The streets of Kharadar are narrow and labyrinthine, an agglomeration of old and new structures built cheek-by-jowl in the dense urban core of Karachi. Walking through the neighborhood, one encounters a palimpsest of architectural styles, types, and forms, each signaling a story of cultural identity and transformation. Many of the colonial era structures, for example, present hybrid façades, with Western neoclassical massing, gables, columns, pilasters, and parapets, punc

The release of President Biden’s initial infrastructure plan set off a flurry of controversy and partisan debate—what constitutes infrastructure? The inclusion of social spending, most notably childcare, challenged the idea that the term infrastructure applied exclusively to construction projects like roads, bridges, and railways. More broadly, the debate has called into question whether the purpose of infrastructure spending is solely economic growth. Viewing recovery spend

Figure 1. Roland’s work on canvas. Photograph taken by the Noah Allison, 2024. In the early months of the COVID-19 pandemic, I was standing in a gas station queue to order tacos al pastor from a truck when a man approached and asked if I could spare him a dollar so he could buy a champurrado. Growing up in Los Angeles, I was accustomed to such encounters. However, Roland had charisma; tall, dark, and muscular with a big smile, he had the salesman's knack of putting people at

View of Rue de Rennes from the Tour Montparnasse. Photograph by Joseph Heathcott, 2019. One of the best vantages from which to contemplate Haussmann's power and its limits is the Tour Montparnasse looking down the Rue de Rennes. I took this photograph in December of 2019 while spending a semester teaching at Parsons Paris. I've been to Paris a dozen times since my first trip in 1984, but this was the first time I ventured to the top of the tower. Beyond the panoramic swe

View of Soundview Park (center right) and Hunts Point (left) along the Bronx River. Courtesy of Google Earth. Here at the Urban Space Lab, we are engaged in a long-term effort to understand the interrelationship of design, access, and uses along New York's estuarial shorelines. As part of this, we have been examining salt marsh restoration practices at Soundview Park. This 206-acre park, located at the mouth of the Bronx River, exemplifies the challenges and complexities of

We are all, in a sense, caregivers. We cook, clean, wash dishes, water plants, change diapers, pet dogs and cats, call our grandparents, compost, recycle, hold open the subway door, attend emotional support groups, go for walks, write grocery lists, and, mostly, do our homework. These are all care duties. Since many activities might be considered care, tackling the question in the title first requires defining care. Professor Joan Tronto (2015) proposes a broad definition. Sh

It is June 2024. I arrive in sweltering New York City, prompted by a heatwave and pollution warning amidst the asylum seeker crisis and protests over the Gaza war. Torrential rains are expected today. Here I find myself amidst the eerie quiet of shuttered universities. Silence has replaced activism, enforcing order while hindering collective awareness. These experiences challenge emergency response practices that often replicate global concepts of "order" and "normality," rea

For the ‘Adapted for Devotion’ project, we are currently in the process of identifying and cataloging various religious structures in our study area. We are focused on a cluster of neighborhoods in Western Queens with high levels of social diversity achieved through immigration. However, neighborhood definition can be challenging in New York City, as they are not officially designated political or geographic units. The smallest unit of organization in New York is the Comm

This photographic essay tours the architecture and landscape condition of a large-scale collection of facilities on the western periphery of Indianapolis, Indiana. To see the essay, go to the Flickr album here.

After moving to Crown Heights, Brooklyn, my research trajectory took an unexpected but enriching turn. Joining the local community garden across the street, I was welcomed by a vibrant group of dedicated members, some of whom have nurtured the garden since its inception. This garden, now owned by the Brooklyn Queens Land Trust, has evolved significantly over the past two decades. The interaction with members and learning about the garden’s evolution have sparked my interest i

We made some significant progress in the project during the spring of 2024. We updated the research question: How do the infrastructural systems of care of immigrant households work, and how have they changed with and after COVID-19? We delimited the project to Queens' Community Districts 3 and 4, which have a proportion of foreign-born population above 57% of the total population. The selected community districts include the following neighbors: East Elmhurst, Jackson Heig

Imagine a bustling Queens street, a vibrant collage of cultures moving through and inhabiting space. Here, amidst the bodegas and family-run restaurants, something remarkable happens: people have transformed ordinary homes, garages, shops and other buildings into spaces of worship. For many immigrant congregations, the construction of grand mosques, synagogues, temples, or churches are not always a viable option. Instead, they use their resourcefulness and a deep connection t