urban living

Forget free wi-fi: America just wants buses that show up on time

Transit officials bribe riders with high-tech perks, when they really just want a fast, reliable way to get around.

San Francisco has its first river otter in 30 years

Sam lives in the Sutro Baths, the ruins of a once-privately owned swimming complex that are now part of the Golden Gate National Recreation Area.

Bus driver catches 7-year-old girl when she falls from a window

Keyla McCree, an autistic 7-year-old, pushed a panel out of the new air conditioner in her Brooklyn apartment and climbed through it, out a third-story window. But she doesn’t even have a scratch, thanks to New York bus driver Steven St. Bernard, who lives in the same apartment complex. St. Bernard managed to catch Keyla […]

The 6 most awesome telephone pole signs

Smart humans lighten up their nabes with funny phone pole signs. Herewith, our favorites from the internet.

Giant plant tags tell you how to care for streetlights, hydrants, and mailboxes

It’s all very well to talk about the urban jungle, but how often are you supposed to water it? Carmichael Collective’s tongue-in-cheek urban plant tags offer care instructions for metropolitan flora like benches, fire hydrants, stop signs, and mailboxes.

An inhabited apartment inside a subway station

Ad agency Ubi Bene built an apartment for five roommates in the middle of a Paris Metro station.

Anonymous vigilantes clean up Bangalore

The Indian city of Bangalore is not the cleanest, apparently. So a group of young Bangaloreans is cleaning up the city, a block at a time. And they're doing it anonymously.  After a year of "spot-fixing," the group — they call themselves the "Ugly Indians" — has managed to clear more than eight miles of […]

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 […]

Peebottle Farms: Cooped up in the city

As soon as it got warm enough, Tei and I started bickering about the chicken coop. The plan was that "we" would build it, but we both knew that meant Tei would grumble about it first, and then reluctantly figure out how and do the heavy lifting.