An ambitious new opera plumbs the humanity and contemporary relevance of two mythic figures of New York City: Jane Jacobs and Robert Moses.

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?

A new guidebook locates residents’ struggles to make and remake New York City in the image of their own needs and desires.

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.

After a historic oil spill and an unprecedented financial settlement, a Brooklyn community oversees its ecological repair.

In Western Queens, activists see a waterfront warehouse as an opportunity to broaden the horizons of a community's control over its own future.

Organizers in Flatbush are fighting for the preservation of an African burial ground — to honor the dead, and protect a living community's future.

In Berlin’s city center, an activist-led redevelopment scheme is setting a bold example for rescuing financially valuable public land from privatization and gentrification.