TOPIC
Parks
The Happy Prison
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?
Underexposed | 11
In West Harlem, a wastewater treatment plants hides beneath a 28-acre state park.
Cataloging Comfort
A recently uncovered album reveals some of New York City parks' least exposed precincts — their public bathrooms.
Off the Beaten Path
For WXY and New York State Parks, designing comfort stations to accommodate more than 60 million annual visitors — representing many different genders, backgrounds, and accessibility needs — is no simple task.
Nesting Season
Photographers focus on the grasslands that cap the former Fresh Kills landfill and provide new homes for threatened wildlife.
Call for Proposals: Urban Wild Writer Residency
We seek a writer to explore and interpret the contemporary urban landscape where highways meet gas wells, herons, and kayakers.
Leachate and Landscape
Photographers explore the infrastructural underpinnings of Freshkills Park.
The Golden Hour
A photo essay documenting what will become Freshkills's East Park shows that new life can emerge from the most toxic environments.
Escape and Microcosm
SLO talks to Matthew Faber about the Central Park Arch Project and how the historic visions of Olmsted and Vaux could help cope with the many modes of transportation that jockey for space in New York’s most famous, and most crowded, park.
City as Playground
Artist Julia Jacquette and writer James Trainor discuss Jacquette's graphic memoir, Playground of My Mind, digging into the sandbox of their memories and a critical chapter in the history of New York City's public spaces.