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Gorgeous 1660 map depicting New York’s humble start. Next, the story of how Manhattan got its famous grid.

Also see Mapping Manhattan, hand-drawn personal memory maps by Neil deGrasse Tyson, Yoko Ono, Malcolm Gladwell, and 72 other New Yorkers.

(↬ this isn’t happiness)

cities transportation New York culture and society PSA

Charming PSA for public transit from New York’s MTA.

art and design artists illustration cities New York art

James Gulliver Hancock offers an intimate look at his wonderful illustration project, All the Buildings in New York.

(↬ Doobybrain)

New York thought and opinion Om Malik culture and society psychology cities

New York’s streets and corners have a story attached to them and I guess that gives a sense of belonging, and in the process act as a markets on the timeline called life.

Om Malik considers the notion of home in the connected age, echoing Maya Angelou.

For more on New York’s ineffable magnetism, see E. B. White, Gay Talese, and Anaïs Nin.

Sophie Blackall history and literature art and design lit illustration artists posters culture and society New York

Lovely poster for New York’s Downtown Literary Festival by the one and only Sophie Blackall, in the style of her endlessly endearing Missed Connections.

(↬ Lapham’s Quarterly)

New York maps data visualization science and technology Twitter science tech media and communication

Tweets sent by the same person within a 4 hour time-window were used as samples of speed and direction. These samples were used to construct a vector field representing the average flow of people within the area. The vector field and total tweet density over the space were then used to simulate the movement of people. Particles, representing people, were released at locations where actual tweets were recorded and their subsequent movement was determined by the flow field. The particles start out blue and gradually change through purple to red over time so each trace shows the direction of movement. Locations where there is little movement will have blue dots or very short blue traces. Longer traces with more red show a greater speed at that point.
Movement in Manhattan based on tweets. Complement with some deliciously analog, subjective, hand-drawn maps of Manhattan.

Tweets sent by the same person within a 4 hour time-window were used as samples of speed and direction. These samples were used to construct a vector field representing the average flow of people within the area. The vector field and total tweet density over the space were then used to simulate the movement of people. Particles, representing people, were released at locations where actual tweets were recorded and their subsequent movement was determined by the flow field. The particles start out blue and gradually change through purple to red over time so each trace shows the direction of movement. Locations where there is little movement will have blue dots or very short blue traces. Longer traces with more red show a greater speed at that point.

Movement in Manhattan based on tweets. Complement with some deliciously analog, subjective, hand-drawn maps of Manhattan.

New York art and design cities culture and society illustration art architecture

It is the other ordinary buildings, spilling with hectic daily life, that hold real New York life and passion.
Australian illustrator James Gulliver Hancock has set out to draw all the buildings in New York.

It is the other ordinary buildings, spilling with hectic daily life, that hold real New York life and passion.

Australian illustrator James Gulliver Hancock has set out to draw all the buildings in New York.

New York maps culture and society art and design Yoko Ono

Yoko Ono’s Manhattan

culture and society maps New York history and literature lit Malcolm Gladwell

Malcolm Gladwell’s hand-drawn Manhattan

art and design Neil deGrasse Tyson science and technology New York maps cities science

Neil deGrasse Tyson’s hand-drawn love letter to Manhattanhenge.

quote New York history and literature lit E. B. White cities culture and society

Every event is, in a sense, optional, and the inhabitant is in the happy position of being able to choose his spectacle and so conserve his soul.

E. B. White’s New York

culture and society cats New York history and literature art and design illustration lit Wendy MacNaughton Gay Talese

Gay Talese’s cat archetypes of New York, illustrated by Wendy MacNaughton.

E. B. White quote cities New York culture and society history and literature lit travel

A poem compresses much in a small space and adds music, thus heightening its meaning. The city is like poetry: it compresses all life, all races and breeds, into a small island and adds music and the accompaniment of internal engines.

Literary Jukebox: E. B. White’s Manhattan + Cat Power’s Manhattan

culture and society women politics military human rights Kirsten Gillibrand New York

In which a brilliant feminist Senator – New York’s Kirsten Gillibrand – stands up against rape and schools a U. S. General on how to do his job.

As we know, thousands of rapes are reported in the military each year, manifold more go unreported, and a female soldier in a combat zone is more likely to be raped by a fellow soldier than killed by enemy fire.

vintage New York art and design typography design history and literature history

Gorgeous vintage cover for Atlas of the City of New York, 1891. Complement with how Manhattan got its famous grid.