Science & technology | Under construction

New York City is covered in illegal scaffolding

Machine learning algorithms could help bring it down

Child playing on scaffolding in Brooklyn, USA.
Hopping on the tubePhotograph: Magnum Photos/Alex Webb

The city that never sleeps is also, it seems, unable to take down scaffolding. New Yorkers have grown so sick of the ugly structures, and the accompanying ground-level cages in place to protect and divert pedestrians, that Eric Adams, the mayor, last year launched a campaign to clear them from the streets.

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This article appeared in the Science & technology section of the print edition under the headline “Construction sights”

From the March 16th 2024 edition

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