cities
25-26° N: the world’s most perilously populated parallel
In 100 years, perhaps this map showing humanity clustering around the equator will seem “so 21st century.”
How Singapore’s “Garden City” vision fused nature and urban design like nowhere else
Singapore is a breeding ground of truly green buildings.
Highway fatality signs may cause more car crashes
Morbid fatality statistics on digital highway signs seem to distract drivers, thus increasing the number of car crashes.
Urban-rural divide: Are city slickers or countryfolk better at navigation?
A large study concludes that people who grew up in rural areas are superior at navigation, likely because cities tend to be less complex.
These are the world’s top young universities
Africa has the most universities in the 2022 rankings with over two thirds of the world’s youngest universities.
Canceled megaprojects: Alternative visions of New York and London
Take a look at the Times Square Totem, the Trafalgar Square Pyramid, and other landmarks that were never built.
Is a lack of creativity already ruining the metaverse?
With this unique opportunity to create a totally new world, why does the metaverse already feature such old-world concepts?
Twisted cities: 10 places synonymous with psychological disorders
Stockholm Syndrome is the most famous of 10 psychological disorders named after world cities. Most relate to tourism or hostage-taking.
See a futuristic flying car’s first untethered flight
This flying car — more properly called an "electric vertical takeoff and landing (eVTOL) vehicle" — will seat five and fly up to 135 mph.
Habitat for Humanity builds 3D-printed house in 28 hours
Made from concrete, it cost 15% less per square foot to construct than a typical house.
Let George Orwell guide you through 1920s Paris
Famished, not famous: retrace Orwell’s hunger days, when he was one of the city’s legion of poor foreigners.
What was it like to live in ancient Rome?
Historians have been able to piece together a clear picture of how the average Roman citizen spent their waking hours.
There’s a desert hiding in the heart of France
France is split in two by its very own "desert," the Empty Diagonal. The area’s depopulation is fairly recent, and Paris is to blame.
Drowning Holland: how the Netherlands will survive in floating cities
With sea levels rising, the Dutch are pondering floating cities — while also exporting their engineering know-how to turn a tidy profit.
Amazon’s “economic flywheel” built Seattle. Can your city build one?
Why does Seattle continue to be a place that nurtures the development of breakthrough technologies but not Minneapolis, Memphis, or Minsk?
Are big cities bad for our mental health?
Cities overstimulate our senses and are full of people we don't know. Maybe humans were meant for this.
How the brain navigates cities
We seem to be wired to calculate not the shortest path but the “pointiest” one, facing us toward our destination as much as possible.
Walt Disney’s radical vision for a new kind of city
In 1966, Disney announced his intention to build Epcot, an acronym for “Experimental Prototype Community of Tomorrow.”
A thief left her phone at the scene. The victim took over her social media, sparking a wild internet-sleuthing saga
What started as a viral case of public shaming has morphed into a dark story involving internet sleuths, a criminal network, and the suspicious death of a 62-year-old man in St. Louis.
Cockatoos teach each other the secrets of dumpster diving
Australian parrots have worked out how to open trash bins, and the trick is spreading across Sydney.
57% of U.S. structures lie within a natural “hazard hotspot”
A new study mapped areas of the U.S. that are most likely to suffer natural disasters.
Air pollution linked to violent crime in Chicago
As air pollution increases, so does violent crime.
Modular construction: Using Lego-like blocks to build structures of the future
Buildings don't have to be permanent — modular construction can make them modifiable and relocatable.
Water recycling: “Toilet to tap” is future of clean drinking water
As droughts threaten water supplies across the planet, some municipalities aim to utilize an untapped resource: sewage water.
Raccoons love you, but not unconditionally
Some wild animals thrive near humans, but only up to a point.
Deepfake geography: Why fake satellite images are a growing problem
A new study calls the technique "location spoofing."
How cell phone data can help redesign cities
With the rise of Big Data, methods used to study the movement of stars or atoms can now reveal the movement of people. This could have important implications for cities.
The problem with our noisy planet
Noise causes stress. For our ancestors, it meant danger: thunder, animal roars, war cries, triggering a 'fight or run' reaction.
How the pandemic could finally democratize commutes
Whose responsibility is it to ensure that there is affordable access to employment?