United Kingdom

Kevin Meagher argues why the office of Mayor of London, "an astounding success" since its creation just 12 years ago, is bad for the rest of England, and should be abolished.

August 18, 2012 - The Guardian

The Crossrail train service being built in London will not only drastically decrease commuter travel times, it is also expected to catalyze the transformation of areas along its route, reports Graham Norwood.

August 14, 2012 - Financial Times

Dogged in advance of the Olympics by fears of transit paralysis, Lauren Collins discusses how London's public transportation network has been the surprise hit of the Games.

August 11, 2012 - The New Yorker

I'm sure your mother had good reason to tell you not to eat on the run. But times have changed, and one group in London is utilizing the city's public transportation network to help popularize the benefits of healthy eating and urban greening.

July 31, 2012 - The Guardian

The gateway to the London Olympic complex isn't marked by an iconic work of art or public plaza, but rather by a store - Fat Face - which is part of a gigantic new mall. Some aren't too happy with the blatant mix of commerce and competition.

July 30, 2012 - The New York Times

For a city of its size, London and its skyline are notoriously flat. Now, as the city struggles to expand its housing stock to meet the needs of it surging population, increasingly taller solutions are being prescribed, concerning some.

July 29, 2012 - The Global Urbanist

Simon Clark and Chris Spillane document the illegal, and often squalid, housing that can be found only three miles from the gleaming Olympic Stadium.

July 27, 2012 - Bloomberg

As the 2012 Summer Olympics begin in earnest today with the first Women's Soccer games, Andrew Zimbalist offers 3 reasons why "hosting the Olympics is a losers game."

July 25, 2012 - The Atlantic

Census results released last week offered some astonishing findings - each of England's big cities is growing, after shedding people only a decade ago. The Economist looks at the phenomenon and the factors that have contributed to the resurgence.

July 23, 2012 - The Economist

If you have a hard time answering that question you're not alone, at least according to the ‘shocking’ and ‘depressing’ results of a new survey conducted in the UK, reports Max Thompson.

July 20, 2012 - The Architects' Journal

A $14.6 billion package of rail improvement projects, called the "biggest modernisation of our railways since the Victorian era," has been announced by the UK's governing coalition.

July 16, 2012 - BBC News

The Economist looks at the improvements made to London's public spaces over the last decade, as the city's first elected mayors strove to improve the capital city's environs. So why has the city failed to keep up with its global competitors?

July 16, 2012 - The Economist

Have you been following the recent Libor banking scandal with detached bewilderment? Well, your public officials should probably be paying close attention, because there's a chance it may have had a substantial impact on your city's finances.

July 11, 2012 - The New York Times

An annual highlight of the avant-garde architecture scene, each summer since 2000, the Serpentine Gallery in London commissions "a temporary pavilion from an architect who has not built in England before." Michael Webb looks at this year's version.

July 11, 2012 - The Architect's Newspaper

Following on historic new powers granted recently to cities across England, RIBA and ResPublica have published a new paper arguing for greater collaboration with local communities in neighborhood planning, writes Irina Vinnitskaya.

July 11, 2012 - ArchDaily

In what Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg calls a "dramatic power shift", England's largest cities have gained new powers to control their economies and transportation, reports Sam Lister.

July 6, 2012 - The Independent

Planned as intensely for the two weeks this summer when the world's attention will be focused on the XXX Olympiad as the decades following the end of the last race, Anthony Faiola examines whether London's Olympics provide a model for future hosts.

June 2, 2012 - The Washington Post

With the Olympic games, and millions of visitors, descending on London this summer, Sarah Lyall looks at how the capital city is hoping to spare users of its ancient road network and temperamental subway system from a transportation nightmare.

May 29, 2012 - The New York Times

Architect Zaha Hadid, designer of the £269 million Aquatics Center to be used for this summer's Olympic Games, is unhappy about being overlooked for an invitation to any of the events that will take place in her building.

May 21, 2012 - Architizer

On the occasion of recent elections in England that saw the defeat eight of the nine referendums seeking approval for directly elected mayors, Peter Hetherington laments the state of local governance in the country.

May 8, 2012 - The Guardian