Urban Planning
These ‘Mini Metro’ illustrations are marvelous and eye-opening
These illustrations of the world’s subway systems by Washington, D.C.-based graphic designer and self-professed transit nerd Peter Dovak are not just marvelous, they’re also eye-opening.
How cities embraced biking and walking in 2016
While the U.S. is still a few years away from prioritizing people over cars, there were lots of inspiring moments this year that suggest the country is well on its way. We take a closer look.
Cities fighting climate change: a hopeful story from 2016
Urban centers continue to become centers of green innovation and reasons for cautious optimism for environmentalists.
Hashtag tourism: Using Instagram to explore our neighborhoods
Traditional "placemaking"—that is, turning a public space into a destination—requires a ton of planning and money. But now, with handy phones and the power of hashtags, we can discover and promote neighborhood gems in a snap.
How Bucharest saved 13 historic churches from demolition by rolling them away
In the 1980s, when a vast urban redesign threatened Bucharest’s historic churches, one engineer went to extraordinary lengths to save them.
Creator of 'one square meter' house to build a Tinyhouse University in Berlin
Tinyhouse University is a "post migrant education project" that seeks open-source and creative solutions for both static and temporary housing.
How progressive cities can lead the climate change battle
Cities are the answer, say those strategizing for sustainable development
Edmonton wants to fight winter with better planning
The Canadian city’s proposed winter guidelines seek to fight frigid temps with smart design.
How smarter technology can humanize city government
Sree Sreenivasan, New York’s new Chief Digital Officer, believes better digital storytelling can spur civic engagement.
How Pokémon Go is improving your city
Millions of new eyes—and feet—on the street
Can architects solve the world's housing shortage?
In today’s unstable environmental, social, and political climate, can architects play a role in creating a more equal society? Organizers of the World Architecture Festival, held last week in Berlin, Germany, seem to think so.
Placemaking’s power to build healthier, happier communities outlined in new report
The Case for Healthy Places connects community building with wellbeing.
How Vancouver got half of its citizens out of their cars
Vancouver residents now take an incredible 50 percent of their trips by walking, biking, and riding transit.
How 11 cities are leading the climate change fight
Mayors and city councils are on the front lines when it comes to creating greener government policy and tackling transportation issues, energy usage, and sustainability.
See cities grow in seconds with Google’s Timelapse tool
Google just made some major updates to its Timelapse feature, which uses over 5 million satellite images to show how the earth has changed since 1984, as seen from above. So you can see cities grow before your eyes.
Will the 2016 election change our thinking on cities?
Americans who live in rural communities felt exceptionally angry towards a federal government that failed them, and voted for a new direction. Where does that leave city-dwellers, who make up a majority of the U.S. population?
Trump’s transportation transition leader loves building roads
Martin Whitmer has been heralded as an expert on "surface transportation policy"—which translates to being good at building lots and lots of highways.
Honeycomb-shaped urban garden may inspire you to create your own
Designed by OFL Architecture in collaboration with furniture brand Miliashop, the miniature urban oasis is also sustainable.
How an MIT lab plans to build more data-driven cities
The new Real Estate innovation Lab will push data analysis, 3D printing, and new construction technologies.
For this Syrian architect, lessons for future lay within city ruins
Architect Marwa al-Sabouni believes, amid the rubble of Homs, lay insights for building better communities
Is improving our infrastructure one issue all Americans can agree on?
Rebuilding America is a rare issue that draws bipartisan agreement; can it be come in a way that everyone supports?
Prince Charles’s architectural playground might not be so bad
Poundbury, the Disneyland-like model village conceived by the Prince of Wales, is a mixed-use town that actually works.
Can public drinking revitalize downtowns?
The practice of sipping an alcoholic beverage on a sidewalk or park bench might be the norm in countries like France, China, and Brazil, but it’s been illegal in most U.S. cities for decades. But the tide may be turning.
The urban future is grim, according to this U.S. military training video
Imagine roving bands of child marauders, mazes of squalor extending from high-rises to subterranean networks, and underground slumlords. These are just a few details from the urban future the Pentagon imagines we’ll experience by 2030.
America’s 11 most beautiful streets
From narrow, picturesque cobblestones to wide, tree-lined boulevards, the streets in the United States vary as much as the cities in which they reside.
Build your dream subway system in Mini Metro
A calming strategy game that is as beautiful as it is simple, Mini Metro lets players design subway maps for a growing city.
Walkable cities are healthier cities, new study affirms
Implicit in the work of all architects and urban designers is the idea that good design can improve human life. And now, a massive global study spanning 14 cities and 10 countries has put that idea to the test and found it true.
The power of pop-up retail
Oakland, California’s Popuphood has a model for small business survival in increasingly expensive cities.
Election 2016: National ballot measures, from solar to subways
Hundreds of billions of dollars could be poured into our energy grids, transit systems, and housing markets through the most infrastructure-heavy array of ballot measures in history.
Why Wrigley Field is the ideal urban ballpark
Cubs fans, whose team has finally returned to the World Series, have been blessed not only with one of baseball’s greatest parks, but one of the best examples of a stadium as an anchor for a thriving, walkable neighborhood.
Chicago’s new Riverwalk offers a vision of the future of urban parks
The city’s new waterfront gem shows how urban public spaces are evolving
India’s first ‘smart city’ will have connected lighting, transit, and more
The largest city in central India, Nagpur, will become the country’s first "smart city"—outfitted with all kinds of technological infrastructure including 745 miles of fiber network cables, 136 Wifi hotspots, 100 interactive kiosks, and 3,800 networked cameras.
Why cities may save our climate
While it’s easy to feel despair over the scant federal response to climate change, it misses a true bright spot in environmental action: our cities.
Wavy footbridge in China is infrastructure at its most playful
The 607 feet long and 13 feet high Lucky Knot bridge undulates in several strands and connects the banks of the Dragon King Harbour River in the Meixi Lake district.
Could Cleveland become the sustainable city of tomorrow?
It turns out Cleveland’s economy, climate, rich soil, and ample water supply make it a prime test bed for next-generation initiatives focused on expanding urban areas while protecting and conserving their environmental assets.
Planning While Black: How cities can design for all
LA's bicycle coalition director, Tamika Butler, on how the way we think about cities needs to change.
Map collection showing housing discrimination now online
Although the maps have always been available to the public through the National Archives, this is the first time that over 150 maps and 5,000 area descriptions have been put online for anyone to access.
A roadmap for America’s transportation future
Department of Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx talks high-tech cars and infrastructure as a vehicle for equality
Are solar roadways on the road to reality?
The first public trial of Solar Roadways will soon debut in Missouri, and two European agencies are also testing this type of futuristic technology, which begs the question: Are solar roads closer to reality than we think?