Policy

Announcing the winner of our Fuzzy Math writing competition: Steven Higashide imagines a near future in New York, in which a new City agency — the Department of Externalities — monitors and evaluates the social and environmental effects of everyday actions.

In the first in a series of profiles of Naturally Occurring Cultural Districts, Caitlin Blanchfield reports on how a robust network of community-based groups in Corona, Queens, has put local cultural vitality and institutional partnerships to work in reclaiming a public space for neighborhood use.

Andy Reicher shares the history of UHAB, chronicling its evolution through 40 years of helping renters become owners.

The idea that a 45-year-old market that brings in about 60 percent of the city’s fruits and vegetables could simply vacate isn’t as preposterous as it sounds.

Fashion designer Yeohlee Teng and architect Joerg Schwartz discuss their involvement in an initiative to demonstrate the importance of the fashion industry to New York City, and to preserve and strengthen the efficiencies and vitality of its core.

Laura Kurgan describes an integrated, systemic design process for the largest alternative-to-incarceration program in the country.

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

Gabrielle Bendiner-Viani tells the story behind an innovative memorial to a century-old tragedy with an evolving and enduring legacy for labor rights, building codes and the challenges of commemoration.

Kerri Culhane explains how geographical, historical and architectural factors make the Two Bridges neighborhood uniquely suited to realize the environmental, economic and social benefits of green infrastructure.

40 years after its construction, Karen Kubey revisits Marcus Garvey Park Village in Brownsville, Brooklyn, a revealing example of the design philosophies and policy priorities behind low-rise, high-density housing.