Alissa Walker

Moby wants you to join his perpetual pool party in Los Angeles, and a group of scientists wants China to use “spatial economics” to design more walkable cities. Plus: informal transit in Nairobi, a failed utopia in California, radical ideas for the Vegas of 2034, and a significant prehistoric site that’s currently being uncovered in…

Urbanization, Gentrification, Data: What’s Ruining Our Cities This Week

The “smart city” might not be so smart, and gentrification might not be so bad. Plus a sad story about how urban development is destroying Chinese villages—300 of them per day. This is our weekly look at What’s Ruining Our Cities. Urbanization is ruining Chinese culture When we talk about China, we’re usually talking about…

How L.A.’s 1984 Summer Olympics Became the Most Successful Games Ever

It’s almost showtime for Sochi, which may or may not have its shit together by the time the opening ceremonies start. While it’s too late for Sochi to change its trajectory, perhaps the 2016 host city could jot down a few tips from what are widely considered to be the most successful Olympics ever: L.A.,…

Vancouver Moves Closer to Officially Naming a “Dude Chilling Park”

Guelph Park in East Vancouver was just like any other under-appreciated park in a city near you: grassy but forgettable. Until a fake sign was erected in one corner by a local artist, christening it with a new name: “Dude Chilling Park.” Suddenly, Guelph/Dude Chilling Park became a global sensation. The sign is by local…

Wake Up at the B&B from Groundhog Day Every Morning for Eternity

Just a day after the real-life Punxsutawney Phil forecast six more weeks of winter, the bed and breakfast where Groundhog Day was filmed hit the market. You could buy it, set an old-fashioned clock radio to go off at 6:00 a.m. playing “I Got You, Babe,” and relive the same day over and over—and over…

Why Do Pedestrians Have to Press ““Beg Buttons” to Cross the Street?

We were all taught how to cross a street: Look both ways. But, in some cities, you’ll also have to ask permission by pressing a tiny button and waiting your turn. Those little buttons on walk signals have been nicknamed “beg buttons”—because walkers are pretty much begging to be able to cross. Here in Los…

How the Super Bowl failed its transit-riding attendees, an L.A. museum that collects houses, and why Monarch butterflies are dying (spoiler: because of us). Plus a McDonald’s in Queens, Millennials in St. Louis, and biking in Las Vegas. It’s time for your weekly Urban Reads. What was promoted as the “Mass Transit Super Bowl” was…

Punch-Drunk Love: Where Philip Seymour Hoffman Steals Every Scene

Philip Seymour Hoffman was found dead in his apartment today in New York City, a 46-year-old actor with a staggering range who could slip nearly undetected into the most difficult of roles. Hoffman was Oscar-nominated for dark, complex films like The Master, Doubt, and Capote, but he was also a regular in cult-hit crowdpleasers: The…

One Boob Built YouTube: How Nipplegate Changed the Way We Share Video

Think about it this way: If Justin Timberlake hadn’t partially exposed one of Janet Jackson’s nipples during that fateful Super Bowl halftime show, you wouldn’t be able to watch all the nipples you’d like on your computer today. Ten years ago, Timberlake’s promise to “have you naked by the end of this song” as he…

What time is the Super Bowl? It’s not just a question being typed into search engines by millions of Americans right this moment, it’s also one of the “most legendary acts of SEO trolling ever.” [The Atlantic]

Engineers Are Tracking Football Helmet Data to Study Head Injuries

The prevalence of head injuries is the dark side of football. Now a University of Michigan engineering lab is installing sensors inside helmets which can help measure impact and spot potential brain injuries that might go undetected. Dropping a helmet-wearing crash test dummy onto another dummy from a height higher than ceiling height (the frightening…

How Are You Watching the Super Bowl?

Many of us will probably be watching today’s game the way it was meant to be enjoyed: On an old-fashioned television with a bucket of hot wings in our laps. But this is the third Super Bowl that doesn’t require cord cutters to bum a seat on our friend’s nasty ass couch. What’s your plan?…

Apple Is Probably Going to Run a Sequel to its “1984” Ad Today

30 years ago. The Los Angeles Raiders are slaughtering the Washington Redskins at halftime. You decide it’s time for a refill on your Crystal Light. You’re headed to the kitchen when something stops you in your tracks—a chick with a Brigitte Nielsen haircut and a hammer, running towards you. Yes, indeed: The “1984” commercial that…

Which State Will Be Drinking the Most Beer Today?

Americans have already spent an estimated $1 billion stockpiling beer for today’s game. But who’s drinking the most? This series of interactive maps by Esri tabulates crucial data for your Super Bowl Sunday, including which cities have hosted the most Super Bowls and where people are most likely to be spending their hard-earned cash on…

Snow, Snowy Owls, and Lack of Snow: What’s Ruining Our Cities This Week

It’s been an especially cold and dreary winter week for just about everyone—except the host city for the Winter Olympics. It’s a rather chilly peek at what’s Ruining Our Cities. Two inches of snow ruined most of the South You’ve seen the Walking Dead references, now read the analysis of how a small winter storm…

Can Portland Fix a Building That Pretty Much Everyone Despises?

It’s basically a Portlandia sketch: What if a city held a rally to save a building in trouble and no one came? As part of our series Preservation Battle, we look at significant structures at a crossroads, and today we’re examining Portland, Oregon’s very-endangered—yet almost-universally-hated—Portland Building. Designed in 1982 by Target teapot-designing architect Michael Graves,…

It’s Not the Snow, It’s Not the Politics: Blame the Car-Dependent City

There’s been plenty written about why the South suffered so much from this week’s surprise snowstorm. But there’s really only one thing to blame: those cold lumps of steel that are still abandoned on the side of the highway. What happened in Atlanta could happen any time, any place where people rely so heavily on…

An Entire City Under Construction to Save Another from Climate Change

The African nation of Nigeria is experiencing many familiar problems in our age of climate change: rising sea levels, storm surges, devastating flooding. Now its coastal city Lagos is going to outrageous lengths to protect itself, both environmentally and financially, by building an entirely new city the size of Manhattan between it and the ocean.…

How Good Data Makes Transit Feel More Efficient—Even When It’s Not

I tried a little experiment the other day—and I’m not sure why I hadn’t tried it before. Before I walked to the bus stop to go downtown, I checked the real-time arrivals for my stop. It turned out the bus wasn’t coming for another 11 minutes, so I did the dishes first and only then…

These Staged Pictures Are Perfect Visions of Imperfect Public Spaces

It may seem, at first glance, like a typical summer scene. But the photographs of busy beaches, airports and public buildings by Alex Prager are actually elaborately choreographed images. A new exhibition, Alex Prager: Face in the Crowd, features large-scale color photographs that capture her glorified versions of simple human interaction. For Prager, a photograph…