Design

Archinect's John Cary compiles a comprehensive list of most forward-thinking designs in 2011 that have impacted people's lives, and the way they interact with the built environment.

Part of this week's Urban Design Week in New York City, design duo Original Champions of Design present three solutions to a weak wayfinding system currently in place in the city's subways.

Student designer Alexander Vittouris won a design award for his bicycle made out of bamboo. What's so special about that? Vittouris shaped the frame as it grew so it needed no assembly.

New playground designs are shaking up public parks around the world. So long, slides, hello interpretive playscapes.

A new report focusing on design professionals and architects in New York finds that these industries are on a strong growth path and create a significant impact on the local economy.

Architectural historian and urban planner Steven Fleming is expanding the study of cities and mobility by looking at how designers are reacting to bicycling and how bicycles are set to transform the way cities work.

A growing number of nations are instituting design standards and architecture policies to help make good design a part of the national strategy.

An increasing amount of architecture projects in the U.S. are taking regional concerns like water and energy production into consideration.

The 2011 eVolo Skyscraper Competition turned up some unusual and futuristic designs for future skyscrapers and other structures, from a reimagined Hoover Dam to a Ferris Wheel-shaped wind turbine.

As funding falters in the private sector, some privately- or university-driven design centers are still pursuing new ideas is urban design and development. Places profiles one at the University of Arkansas.

This episode of 99% Invisible explores public spaces and their role in political change, and how over hundreds of years, riots have defined New York's Tompkins Square Park -- despite efforts to design unrest out.

Water shortages are on the rise, and effective management of this dwindling resource is becoming increasingly important to cities. How architects and planners visualize water in the landscape plays a big role in how it is understood and managed.

Toronto's City Hall is a massive concrete structure. Oddly, so was all its furniture, which was included with the original design. 99% Invisible looks at this unconventional design choice, and the legacy of that furniture.

Long-held plans for a new bridge over the Columbia River between Portland and Vancouver, Washington, have been thrown out by a panel of experts who have suggested cheaper alternatives.

Economic crises tend to manifest themselves in specific design trends, especially in the field of architecture. This latest recession has spurred the age of Do-It-Yourself architecture and urbanism.

Metro stations, train stations and streetcar systems have distinct ways of showing how to get from one area to another. TheCityFix's Jonna McKone looks at mass transit systems from Mexico City to Paris and the visual representations used in each one.

Minimalism, long declared dead, rises from the grave to lumber on, writes Sam Jacob. Can it be stopped?

99% Invisible talks with Chris Downey, an architect who lost his sight three years ago and who continues to work.

Appreciation of diversity, social offerings, and aesthetics trump jobs, economy, and safety according to a new survey by Gallup/Knight.

With the debut of the latest map of the Moscow Metro, TheCityFix's Jonna McKone takes a look at mass transit maps from across the globe and chats with mapmaker Cameron Booth.