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Downtowns plan for a future with far fewer office workers

Dec 15, 2022
In New York City, daily office vacancy rates average about 50%. So it and other cities are trying to attract more visitors by converting office space to housing, improving public transit, and making their streets a destination.
Downtown Crossing, a major shopping area in Boston, on March 26, 2020.
Scott Eisen/Getty Images

Modern parking "meters" give cities the power to reduce congestion

Jun 28, 2022
Parking charges based on timing or vehicle type, for example, can encourage drivers to consider other forms of transit.
A frustrating public parking experience may make drivers reconsider driving in the first place.
Jewel Samad/AFP via Getty Images

A UN report says making cities more population-dense can help cut carbon emissions

May 2, 2022
Cities were responsible for over half of the world's carbon emissions in recent years. They could turn that around in the decades to come.
An aerial view of a "green" roof in Caracas, Venezuela. Green roofs are roofs that incorporate vegetation.
Yuri Cortez/AFP via Getty Images

Why are Black people leaving big cities?

Kimberly Adams speaks to Politico's Brakkton Booker about a new ongoing series on Black flight from major cities.
Chicago is the first city being spotlighted in Politico's “The Next Great Migration," which outlines how the exodus of a city's Black residents can impact its politics and economy.
Scott Olson via Getty Images

What would a city "designed with care" look like?

Nov 29, 2021
Writer Alexandra Lange says urban architecture and a “Department of Care” could make residents’ needs and culture a priority.
More benches, public restrooms and services for unhoused people could be part of a care-driven approach to designing cities.
François Walschaerts/AFP via Getty Images

More workers are returning to offices, but downtown? Not so much.

Nov 16, 2021
The share of workers staying home due to worries about the coronavirus dropped last month to a pandemic low.
A few lights are on in a New York City high-rise. Some workers are coming back, but downtowns still have plenty of unused capacity.
Timothy A. Clary/AFP via Getty Images

The pandemic poses challenges and new opportunities for city planning

Nov 27, 2020
New ways of urban living could emerge as the pandemic changes how people gather and move about cities.
On 75th Street in Chicago's Park Manor neighborhood, sidewalk pods were set up to encourage street life amid COVID-19.
Natalie Moore

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"Every city in the world was designed and built by men"

Nov 5, 2020
Cities were designed to serve a world with different gender roles, where men went to work and women stayed home with children, says journalist Antonia Cundy.
Rush hour in London circa 1890.
London Express/Getty Images

Employers rethink cost of living calculations

Oct 12, 2020
As employees stay remote and can move anywhere to work, some companies are reconsidering the math that goes into compensation packages.
People sit in socially distanced circles while picnicking at Mission Dolores Park in San Francisco. Some companies are reconsidering compensation based on a worker's location.
Justin Sullivan/Getty Images

Rents are falling in some cities

Aug 19, 2020
But the flight to the suburbs may be overblown.
An apartment rental sign in Los Angeles, where prices are sliding.
Frederic J. Brown/AFP via Getty Images