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cities

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    Photographer turns unrelenting boringness of suburbia into art

    Jason Griffiths is an assistant professor of design at Arizona State, and apparently living in the middle of all that desert sprawl got to him after a while. In the early aughts he jumped into a car, drove all over the country, and made a discovery so banal it’s practically a tautology: Suburbia is the same everywhere.

    Christopher Mims Buildings

  • Karaoke and the power of ‘bottom-up self-organization’

    In the season of budget-busting holiday spectacuthons, some cities are finding more humble ways to liven up parks and public spaces -- and the only fireworks are the ones residents bring with them.

    Grist staff Culture

  • In Madrid, a highway becomes a park

    Smart cities all around the world are getting rid of highways, and in Madrid, not only has the city built a tunnel to drive a urban-fabric-ripping highway underground, it has turned the reclaimed land into a park. In the New York Times, critic Michael Kimmelman tours the park and reports that, while "still a work […]

    Sarah Laskow Buildings

  • The architecture of hedonism: Putting the pleasure into green living

    Bjarke Ingels.This interview originally appeared in The Dirt. Bjarke Ingels is founding partner of Bjarke Ingels Group (BIG). Ingels, rated as one of the 100 most creative people in business by Fast Company, is also a visiting professor at Harvard University Graduate School of Design. Q. You’ve been calling for a new approach, “hedonistic sustainability,” […]

    Jared Green Cities

  • Top cities stories of 2011

    It’s that time of year again: When public schools everywhere cast about desperately for a holiday celebration that doesn’t involve Jesus or a dude in a red suit; when families gather from thither and yon to spend a few days remembering why they’ve scattered thither and yon in the first place; and yes, it’s time […]

    Greg Hanscom Cities

  • Cops mock Seattle jogger nearly killed by a truck

    In Seattle, a semi truck hit a jogger, nearly killing him. While the jogger lay almost dying, the police officers who responded to the accident were busy sneering at his decision not to drive a car. This being 2011, their comments were caught on video. Here's the most relevant excerpt, from the local TV station […]

    Sarah Laskow Cities

  • Giant smiley measures a city’s mood

    The Fühl-o-meter (Feel-o-meter), also known as the Public Face, is an art installation, which is probably good because if it were an official civic amenity it might be a little Orwellian. But as art it’s cool! The idea is that cameras scan the faces of people passing through the city, and analyze their expressions to […]

    Jess Zimmerman Cities

  • IKEA to design an entire neighborhood

    Exciting news for those whose entire house is populated by IKEA furniture (we know you're out there): the Swedish furniture company is going to be building an entire neighborhood in London. We know. It'll be like living in the IKEA store! With a Swedish meatball shop on every corner and 24/7 access to lingonberry jam. […]

    Sarah Laskow Buildings

  • How bikes can solve America’s most pressing problems

    (click to embiggen) Air quality, obesity, commute times, strained family budgets, unnecessary deaths, runaway health care expenses — is there anything that a mass shift to bicycles transportation wouldn't solve? And it's not like this is a fantasy — Europe has demonstrated that not only is this possible, it's the future.

    Christopher Mims Culture