Centers of the battle

God began the world’s story in a garden and will conclude it in a well-planned city, as Chapter 21 of the book of Revelation tells us. America’s 13 original states each began in a colonial town, and the last was the best-planned, as our first story in this special section relates | The Editors

Illustration by Krieg Barrie

We know why God loves cities: They are places where millions of people created in His image congregate, and what could be more beautiful than that? We also know why God hated Sodom and hates the sin found everywhere but clustered more in cities: They are often places where we worship the idols we create rather than the God who created us.

The stories that follow are all based in a love for cities: Savannah, planted in a way that still bears fruit; New Orleans, drenched in unique habits; Detroit, where amid the ruin of man's plans Christians still push up boldly like flowers through sidewalk cracks; Brooklyn, trying to redevelop prime spaces without falling into edifice complexes; and devastated Port-au-Prince, which at least has the opportunity to start anew.