cities

Pittsburgh skyline at night

Why we can’t quit cities

Infrastructure

A historian’s ode to the resilient city, warts and all.

Design for the Real World: Cities

Arts, Culture & Media
Ramlet al-Baida is the only public beach in Lebanon's seaside capital Beirut, in a city with a serious public space shortage.

Beirut’s only public beach is about to be taken over by an exclusive private resort

Global Politics
A cyclist rides past autumn-colored ivy climbing the wall of a building in downtown Copenhagen November 2, 2010.

Trips by bike finally outnumber those taken by car in Copenhagen

Lifestyle
Donald Trump

How Donald Trump’s anti-immigration rhetoric divided a city

Election 2016
Winter scene of a barn covered in snow

He’s lived in small towns across America — and it makes him look for pieces of home

Culture

It’s not that Deepak Singh craves hearing Hindi or eating hot samosas all the time. It’s just that something about being in a small town makes him crave them more.

Cities that work for the 21st century

Cities: The intersection of people and place

Culture

Some urban planners say the buzz around “smart cities” is an opportunity to think both enthusiastically and cautiously about the future of development. But while it’s the latest trend in urban planning, the fundamental building blocks of cities haven’t changed.

Nowhere for cars in downtown Chicago to go — even with green lights.

Did you get stuck in traffic this morning? They’re trying to find out why

Technology

Traffic isn’t just bad for our moods — it’s also hurting the planet. Reporter Daniel Gross delves into the underlying engineering behind traffic jams, and how cleaning them up will also reduce emissions.

Model-maker Michael Paul Smith poses with a model of a passenger train.

These men bring America’s past to life — just on a much smaller scale

Arts

Hobbyists like Michael Paul Smith and Alan Wolfson specialize in making stunningly details models of America’s past, from small-town scenes to the gritty, sometimes obscene streets of 1980s New York.

A woman hails a cab outside the Empire State Building in New York City.

Taxi sharing in NYC could be a godsend — but would New Yorkers go for it?

Technology

In New York City, sharing a cab with a stranger is about as popular as eating pizza with a knife and fork. Yet a new study by MIT researchers says shared rides could cost half as much, take just a few minutes longer on average and dramatically slow traffic and pollution. But would New Yorkers do it?