The anger felt by rural voters toward the Democratic Party is driving a regional realignment.
Tag Archives: Urban Areas
Using Fossils to Bring the LA River Back to Life
The field of conservation paleobiology is helping scientists to bring living things back to parts of the Los Angeles River.
How a ‘Golden Era for Large Cities’ Might Be Turning Into an ‘Urban Doom Loop’
What seemed like a transitory step to avoid infection has become a major force driving the future direction of urban America.
What Does Queens Need More, a New Park or a New Train Line?
A derelict rail line is being reimagined as a linear park, like Manhattan’s High Line. But in a borough that lacks both green space and transportation, locals wonder whether its best use would be the original one.
Is Homeownership Slipping Even Further Out of Reach for New Yorkers?
In a city of renters, the turbulent pandemic housing market is making it harder than ever to buy a home.
New York City Reaches Deal to Build Soccer Stadium in Queens
The New York City Football Club will pay roughly $780 million to build the stadium in Willets Point in Queens as part of a project that will include housing and a hotel.
In Texas, a Battle for Hispanic Voters Moves to the Cities
Republicans are vying for Latino voters not just along the border but also in the state’s growing cities, historically a bulwark for Democrats.
Crime: Red Delusions About Purple Reality
No, Democrats aren’t responsible for rising crime.
Did You Recently Buy a Home in New York City for Less Than $750,000?
If so, we want to hear from you.
With Leaps and Bounds, Parkour Athletes Turn Off the Lights in Paris
As an energy crisis looms, nimble young activists are using superhero-like moves to switch off wasteful lights that stores leave on all night.
New NYC Congestion Pricing Tolls May Lower Demand For Yellow Cabs
The tolling program could push up fares and shrink taxi demand, the M.T.A. says. Cabdrivers are also seeking their own fare hike of up to 23 percent.
How California’s Bullet Train Went Off the Rails
America’s first experiment with high-speed rail has become a multi-billion-dollar nightmare. Political compromises created a project so expensive that almost no one knows how it can be built as originally envisioned.
Surf and the City
Autumn may be the season of big swells, but the smaller waves found year-round near East Coast cities are perfect for beginners who want to give surfing a try.
California Is Actually Making Progress on Building More Housing
The state is making it harder for local governments to block construction.
The Optimistic Art of Mary Mattingly
The artist’s work addresses future climate crises while attempting to make the urban environment a better place to live right now.
Shy Raccoons Are Better Learners Than Bold Ones, Study Finds
Wildlife management strategies focused on aggressive raccoons may be inadvertently boosting the proportion of more clever ones in cities.
Can Technology Help Cities Manage Curbs Better?
We’re asking our streets and sidewalks to do more and more. Start-ups are trying to help with curbside management tools — but will cities rise to the challenge?
In Vancouver, Indigenous Communities Get Prime Land, and Power
After acquiring some of the biggest and most coveted parcels of land in Vancouver, the city’s three First Nations are becoming players in the biggest game in town — real estate.
Why ‘Open Streets’ in New York City Were Reduced by 63 Miles
The program, which was made permanent last year, gave New Yorkers more public spaces, but is retreating in many areas. Community advocates hope to stop that slide.
Admiring the Trees of Paris
From the dramatic weeping willows along the Seine to the London plane trees that line the Champs-Élysées, trees play a supporting role in the city’s inimitable elegance and grandeur.
We Went on a Lanternfly-Killing Rampage. They’re Still Here.
The spotted lanternfly, an invasive pest that ecologists have urged the populace to squish on sight, is back, infesting the New York City area.
Why So Many Cars Have Rats in Them Now
Driving in the city is on the rise, but if New Yorkers think they can avoid rats this way, they are in for quite the surprise.
How Hot and Humid Singapore Is Trying to Cool Itself Down
With the help of a mobile cart named “Smarty,” researchers are trying to tackle the challenge of urban heat through a program that the government says could be a model for other countries.
In San Antonio, the Poor Live on Their Own Islands of Heat
Texas has been hit with an unrelenting heat wave. Nowhere is it more miserable than in low-income areas that have less access to shade and air-conditioning.
The Dystopian Myths of Red America
The Big Lie about the election is embedded in an even bigger lie.
Utah’s ‘Environmental Nuclear Bomb’
As the Great Salt Lake dries up, toxic dust threatens to poison the air in one of the United States’ fastest-growing metro areas.
Why Housing Is So Expensive — Particularly in Blue States
The urban economist Jenny Schuetz breaks down America’s housing crises, the policies that could fix them and the politics standing in the way.
Plans to Fight Global Warming Face an Obstacle in Paris: Trees
As a new heat wave bakes the French capital and the rest of Europe, critics say that plans to make the city greener have led to the felling of trees essential to combating rising temperatures.
The Business Lunch May Be Going Out of Business
Many upscale restaurants that catered to the nation’s downtown office crowd are canceling the meal, as remote work persists and business deals are sealed online.
As Some Office Workers Return, Happy Hour Sees a Wobbly Comeback
Even as companies struggle to coax employees back to the office, some bars report that their after-work crowds are nearing prepandemic levels.
How America Lost Its Edge
Are we forgetting how to be a society?
Traffic-Clogged North England Bitter Over Stalled Rail Plan
Transport problems are just one symptom of the economic neglect that has long hobbled the region, where growth, employment and health care mostly lag far behind the south.
Rural Philippines, Long Neglected, Newly Appealing in Covid Times
The economic disparity of the nation’s rural and urban areas is a problem of long standing. Will the lessons of the pandemic finally lead to change?
Why Are There So Many Shampooers in New Jersey?
You can learn a lot about America by asking what people do for a living in different places.
Cities Want to Return to Prepandemic Life. One Obstacle: Transit Crime.
Crime rates on trains and buses are up in some of the nation’s biggest cities, one more barrier for downtowns trying to rebound.
How Green Is Your Metropolis?
Allowing more density would make America better.
Book Review: “Supertall,” by Stefan Al
Stefan Al’s “Supertall” is a thoughtful inquiry into the new generation of skyscrapers, which are taller and more ubiquitous than their predecessors.
How Your Sense of Direction Is Shaped by Where You Grew Up
Childhood environments shape people’s navigational skills, researchers reported. The findings one day may lead to better tests for early dementia.
In Busan, A Smart City Built on Data Takes Shape
Fifty-four families volunteered to share data on everything from sleeping habits to trash volume to help developers make a city from scratch in Busan.
How Air Pollution Across America Reflects Racist Policy From the 1930s
A new study shows how redlining, a Depression-era housing policy, contributed to inequalities that persist decades later in U.S. cities.
London Breed and the Return of Tough-on-Crime Democrats
A party at war with itself can provide neither greater peace nor sustainable reform.
Can a Reality TV Show Sell You on a $2,298 E-Bike?
Welcome to “Bike Hunters,” a Dutch YouTube series that promises to recover stolen e-bikes — but really makes you want one of your own.
China’s Fast Train, an Olympic Highlight
A journey by high-speed train offers a window on the nation’s future, as well as some of the past it would like to leave behind.
Give the Manhattan D.A.’s Crime-Fighting Policies a Chance
Studies show public safety improves when prosecutors turn to alternatives to jailing some offenders.
The Plans for the World’s Next Largest City Are Incomplete
Delhi is growing far beyond the formal confines of the city, a case study in the complexity of what we call urbanization.
‘American Urbanist,’ a Well-Timed Biography of a Man Who Reshaped City Life
Richard K. Rein’s book tells the story of William H. Whyte, a sociologist who wrote “The Organization Man” and helped to rethink how cities look and feel.
Donald H. Elliott, Innovative Urban Planner, Dies at 89
He preserved landmarks in New York through creative zoning, involved communities in decision-making and insisted on aesthetic standards for urban design.
Alexander Garvin, Visionary City Planner, Is Dead at 80
Architect, author, Yale academic and City Hall official, he directed the rebuilding of the World Trade Center site and helped plan a New York City Olympics.
Behind Kentucky’s Tornado Recovery Plan
On states that bite the hand that feeds them.
In Bakersfield, Many Find a California They Can Afford
Known for both oil and agriculture, the “Texas of California” rises in population as city dwellers seek backyards and shorter commutes.