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?

A disquisition into the urban/suburban and human/insect divides, and how people might come together when their surroundings are planned to keep them apart.

Forty years after its inauguration, there is still much to learn from a mold-breaking NYC playground that provided space for disabled kids to play alongside their non-disabled peers.

New York City is responsible for the care of 23 centuries-old farmsteads and mansions. What do these historic properties owe present day New Yorkers?

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

Recent books explore the potential in underused and overdetermined spaces, from mid-century American city centers and suburban shopping malls to the current glut of vacant retail storefronts and offices.

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 bygone experiment in community-focused mental healthcare — rooted in Harlem and the life experiences of its Black population — still holds valuable lessons for making “the good life,” and good feelings, truly accessible to 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.