Unfolding alongside New York's latest waterfront planning process, a participatory art project considers what happens when we reorient our attention, and our bodies, toward the city's 520 miles of coastline.

By way of natural disaster and human folly, a staggering amount of marine debris litters the waters and shores of an important estuary habitat. Meet the volunteers trying to salvage the situation.

Where do the street trees come from, and where does the compost go? Rikers Island was the city’s growing outpost for years. But does “greening” the prison always improve things for prisoners?

Mayor de Blasio promises to close the Rikers Island jail complex in ten years. But what comes next? A look at the island’s history reveals clues — and cautions.

Elizabeth Rush traces the implementation of New York State-led property buyouts in three Staten Island neighborhoods and weighs the benefits and costs of this potentially important model for addressing the vulnerability of coastal communities.

Photographer and architect Charles Giraudet documents the architecture of a sprawling hospital complex on Roosevelt Island on the eve of its demolition, and captures remnants of the life of the building and the innovative medical facility it once was.

Christopher Payne -- whose photographs have documented abandoned structures, obsolete industrial processes, and American craftsmanship -- discusses photography's potential to remind us of our disappearing histories.

How do you involve people in a community engagement process when there is no defined community? Leslie Koch, president of GIPEC, tells us how she did it on Governors Island.

Juliette Spertus discusses her exhibit - which combines infrastructure, New York history and alternative urban futures - about Roosevelt Island's trash collection system.