"Air conditioning is not an aspect of urbanism whose implications we often consider. What follows is Alison Carafa’s fresh and cheerful journey through some of the unintended uses for, hacks to and consequences of this unloved but, for many, indispensable addition to urban windows."

On the art world's most recent hit, The Clock, and its creator. Lots of interesting tidbits here, such as his willingness to turn a blind eye to other's copyright to create his art while insisting that its display be under his control. I still want to see it, mind you.

'“The public realm is what we own and control,” he told me the other day when we met to look around Midtown. More than just common property, he added, “the streets, squares, parks, infrastructure and public buildings make up the fundamental element in any community — the framework around which everything else grows.”'

"The goal: to walk from the Empire State Building, on West Thirty-third Street, to Rockefeller Center, on West Forty-eighth, without ever setting foot on Fifth or Sixth Avenue—to knife through tall buildings in a single bound, or at least in stepwise forays. A writer for this magazine accomplished the feat in 1956, and a photographic attempt appeared on our Web site last year. A recent lazy Friday seemed like a good time to try the experiment again."

"New York-based HWKN has been selected for this year’s MoMA/PS 1 Young Architects Program. Their proposal, called “Wendy,” uses standard scaffolding to create a visually arresting object that straddles the three outdoor rooms of the PS 1 courtyard. Tensioned fabric coated in smog-eating paint provides shelter and programming areas including a stage, shower, and misters."

On why the New York skyline isn't a product of bedrock depth, but is a result of various economic, societal and geographical pressures.

"artist and designer George Maciunas conceived of Fluxus Editions—affordable and portable publications and multiples meant to introduce revolutionary art into everyday experience and to publicize the group’s ideas on an international scale." Closes 15 January 2012.

"The Greatest Grid: The Master Plan of Manhattan, 1811-2011 celebrates the 200th anniversary of the Commissioners’ Plan of 1811, the foundational document that established Manhattan’s famous street grid." Closes 15 April, 2012.

"“Carsten Höller: Experience” is the most comprehensive US exhibition to date of the artist’s engaging work. The current show gathers together a number of the artist’s signature works in an arrangement that transforms the viewer’s experience of time and space. Originally trained as a scientist, Höller is frequently inspired by research and experiments from scientific history." Closes 22 January 2012.

bruces: http://t.co/D9oAWQU *The elite among urban "stuffed animals" #GothicHighTech #Chic #NYHighLine

"It believes it can save time and money by simply leaving [the tunnel boring machine] behind, dormant and decayed, within the rocky depths of Midtown Manhattan. The drill’s final resting place: 14 stories beneath the well-tended sidewalks of Park Avenue."

"One of the main exhibits at the Center, “Mapping the Cityscape”, features a dozen or so wall-mounted 8-foot-high maps of Manhattan — different representations and views from 1609 to the present." Center for Architecture, closes 27th August.

"Weekend trips have doubled in the past 20 years, far outpacing the growth of ridership during the workweek. Last year, the subway had 5.36 million rides on average during weekends, one of the highest counts on record." I wonder if the same thing's happening in London; there's certainly always grousing at weekend engineering works.

"Joel Grey/A New York Life examines the enduring impact that performer and photographer Joel Grey and his adopted city have made on each other. Through rare artifacts from his stage and screen career, objects from his personal collection, and his own photography, the exhibition offers a unique look at New York through Grey’s eyes."

David Zwirner / Art in General / New Museum of Contemporary Art  / Christopher Henry Gallery / Sperone Westwater / Storefront for Art and Architecture / The Drawing Center / The New York Earth Room / Greene Naftali / L&M Arts

"The primary activity of WHC is the sponsorship of tours of New York and New Jersey's working waterfront – places that are normally hidden from the eyes of most area residents and visitors."

"George Condo has been a singular voice in American and European art for almost three decades." Looks like the venue might be well worth a visit. Closes 8th May 2011.

To do in NYC: visit this street art (literally) version of the NY subway map.

'“We spend all this time thinking about cities in terms of their local details, their restaurants and museums and weather,” West says. “I had this hunch that there was something more, that every city was also shaped by a set of hidden laws.”' Possibly flawed, but definitely interesting, and the NYT article sets the research in an interesting context. I'm looking forward to what comes out when he tackles companies.

What has been forgotten in this hysterical nostalgia is that our current Penn Station is also a miracle: pitiless and comically jury-rigged, sure, but miraculous.

"Bruce Davidson's Subway series documents life in the New York subway, recording the animated energy of train carriages and station platforms across the metropolis." It's only a room, but it's in the free part of the museum, and you never know when things are going to move. Might make a nice taster for Exposed, too.

"Next month, the Metropolitan Transportation Authority will unveil a resized, recolored and simplified edition of the well-known map, its first overhaul in more than a decade." First reaction: it's a lot less cluttered. Looking back, the MTA's subway map has veered a lot more since '68 than the London diagram, but this is way better than the '79 nadir.

"The early morning flyovers are expected to yield the most detailed three-dimensional picture of New York City to date, with an emphasis on structures, elevations, sun and shade, and nooks and crannies relevant to the city’s emergency response system and its environmental goals."

"As people came to recognize the futility of the Eisenhower- and Kennedy-era placebos and sops (duck-and-cover, Bert the Turtle, back-yard fallout shelters), they stopped thinking about preparing. Prevention was all. But a terrorist attack is different: harder to prevent, easier to survive."

"There’s no denying how cool this is, but it seems that none of the app’s functionality would be lost if you replaced the video feed with a picture of Miranda Kerr. It’s a subway compass—a subway divining rod, even—so I have to wonder what good the “augmented reality” part really does." The AR sceptics are coming out of the closet, a bit.

A very good article which touches new facets of a possibly overfamiliar story, including the fact a Concorde suffered a bird strike, the muscularity of the F-4 phantom, Eric Moody's wonderfully British cabin announcements during a post-flameout 747 glide, and the Airbus 320's use of fly-by-wire. Well worth the read.

In full: "The (Mostly) True Story of Helvetica and the New York City Subway from the AIGA Journal of Design". Also touches on Helvetica at Heathrow, and the British Rail identity.

Lookin at these, I can see how the 45m clearance of the bridge might be a problem with really big container ships.

Interesting piece on the fact that post-Panamax container shipping into New York / New Jersey might be stopped by the Bayonne Bridge, one of the more obscure NY bridges (over the delightfully named Kill Van Kull).

"an extraordinary optical device called a Telectroscope will be installed at both ends which will miraculously allow people to see right through the Earth from London to New York" Tower Bridge, Brooklyn Bridge, £1 a go.

Adam Greenfield is not happy about the loss of the NYC congestion charge, and I can see why.

This is a shame. Discrimination against people in the Bronx? Pfft. If I can live in Walthamstow and get into London without a car I doubt it's that hard for people in NYC to commute via subway, and if it is, they damn well need the charge's income.

Insane. British Airways plan to launch a twice-daily business-class only direct service from London City Airport to New York, using Airbus A318s. They must be pushing the edge of the range, and it's bound to be horribly expensive.

Some lovely photos of bikes in movement here, although they also remind me why I could never go anywhere near a fixed gear bike myself.