You Can’t Imagine The City Without It
Spec work for the Metropolitan Transit Authority, 2026
Truth be told, I never really understood why the MTA doesn’t capitalize on the subway’s cultural impact more often. Obviously, their primary goal is to shuttle 3.4 million daily straphangers safely across the city, but at the same time, the New York City subway was pivotal in shaping the metropolis and represents the resilience the five boroughs are known for in music, film, television and more. It’s a New York icon, on par with the Empire State Building or the Statue of Liberty, and I wanted to create a campaign to celebrate that.
My goal with “You Can’t Imagine The City Without It” was to emphasize the qualitative value of the subway system by erasing it. Removing any trace of a functional MTA from iconic NYC moments forces your average New Yorker to acknowledge the ways the subway bleeds into their everyday life and everything they’d lose if MTA funding fell through (in this case, if congestion pricing wasn’t passed). I picked these three subway moments in particular for variety–one classic New York band, one classic New York phrase, and one classic New York movie–but also because they illustrate how the concept can be applied to a number of different mediums, with the right resources.
Ideally, this campaign will convince your average New Yorker that, despite its many flaws, our robust transit system shouldn’t be taken for granted… after all, there’s no such thing as a world-class city without a world-class subway.