts once-marginal histories on the map, shining a light on the significance of overlooked sites.

Many architects and urbanists are asking how their tools might be most effectively deployed in order to resist the violent oppression of marginalized communities, and how this effort might need to look different today than it has in the past.

What is gained, and what is lost, when justice takes place outside public view?

New spaces for justice replace punishment with problem solving and hierarchy with community.

Mayor de Blasio promises to close the Rikers Island jail complex in ten years. But what comes next? A look at the island’s history reveals clues — and cautions.