Social / Demographics

Eric Jaffe examines research on just what it is that makes people walk faster in New York than, say, Fargo, North Dakota.

March 23, 2012 - The Atlantic Cities

Gabrielle Esperdy tags along on the travels of Reyner Banham, the British historian and critic of modern architecture and design, connecting them to the great historical travel accounts of Europeans abroad in America.

March 22, 2012 - Places

An interactive visualization recently released by Unicef presents a startling picture of the world's urban population growth from 1950 to 2050. Mark Wilson deconstructs its implications.

March 21, 2012 - Fast Company Co:Design

Sharon Gochenour explores the ways in which the evolution of graphic communications – from building signage to official logos – represent various aspects of Kansas City's identity.

March 18, 2012 - This Big City

Emma Marris reviews a new book by Andrew Ross, a cultural critic at New York University, that tries to understand how Phoenix came to be what it is, and determine whether there's any way it can be turned around.

March 18, 2012 - OnEarth

Eric Jaffe looks at the findings of a recent article in the medical journal The Lancet, which predicts massive public health challenges in China resulting from the country's urban influx of migrant workers.

March 16, 2012 - The Atlantic Cities

Today, Gallup Wellbeing has released new findings on community satisfaction and optimism, evaluating 190 U.S. metro areas based on how residents feel about where they live and where their community is headed.

March 13, 2012 - Gallup Wellbeing

Defying logic, as the world entered recession its poorest made inroads out of "extreme poverty" according to a new World Bank report. In 2009 a similar report predicted just the opposite would happen due to recession. Why the improvement?

March 13, 2012 - The New York Times - World

Richey Piiparinen examines the two, often antagonistic, worlds that he straddles as a mid-30′s native Rust Belt romantic, and finds fellowship with those in other legacy cities.

March 12, 2012 - Rust Wire

Heather Knight reports on a trend concerning officials and family advocates throughout San Francico, the exodus of families with children who can no longer afford housing in a city that is becoming older, whiter and richer.

March 11, 2012 - San Francisco Chronicle

Samuel Arbesman pens a fascinating piece in The Atlantic Cities analyzing our subjective concepts of scale and context in relation to our ideas about the importance and size of cities.

March 10, 2012 - The Atlantic Cities

Eric Jaffe reports on the growing use of "health impact assessments" (HIA), which are used in a similar fashion to environmental reviews, to determine the public health side effects of major projects.

March 9, 2012 - The Atlantic Cities

Wage inequality does not tell the whole picture of the growing income inequality in the United States, writes Richard Florida, who examines the myriad other factors that may be driving this trend.

March 8, 2012 - The Atlantic Cities

Here is a list you presumably do not want to find your city on: the most obese metro areas in the country. Dan Witters breaks down the results that Gallup has recently released as part of the Gallup-Healthways Well-Being Index.

March 8, 2012 - Gallup Wellbeing

Giovanna Borasi & Mirko Zardini examine the state of pervasive anxiety afflicting the urban populations of the West and how "medicalization" and an ambition for total well-being are effecting architecture and urban planning.

March 7, 2012 - Places

Chuck Wolfe outlines the importance of soundscapes to cities past, present and future, and describes efforts to both document urban sounds and use sound as a planning tool.

March 7, 2012 - The Atlantic Cities

Zipcar has released the results of their first Future Metropolis Index, which the company commissioned to recognize cities that demonstrate smart urban planning and policymaking, reports Ariel Schwartz.

March 6, 2012 - Fast Company Co.Exist

Mark Hinshaw calls an end to the use of the term "suburb" to describe the communities ringing Seattle, and the inferior connotations attached to it. It's a term that he thinks has outlived its usefulness.

March 6, 2012 - Crosscut

To mark the upcoming anniversary of International Women's Day, Sarah Morrison investigates the best and worst places around the world to be a woman.

March 5, 2012 - The Independent

NYT reporter Amy O'Leary observes Manhattan's ubiquitous construction while suffering through overcrowded sidewalks, stores, and subway trains, and wonders just how many more people the crowded borough can absorb.

March 5, 2012 - The New York Times - Real Estate