Cities Archives - Public Seminar

Activism

On “Reconnecting with Nature” as a City-Dweller

An education in wheelbarrows, pin oaks, and herring gulls

September 10, 2025 • by Chrisaleen Ciro

A few weeks into my time here in NYC back in the fall of 2021, I volunteered at an urban farm in East Harlem. The crew of volunteers was diverse—some of us had experience growing food and others didn’t. At the time, I had worked on farms and market gardens ...

On “Reconnecting with Nature” as a City-Dweller

Climate & Ecology

Reimagining Ecological Repair

A review of Laura J. Martin’s Wild by Design

May 26, 2025 • by Mairéad O’Donnell

The Disney Wilderness Preserve in Florida began as a corporate-led initiative to counteract wetland destruction caused by Disney’s expansion in the Orlando area. Launched in the early 1990s, the project aimed to restore nearly 12,000 acres of wetlands and uplands degraded by decades of cattle ranching, fire suppression, and hydrological ...

Activism

Rent Is the Crisis

Framing it as a “housing crisis” ignores that from the perspective of its winners, the system works just fine

March 21, 2025 • by Tracy Rosenthal and Leonardo Vilchis

Every first of the month, we hand over a share of our wages to meet our human need for housing. Our rents rise faster than our incomes, and inequality grows. Every first of the month, more tenants go without food, medication, and basic necessities to pay this tribute. More people ...

Climate & Ecology

How Can Cities Drive Net-Zero Carbon Goals and Create Vibrant Urban Communities?

Nature-based solutions offer a way forward

March 13, 2024 • by Karen C. Seto

Cities must achieve four goals: minimize greenhouse gas emissions, foster low and net-zero carbon behaviors, minimize changes in land cover that increase local temperatures and exacerbate the urban heat island effect, and create livable and vibrant communities. ...

How Can Cities Drive Net-Zero Carbon Goals and Create Vibrant Urban Communities?

Politics

What You Don’t Know Can’t TIF You

Pretend something isn’t a problem and it goes away, right?

September 29, 2022 • by Pat Garofalo

TIFs date back to the 1950s, and every state except Arizona has them in one form or another. There are thousands upon thousands of TIF districts all across the country. Chances are decent you’ve heard about one in your local area....

Corporations

Semiconductor Subsidy Doom Loop

There’s an ugly state-federal feedback loop happening

June 13, 2022 • by Pat Garofalo

That doom loop is happening because Congress is dangling large federal semiconductor subsidies out there, but hasn’t approved them yet, and states want those funds to land within their borders, so are spending a lot all by themselves in the hopes that it will lead to an even bigger payoff....

New York City

For Safer Streets, Invest in Community Anti-Violence Groups

Community Based Organizations underappreciated role in urban policy

September 28, 2020 • by Talib Hudson

Recent months have seen unprecedentedly widespread protests of police violence against Black people. Unthinkable just a short time ago, calls to defund or even abolish police have become louder and are gaining traction in mainstream policy discussions. Unfortunately, a number of cities around the country are also experiencing spikes in ...

For Safer Streets, Invest in Community Anti-Violence Groups

Exiles on 12th Street

Futures

Exiles on 12th Street, Episode Five

September 23, 2019 • by Claire Potter

The future can sometimes seem daunting and frightening, but it can also feel like an unwritten adventure. As children, we played in a world of infinite possibilities, in which imagination—not predestination—ruled the day. In the fifth episode of Exiles on 12th Street, we explore possibilities the future may hold. From ...

Feature

Future Cities

Architecture and the Imagination

April 5, 2019 • by Paul Dobraszczyk

In January 2013, a photograph of a projected image on a smog-enshrouded high-rise building in Beijing became an internet sensation because it seemed uncannily reminiscent of the urban landscape seen in the 1982 film Blade Runner. Notwithstanding the negative effects of excessive urban pollution on urban residents, Blade Runner tours are now being ...

Feature

Are Cities an Environmental Curse or Blessing?

Yes.

April 29, 2018 • by Robert Beauregard

Every day, people in Chicago consume immense quantities of food that arrive from nearby farms, large agri-businesses further afield, and producers around the world. Oranges are sent from citrus groves in Florida, chicken parts from processing plants in South Carolina, bananas from growers in the Dominican Republic, olive oil from ...

Are Cities an Environmental Curse or Blessing?

Theory & Practice

The Creative Class Rises Again

March 26, 2014 • by Vince Carducci

When first published in 2002, The Rise of the Creative Class quickly established its author Richard Florida as an urban policy and business management guru. The Rise of the Creative Class heralded the emergence of a new class of worker who promised to lead the economy, and along with it the rest ...

Uncategorized

A Tale of Zero Cities

January 27, 2014 • by McKenzie Wark

The protesters standing in front of Google buses in San Francisco have a point. Rents are rising, and they blame the influx of tech workers for this. The dedicated private buses that whisk them off to their Bay Area companies are a potent symbol of the divide between different kinds ...