Harvard Design Magazine

Understanding and improving the Brazilian informal settlements known as favelas will require more information about the slums -- especially in the field of mapping.

This article from the Harvard Design Magazine looks at slums in Latin America and discusses the important role they play in their cities. Preserving the positive qualities of these communities is increasingly preferred over slum clearance.

Climate change and rising sea levels will greatly threaten many of the world's cities and should be considered when planning and designing for coastal areas. But this article argues that planners and designers haven't yet "connected the dots".

New York's deputy mayor for economic development, Daniel L. Doctoroff, has a grand and energetic vision for New Yorks' urban renewal. Flavors of Robert Moses are evoked.

Harvard Professor Jerold Kayden's outlines the mission of Harvard's urban planning Program.

John Kaliski outlines the 'democratic' challenge to urban design by community planning.

Michael Gamble and W. Jude Leblanc offer new models for the redesign of America's commercial strips.

The incomplete lesson of the Sydney Opera House may provide guidance for using iconic public buildings as sites of technological innovation.

Rail critics identify eight "myths" about Honolulu's proposed $2.6 billion rail system.

Rediscover the magic of electric light, and its impact upon urbanization.

Matthew Kiefer frames the recent debates over sprawl into a larger context of the evolving meaning of urban sprawl in everyday lives.