San Francisco Joins the Move to Ban Cars From a Major Street
From more than a block away, I hear the man playing the trumpet. It’s a little after 9 am Wednesday, and his classical sonata...
Public Transit Cuts Hurt 'Essential' Workers Who Need It Most
Jason Young got up at 4am Friday. It was his daughter’s birthday, so he’d taken the early shift at the Giant Food grocery store...
Build Cities for Bikes, Buses, and Feet—Not Cars
The Parisian version of Octavia, it turns out, isn't all he'd hoped. “We screwed this one up,” Tumlin says. “The island is too narrow,...
The Pandemic Could Be an Opportunity to Remake Cities
Last Tuesday, a Gemballa Mirage GT barrelled into a series of parked cars on a Manhattan street. The driver fled and was arrested. And...
A Lawmaker Wants Fast Trains to Rev Up the US Economy
Accuse Representative Seth Moulton of loving trains too much at your peril. Yes, the Massachusetts Democrat worked for a time on a high-speed-rail project...
Want to Fix Urban Sprawl? Ditch the Cul-de-Sac
The world’s cities are growing fast. Half the human race already lives in urban areas, and another 2.5 billion people could join them by...
Delivery Robots Aren't Ready—When They Could Be Needed Most
Starship and others building robots for sidewalks have faced criticism for operating there, where they compete with pedestrians and people in wheelchairs for space....
In the Walking Capitals of the World, Drivers Still Rule the Road
By international standards, London is a fairly walkable city. In 2018, one of every four trips was made primarily by foot. And the city...
Covid-19 Spurs a Road Repair Boom—and Threatens a Bust
Until a few weeks ago, the California Department of Transportation was girding itself for a summer disaster. Come July, it was planning to shut...
As Cities Reopen, Outdoor Dining May Provide a Lifeline
The virus can be spread from droplets that an infected person coughs or sneezes, but researchers still aren’t sure how infectious those droplets are....