TOPIC
City Government
This Is a Rehearsal
With democratic institutions and processes at a nadir, a playwright considers the public meeting's mise-en-scene. How might artists help perform power when we are out of practice?
Try a Little Tenderness
A speculative municipal bureaucracy offers infrastructure for emotional support.
Home Valuation
New stories from Mitchell-Lama co-ops and the LA Tenants Union narrate the housing crisis as a struggle for control, and over the true meaning of a home.
The Real Counterfeit
A 15-story stack of Louis Vuitton branded suitcases claiming to be scaffolding landed on Fifth Avenue in November. But reading the structure through the lens of the building code raises questions about our grasp on reality and the rule of law.
Who Plans?
Over more than two decades, Hester Street expanded means and methods by which New Yorkers might shape their city. What does the nonprofit's demise mean for the practices of community planning and engagement in the future?
On the City Stage
A modest, mid-block midtown building repurposed as a municipal arts center, City Center represented a monumental effort to support a program of arts for all. But how much can a building achieve?
What's in a Gateway?
Plans for Chinatown placemaking have long called for a sculptural archway. Can this invented tradition reflect the diversity of social and cultural life in Chinatown today?
Two High School Activists
With school buildings ill-equipped to face the climate crisis, students advocate for retrofits and greener, healthier buildings.