Issue 9
The Subway
Building better transit
What to do about people struggling with serious mental illness on trains and platforms
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.
Expand the reach of the subways by meeting riders where they are.
Stop lamenting the subways that weren’t, and start understanding the main drivers of New York’s subway history.
How trains and platforms compare to the street
Subway ads through the eras
Vital City's first issue looks at the problem of gun violence and how it might be solved.
What is “disorder”? And what should we do about it?
The indelible mark of neighborhoods
How life changes when things get hot
What it takes to reduce firearm violence
How substance use shapes the city
Breaking down New York City’s — and America’s — trends in violence and victimization
Everything about Rikers Island and what replaces it depends on the answer
Research meets the real world
*The long-anticipated change to Manhattan’s streets now at the mercy of politics
The death and life of great American cities (again)
Building better transit
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:
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.