"It is the ultimate virtue for architecture in an urban context to create or activate the public domain."

"The city can be likened to a living microbe."

"Comfort is an infinitely relative commodity, and thus a marker of status."

"We asked for a space in which we could do everything and anything."

"Most of us live in our own little bubbles. We know the world that we walk in every single day."

In the first of a new video series about complex urban systems, we take a closer look at traffic signals citywide and visit the Traffic Management Center in Long Island City.

In advance of our field trip to one of NYC’s privately-owned public spaces, we talk to Raquel Ramati about plaza bonuses, street life and the legacy of DCP’s Urban Design Group.

Jana Leo, the author of Rape New York, a candid account of sexual assault, discusses how the ordeal changed her perspective on property neglect, systemic gaps and neighborhood transition.

Suketu Mehta reflects on immigration, density and neighborhood change while wandering the Queens streets where he lived as a teenager.

Kirsten Hively describes her effort to seek out, document and encourage appreciation of the best neon in New York and shares her photography of the city's glow.