Europe

An Italian firm plans to build the first skyscrapers in a central district in Helsinki, intended to house both homes and offices.

Imagine this: Replacing the sales tax on purchasing a new vehicle and annual, 'fixed' fees with a VMT fee based on size, weight, and CO2 emissions of the vehicle. This is the plan of the Dutch government to reduce congestion and greenhouse gases.

In Stockholm, Sweden, a new group calling themselves YIMBY 'Yes in My Backyard' is promoting a vision of a dense, dynamic city.

An architect in Berlin has proposed replacing the city's now-unused Tempelhof airport with a giant man-made mountain, dubbed The Berg.

An ex-pat American returns home to Milwaukee, and is overwhelmed by the extensive auto-oriented infrastructure needed to support the U.S. lifestyle, very different from his life in Almeria, Spain.

After twenty years of reunification, the eastern part of Germany is finally beginning to lure educated workers back.

While a number of mega retail developers crashed and burned during the recession, some smaller developers have thrived.

Bologna, Italy is getting a new monorail to connect the city with the airport, powered by photovoltaic panels built into the infrastructure.

Paris and JCDecaux promise to forge on with the popular bike program, despite having lost thousands of bikes to recklessness and vandalism.

American cities are struggling to figure out how to transition formerly industrial areas to become vibrant and successful parts of the city once again. Neal Peirce says they should look to Barcelona, which accomplished it ten years ago.

The Danish island of Samso is the poster child of clean energy. Its residents generate more energy than they consume. Now the Danish government wants to export that model back to the mainland.

The City of Odense, Denmark has submitted a new master plan that guides development to make the city carbon-neutral by 2025.

Inventor David Buchwaldek has created a kayak-like recumbent bike that can travel over roadways and bike directly into a body of water, becoming a tiny boat.

A proposed CCS site under an eastern German village has met serious opposition from locals who fear their crops and families will suffer. Scientists and the energy company say it's perfectly safe.

The French government hass announced plans to install electric car charging stations throughout the country.

A new film focuses on the life of a home designed by architect Rem Koolhaas for a client in a wheelchair, which radically redefines domestic living, and the results of the experiment when put to actual use.

Stockholm's congestion charge is not only reducing traffic and greenhouse gas emissions, it's also increasing sales of alternative fuel vehicles.

Another column by New York Times columnist, Thomas Friedman on the need to raise the gas tax - in this one, he compares the U.S. to Europe and concludes that the former are 'wimps' for not having the courage to raise gas or carbon taxes.

Urban sports like bike polo and urban golf are taking off in Germany, and are beginning to bring life back to formerly uninhabited concrete spaces.

Siemens has retrofitted trains for cold Russian winters; they are being rolled out now between Moscow and St. Petersburg and could be a model for American HSR.