culture

Reviews

Dakar, Portrait of a Capital City

Armelle Choplin - 12 September 2025

Dakar, métamorphoses d’une capitale, by architects Carole Diop and Xavier Ricou, takes readers on a journey through...

From the Field

Industrial Wasteland and the Commons

Jules Desgoutte & translated by Oliver Waine - 26 February 2021

Long considered places of experimentation, sharing and freedom, friches culturelles, or temporary cultural spaces,...

From the Field

Culture and the Nighttime Economy: A Conversation with London’s Night Czar and Culture-at-Risk Officer

Amin Ghaziani - 12 November 2019

Amin Ghaziani describes the high closure rate of LGBTQ nighttime venues in London, and the city’s recognition of...

Essays

The Educational Fortunes of Children of Immigrants in France

Mathieu Ichou & translated by Oliver Waine - 6 July 2018

How can the attainment gap between children of immigrants and children of native-born parents be explained? While...

From the Field

Shanghai’s West Bund Cultural Corridor Exemplifies the Opportunities and Risks of State-Driven Cultural Development

Siqi Tu - 8 May 2018

The West Bund Cultural Corridor in Shanghai is the latest entrant in a global competition to attract investment by...

Essays

The Arts as Fundamental—and Fragile—in Community Life

Andrew Zitcer & Julie Hawkins & Neville Vakharia - 22 February 2017

Arts funding in America mirrors the inequality found in society more broadly. Yet amid persistent poverty and other...

Reviews

Citadels, Cores, and Confetti: Urban Festivals in the New Political Economy of the Music Industry

Johan Jansson - 5 January 2017

How have changes in the music industry—especially regarding the way music is produced and consumed today—affected...

From the Field

“We Are the Scene”: Alternative Art Economies in Bushwick

Mary Kosut - 13 September 2016

Artists and art communities are essential to the cultural life of cities. In New York City, artists have created...

Essays

The Tokyo skyline, or the hidden order behind opportunistic construction

Raphaël Languillon-Aussel & translated by Oliver Waine - 13 November 2015

Behind the apparent disorder, Tokyo’s current skyline in fact complies with complex rules. While the first towers in...

From the Field

Arts Districts Without Artists

Meghan Ashlin Rich - 23 March 2015

Numerous studies have examined gentrification’s harmful effects for low-income residents, but few examine the...

Interviews

Three questions to Richard Sennett

Richard Sennett & Philippe Simay & Stéphane Tonnelat - 15 December 2010

Richard Sennett writes about cities, labor, and culture. He teaches sociology at New York University and at the...

Dakar, Portrait of a Capital City

Industrial Wasteland and the Commons

Culture and the Nighttime Economy: A Conversation with London’s Night Czar and Culture-at-Risk Officer

The Educational Fortunes of Children of Immigrants in France

Shanghai’s West Bund Cultural Corridor Exemplifies the Opportunities and Risks of State-Driven Cultural Development

The Arts as Fundamental—and Fragile—in Community Life

Citadels, Cores, and Confetti: Urban Festivals in the New Political Economy of the Music Industry

“We Are the Scene”: Alternative Art Economies in Bushwick

The Tokyo skyline, or the hidden order behind opportunistic construction

Arts Districts Without Artists

Three questions to Richard Sennett

Series

Featured

Covid-19 Transformed New York’s Destination Food Markets

Moving Inside City Limits: The Urban Mobility of Undocumented Youth

Filming Ethnic Diversity in New York

Looking Inward, Across the Border

The Political Aesthetics of Drag

Disarm the Police

Other resources online

“Our hallway’s big enough to play football in!” The council housing...

Saudi Arabia: How is Mobility Being Transformed in the Oil Kingdom?

Transport for Suburbia: Beyond the Automobile Age (Paul Mees)

Geopolitics and Electric Vehicles: The Rise of Climate Protectionism

One Way to Fight Rising Food Prices: Public Grocery Stores

The Quiet Power of Car-Free Neighborhoods

Partners