The School for the Physical City was built in an office building in the central business district of Manhattan for 500 students, in grades 7 through 12, who use the city’s infrastructure as a vehicle for studying traditional academic disciplines. It is one of the new, small theme schools inaugurated in 1993/94 by the New York City (NYC) Board of Education with support from four nonprofit organisations, initiated under the New Visions School Programme by the federal government.