The Year of the Affected Generation

On issues like climate change and gun violence, youthful voices demanded answers in 2018. | Continue reading


@citylab.com | 5 years ago

2018 Was Just 1968 All Over Again

Fifty years ago, Martin Luther King was assassinated. But the racist housing and policing policies he was fighting are still with us. | Continue reading


@citylab.com | 5 years ago

Why British Town Twinning Will Survive Brexit

After World War II, town twinning was an expression of European solidarity. Now, budget cuts and Brexit have called the tradition into question, but many in the U.K. want it to continue. | Continue reading


@citylab.com | 5 years ago

2018 Was the Year of the Smart City Skeptic

Technology companies aren't really built to fix society. So maybe think twice about letting them rebuild urban spaces. | Continue reading


@citylab.com | 5 years ago

Navigator: Thank You, Next (Year)

Continue reading


@citylab.com | 5 years ago

When Millennials Battle Boomers Over Housing

"Cities that claim to promote inclusion cannot just relegate the non-rich to economically segregated parts of town." | Continue reading


@citylab.com | 5 years ago

What Happens to Kid Culture When You Close the Streets to Cars

For one thing, the population of young kids is increasing, even as the country struggles with low birth rates. | Continue reading


@citylab.com | 5 years ago

From Singapore to D.C. to Lagos: Global Thinkers on Ideas That Died in 2018

Sam Adams, Sarah Deer, Stephen Goldsmith, Sarah Ichioka, Emeka Okereke, Rhonda Vonshay Sharpe, Katie Wells, and David Zipper weigh in. | Continue reading


@citylab.com | 5 years ago

CityLab Daily: Uber for Expectant Mothers

Also: A graphical guide to the retail apocalypse, and the year of the YIMBY. | Continue reading


@citylab.com | 5 years ago

From Minneapolis to Seattle, 2018 Was a YIMBY Year

From Minneapolis to Seattle, pro-housing forces found a way to fend off their NIMBY foes. | Continue reading


@citylab.com | 5 years ago

The 2018 Retail Apocalypse, in 6 Charts and a Map

Store closures are up—but other measures suggest brick-and-mortar retail is still doing OK. | Continue reading


@citylab.com | 5 years ago

When a Jail Becomes a Homeless Shelter

A plan in Seattle stokes concerns about the link between homelessness and incarceration. | Continue reading


@citylab.com | 5 years ago

2018 Was the Year of the YIMBY

From Minneapolis to Seattle, pro-housing forces found a way to fend off their NIMBY foes. | Continue reading


@citylab.com | 5 years ago

How Rural America Is Saving Itself

It’s too late for urban commentators to "save" rural America. It’s already saving itself. | Continue reading


@citylab.com | 5 years ago

In Columbus, Expectant Moms Will Get On-Demand Rides to the Doctor

The novel ride-hailing service for low-income pregnant women will be piloted in 2019. | Continue reading


@citylab.com | 5 years ago

CityLab Daily: Will People Buy Electric Cars When the Incentives Stop?

Also: Inside the strongest clean energy requirement in the U.S., and a historical trove of “persuasive maps.” | Continue reading


@citylab.com | 5 years ago

Does Norway's Thriving EV Market Still Need Incentives?

Thanks to generous incentives, half of all new cars sold in Norway are EVs. But the push to give up gas and diesel is yielding to another goal: making the personal car itself an endangered species. | Continue reading


@citylab.com | 5 years ago

Will Norway’s Electric-Vehicle Boom Outlast Its Incentives?

Thanks to generous incentives, half of all new cars sold in Norway are EVs. But the push to give up gas and diesel is yielding to another goal: making the personal car itself an endangered species. | Continue reading


@citylab.com | 5 years ago

2018 Was the Year of the Smart City Skeptic

Technology companies don't really want to fix society. So maybe think twice about letting them reinvent urban spaces. | Continue reading


@citylab.com | 5 years ago

These ‘Persuasive Maps’ Want You to Believe

A digital collection from Cornell University shows how subjective maps can be used to manipulate, rather than present the world as it really is. | Continue reading


@citylab.com | 5 years ago

Inside the Bill That Set the ‘Strongest Clean Energy Requirement in the Nation’

Here's how. | Continue reading


@citylab.com | 5 years ago

CityLab Daily: When Suburbia Got Complicated

Also: Amazon’s “eyes on the street,” and mapping the urban tree canopy. | Continue reading


@citylab.com | 5 years ago

How Manhattan's Streets Would Look as Valued Public Space

Two designers propose a radical rethinking of the grid that puts pedestrians first. | Continue reading


@citylab.com | 5 years ago

Every Tree in the City, Mapped

Researchers at Descartes Labs are using artificial intelligence to make a better map of the urban tree canopy. | Continue reading


@citylab.com | 5 years ago

Once Again, a Ban on Matatus in the Nairobi City Center Has Failed

A ban on the busses that are many Kenyans only travel option lasted a day. | Continue reading


@citylab.com | 5 years ago

2018 Was the Year of the Aspirational Park

Private funding and high-impact design were recurring themes of new urban parks in 2018. So was the hope that parks can unite, repair, and invigorate cities. | Continue reading


@citylab.com | 5 years ago

The Fears Behind Amazon’s ‘Eyes on the Street’

The tech company’s proposed facial recognition video doorbell could be a civil libertarian’s nightmare. | Continue reading


@citylab.com | 5 years ago

2018 Was the Year of Europe’s War on Cars

From Paris to Madrid, efforts to curb the use of automobiles formed a battleground across Europe, and sparked a fierce backlash. | Continue reading


@citylab.com | 5 years ago

The Casual Racism of a Philadelphia Neighborhood’s Manhole Covers

Philadelphia’s East Passyunk Avenue teems with visitors to trendy shops and restaurants. Nobody can say when or why a stereotypical Native American image came to represent it. ​​​​​​​ | Continue reading


@citylab.com | 5 years ago

2018 Was the Year of the Complicated Suburb

The old narrative of city and suburb is dead; in 2018, the spaces outside of cities were revealed in their full complexity. | Continue reading


@citylab.com | 5 years ago

The Data Doesn’t Lie: Chinese Food Really Is a Christmas Tradition

We used Yelp and Google Trends data to see if people really swap the eggnog for chow fun. | Continue reading


@citylab.com | 5 years ago

2018 Was the Year of the Complicated Suburb

The old narrative of city and suburb is dead; in 2018, the spaces outside of cities were revealed in their full complexity. | Continue reading


@citylab.com | 5 years ago

Tokyo Wants People to Stand on Both Sides of the Escalator

When one side isn't reserved for walkers, it saves time for everyone. But that's not convincing enough. | Continue reading


@citylab.com | 5 years ago

Why Valencia, Spain, Has More Bees Than People

The Spanish city has pioneered bee-friendly policies amid a decline in the global bee population. | Continue reading


@citylab.com | 5 years ago

Winter Is Coming, for Scooters

Plunging temps and heavy snow can be cruel to the e-scooter industry. | Continue reading


@citylab.com | 5 years ago

2018 Was the Year of the Scooter

The dockless e-scooter was the fad of the summer, and maybe a legitimate mobility breakthrough. | Continue reading


@citylab.com | 5 years ago

Meet the Jane Jacobs of the Smart Cities Age

All eyes are on Sidewalk Labs' futuristic plans for a data-driven neighborhood in Toronto. But no one's watching more closely than Bianca Wiley. | Continue reading


@citylab.com | 5 years ago

D.C.’s Downtown Was a Public Bathroom Desert. That Could Soon Change.

Formerly homeless activists pushed Washington D.C. to pass expansive public restroom legislation. Now the city is moving to increase toilet access for the public. | Continue reading


@citylab.com | 5 years ago

The Data Doesn’t Lie: Chinese Food Really Is a Christmas Tradition

We used Yelp and Google Trends data to see if people really swap the eggnog for chow fun. | Continue reading


@citylab.com | 5 years ago

Can AI Predict the Next Area to Gentrify?

New research tests AI's predictive capabilities in London. | Continue reading


@citylab.com | 5 years ago

How Rural America Is Saving Itself

It’s too late for urban commentators to "save" rural America. It’s already saving itself. | Continue reading


@citylab.com | 5 years ago

2018 Was the Year of the Scooter

The dockless e-scooter was the fad of the summer, and maybe a legitimate mobility breakthrough. | Continue reading


@citylab.com | 5 years ago

The Fire Trucks Are Too Damn Big

A new study makes a case for shrinking America's heavy-duty emergency vehicles. | Continue reading


@citylab.com | 5 years ago

CityLab Daily: The Who’s Who of Urbanism

Also: The concerning rise of dollar stores, and Tokyo wants people to stand on both sides of the escalator. | Continue reading


@citylab.com | 5 years ago

Where’s the Closest Dollar Store? For Many, Too Close

The U.S. has added 10,000 of these budget retail outlets since 2001. But some towns and cities have had enough. | Continue reading


@citylab.com | 5 years ago

CityLab University: The Who’s Who of Urbanism

These 15 people changed how we plan, design, think about, and live in cities. | Continue reading


@citylab.com | 5 years ago

Tokyo Wants People to Stand on Both Sides of the Escalator

When one side isn't reserved for walkers, it saves time for everyone. But that's not convincing enough. | Continue reading


@citylab.com | 5 years ago

How a Dallas Parking Lot Inspired a Play by William Harper Jackson

The Good Place star wrote Travisville after learning about a civil rights battle that displaced a black community near the Texas State Fair. | Continue reading


@citylab.com | 5 years ago