Social / Demographics

At least that's what some are accusing Microsoft of patenting in its "Pedestrian Route Production" app, whose aim is to help pedestrians avoid unsafe neighborhoods "by taking information from maps, weather reports, crime statistics and demographics."

January 20, 2012 - NPR

Next American City Editor in Chief, Diana Lind describes how vital and particular Zoe Strauss' photographs are to the city of Philadelphia, and its cultural and political future.

January 19, 2012 - Next American City

Trista Kelley reports on an alarming increase in pedestrian deaths for those wearing headphones.

January 18, 2012 - Bloomberg/Business Week

Kevin Lynch be damned, a new study by a team of German psychologists reaches some surprising conclusions regarding the ways in which our brains navigate the city.

January 18, 2012 - The Atlantic Cities

On Tuesday, China's National Bureau of Statistics announced that China has, for the first time ever, more urban than rural dwellers.

January 17, 2012 - The Telegraph

Is Stockholm the world capital of music? Richard Florida maps the geography of popular music using the announced lineup for the 2012 Coachella Music Festival.

January 17, 2012 - The Atlantic Cities

Robert Steuteville takes issue with a recent report on NPR's Marketplace by noted Economist Steven Levitt that concluded that driving while drunk is safer than walking while drunk.

January 16, 2012 - Better! Cities & Towns

What is the relationship between car travel and health outcomes in the United States? Ariel Godwin and Anne Price challenge the claim that more time in the car decreases your health by looking at the impacts of education, income, and employment rates.

January 16, 2012 - Anne Price

...so more than a third went with "Other" in the last Census. Mireya Navarro reports on the rift between ethnic and racial identity experienced by some Latinos and the challenges the Bureau faces in designing a better questionnaire.

January 14, 2012 - The New York Times

Super-fast, beautifully-designed trains are the all the rage again in China, but safety, pricing, and technology concerns now need to be bumped to country's rail priority list to make it work.

January 13, 2012 - The Economist

In an opinion piece for the New York Times, Dowell Myers outlines the key demographic changes in immigration patterns and the bold changes in our approach to both legal and illegal immigration policy that they should precipitate.

January 13, 2012 - The New York Times

Much of the existing literature on Gentrification looks at what happens to residents as places change. Two authors are focusing their attention on commercial uses to better understand the interrelationship between retail and changing neighborhoods.

January 11, 2012 - The Atlantic Cities

Since the Japanese government spent $300 billion rebuilding Okushiri after a 1993 tsunami, things have taken a grim, ironic turn: with high-paying construction jobs leaving, so are young people who no longer wish to be part of a fishing economy.

January 11, 2012 - The New York Times

"Look out, Silicon Valley"-- A decades-long effort to bring technology-based firms to New York City is beginning to see a payoff, according to this piece from The Economist.

January 11, 2012 - The Economist

Richard Florida examines the "Geography of Health" in American and why some cities are healthier than others.

January 8, 2012 - The Atlantic Cities

Put you feet up on an an subway seat, and risk going to to jail. Bad behavior, sure. But criminal? In an effort to make the subway safer, NYPD is viewing even minor code violations seriously.

January 7, 2012 - The New York Times

A new study looks at how home values in neighborhoods in Columbus, Ohio responded differently to the presence of gay populations.

January 7, 2012 - The Atlantic Cities

The results are in keeping with a federal goal to eliminate veteran homelessness by 2015 through grants and other measures to ensure permanent housing. Steve Vogel reports.

January 7, 2012 - The Washington Post

A lecture series explores the relation between city planning and urban violence. And who is to blame? The architect.

January 6, 2012 - Delft University of Technology

The safest cities. The best cities. The happiest cities. We see the rankings all the time. But do they matter. Yes, says Samuel Arbesman, who surveyed 310 US residents by using Amazon's Mechanical Turk service.

January 6, 2012 - Atlantic Cities