Cities

“Whistler: Streetscapes, Urban Change” is on view through May 4, 2024, in the Freer Gallery of Art at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of Asian Art in Washington, D.C. (above: The Steps by James McNeill Whistler, 1880).

How James McNeill Whistler Captured Life in the Big City

The painter’s streetscapes and neighborhood scenes mesmerize, but now he is being recognized for documenting a changing urban landscape

The iconic publicity photo was taken by an unknown photographer in 1932.

You Can Recreate the Iconic 1932 'Lunch Atop a Skyscraper' Photo

Visitors will be safely strapped in as they sit atop a beam hundreds of feet above New York City

Architect William Van Alen’s plans for the building’s formidable steel helmet grew taller and more ambitious over time.

The Precarious History of New York’s Iconic Chrysler Building

Towering ambitions built the most charming skyscraper in America

Crews painstakingly removed mud layer by layer to expose the vessel.

Workers Unearth 19th-Century Shipwreck Beneath a Road in Florida

The 19-foot-long vessel was found alongside a kerosene lamp, leather shoes, coins and other artifacts

Sphere lights up during its grand opening on September 29, 2023 in Las Vegas, Nevada. 

The Sphere Is Here. Are We Ready for More High-Tech Architecture?

The new Las Vegas performance venue challenges musicians and visual artists to produce content for its demanding format

St. Sophia's Cathedral in Kyiv, Ukraine

UNESCO Adds Sites in Kyiv and Lviv to List of World Heritage in Danger

The agency has been trying to protect Ukraine's historic sites since the beginning of the war with Russia

The interior of Transfiguration Cathedral, the largest church building of Odesa, was damaged by a Russian missile that hit the altar on July 23.

Russian Strike Severely Damages Odesa's Transfiguration Cathedral

Congregants sifted through the wreckage, clearing rubble and searching for artifacts

Alessandro Rotta Loria and a student in his lab walk through a train tunnel beneath the Chicago Loop.

Chicago May Be Slowly Sinking Because of 'Underground Climate Change'

The ground beneath the Windy City is shifting as heat escapes from buildings and transit systems, posing a threat to infrastructure, a study finds

Vertical farming can produce as much as traditional farming while using less water and less energy—if executed correctly.

Empty Office Buildings Are Being Turned Into Vertical Farms

With office usage hovering near 50 percent of pre-pandemic levels, cities are putting the underutilized space to new use growing food

None

How Graffiti Left a Mark on the Art Scene

Hip-hop’s street artists created a splashy new genre that burst into galleries and museums

Vienna earned top marks for its stability, education, health care and infrastructure.

Vienna Is the Most Livable City in the World

The city also topped the Economist Intelligence Unit's annual rankings in 2018, 2019 and 2022

Sunrise near the Willa Cather Memorial Prairie. Cather “made the outside world know Nebraska as no one else has done,” Sinclair Lewis once said.

Explore the World of Willa Cather in Her Nebraska Hometown

Maybe the author of “O Pioneers!” is no longer the height of literary chic. But a century later she’s still a superstar in her small prairie community

Participants in a YWCA camp for girls in Highland Beach, Maryland, in 1930

When Private Beaches Served as a Refuge for the Chesapeake Bay's Black Elite

During the Jim Crow era, working-class Washingtonians' recreation options were far more limited—and dangerous

The Big Apple's 1,084,954 buildings weigh an estimated 1.68 trillion pounds.

New York City Is Sinking Under the Weight of Its Skyscrapers, Study Finds

As the city, and others like it, slowly subsides, it becomes more vulnerable to flooding driven by climate change

Paris is working on an ambitious project to clean the Seine river for use during swimming events in the 2024 Summer Olympics.

For the First Time in a Century, Paris Is Making the Seine Swimmable

The city's ambitious project will allow Olympians, and later the French public, to return to the famous river's waters

Excavations at Oaklawn Cemetery in downtown Tulsa have revealed 62 unmarked graves, some of which may be linked to the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre.

New DNA Analysis Could Help Identify Victims of the Tulsa Race Massacre

Experts have linked six genetic profiles sequenced from exhumed remains to 19 potential surnames in seven states

One-third of the world’s population can’t see the starry band of light in the night sky that makes up the Milky Way (above). The new show “Lights Out: Recovering Our Night Sky” at the National Museum of Natural History looks at the devastating impacts of artificial light.

Why It’s Time for a Worldwide Lights-Out Program

A new Smithsonian exhibition delves into the issue of light pollution, with easy solutions offering an immediate change

Despite making up roughly 14 percent of Cape Town's population, the wealthiest residents used 51 percent of the city's water—often for non-essential uses like swimming pools, gardens and car-washing.

Wealthy Residents' Pools and Gardens Are Driving Water Crises

Urban elites use a disproportionate share of water compared to their lower-income peers, according to a new study

Parisians voted to ban for-rent electric scooters.

Parisians Vote to Ban For-Rent Electric Scooters

In a referendum on Sunday, city residents overwhelmingly opted to do away with the iconic mode of transportation

New York City's Flatiron Building is wedged between Fifth Avenue and Broadway.

New York City's Iconic Flatiron Building Sells for $190 Million at Auction

The landmark hasn't been up for public auction since the Great Depression, when it sold for $100,000

Page 1 of 28