For Boston City Hall’s 50th Birthday, a Commemorative Pin

The city’s most polarizing building is now officially middle-aged and a couple of fans have reproduced a pin that was given out during its opening week celebrations in 1969. | Continue reading


@citylab.com | 5 years ago

CityLab Daily: Cities, Don’t Fall in the Branding Trap

Also: How the Green New Deal could retrofit suburbs, and Edinburgh wants a tourist tax. | Continue reading


@citylab.com | 5 years ago

How Can the Green New Deal Deliver Environmental Justice?

There’s a reason why climate-change legislation failed in the past. Environmental-justice advocates don’t want the Green New Deal to repeat those mistakes. | Continue reading


@citylab.com | 5 years ago

How Natural Disasters Can Spur Gentrification

Researchers find a positive association between storm damage and the likelihood of gentrification over the following 10 years. | Continue reading


@citylab.com | 5 years ago

Cities: Don’t Fall in the Branding Trap

Too many places seem determined to convince people they're exactly like someplace else. | Continue reading


@citylab.com | 5 years ago

The Blue Wave’s Midterm Ballot Measures May Get Washed Away

In many states, lawmakers are doing their best to reverse, repeal, and restrict ballot initiatives that swept to victory in November. | Continue reading


@citylab.com | 5 years ago

How the Green New Deal Could Retrofit Suburbs

The original New Deal included a bold attempt to rethink suburbia. We can still learn from it. | Continue reading


@citylab.com | 5 years ago

CityLab Daily: Lights Out for ‘Dark Store’ Theory?

Also: The week Seattle stood still, and a lesson in bike-friendly design. | Continue reading


@citylab.com | 5 years ago

Why Edinburgh Wants a Tourist Tax

Scotland’s capital could charge travelers £2 per day. | Continue reading


@citylab.com | 5 years ago

Should Libraries Be the Keepers of Their Cities’ Public Data?

Public libraries are one of the most trusted institutions, and they want to make sure everyone has access to the information cities are collecting and sharing. | Continue reading


@citylab.com | 5 years ago

Finding Home in a Parking Lot

Some programs offer them parking spaces, toilets, showers, and security. | Continue reading


@citylab.com | 5 years ago

Is the Revolution of 3D-Printed Building Getting Closer?

3D printing was expected to transform architecture and construction, but uptake has been slow. Could that be changing? | Continue reading


@citylab.com | 5 years ago

Navigator: The Little Things

Continue reading


@citylab.com | 5 years ago

Seattle Went on Strike, and Ignited America’s Labor Movement

The Seattle General Strike was a spectacular show of force for the city’s workers. | Continue reading


@citylab.com | 5 years ago

Wisconsin Governor Promises to Close ‘Dark Store’ Tax Loophole

The state's governor has pledged to eliminate a property-tax dodge used by big-box stores. | Continue reading


@citylab.com | 5 years ago

CityLab Daily: Who Gets to Drive on a Warming Planet?

Also: Where does historic preservation go from here? And Anthony Davis Is the NBA’s Amazon. | Continue reading


@citylab.com | 5 years ago

Where Should Historic Preservation Go From Here?

The tools and approaches used in the preservation field are increasingly out of date, and we risk alienating those who should share our cause. | Continue reading


@citylab.com | 5 years ago

Build New Housing in Hong Kong Using This One, Weird Trick

The policy has proven surprisingly difficult to challenge thanks to Hong Kong’s chronic affordable housing shortage and powerful real estate industry. | Continue reading


@citylab.com | 5 years ago

An Inhospitable City: Nairobi After the Dusit Hotel Bombings

The barriers between rich and poor in Kenya's capital city are growing. | Continue reading


@citylab.com | 5 years ago

Why Mayors Keep Trying to Woo Business with Tax Breaks

Despite the volume of research on the misuse of business incentives, more than eight in 10 U.S. mayors still believe they’re good policy. | Continue reading


@citylab.com | 5 years ago

The Troubling Case for ‘Universal Auto Access’

A new study argues that "universal car access" could lift more Americans out of poverty. | Continue reading


@citylab.com | 5 years ago

Anthony Davis Is the NBA’s Amazon

The way cities clamored to win over NBA New Orleans Pelicans All-Star forward Anthony Davis is eerily reminiscent of how cities pursued the Amazon HQ2 deal, and we’ll probably have to get used to this. | Continue reading


@citylab.com | 5 years ago

CityLab Daily: Making Spaces for the World’s Most Vulnerable Kids

Also: Why mayors keep offering tax breaks, and measuring ‘anti-social capital.’ | Continue reading


@citylab.com | 5 years ago

How to Design Playgrounds for the World’s Most Vulnerable Kids

From refugee encampments to central cities, urban poverty prevents a big challenge for designers of child-friendly spaces. | Continue reading


@citylab.com | 5 years ago

Why Mayors Keep Trying To Woo Business With Tax Breaks

Despite the volume of research on the misuse of business incentives, more than eight in 10 U.S. mayors still believe they’re good policy. | Continue reading


@citylab.com | 5 years ago

MapLab: Which Way North?

A biweekly tour of the ever-expanding cartographic landscape. | Continue reading


@citylab.com | 5 years ago

CityLab Daily: What ‘Back Yard’ Really Means to NIMBYs

Also: Decriminalizing fare evasion, and the real link between immigration and crime. | Continue reading


@citylab.com | 5 years ago

A Complete Guide to Understanding Immigrants and Crime

In his State of the Union speech, President Trump again argued for a border wall by insisting that immigration represents a threat to public safety. Research suggests otherwise. | Continue reading


@citylab.com | 5 years ago

Washington Will Decriminalize Fare Evasion. Better Idea: Free Transit

Washington D.C. voted to decriminalize fare evasion. But the city needs to go further. | Continue reading


@citylab.com | 5 years ago

How NIMBYs Made ‘Back Yard’ Mean ‘Entire Neighborhood’

It’s not resistance to development that's the matter, but rather the inability to match different scales of “back yard” locality with the scales of functional geography. | Continue reading


@citylab.com | 5 years ago

How Presidents from Trump to Washington Have Talked Cities in the State of the Union Address

Trump’s mention of cities was not a particularly positive one. But it’s more than other recent presidents have said in their addresses. | Continue reading


@citylab.com | 5 years ago

Affordable Housing Can Improve the American Economy

Building more affordable housing units will increase demand for the wares that fill houses. And someone will need to make them. | Continue reading


@citylab.com | 5 years ago

A Bill to Foil Racist ‘Steering’ in Home Mortgage Lending

A bill from Nevada Senator Catherine Cortez Mastro would restore a Dodd-Frank rule requiring banks to be more transparent about their lending practices. | Continue reading


@citylab.com | 5 years ago

Zoning reform is the first step to affordable housing

Building more affordable housing units will increase demand for the wares that fill houses. And someone will need to make them. | Continue reading


@citylab.com | 5 years ago

Britain’s Post-Brexit Future May Stink

The U.K.’s Environment Agency warns of a grim national rubbish crisis if the country leaves the E.U. without a Brexit deal. | Continue reading


@citylab.com | 5 years ago

Behind the Big Promises of the Micromobility Industry

At a Bay Area summit, devotees evangelized about the world-changing potential of electric scooters and other mobility devices. Safety didn't get as much attention. | Continue reading


@citylab.com | 5 years ago

No, Zoning Reform Isn’t Magic. But It’s Crucial.

The finding of a new study—that upzoning didn’t quickly increase development in areas of Chicago—shouldn’t make zoning reform any less of a priority. | Continue reading


@citylab.com | 5 years ago

CityLab Daily: The Micromobility Gold Rush

Also: How pollution affects school performance, and Paris parks loosen up. | Continue reading


@citylab.com | 5 years ago

How Affordable Housing Can Improve the American Economy

Building more affordable housing units will increase demand for the wares that fill houses. And someone will need to make them. | Continue reading


@citylab.com | 5 years ago

The Micromobility Gold Rush Has Only Just Begun

At a Bay Area summit, devotees evangelized about the world-changing potential of electric scooters and other mobility devices. Safety didn't get as much attention. | Continue reading


@citylab.com | 5 years ago

Paris Will Finally Let You Have a Little Fun in Public Parks

Bikes, games, picnics, and dogs are finally getting a warmer welcome in the French capital’s famously stringent parks and gardens. | Continue reading


@citylab.com | 5 years ago

CityLab Daily: The Suburbanization of Arrests

Also: Heating violations leave residents in the cold, and for good Modernism, visit Queens. | Continue reading


@citylab.com | 5 years ago

How Car Pollution Hurts Kids’ Performance in School

When students switch to schools downwind of major roads, their test scores fall and their absences increase, according to new research. | Continue reading


@citylab.com | 5 years ago

The Suburbanization of American Arrests

“By simply focusing on that city, we’re missing the mark.” | Continue reading


@citylab.com | 5 years ago

17 Candidates Want to Be NYC’s Public Advocate. Does the Public Care?

A special election for New York City's top watchdog has many asking how the office can be more effective, or if it should exist at all. | Continue reading


@citylab.com | 5 years ago

For Good Modernism, Visit Queens

Frampton Tolbert's project draws from the Queens Chamber of Commerce Building Awards program, first organized in 1926 to honor excellence in design and construction. | Continue reading


@citylab.com | 5 years ago

SB 100 Is Moving Cities in California Toward Zero-Emissions Futures

Communities historically marginalized by the environmental movement are spurring progress. | Continue reading


@citylab.com | 5 years ago

Canadian Basic Income Recipients Are Suing Their Government

A three-judge panel hasn’t decided whether to uphold the Ontario government’s unpopular decision. | Continue reading


@citylab.com | 5 years ago