Finding New York in West Side Story

How did a musical that contains virtually nothing of New York come to represent the city?

When John Lindsay Gave New York to the World

How Mayor John Lindsay turned the city into a set, and a set piece.

The Tension and the Glory of Subway Poetry

Fred Hill recounts the history of poetry on the Tube and the Subway — and argues that the presence of verse means different things to Londoners and New Yorkers.

Untrashed: The Incredible Gallery of New York City Garbage

Retired sanitation worker Nelson Molina has collected and curated thousands of things New Yorkers threw away. A photo essay by Lana Barkin.

Urban Omnibus Writing Competition: As Seen On [ ]

A Wanderer in the Unwired City

Presenting the second of two runners-up in our As Seen On [ ] writing competition: Nick Tobier's Uzbek flâneur narrates the theater of urban space to consider the effects of ubiquitous digital connection on people, buildings, and, of course, rodents.

Urban Omnibus Writing Competition: As Seen On [ ]

Beleaguered Backstage

Presenting one of two runners-up in our As Seen On [ ] writing competition: in an era of co-everything and economies supposedly based on sharing, Andrew Renninger asks what becomes of our cities when there are so few places to be alone.

Urban Omnibus Writing Competition: As Seen On [ ]

The Wandering Women

Presenting the winner of our As Seen On [ ] writing competition: Maya Sorabjee takes us to Bombay, where the intersection of loitering and gender potently demonstrates why occupation of physical and digital space is still a radical act.