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Cities

Seattle’s Iconic Space Needle Unveils New Look After $100 Million Renovation

The update allows visitors to experience 360-degree views of the city from the observation deck

The Factory That Oreos Built

A new owner for the New York City landmark offers a tasty opportunity to recap a crème-filled history

Tenant associations lead a march up Columbia Road N.W. in protest against threats of eviction at a time when land speculation and residential displacement were growing more common in the Adams Morgan neighborhood and across Washington, D.C.

A New Show About Neighborhoods Facing Gentrification Offers a Cautionary Tale

As cities face multi-billion-dollar developments, the question remains “Who Owns the City?”

Fort Collins, Colorado, has been named No. 1 in a new list by People for Bikes ranking U.S. cities on bike safety, infrastructure and improvement.

New System Ranks America’s “Bicycle-Friendly” Cities

Fort Collins, Colorado, was crowned No. 1 in PeopleForBikes’ inaugural list

Cuneiform tablet seized by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement from Hobby Lobby.

Cool Finds

Some of Hobby Lobby’s Smuggled Artifacts May Come From Lost Sumerian City

Among the 3,800 artifacts being repatriated to Iraq today include pieces believed to be from Irisagrig, a site archaeologists have yet to find

Elevator companies are striving to meet demands for energy efficiency.

Elevators Are Going Green

Lifts are becoming more sustainable, as the percentage of the world’s population living in cities grows

Waldorf Astoria Hotel

What Made Oscar Tschirky the King of Gilded Age New York

During his long tenure as maître d’ at the famed Waldorf Hotel, Oscar had the city’s elite at his fingertips

Salt Lake City, Utah, pictured here, ranks number eight for short-term particle pollution.

These Are the Cities With the Worst Air Pollution

More than 4 in 10 Americans live with unhealthy levels of air pollution, according to a new report

An image on view at the National Building Museum's Evicted exhibition

This Exhibition Uses $586 to Tell the Story of American Eviction

The amount is around what one of the subjects of sociologist Matthew Desmond’s book ‘Evicted: Poverty and Profit in the American City’ made in one month

Civil rights leader Rev. Ralph Abernathy, in short sleeves, leads the Poor People's March to the edge of the grounds of the U.S. Capitol building in Washington, June 24, 1968. Abernathy and his followers from Resurrection City marched to the Agriculture Department and then to the Capitol.

Remembering Resurrection City and the Poor People’s Campaign of 1968

Lenneal Henderson and thousands of other protesters occupied the National Mall for 42 days during the landmark civil rights protest

A Brief History of the Stoplight

How a bright idea shaped our cities and gave the go-ahead to our love affair with the car

What Will the Automated City of the Future Look Like?

Tokyo, Singapore and Dubai are becoming prototype ‘robot cities,’ as governments start to see automation as the key to urban living

Following the assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr. in April 1968, cities across the U.S. erupted in protests.

Martin Luther King Jr.’s Assassination Sparked Uprisings in Cities Across America

Known as the Holy Week Uprisings, the collective protests resulted in 43 deaths, thousands of arrests, and millions of dollars of property damage

How a $10 Billion Experimental City Nearly Got Built in Rural Minnesota

A new documentary explores the “city of the future” that was meant to provide a blueprint for urban centers across America

Decisions made by engineers today will determine how all cars drive.

The Ethical Challenges Self-Driving Cars Will Face Every Day

The biggest ethical quandaries for self-driving cars arise in mundane situations, not when crashes are unavoidable

Where’s my bus?

Dozens of U.S. Cities Have ‘Transit Deserts’ Where People Get Stranded

Living in these zones makes it hard to access good jobs, health care and other services

Cool Finds

Rare 1906 San Francisco Earthquake Footage Found at Flea Market

The nine-minute Miles brothers film reel shows the devastation that the powerful quake wrought

An urban coyote makes itself at home in a vacant lot on Chicago's near North Side.

New Research

Foxes and Coyotes are Natural Enemies. Or Are They?

Urban environments change the behavior of predator species—and that might have big implications for humans

Under a new initiative, a digital art installation will cover the facade of Chicago's Merchandise Mart.

World’s Largest Digital Art Display Will Go Live This Fall in Chicago

Art deco landmark Merchandise Mart will be lit up across nearly 3 acres of its river-facing façade

How a city is arranged can influence whether it heats up in comparison to surrounding areas

New Research

Order Makes Cities Easy to Navigate—It May Also Make Them Hotter

Physics and statistics can describe how building patterns relate to cities’ tendency to hold heat

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