Environment
Mitigate, Design, Restore: A Conversation on Hydrology and Habitat
Eric Rothstein lets us in on the particular challenges of restoration, mitigation, and water resources management in New York and offers a measured but optimistic assessment of the role of green infrastructure in fostering sustainable urban development.
The Storm That Will Be: Protecting Public Housing in the New 100-Year Floodplain
Elizabeth Rush looks at the particular challenges facing public housing authorities in high-risk flood zones and follows a design competition for a stormwater management plan in Jersey City to consider how responsive, site-specific architectural innovation can inform broader strategies for strengthening vulnerable communities.
Cooling Down Steam Heat: A Retrofit for Your Radiator
Marshall Cox, the inventor of a simple way to regulate the temperature of a steam-heated apartment, explains how reducing the energy wasted in aging infrastructure can offer new and important approaches to green technology.
Explicit Trespassers: Colin Jerolmack on New York’s Pigeons
Sociologist Colin Jerolmack explains how the inescapable pigeon can help us understand the broader systems — natural, physical, and cultural — that build our experience of the urban environment.
Daylighting Rivers in Search of Hidden Treasure
Restoring paved-over waterways is rightly celebrated for its environmental benefits. Zach Youngerman explores the practice in terms of post-industrial urban revitalization strategies.