Writer Steven Thomson and photographer Cameron Blaylock respond to Thomas Hirschhorn's Gramsci Monument, a conceptual sculpture commemorating an Italian philosopher installed at a NYCHA complex in the Bronx.

Hester Street Collaborative's Anne Frederick and Dylan House discuss a temporary pop-up public space on the Lower East Side that creates an asset for the neighborhood while informing and building momentum for the design of a future permanent park.

Architect Rachel Barnard describes her new public art program for adolescents in the criminal justice system and reflects on the potential legal, social, and urban significance of an art- and architecture-based approach to restorative justice.

In the last of a series of profiles of Naturally Occurring Cultural Districts around the five boroughs, Summer Brennan explores the existing cultural community in St. George, Staten Island, and plans to encourage and capitalize on it to create "a high visibility gateway for cultural activity in Staten Island."

In honor of the re-opening of the Statue of Liberty after eight months of repairs following Superstorm Sandy, Peter Lehrer, who managed the ambitious reconstruction of the iconic monument between 1984 and 1986, describes in detail this complex feat of historic preservation.

In our third of a series of profiles of Naturally Occurring Cultural Districts around the five boroughs, Joey de Jesus takes us on a tour of Hunts Point, Bronx, to explore how artists, activists, and educators have turned social and environmental challenges into opportunities.

In the second in a series of profiles of Naturally Occurring Cultural Districts, Mercedes Kraus looks at how a cultural community has flourished by leveraging its legacy of artistic production in the face of intensifying real estate pressure and outside influence and interest.

Juliet Helmke traces the origins and prospects of a genre of art that aims to educate and more effectively influence consumer behavior through the reinterpretation of ecological data.

In the first in a series of profiles of Naturally Occurring Cultural Districts, Caitlin Blanchfield reports on how a robust network of community-based groups in Corona, Queens, has put local cultural vitality and institutional partnerships to work in reclaiming a public space for neighborhood use.

An artist, community organizer, and social entrepreneur discusses museum-community partnerships, crowdfunding public art, and emerging trends in socially engaged creative projects.