Inside a canteen for seniors in downtown Shanghai, a worker brandishing a sponge inched closer to Maggie Xu, 29, as she was finishing her rice and garlic-and-oil-soaked broccoli. Ms. Xu ignored her. “If you come at 12 o’clock, the aunties will give you less food,” Ms. Xu said, speaking softly. After 1:30 p.m., they give […]
Read MoreTag: Urban Areas
The Supreme Court Takes Up Homelessness
Fact-checking by Susan Lee. The Daily is made by Rachel Quester, Lynsea Garrison, Clare Toeniskoetter, Paige Cowett, Michael Simon Johnson, Brad Fisher, Chris Wood, Jessica Cheung, Stella Tan, Alexandra Leigh Young, Lisa Chow, Eric Krupke, Marc Georges, Luke Vander Ploeg, M.J. Davis Lin, Dan Powell, Sydney Harper, Mike Benoist, Liz O. Baylen, Asthaa Chaturvedi, Rachelle […]
Read MoreSatellite Data Reveals Sinking Risk for China’s Cities
As China’s cities grow, they are also sinking. An estimated 16 percent of the country’s major cities are losing more than 10 millimeters of elevation per year and nearly half are losing more than 3 millimeters per year, according to a new study published in the journal Science. These amounts may seem small, but they […]
Read MoreBeing Homeless Is Not a Crime
If you live in one of America’s cities, you probably see homeless people all the time. You might pass them on your way to work. Maybe you avoid eye contact. If they ask you for money, maybe you pretend you didn’t hear, and walk on by. But what if you stopped and listened to what […]
Read MoreEven Before the Olympics, a Victory Lap for a Fast-Moving French Mayor
The mayor grew up in a building so decrepit — filthy hallways, no private toilets, no showers — that his friends in nearby concrete towers pitied him. Five decades later, that building — in St.-Ouen, a Paris suburb — is a distant memory, and in its place rises France’s Olympic pride: the athletes’ village, with […]
Read MoreProperty Taxes Drive Racism and Inequality
Property taxes, the lifeblood of local governments and school districts, are among the most powerful and stealthy engines of racism and wealth inequality our nation has ever produced. And while the Biden administration has offered many solutions for making the tax code fairer, it has yet to effectively tackle a problem that has resulted not […]
Read MoreSkip the Traffic: Commuters Turn to Ferries to Get Around
As remote work reshapes the way people live and travel around cities, Americans are taking to the waterways not only as part of their commute but also as part of their daily lives. Some coastal cities are seeing ferry ridership bounce back after a decline during the pandemic, and growing interest in water transit is […]
Read MoreHow a Vacant Lot Became Our Own Dirtbag Narnia
On a quiet street in the Kensington neighborhood of Philadelphia, just a few steps from my back door, is a vacant lot that my wife, Anne, and I share with our neighbors. This patch of dirty ground was once three single-family homes. Bit by bit, rains have washed away the soil, revealing corners of the […]
Read MoreAs Graffiti Moves From Eyesore to Amenity, Landlords Try to Cash In
Julian Phethean’s first canvas in London was a shed in his backyard where he covered the walls with bold lettering in spray paint. When he moved his art to the city’s streets in the 1980s, it was largely unwelcome — and he was even arrested a few times. “We had nowhere to practice,” he said. […]
Read MoreKongjian Yu Has a Plan for Urban Flooding: ‘Sponge Cities’
Cities around the world face a daunting challenge in the era of climate change: Supercharged rainstorms are turning streets into rivers, flooding subway systems and inundating residential neighborhoods, often with deadly consequences. Kongjian Yu, a landscape architect and professor at Peking University, is developing what might seem like a counterintuitive response: Let the water in. […]
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