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cities

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    Jane Jacobs and the book that inspired a revolution

    If cities are the greenest form of human settlement that we could possibly aspire to, Jane Jacobs left us the owner’s manual for how to build them. Fifty years ago this month, Random House published The Death and Life of Great American Cities, an extraordinary book in which Jacobs laid out the principles for creating […]

    Anthony Flint Buildings

  • High-speed rail that never was: 1910 proposal for S.F. to L.A. in four hours

    If you think high-speed rail is some kind of newfangled obsession of liberal elites who would rather not sit in traffic behind SUVs covered in bumper stickers announcing loyalty to their ideological foes, you're only partly right. As early as 1910, inventor Fletcher E. Felts proposed an elevated, high speed railway system to connect Oakland […]

    Christopher Mims Buildings

  • Why cities should destroy their highways

    America has a huge transportation infrastructure deficit, which means lots of our highways are due to be rebuilt. But according to Next American City editor at large Diana Lind, we'd be better off simply knocking them down, especially the ones that blight our cities. It's been done before, reports Andrew Nusca at SmartPlanet: After the […]

    Christopher Mims Buildings

  • 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

  • Carbon monoxide makes you breathe easier (metaphorically), says study

    So, carbon monoxide will kill you, obviously. But like a lot of things that will kill you, in small quantities it apparently makes you feel really great! In a recent study, carbon monoxide exposure made people less stressed out about the negative effects of living in the city, including crowds, noise, and presumably carbon monoxide […]

    Jess Zimmerman Health

  • A DIY bike lane in Mexico City

    Tired of waiting for the Mexico City government to deliver on a promise to build 186 miles of bike lanes (they've managed 14), a group of residents decided to take matters into their own hands. Eighty people from local pedestrian and bike organizations built three miles of priority bike lane in eight hours.  These bike lanes […]

    Jess Zimmerman Buildings

  • Grimy to green: Three cities that have cleaned up their acts

    Jad Daley with the Trust for Public LandPhoto: Hanna Welch All right, we know that no place with hundreds of thousands of inhabitants deserves to be described in these terms — but let’s face it, some cities are known for being dumps. Yet every dump can be cleaned up. Few understand this better than Jad […]

    Greg Hanscom Science

  • 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