Communities

Commentary

The Public Puts Great Trust in Museums, and Now It’s Time Museums Trust the Public

A new exhibition, curated by the community, debuts this weekend at the Smithsonian

May 26, 2016

A Band of Biking Farmers in Florida Reinvents Sharecropping

Fleet Farming transforms lawns into farms to create a new local food system

May 20, 2016

Smithsonian Best Small Towns 2016

The 20 Best Small Towns to Visit in 2016

In honor of the 100th anniversary of the National Park Service, our top picks this year are all towns close to America’s natural splendors

April 18, 2016

Trending Today

The Federal Highway Administration Says Stop to Crosswalk Art

Street art will no longer color crosswalks in St. Louis, Missouri

February 15, 2016

New York City Is Paying Public Housing Residents to Paint Murals

Young tenants will create public art that captures social issues at five housing projects, one in each borough

January 28, 2016

Could Pop-Up Social Spaces at Polls Increase Voter Turnout?

Placemaking the Vote, one of the finalists in the Knight Cities Challenge, wants people to hang out at their polling places

January 13, 2016

Smithsonian Journeys Travel Quarterly: Inca Road

Visit These Floating Peruvian Islands Constructed From Plants

The Uro people who live on Lake Titicaca have been building their own villages by hand for centuries

August 13, 2015

These Maps Help Explain the Numerous, Complicated Factors Behind Income Inequality

Education, housing costs and even internet access are all a part of the difficult public policy matter

July 17, 2015

25 Millennials Just Crossed the United States By Rail Hoping to Leave Their Marks in Cities Along the Way

Young leaders take a 10-day whistle-stop tour with on-train seminars and service projects in communities across the nation

June 1, 2015

How Farms Became the New Hot Suburb

A new real estate trend has developments planted around working farms. But are these communities sustainable?

May 2015

Smithsonian Best Small Towns 2015

The 20 Best Small Towns to Visit in 2015

From sea to shining sea, our top picks for the most amazing American small towns to see this year

April 16, 2015

Smart Startup

Building Libraries Along Fiber-Optic Lines in Sub-Saharan Africa

The Washington, D.C.-based startup, Librii, is rethinking what a library looks like

February 23, 2015

Cool Finds

More Americans Speak Arabic at Home Than Italian or Polish

21 percent of Americans speak another language at home

October 9, 2014

Painting with Beads: A New Art Form Emerges in South Africa

“Ubuhle Women” at the Anacostia Community Museum showcases the work of a community of master beaders

January 15, 2014

Discussion

Discussion

April 2013

Smithsonian Best Small Towns 2013

The 20 Best Small Towns to Visit in 2013

From the blues to the big top, we’ve picked the most intriguing small towns to enjoy arts and smarts

March 31, 2013

The Lost Tribes of the Amazon

Often described as “uncontacted,” isolated groups living deep in the South American forest resist the ways of the modern world—at least for now

March 2013

Why Was This Man an Outcast Among Anthropologists?

Napoleon Chagnon’s new memoir reignites the firestorm over his study of the Yanomamö

March 2013

A Look Into Brazil’s Makeover of Rio’s Slums

The Brazilian government’s bold efforts to clean up the city’s notoriously dangerous favelas is giving hope to people who live there

January 2013

What Traditional Societies Can Teach You About Life

A new book from best-selling author Jared Diamond tells us how we can learn a lot from people who live like most of us did 11,000 years ago

December 26, 2012