Cities & Planning

Funiculars are great, which is why the main image from our previous train episode featured one — except we didn’t actually talk about that one during the show. It’s a cable car from Wellington, and as it turns out it’s one of hundreds of funiculars in this city. Roman and Kurt are back with another

Chest freezers with optional refrigerator modes are readily available. Why aren’t you using one instead of an electricity-guzzling freestanding fridge? Kris de Decker extols the virtues of ch…

Eric Klinenberg is the author of a book called Palaces for the People: How Social Infrastructure Can Help Fight Inequality, Polarization, and the Decline of Civic Life. The phrase “palaces for the people” actually comes from Andrew Carnegie who was known as a titan of the Gilded Age and one of the wealthiest people in

The state's largest encampment, home to nearly 450 people, began as a protest but has become a microcosm of housing and homelessness issues nationwide.

0. Introduction I grew up in the 90s, which meant watching movies about plucky children fighting Pollution Demons. Sometimes teachers would show them to us in class. None of us found that strange. …

An instrument designed mainly for studies on airborne dust and climate change has proven adept at another key function: detecting large, worldwide emissions of methane, a potent greenhouse gas.

An ancient Moorish invention has been providing water to the Sierra Nevada mountains for more than 1,000 years, making life possible in one of Europe's driest regions.

Some common geographic mental misplacements

A thirsty megafarm is driving a libertarian enclave in rural Arizona to a radical solution: government regulation of its groundwater.

Toxic landfills are emblems of environmental injustice across the US. Clean energy can remake them.

The number of bug splatters on cars has plummeted over the years. But we found a surprising explanation for the so-called "windshield phenomenon."

Even if you haven’t made the pilgrimage to Southern California, you can probably already picture what the Walk of Fame looks like. It’s a 1.3 mile walkway lined with terrazzo and brass squares. Each slab spotlights a salmon-pink star, and the name of a different famous celebrity deemed worthy enough to become a permanent part

Let’s say you want to improve the Wikipedia page for Clayton Indiana with an aerial photograph. Feel free to use the one above. That’s why I shot it, posted it, and licensed it permissi…

The Sprawl Repair Manual presents a comprehensive methodology for transforming sprawl developments into human-scale, sustainable communities. In this richly illustrated book, Galina Tachieva draws …

“*Everything* peaked in the '70s, including house design. Where are the architects creating houses with a central "grooving area" these days? Nowhere man. Nowhere.”

Springfield has its own Tool Library sponsored by the Community Partnership of the Ozarks that's just like a book library...except you check-out tools.

Our cities can run on empty.

CLAYTEC e.K. produces and distributes building materials from clay via the building materials trade.

Greenhouses could make local fruits and vegetables more available year-round, but they're energy intense. In the Midwest, some growers tap into the Earth's internal heat to warm the structures.

Norwegian Roald Amundsen was perhaps the greatest star of the so-called 'golden age' of Arctic expedition — and he used Seattle as a base camp.

Hundreds of thousands of people in Southwest Florida still don't have electricity or water. But Babcock Ranch, north of Fort Myers, was designed and built to withstand the most powerful storms.

Environmental disruptions and technological advances have always influenced where and how people live. Early humans may have left Africa after rapid fluctuations in rainfall destroyed their food supply, and the opening up of the American Southwest occurred roughly in parallel with improvements in air-conditioning technology. In the decades ahead, a warming planet and a booming population will again alter where we live and how we construct our homes.