Environment

In our third of a series of profiles of Naturally Occurring Cultural Districts around the five boroughs, Joey de Jesus takes us on a tour of Hunts Point, Bronx, to explore how artists, activists, and educators have turned social and environmental challenges into opportunities.

Malaika Kim, one of two runners-up of the Fuzzy Math writing competition, traces how the intangibles of her life — the passage of time, acquired knowledge, and changes in lifestyle and family — have shifted her perception and experience of the physical environment in very measurable ways.

Juliet Helmke traces the origins and prospects of a genre of art that aims to educate and more effectively influence consumer behavior through the reinterpretation of ecological data.

Urban ecologist Alexander Felson proposes a new kind of ecological practice, one that moves from analyzing nature to shaping it and embeds scientific experiments into the design process.

In a personal reflection on growing up in middle-class Rockaway, Yael Friedman calls for more nuanced understanding of how planning for a more resilient city can — and must — incorporate more than environmental concerns alone.

Biologist and plant scientist Paul Mankiewicz explains the Gaia Hypothesis, the inherent environmental productivity of organisms, and why the city's waste stream is our greatest untapped ecological and economic asset.

Adam Greenfield maps the flows and processes of an Occupy Sandy relief hub to demonstrate the potential of a permanent mutual-aid infrastructure for New York.

The city’s watershed includes 19 reservoirs, three lakes, 7,000 miles of water pipes, tunnels and aqueducts, and 7,400 miles of sewer lines — and perhaps many megawatts of untapped energy.

The editors of Urban Omnibus reflect on the scale of Superstorm Sandy in terms of government response, climate change, and infrastructure investment.

Shin-pei Tsay calls on urbanists to better communicate the crucial role cities can play in addressing the global challenges of climate change.