cities

It’s not that Deepak Singh craves hearing Hindi or eating hot samosas all the time. It’s just that something about being in a small town makes him crave them more.

Some urban planners say the buzz around “smart cities” is an opportunity to think both enthusiastically and cautiously about the future of development. But while it’s the latest trend in urban planning, the fundamental building blocks of cities haven’t changed.

Traffic isn’t just bad for our moods — it’s also hurting the planet. Reporter Daniel Gross delves into the underlying engineering behind traffic jams, and how cleaning them up will also reduce emissions.

Hobbyists like Michael Paul Smith and Alan Wolfson specialize in making stunningly details models of America’s past, from small-town scenes to the gritty, sometimes obscene streets of 1980s New York.

In New York City, sharing a cab with a stranger is about as popular as eating pizza with a knife and fork. Yet a new study by MIT researchers says shared rides could cost half as much, take just a few minutes longer on average and dramatically slow traffic and pollution. But would New Yorkers do it?