China

While it may not have the world's highest absolute property values, Beijing has the highest imbalance between housing prices and incomes. Gwynn Guilford examines why this is problematic for the country's economic and social wellbeing.

July 2, 2013 - Quartz

With of support of leaders in Beijing, Chinese investors are making their presence known in U.S. commercial and residential real estate markets. The levels of foreign investment are reminiscent of the Japanese buying binge of the 1980s.

June 28, 2013 - The New York Times

Ian Johnson explores a pivotal moment in China's development, as the country seeks to migrate 250 million rural residents to cities in the next 12 years. Observers speculate on how a comprehensive urbanization plan will achieve this transition.

June 17, 2013 - The New York Times

Shanghai and the Pudong District in particular have seen unprecedented development over the past 25 years. The soil the city is built upon, however, has begun to subside recently.

June 7, 2013 - Global Site Plans - The Grid

The migrants that have swelled China's cities in recent decades still remain 'second-class citizens', unable to sell their rural land or have access to public services like schools or medical care. Will the country's new leaders change this?

June 2, 2013 - The Economist

The Chinese government has been employing a bottom-up approach to sustainability through pilot programs in individual cities, boosting investment in clean energy by 20 percent since last year.

May 12, 2013 - GreenBiz

The United States' municipal recycling programs rely on China's voracious appetite for plastic trash. But the country's new ban on the import of certain types of solid waste may cause your city a giant, stinky headache.

May 10, 2013 - Quartz

Though China's cities have been growing exponentially, some argue it isn't urbanizing fast enough. Fearing Latin American-style slums, leaders have restricted migration. They're now being urged to ease controls to maximize agglomeration effects.

May 9, 2013 - The Wall Street Journal

Architect Mark Sofield explores the essential meaning of craft in architecture, which he says lies in the nature of the connections a building or space creates.

April 30, 2013 - Terrain.org: A Journal of the Built + Natural Environments

If plans by Chinese officials are followed, 38 cities across the country will have subway lines by the end of the decade. The Economist asks if that might be 20 too many, as shiny subways steer investment from other forms of transit.

April 28, 2013 - The Economist

World Bank President Jim Yong Kim explains why climate change is a poverty issue - and why we must tackle it today to ensure that carbon emissions do not continue rising after 2016. Establishing a world price on carbon will be difficult to achieve.

April 23, 2013 - PBS NewsHour - The Rundown

Chronic coughs, stuffy noses, and face masks whenever you venture outside. Edward Wong looks at the "hell" that is childhood in China's polluted cities, which is forcing some affluent families to leave, and giving foreigners pause before entering.

April 23, 2013 - The New York Times

Although it was initiated long before his current term in office, Governor Jerry Brown has hitched his legacy to moving along California's high-speed rail project. He recently ventured to China in search of funding.

April 13, 2013 - Los Angeles Times

Unbounded by budgetary concerns, lengthy approvals processes, or NIMBY neighbors, China is building 100 new airports over the next two years. Does their process offer any lessons for how to fix America's crumbling air infrastructure?

April 5, 2013 - The New York Times

New details from a landmark study on the leading causes of death worldwide presents a gloomy picture of the effect of air pollution on the health of China's residents. The toll is 25 million healthy years of life snatched from the population.

April 3, 2013 - The New York Times

According to Michael Pettis, who teaches finance at the University of Beijing and is a senior associate at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, China "is awash in cash and credit," stoking fears of an out of control housing bubble.

April 2, 2013 - The New York Times

Pollution is a growing problem throughout China - one that even tight-lipped public officials have been forced to acknowledge. But conflicting government interests - between state-run polluters and concerned policy-makers - are holding back fixes.

March 23, 2013 - The New York Times

A growing "sand scandal" in Shenzhen may just be the tip of the iceberg when it comes to the quality of concrete used in constructing China's skyscrapers. The construction of what was to have become the country's tallest building has been halted.

March 22, 2013 - Wired UK

Pregnant, elderly, or infirm; subway riders throughout the world rely on the kindness of strangers to secure a seat on the subway. The extraordinary efforts of one Beijing woman to get a seat were discovered in embarrassing fashion recently.

March 1, 2013 - South China Morning Post

Part of a larger strategy to address its numerous environmental ills, the world's largest emitter of greenhouse gases will begin taxing carbon emissions, possibly as early as 2015.

February 21, 2013 - Quartz