Headway
The Soundtrack to Philly’s Waning Gun Violence
Teens in Philadelphia are trying to make safer neighborhoods. Many are starting with music.
By Sammy Caiola and
Headway
Exploring the world’s challenges through the lens of progress.
Highlights
Credit How Camden, N.J., Cut Its Murder Rate to a 40-Year Low
In their own words, members of the community tell the story of how change came to the city, once among the nation’s deadliest.
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In Philadelphia, Beautified Blocks Build Community and Safety
Environmental design interventions play a subtle role in helping the city reduce gun violence.
By Shayla Colon and
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CreditMaya Nguyen Want to Change Your Neighborhood? Start With a Power Walk.
This simple stroll can help you explore the possibilities for transformation in the place you live.
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CreditGraham Dickie/The New York Times HeadwayCan a 3.5-Acre, $296 Million Park Save Lower Manhattan?
Two new parks fortifying the city’s coastline survived a bureaucratic gantlet that reveals why progress so often feels stuck.
By Michael Kimmelman and
Credit critic’s NotebookFor the Future of Water Conservation, Look to … Los Angeles?
Years of drought forced the city to rethink its water usage and, almost under the radar, to remake its identity.
By Michael Kimmelman and
CreditAdali Schell for The New York Times What Is the Future of George Floyd Square?
Five years after the corner where George Floyd was killed became the epicenter of a national protest movement, the future of the site is unsettled.
By Ernesto Londoño and
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Hindsight
More in Hindsight ›Dear People of 2021: What Can We Learn From Hindsight?
For the first series from the Headway initiative, we followed up on forecasts from decades past to ask what the passage of time has revealed.
By
CreditMike Haddad Millions More People Got Access to Water. Can They Drink It?
The U.N. pledged to halve the proportion of the world without access to clean drinking water by 2015.
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CreditMike Haddad What Can One Life Tell Us About the Battle Against H.I.V.?
In 2001, U.N. estimates suggested 150 million people would be infected with H.I.V. by 2021. That preceded an ambitious global campaign to curb the virus. How well did it work?
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CreditMike Haddad Europe Met a Climate Target. But Is It Burning Less Carbon?
The European Union promised to reduce its emissions 20 percent by 2020. Did it happen?
By
CreditMike Haddad Extreme Poverty Has Been Sharply Cut. What Has Changed?
The U.N. pledged to cut by half the proportion of people living in the worst conditions around the world.
By
CreditMike Haddad
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Housing
More in Housing ›Can a Big Village Full of Tiny Homes Ease Homelessness in Austin?
One of the nation’s largest experiments in affordable housing to address chronic homelessness is taking shape outside the city limits.
By Lucy Tompkins and
Credit How Houston Moved 25,000 People From the Streets Into Homes of Their Own
The nation’s fourth-largest city hasn’t solved homelessness, but its remarkable progress can suggest a way forward.
By Michael KimmelmanLucy Tompkins and
CreditChristopher Lee for The New York Times This Is Public Housing. Just Don’t Call It That.
Montgomery County, Md., like many places, has an affordable housing crisis. So it started acting like a benevolent real estate investor.
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CreditJustin J Wee for The New York Times The Long Emergency of Homelessness
If we understood the loss of housing as a collective challenge engulfing our communities, how would it guide our response?
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CreditElliot Ross for The New York Times 30 People Tell Us What Homelessness Is Really Like
Packing groceries, bathing in fountains, finding comfort in an orange blanket. Explore people's stories and their answers to common questions.
Interviews by Susan Shain and
CreditLauren Tamaki
Peatland Questions?
More in Peatland Questions? ›We asked for questions about the amazing carbon-storage capabilities of peatlands, and how these ecosystems keep the planet breathing. Readers sent us more than a thousand. Here are some answers.
Besides mosquitoes, what lives in a peatland?
We asked for questions about the amazing carbon-storage capabilities of peatlands, and how these ecosystems keep the planet breathing. Readers sent us more than a thousand. Here are some answers.
Credit How do peatlands capture carbon, and why is it so important to the planet?
We asked for questions about the amazing carbon-storage capabilities of peatlands, and how these ecosystems keep the planet breathing. Readers sent us more than a thousand. Here are some answers.
Credit Why can’t we create, build or plant new peatlands?
We asked for questions about the amazing carbon-storage capabilities of peatlands, and how these ecosystems keep the planet breathing. Readers sent us more than a thousand. Here are some answers.
Credit How do we preserve or restore peatlands?
We asked for questions about the amazing carbon-storage capabilities of peatlands, and how these ecosystems keep the planet breathing. Readers sent us more than a thousand. Here are some answers.
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Progress, Revisited
More in Progress, Revisited ›How the Memphis Sanitation Workers’ Strike Changed the Labor Movement
The 1968 action led to greater economic mobility for Black workers. Today, union activists are trying to capture some of that spirit.
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CreditErnest C. Withers, Sr., via Withers Family Trust Three Days That Changed the Thinking About Black Women’s Health
Forty years ago, Black women convened to discuss how race affected their health. They helped reimagine what medical care could look like.
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CreditPhoto Illustration by Alanna Fields; Photograph, via Spelman College Archives Sentenced to Life as Boys, They Made Their Case for Release
At age 17, Donnell Drinks was one of many young men in Philadelphia who went to prison for life without parole. Today, the city has resentenced more of those prisoners than any other jurisdiction.
By Issie Lapowsky and
CreditAbdul Kircher for The New York Times How Greenwood Grew a Thriving Black Economy
W.E.B. Du Bois saw the key to Black prosperity in places like Tulsa, where Black residents patronized Black stores. Even today it serves as a model.
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CreditGreenwood Cultural Center/Getty Images The Elusive Quest for Black Progress
Many measures of Black achievement in the U.S. have stalled or reversed. A series from Headway looks back at historical gains for their lessons today.
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CreditW.E.B Du Bois via The Library of Congress
Headway and The New York Times Magazine
More in Headway and The New York Times Magazine ›Remaking the River That Remade L.A.
Over the past century it has been channeled, subdued, blighted. Is it time for the Los Angeles River to serve the city in a new way?
By
CreditAdali Schell for The New York Times After years of destructive weather that have disrupted Puerto Rico’s food supplies, new visions of local agriculture are taking root.
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CreditMaridelis Morales Rosado for The New York Times Architects Plan a City for the Future in Ukraine, While Bombs Still Fall
Irpin was one of the first Ukrainian cities to be destroyed and liberated. Now it’s becoming a laboratory for rebuilding.
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CreditMichal Siarek for The New York Times In an Age of Constant Disaster, What Does It Mean to Rebuild?
Each catastrophe is a test of what kind of society we’ve built. And each recovery offers a chance, however fleeting, to build another.
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CreditJamie Chung for The New York Times. Concept by Pablo Delcan. Prop stylist: JJ Chan. Can a National Museum Rebuild Its Collection Without Colonialism?
After a fire destroyed thousands of Indigenous artifacts, the curators of this Brazilian museum are adopting a radical new approach.
By Mariana Lenharo and
CreditLuisa Dörr for The New York Times
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If U.S. Colleges Are Dying, Why Are Students Applying?
Plus, the growing demand for higher education to prove its value.
Who’s Feeding the Kids?
Plus, what SNAP cuts bring to the cafeteria table.
We Need More Houses. Why Aren’t More Being Built?
Plus, why we’re making fewer houses than we did in the 2000s
Why Don’t We Know How Many People Are Homeless?
In our conversation about numbers that explain the world, we’re looking at the point-in-time count.
TimesVideoThe Hidden Park Under the Brooklyn Bridge
Beneath the Manhattan side of New York City’s most storied bridge lies acres of public land that was once fenced off and nearly forgotten. Michael Kimmelman, architecture critic and editor-at-large of Headway, tours the space, known by some as Gotham Park, with one of its champions to see how it’s being transformed.
By Michael Kimmelman, Gabriel Blanco, Stephanie Swart and Edward Vega
HeadwayInfant Mortality Fell for Decades. Why Did That Stop?
Our weekly conversation about the numbers that chart progress continues.
HeadwayBirthrates Are Down. That Can Be a Sign of Progress.
The first in a weekly series exploring where we’re headed one number at a time.
HeadwayChildhood Trauma Doesn’t Have to Be a Lifelong Curse
Decades after a landmark study showed the lasting health effects of such trauma, researchers are finding ways to guard against enduring harm.
By Rochelle Sharpe and Gabriella Angotti-Jones
HeadwayPeople Need Clean Air. To Get It, They Need Clear Data.
The growing availability of low-cost air quality sensors is helping people across the world track air pollution.
By Preeti Jha
Dear HeadwayWhat Hawaii’s Tiny Homes Reveal About the Housing Crisis
They show the promise of modular construction in response to housing shortfalls.
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