Just walked Walk No. 04 · Is rent predicted by walk time to the M? · Next walk date coming soon. Get it in your inbox

The math is the argument.

Public math walks through New York City. We measure the street, model it, redraw it, and make the case to the people who decide.

See the walks Read the research
01

Measure

Count, pace, and time the street. The sidewalk is the dataset.

02

Model

Turn what we counted into a model, then test it against public data like PLUTO.

03

Design

Redraw the block. Sketch what better looks like, with the numbers behind it.

04

Advocate

Take the argument to the people who decide, with the math attached.

Start here

For neighborsJoin a walk. No math background needed just curiosity and comfortable shoes.
Upcoming walks
For educatorsStandards-aligned lessons that take Grade 7 math outside, built from a real after-school club.
Curriculum
For planners & researchersOpen questions, public data, and methods you can check for yourself.
Research
For partners & pressWalks, talks, and collaborations with advocates, schools, and institutions.
Work together
Featured study · Walk No. 03

Why is a 19-story tower next to a 2-story rowhouse?

Same street in Bushwick. Same R6 zoning. Floor Area Ratio explains the gap and it'll show where the unbuilt room on the block actually is, and who could use it.

19stories · 60 Cedar St
2stories · next door
R6zoning · both lots
Read the full study Explore the FAR map
A Bushwick rowhouse with three new floors built on top, rising above its two-story neighbors on the same block

Same zoning. Nineteen stories next to two.

Cedar Street, Bushwick · Walk No. 03

Walks

Each walk asks a question you can answer from the sidewalk, and ships with a field kit anyone can run.

All walks & kits
Five walkers around a café table after the walk, notes and coffee on the marble tabletop
No. 04 · BushwickWalked · Oct 3
Walk Time & Rent Is rent predicted by walk time to the M?
Looking up at a Bushwick rowhouse with a modern addition stacked on top, taller than its neighbors
No. 03 · BushwickWalked · Aug 29
Floor Area Ratio How much building does the zoning allow — and who gets to use it?
Two walkers stretching a tape measure across the pavement under the elevated M, chalk math on the ground
No. 02 · RidgewoodField kit
The Leftover Triangle Heron's formula and daylighting at the Palmetto/Onderdonk triangle.
The guide talks through the problem with walkers holding clipboards under the elevated train at Broadway and Cornelia St
No. 01 · BroadwayField kit
Who Gets the Space? Measuring who the street was actually built for.

Open questions

The Walkthrough is organized around questions you can answer with data. Each one gets a study, a map, and a walk behind it.

Q01How much more housing fits on a Bushwick block?Published Q02Is rent predicted by walk time to the M?Walked · Oct 3 Q03Does the B38 on DeKalb Avenue run better with a bus lane?In progress Q04What's a curb worth — a dining shed or a parking space?Up next Q05What happened to Bedford Avenue's three missing blocks of protected lane?Queued Q06Near the station, does new building outpace displacement?Queued
Students in school hoodies measuring the schoolyard court with a tape measure
In the classroom

Math walks, after school.

Thirteen scholars, grades 5–8, meet twice a week in Bushwick to take the unit they just finished in class out into the neighborhood — scale drawings of their own schoolyard, a redesigned bus stop.

A Grade 7 curriculum aligned to NYS Next Generation standards is being built from it, one lesson at a time.

13scholars
2×a week
Decstudent showcase
See the curriculum

Writing

All posts on Substack
Aug 16, 2026 · SubstackFloor Area Ratio, Part 1Why the rowhouse and the tower on Cedar Street share a zoning district — and what that means for new housing. Coming · SubstackFloor Area Ratio, Part 2: Affordable for whom?The walk's redesign exercise, the Bushwick Community Plan, and what AMI actually means. Coming · SubstackWhat's a curb worth?Year-round outdoor dining, and the economics of a dining shed versus a parked car.
Portrait of Jordan, smiling, in glasses and a light polo
About

A math teacher who reads the city like a word problem.

The Walkthrough is run by Jordan, a 7th-grade math teacher in Bushwick and a former professional basketball player. It started as a way to get students outside with a tape measure and grew into a public series on housing, transit, and the street — in the tradition of Jane Jacobs, Robert Caro, Richard Rothstein, and Donald Shoup.

Talk · Riders Alliance Nerd Night Film · with Union Docs [PRESS / PARTNER]
Full bio & CV Work together

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