Jeff Jamawat

Designing the U.S. embassy abroad is any architect's dream. But a crash between safety imperatives and beautiful design often results in "a dull series of near-identical, boxy bunkers," says The Economist.

At a two-acre site located 80 miles west of Ann Arbor, an engineering major at the Univ. of Michigan installed the state's largest solar farm with movable trackers that increase the amount of energy captured by almost 10%.

The moribund state of the Los Angeles River reflects the zeitgeist of the city that it runs through, says The Economist. A mile wide but an inch deep, revitalization proposals are too conceptual at best and too feeble at worst.

According to Mayor Bloomberg's latest press release, nearly 19,000 cyclists populate the streets of NYC on a daily basis - that's 2,300 more than last spring. The growing popularity makes the soon to be unveiled bike-sharing system looks promising.

Mayor Thomas Menino declared that "the car is no longer king in Boston" as the Hubway bike-sharing system made its debut this week, putting the city abreast with Washington D.C.