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?

Whereabouts

3-2751

Blue rectangles say someone is home.

Maintaining Decomposure

Grassroots groups have kept organic waste collection alive in neighborhoods across New York City during a most difficult year. For community composters, the stakes of an equitable waste system stretch far beyond the pile.

Memory Loss

The Bergen Family Owned 46 People

Drawing on census records, newspaper ads, and more from the city's archives, activists call attention to the legacy of slavery embedded in the names of familiar streets and neighborhoods.

100-Year Adaptation Zone

In their speculative proposal, Nine Reciprocities, two designers pair evocative visions of the long-term future with self-reflection. How can architecture help maintain community in the face of social and environmental challenges?

What About Jane?

As cities, and the way we understand them, have changed, so has the reputation of a preeminent urban thinker. If gentrification and structural racism are the problems, does Jane Jacobs still have the answers?

Memory Loss

Introducing Memory Loss

Our new mini-series highlights a geography of memory across the city, focusing on the everyday memorial.

Memory Loss

Mourn and Organize

For all death’s new omnipresence, the scale of our losses has been hard to locate in the daily fabric of urban life. Where does the city put its grief and voice its outrage?