Design
Madrid's residents are using open-source urban planning to create shared spaces
Since the 2008 economic crisis, Madrid has become the epicentre of major political and urban change. The city’s Indignados are back, asserting that residents have a “right to the city” as well as “lodging, work, culture, health, education, political participation, the Read More...
Science is proving why urban design matters more than ever
In a new study, researchers have concluded that simple interventions can make a big difference in how people perceive their cities. For example, they found that people living in communities that they think have adequate public seating were 9 percent more satisfied with police, and trusted Read More...
Helsinki wants to convince people to give up their cars
JUNE 23, 2017 —For years, environmentalists and urban planners on both sides of the Atlantic have been fantasizing about few- or no-car city living, in order to make their municipalities easier and safer places to live, while also reducing their carbon footprint. The mayors of a number of Read More...
Moth eyes inspire glare-resistant coating for cellphone screens
If you're standing in the blazing sun struggling to read this on your cellphone, there may be some relief in sight. And you'll have a moth to thank. The reason you have to find shade to read your phone is because of how the light reflects off the screen. The reflection reduces contrast, washing out Read More...
These radical ideas show how nature can inform sustainable design
Before humans ever conceived of sustainable design, nature was doing a good job. Plants and animals have evolved to use energy efficiently, to be multi-functional yet balanced, and to use information to carry out living processes. With this in mind, the Biomimicry Institute challenges designers to Read More...
Octopus inspired adhesive patch works under water
A team of researchers at Sungkyunkwan University in South Korea has developed a type of adhesive patch that works under a variety of conditions including underwater. In their paper published in the journal Nature, the team describes how they studied octopus suction cups to design a better patch for Read More...
What all urban planners should be asked: would you let your child cycle here?
“I love to cycle. I’ve got no clue why,” says Emilie, a six-year-old Danish girl. She is with her friend Vilja, who’s the same age. “When I cycle, I can go to new places faster,” she says in a recent Danish campaign for cycling. Even though it’s almost half a century ago, I would have Read More...
A highway in the heart of Seoul has been converted into a beautiful skygarden
An abandoned highway in the heart of Seoul just got a green makeover. By planting some 24,000 plants on the 1970s highway, city workers turned the concrete mass into a beautiful trail that runs right through the city. The greenery will still take some time to grow fully, but is expected to reach Read More...
Social housing is good. But let’s make it beautiful too
Ostentatious parsimony was the phrase used by Kate Macintosh, the woman responsible for some of the most ambitious local authority housing of the 1960s and 70s, to describe the spending environment for the social architect. Housing ministers would speak with pride of stripping out unnecessary Read More...
Meet Mexico city's first bike mayor
Mexico City falls far short of the cycling infrastructure that bike activists dream of: as many residents say, it’s no Amsterdam. Although only 30 percent of daily trips in the city are made via private car (the other 70 percent are made by public transportation, by bike, or on foot), Mexico Read More...