World

A new report from BP projects world energy use for the next 20 years: decreased oil growth but more OPEC-dependent; increased coal, natural gas, and renewable usage; and a major growth in carbon emissions.

January 24, 2011 - USA Today

Streetfilms looks back at Professor Donald Appleyard's pioneering work observing the social life of streets, which proved that streets with less traffic fostered more social interactions than those with heavy traffic.

January 23, 2011 - Streetfilms

Dickson Despommier says that the goal of cities today should be to be a "closed loop" ecosystem, where everything that is needed to support the city - energy, food, etc. - is contained within its borders.

January 22, 2011 - McKinsey & Company

Urban Fabric, a landscape architecture and urban design firm in Israel, uses recycled tiles, benches and more in their park designs.

January 22, 2011 - Ha'aretz

Volvo is taking things a step closer to the "driverless car" idea with their "road train" concept: cars can "hook up" to a lead car or bus with a professional driver and ride along in their stream until they need to disembark.

January 20, 2011 - Grist

As the world's population urbanizes, rural areas are being abandoned. But they don't have to sit empty and unused, according to this piece from GOOD.

January 18, 2011 - Good

Hybrid technology for marine transportation is a growing industry, as startup business in New Brunswick, Canada attests.

January 17, 2011 - New Brunswick Business Journal

The Language of Towns & Cities: A Visual Dictionary, by Dhiru A. Thadani is a doorstopper of a book. Philip Langdon looks at this giant guide to New Urbanist ideas.

January 17, 2011 - New Urban Network

Thomas Schielke, an architectural lighting expert, gives an inclusive overview of building facades that include media from the 1931 addition of color at the top of the Empire State Building to a 2010 building that converts brainwaves to light.

January 15, 2011 - arclighting

The Polis Blog presents a huge list of "urban favorites" -- songs, movies, initiatives and places that explain or highlight the best of the world's urban areas.

January 15, 2011 - The Polis Blog

For ninety days, Ben Brown lived out of a 308-square-foot cottage designed by Marianne Cusato. He discovered that you really needed to be connected to your community when living in tight quarters.

January 14, 2011 - PlaceShakers

January 13, 2011 - Tim Halbur

Cities across the developing world are dealing more with rising obesity rates as urbanization occurs, reports TheCityFix's Jonna McKone.

January 13, 2011 - TheCityFix

RThe impact of cities is spreading beyond local and even national borders, argues Robert Neuwirth in this piece from What Matters.

January 13, 2011 - What Matters

The Marché en Fer, a 19th-century era food market and a favorite Haitian hangout, has reopened its doors to the delight of locals.

January 12, 2011 - The New York Times

Parag Khanna suggests that cities are the building blocks of humanity, and will take increasing control over the future shape of the world in the coming decades.

January 11, 2011 - What Matters

Metro stations, train stations and streetcar systems have distinct ways of showing how to get from one area to another. TheCityFix's Jonna McKone looks at mass transit systems from Mexico City to Paris and the visual representations used in each one.

January 11, 2011 - TheCityFix

In this piece, Stewart Brand argues that squatter cities will grow greatly over the next few decades, and the world will be better because of it.

January 11, 2011 - What Matters

Minimalism, long declared dead, rises from the grave to lumber on, writes Sam Jacob. Can it be stopped?

January 10, 2011 - Strange Harvest

...and it could be keeping you warm. Whereas diesel from algae may be a bust, insulation from fungus could be coming soon to a home near you.

January 10, 2011 - BuildingGreen.com