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  • Locked out: Where is Occupy Wall Street without Zuccotti Park?

    Protesters gathered this afternoon at 6th Avenue and Canal Street.Photo: Sarah GoodyearI woke up this morning to the news that the occupation of Zuccotti Park had been ended, and my first question was, “Where will all the people go?” The strange legalities surrounding Zuccotti Park have been a critical factor in the development of the […]

    Sarah Goodyear Cities

  • Street-art film fest! Reverse graffiti, urban archaeology, and other writings on the wall

    The walls of our cities are becoming canvases for creative expression in the hands of a new generation of artists. These kids are street-smart and engaged. (And, OK, they’re not all kids.) They work, on some levels, in the same spirit as Occupy Wall Street, reclaiming and transforming the urban landscape, and infusing their art with […]

    Greg Hanscom Cities

  • Defense insiders: Sustainable communities are key to the future

    David Orr.Photo: Lisa DeJongThis story is the second of two pieces excerpted from a feature story in the Chronicle of Higher Education. Read the first piece here, and the full Chronicle story here. Environmental studies professor David Orr has set out to turn the aging rust belt town of Oberlin, Ohio, into a laboratory for […]

    Scott Carlson Cities

  • Pasadena gets to keep its giant fork

    This piece of guerilla art was originally put up as a joke — Pasadena, Calif. resident Bob Stane made a lot of corny jokes about putting a fork in the road at this fork in the road, so his friend made him an 18-foot-tall one for his 75th birthday. It wasn't technically legal (the fork's […]

    Jess Zimmerman Cities

  • The last rider: Learning to win on a 100k bike ride

    David from Eugene passes a decaying farmouse on the Verboort Populaire.Photo: Elly Blue“I think the rain is really good for us as cyclists,” said my friend Maria Schur. We were in her car, headed to the Verboort Populaire, an annual 100-kilometer (about 62-mile) bicycle ride west of Portland, Ore. “It’s good for character development. It’s […]

    Elly Blue Transportation

  • The creative genius of Occupy Wall Street

    Photo: Paul SteinWhat are cities for, anyway? There are as many answers as there are people who love (or hate) cities. They are engines for economic growth, if you ask economist Ed Glaeser. They are breeding grounds for human innovation, if you ask physicist Geoffrey West. If you’re a dictator or a despot — or […]

    Sarah Goodyear Cities

  • Dr. Dirt: Street artist scrubs images into the urban landscape

    Photo: c/o MooseStreet artist Moose Benjamin Curtis was having some difficulty with the police. The officers had just arrested him for creating designs on a wall in South London. But it was complicated — as things often are when Moose is involved. You see, Moose doesn’t use spray paint or wallpaper paste — the usual […]

    Greg Hanscom Cities

  • Mercedes mows down Occupy protestors

    Where's the mayor of Vilnius when you need him? This video shows a Mercedes nearly hitting two Occupy Oakland protestors at slow speed as they cross the street, causing one of them to first make a "stop" motion and then bang twice on the hood — at which point the driver decided to just run […]

    Jess Zimmerman Cities

  • Old-school flower house leaves LEED in the dust

    This is not your grandmother’s flower house.Photo: c/o Phipps ConservatoryThe Phipps Conservatory in Pittsburgh is the kind of place your grandmother would have loved. You know the routine — the spring tulip show, a whole room full of orchids, 5,000 varieties of rosebush. Housed in a classic Victorian glass house, it’s the kind of place […]

    Greg Hanscom Cities

  • Why small cities are poised for success in an oil-starved future

    Cross-posted from Urbanite. A couple of years ago, while I was reporting on a redevelopment plan in Buffalo, N.Y., I met up with Robert Shibley, an architecture professor who had long been interested in a renaissance for his once-great Rust Belt town. Buffalo, along with cities like Utica, Syracuse, and Rochester, had the sort of […]

    Scott Carlson Cities