"CityWorks" Exhibit Showcases Inner Workings Of How NYC Functions

NEW YORK CITY — A new interactive exhibit opening at the New York Hall of Science in Queens will show visitors the inner workings of urban infrastructure and shine a light on the municipal employees who help run the city's transportation, sanitation, urban development, and water/wastewater systems.

"CityWorks," opening on May 3, aims to give visitors a better understanding of the city they live in through a hands-on experience with the help of fun and educational installations, Katie Culp, Chief Learning Officer told Patch.

The new exhibit is the museum's largest addition in more than a decade and is the newest entry since it re-opened in October 2022 after closures for the pandemic and flooding from Hurricane Ida.

It was designed and built in partnership with the Science Museum of Minnesota, officials said. The exhibit also uses real-life city data through collaboration with local non-profit BetaNYC.

"Everything in here is meant to be activated by our visitors — [this exhibit] is really about the ways that engineering and science informs so much about how we live in the city every day," Culp said.

The first part of the exhibit is dedicated to transportation.

Visitors can take control of a city bus on three different routes that go through Times Square, Corona, Queens and parts of the Bronx. A monitor shows GoPro footage captured by a videographer who rode each bus route.

"We start the exhibit with transit because the vast majority of people have been on a bus, we wanted to connect with what people are already familiar with and begin there," Culp said.

Next, the museum showcases an installation of a block of apartment buildings that show the impact of water use in a building, and the effects of unwanted items winding up in the sewer system.

Visitors can pull a cord that sends rain flowing down with blue lights, pulling again increases the rain being into the sewer systems combined with household wastewater.

We really try to bring out those 'I didn't know that' moments [in this exhibit]," Culp added.

Within each main installation are audio recordings by city municipal workers, including a bus dispatcher, wastewater scientist and subway conductor. City agencies and local labor unions collaborated with the museums to make that possible, Culp said.

"They were generous with their time and their stories are fascinating. We really try to emphasize those people who are deeply engaged in making the city function," the chief learning officer told Patch.

Another part of the installation focuses on sanitation and the scale at which the sanitation systems have to function for a big city.

One corner highlights trash recovery and unique items New Yorkers unknowingly or knowingly throw out. In addition, there are three trash bags that can be thrown into the back of a city garbage truck, as well as a 60-pound trash bag that is on display.

"We really thought deeply about the learning experience we were trying to create, we're making them for a mixed age audience. We really wanted to make something that accommodated so many different life experiences," Culp said.

Other highlights of the exhibit include an elevator ride that shows lies beneath the city streets and an interactive subway map that shows what would happen to an area if a subway line was extended.

"We want people to come, see a piece of themselves in here and make connections to understand more about how the city might be shaping for the rest of their lives that never thought about before," Culp added.

You can buy tickets to the museum by visiting its website here.