A half-century of experiments in private sector solutions to urban problems has brought mixed results and exacerbated inequality. How did we get here?

The esthetics of the public sector workplace are mundane, comical, absurd, and constantly navigating the tensions of liberal democracy.

Banned from residences for more than half a century, lead paint still poisons thousands of children a year in New York City. Who is responsible for ensuring healthy homes for all?

Since 2009, New York City has been incentivizing private cleanup of contaminated sites. Who benefits?

Vito Battista’s journey from public architecture to right-wing politics is an echo of New York’s own cyclical, reactionary tides — and a reminder of how closely the city's politics are tied to the fate of its urban fabric.

LinkNYC failed to deliver on its promise of “bridging the digital divide.” Now, the streetside Wi-Fi kiosks are about to be souped up and supersized as 5G-transmitting towers. But is there any guarantee that New York’s under-resourced populations won’t get left behind, again?

Through a new, interactive podcast, an artist surfaces the intimate stories and complex connections that bind New York City residents to the land and people who provide their water.

A pedestrian plaza in Queens is widely celebrated for its worldliness. But beneath a colorful surface are more radical lessons in coexistence.

When it comes to providing safe and affordable housing, why does the public sector receive so little funding and so much scrutiny, while the private sector gets ample incentives with minimal accountability?

With a mandate to decarbonize the city’s building stock, how can New Yorkers reconcile a transition to so-called clean energy with the environmental and cultural impacts of extraction beyond the city’s borders?