London

The Olympics can be awesome for cities. Or they can be devastating. Rarely they're both, and most often they are an economic drain caused by over-investment in facilities with limited long-term usability. So when London's plans for a 2012 Summer Olympics stadium that would reduce from 80,000 seats during the games to a more realistically usable 25,000 seats after, Olympics experts, city officials and taxpayers rejoiced. But recent news has turned that rejoice to disgust.

June 30, 2009 - Nate Berg

Officials in London are changing their minds about the main stadium being built for the 2012 Summer Olympics, which was intended to be a semi-temporary structure. Now they want it to be permanent.

June 30, 2009 - The Architects' Journal

The growth in hybrid car sales is a welcome sign that a major change in the automobile industry is afoot.  The shift to transport infrastructure that is not based on the archaic complexity of an internal combustion engine, with its hundreds of moving parts and compressed fuel explosions, has been long put off by an automobile industry, happy with status quo, partnered with oil cartels with the power to price their product as if it were in endless supply.  But with smack-in-the-face-reality fuel prices last summer, the collapse of the so-called “Big Three” over the winter, and the simultaneous heralding assertion of alternative energy technologies (Daimler AG bought a 10% stake in Tesla Motors last month!), the fallout of western economic near-collapse has changed everything we’ve known to be sacrosanct; Leonard Lopate even waxed nostalgic about the “Death of the Car Song” yesterday on National Public Radio’s local station, WNYC.

June 9, 2009 - Ian Sacs

London Mayor Boris Johnson has revived old plans to build a new bridge across the Thames River, complete with habitable structures and shops.

May 6, 2009 - Evening Standard

The Town Council of Ealing, U.K. is experimenting with covering up its traffic lights at certain intersections, which they believe will increase safety and awareness.

May 4, 2009 - The Times of London

Whether you've realized it yet or not, soccer is a big deal in this gloabalizing world. And every four years it's a huge deal for one country: the host of the FIFA World Cup. All eyes are on the host country for the 32-team tournament, which is the most-watched sporting event in the world. And though showtime is just one month long, the host spends years vying, preparing and investing for the tournament. It has major potential to spur broad countrywide improvements and economic development. So when the U.S. made news recently by offering forth 70 stadia as possible host sites for either the 2018 or 2022 World Cup (along with a reputation booster from President Barack Obama), I had to filter out my national pride. Sure, the U.S. would make a good and clearly able host for the event, but it seems that the potential of the World Cup could be better directed towards a country that really needs large-scale civic improvement and investment.

April 16, 2009 - Nate Berg

Robin Hood Gardens is a 70s era, Brutalist public housing complex. Preservationists say it is historic; the government wants to tear it down. Reporter Nicolai Ouroussoff pays the project a visit to determine for himself.

March 20, 2009 - The New York Times

The planning adviser on London Mayor Boris Johnson's staff has his eyes on the future of the city, and the architectural legacy he hopes to establish.

February 25, 2009 - Building

The 2012 Olympics in London -- a one month event three years away -- has already created nearly 30,000 construction jobs.

January 20, 2009 - Building

Plans to build a controversial new runway at London's Heathrow International Airport have been approved.

January 15, 2009 - The New York Times

Environmentalists have stalled the development of a third runway at Heathrow Airport by buying the land first.

January 14, 2009 - CNN

Architecture flourishes in either Paris or London, but not both at the same time, according to Tom Dyckhoff. Now it's Paris' turn.

December 30, 2008 - The Times

In this op-ed, "San Francisco is not London", Steve Falk, the CEO of the S.F. Chamber of Commerce, explains why London-style congestion pricing is inappropriate for the downtown core - that it would only hurt businesses without reducing congestion.

December 24, 2008 - San Francisco Chronicle

The mayor of London has announced plans to make the city greener than ever. He stated that opportunities abounded not just for emissions reduction, but for green job creation as well.

December 1, 2008 - Guardian (UK)

London mayor Boris Johnson is facing backlash for withdrawing money from bike route funds to rephase traffic lights, among other things. The move is less than effective for making London a "true cycling city," say critics.

November 29, 2008 - Guardian (UK)

A combination of economic crises and a tax code based on square footage rather than rentals is encouraging a raft of demolitions that is leaving parts of London looking like it's been bombed again.

November 26, 2008 - The Globe and Mail

Cycling is on the rise in London, where thousands of commuters fill the streets every morning and the number of trips has more than doubled since 2000.

November 26, 2008 - The Times

In an agreement with fellow socialist Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, former London Mayor Ken Livingstone has accepted a position in Caracas to advise the city on improving its transportation and crime issues.

September 2, 2008 - The Guardian

London's new mayor is considering a plan to tone down the city's congestion charge system, reducing fees during certain hours.

July 10, 2008 - The Times (UK)

Dermot Finch of the Centre for Cities, an independent research group, says that the U.S. could learn a lot from the U.K.'s urban renaissance.

June 14, 2008 - BBC News