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As drive-thrus get bigger, some cities aren't lovin' it

Apr 18, 2024
The rise of online ordering drives restaurant chains to build more drive-thrus, but traffic and walkability concerns have led to bans.
Cars swarm the drive-thrus at a CosMc's in Bolingbrook, Illinois. The brand, owned by McDonald's, only serves customers in drive-thru lanes.
Kamil Krzaczynski/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

With fewer cars on the road, some cities make more space for walking

Apr 13, 2020
Oakland is one of the cities experimenting with closing streets to through traffic to give room to pedestrians and cyclists to maintain social distancing.
Empty highways and streets during rush hour in car-dependent Los Angeles on April 6.
Mario Tama/Getty Images

Cities face a new battle over space on their streets and curbs

Dec 24, 2019
Instant deliveries and ride-sharing.services have increased demand for limited real estate.
Ridesharing apps aren't exactly helping the major traffic congestion cities are experiencing.
Ludovic Marin/AFP via Getty Images

Why flood maps may not include areas that actually flood

Oct 12, 2017
The maps take data from past disasters and apply it to future risk, but the calculations can get tricky — and political.
Floodwaters from Hurricane Harvey surround a home on Sept. 6, 2017, in Houston.
Justin Sullivan / Getty Images

Can compassion have economic benefits?

Aug 29, 2017
Louisville, Kentucky, is providing compassion training in public schools and the city’s jail.
Louisville, Kentucky declared itself a “compassionate city,” by signing onto an international compassion charter in 2011.  Louisville’s mayor, Greg Fischer, is a former businessman who lists making his city more compassionate as one of his top goals.
Jeff Gentner / Getty Images

A game of (porcelain) thrones

Oct 23, 2014
Yes, they actually counted how many toilets exist in your city.

For public good, not for profit.

Mapping the city, statistic by statistic

Jul 21, 2014
The map, one of the central elements of navigation, has expanded in capability since the form has been translated to digital. Case in point, the MIT Media Lab’s “You Are Here” project is a collection of maps that visualize a variety of datasets over space. Things from bike accidents to coffee shops, graffiti reports, and […]

A small pocket of Detroit is thriving, but it's not a comeback city yet

Jun 3, 2013
There's an urban revival in the downtown neighborhood of Midtown, but the level of affluence is less than in other reviving urban centers.

What makes a city walkable?

Jan 3, 2013
According to urban planner Jeff Speck, designing cities for cars makes cities "crappy," but making a city walkable is no easy task.