Policy

Pools are sites for recreation and fun. But as much as any public space in New York, they also carry the weight of the city's complex histories of race and place.

Manufactured gas plants disappeared from cityscapes long ago. In most cases, so did awareness of their toxic traces. Can neural networks now detect the hazardous remains that elude regulators?

In environmental justice communities, knowledge about air pollution hotspots comes from the ground up. Shouldn't remedies start there too?

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?

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?

In two conversations, five years apart, residents of a Naturally Occurring Retirement Community reflect on the ups and downs of aging in place in New York City.

A decade ago, Naturally Occurring Retirement Communities seemed like a really good idea. How are they doing now?

Communities of color have long been the vanguard of New York City's environmental justice movement. How can designers support and learn from their efforts to mitigate a climate crisis that is up close and personal?

With the pandemic churning inside city jails, a proliferation of mutual aid networks are crowdsourcing funds to get as many people out of pretrial detention as they can. We hear from organizers of COVID Bail Out NYC about what securing someone else's freedom really means.