Urban Systems
Thematic series of tours, panel discussions, and special activities investigating the forces that shape the city.
Water Works
2025
A yearlong series that explored the city’s water systems, from the pipes that deliver 1 billion gallons of clean water into (and out of) homes daily, to the working waterfront that drove the city’s economy for centuries, to the challenges of adapting 520 miles of shoreline for a wetter future. The series was produced in collaboration with lead agency partner NYC Department of Environmental Protection.
Building Capital: The Value of Place
2022–2024
A multiyear investigation into how different forms of capital—financial, cultural, community—determine quality of place and quality of life in New York. Building Capital investigated how these intersecting systems of capital can reverse legacies of disinvestment and discriminatory policies in communities of color. The series was presented in partnership with Bloomberg Connects and supported by the National Endowment for the Arts and M&T Bank.
Radical Knowledge: Libraries as Community Catalysts
2020-2022
In neighborhoods across New York, libraries serve as both vibrant learning institutions and centers for their communities. Radical Knowledge: Libraries as Community Catalysts explored the ways in which libraries provide social infrastructure and enrich civic life.
The Moving City: Transportation Infrastructures of New York
2019-2020
New York’s future depends on radically rethinking its transportation infrastructures for a new century. This series offered a yearlong series of tours, panel discussions, and other events to deepen and inform public understanding about the future of transportation and mobility in New York City.
Spaces of Justice
2018-2019
What should a 21st century justice system look like, and what kinds of architecture and infrastructure do we need to support it? This series examined the intersection of design and justice, and provided a platform for those who know the system from the inside—including judges, police and corrections officers, public health practitioners, housing advocates, activists, and people with lived experience of arrest and incarceration—to share their perspectives.
Getting to Zero: New York + Waste
2017-2018
Where do things go when you throw them away in New York City? And more importantly, where is “away”? This series explored the waste system of New York to consider how the contemporary city has been shaped and reshaped over time by how we manage our garbage.
The Final Mile: Food Systems of New York
2015-2016
Every plate of food that we eat represents a vast network of interconnected spaces, large and small, that facilitated the flow and preparation of the ingredients of that meal. This series explored the architecture of the city’s uniquely multi-layered food system.
Making it Here: Local Manufacturing
2014-2015
How does manufacturing occupy space in the city today? This series explored manufacturing in the contemporary city: what it looks like, how it works, and why it is so important to the future of New York.