Issue 9
The Subway
Building better transit
Highlights from the Journal
Psychosis Under Fluorescent Lights
Freddie deBoer
What to do about people struggling with serious mental illness on trains and platforms
It’s About Time: The Congestion Pricing Meltdown and Its Aftermath
Betsy Plum
The automobile fee was going to reduce the ‘time tax’ on New Yorkers who use public transit. The indefinite pause means they could be waiting even longer.
What the System Could Become: A 2125 Map
Jake Berman
Expand the reach of the subways by meeting riders where they are.
The Four Forces That Have Shaped the System
Nicole Gelinas
Stop lamenting the subways that weren’t, and start understanding the main drivers of New York’s subway history.
Underground: Safer Than the Surface?
Aaron Chalfin , Alex Chohlas-Wood and Morgan Williams Jr.
How trains and platforms compare to the street
The Hard Sell to Straphangers
Jodi Shapiro
Subway ads through the eras
Journal Issues
Issue 1
Gun Violence
Vital City's first issue looks at the problem of gun violence and how it might be solved.
Issue 2
How We Live Together
What is “disorder”? And what should we do about it?
Issue 3
The Power of Place
The indelible mark of neighborhoods
Issue 4
Summertime!
How life changes when things get hot
Issue 5
Nuts and Bolts: Solving Gun Cases
What it takes to reduce firearm violence
Issue 6
On Drugs
How substance use shapes the city
Special Online Issue
Crime: What Happened in 2023, and What 2024 May Bring
Breaking down New York City’s — and America’s — trends in violence and victimization
Special Online Issue
How Many People Should New York City’s Jails Hold?
Everything about Rikers Island and what replaces it depends on the answer
Issue 7
Does Evidence Matter?
Research meets the real world
Special Online Issue
Congestion Pricing*
*The long-anticipated change to Manhattan’s streets now at the mercy of politics
Issue 8
Is the Urban Doom Loop for Real?
The death and life of great American cities (again)
Issue 9
The Subway
Building better transit
More to Explore
Gun Violence in New York City: The Data
What to Do About Closing Rikers
In our first special report, public safety veterans Elizabeth Glazer and Michael Jacobson provide a detailed, data-grounded roadmap to close Rikers Island that would simultaneously:
Sunday in the Park with Everybody
We asked radio producer Ike Sriskandarajah and artist photographer Azikiwe Mohammed to capture some of the sights and sounds of Brooklyn’s most iconic greenspace, Prospect Park. What they produced is a sonic-photographic essay, a sensory experience of the people, places and natural beauty at the heart of Kings County.