urbanism

Finally! California Just Issued Mandatory State Water Restrictions

Jerry Brown must be a Gizmodo reader because he apparently heard my parched plea: Today, the California governor issued mandatory water restrictions for the state—the first in history. Standing in a dry Sierra Nevada meadow which is usually buried under five feet of snow, Brown was able to provide a haunting visual illustration of the…

Tech News Alissa Walker Apr 1

A Day in the Life of the Fastest Growing Megacity in the World

China’s rapid growth isn’t all about wacky buildings—there are also millions of people whose lives have been uprooted in the name of progress. Many of them have moved to the new megacity of Chongqing, where photographer Tim Franco has managed to capture its hyper-vertical, accelerated brand of urbanism, and the odd juxtapositions it creates with…

Tech News Alissa Walker Mar 31

The Hot New Urban Renewal Trend Is… Swings

Step aside dancing fountains and community gardens, it’s the age of the urban swing set. I’m not talking about playgrounds. These are swings designed for adults, enticing the tushes of office workers, college students, and tourists—city dwellers young and old who all want to take a turn kicking their legs up into the sky. In…

Tech News Alissa Walker Mar 31

The Most Isolated Town on Earth Wants a Radical Redesign

Smack dab in the middle of the South Atlantic Ocean, 1,000 miles from human civilization, lies one of the most isolated towns in the world. It’s on an island called Tristan da Cunha, and for the first time, it’s looking to the outside world to plan its future. It takes more than a week to…

Tech News Kelsey Campbell-Dollaghan Mar 31

Facebook Is Using Famous Instagrammers To Show Off Its New Office

Facebook’s fancy new digs designed by Frank “Architecture Is Shit” Gehry opened today, delivering the latest architectural smackdown in the ongoing space race between various Silicon Valley corporate campuses. And they’re sharing it with the world in a very unorthodox way. While there haven’t been any official photos released, as Co.Design discovered, Facebook let some…

Social Media Alissa Walker Mar 30

A Guide to Scientology’s Most Ostentatious Real Estate

Empire-building has been part of many a religious group’s strategy throughout history. But no one does it better than Scientology. The documentary Going Clear: Scientology and the Prison of Belief, which debuted on HBO last night, offers the first in-depth survey of Scientology’s practices, including its ongoing quest to acquire high-profile real estate. Since it…

Tech News Alissa Walker Mar 30

The Nextdoor App Is Making My Neighborhood Safer

My neighborhood is experiencing a crime wave. Just on my block in the last week, several packages were stolen from doorsteps and tires have been slashed on at least two cars. I found all of this out from an app that’s quickly becoming our neighborhood’s best security system. “I heard it from Fred two doors…

Tech News Alissa Walker Mar 27

30 Previously-Unknown Species of Fly Discovered in Los Angeles

Nature doesn’t end at the borders of a city — it’s just transformed. That’s why scientists are finding new animal species in urban areas, where the ecosystems favor scavengers, hardy weeds, and junk-eaters. It probably comes as no surprise that the sprawling city of Los Angeles is home to its own unique fly species. Today,…

Tech News Annalee Newitz Mar 26

The Tallest Tower in Europe Will Be … In a Quaint Swiss Village?

A new tower designed by Los Angeles architect Thom Mayne was announced today which, when complete, will be the tallest building in Europe. Is it in Moscow? London? Frankfurt? Nope. Mayne’s shiny slab will stab the sky in the tiny hamlet of Vals, Switzerland. Mayne’s firm Morphosis passed along details of the 80-story, 1250-foot tower,…

Tech News Alissa Walker Mar 25

These Sidewalk Games Only Appear When It Rains

NeverWet is a water-repellent spray that can basically keep anything dry. It’s cool, if not the most practical thing in the world. But apply it to a sidewalk, let it rain, and magical things start to happen. https://gizmodo.com/neverwet-review-the-magical-water-repelling-spray-is-812797429 The project is the work of Seattle-based artist Peregrine Church, whose (entirely laudable) mission was to “make…

Tech News Chris Mills Mar 25

The Secret Color-Coded Language of Graffiti Abatement

More than anything else in our cities, graffiti and its removal creates a dynamic, ongoing visual conversation that plays out across pretty much every urban surface. Over at Medium’s Re:Form, Ian Besler investigates the process with Los Angeles’s graffiti abatement program, which removed one square mile of graffiti from LA’s streets in 2014. Besler visits…

Tech News Alissa Walker Mar 24

Yup, Police Can Search License Plate Scans to Find Your Favorite Bar

The license plate reader (LPR) cameras installed in most cities allow police to track cars and their drivers who are potentially engaged in criminal activities. But depending on the way police store the data, as Ars Technica found out, anyone might be able to access this information. We’ve been following this story closely, from the…

Tech News Alissa Walker Mar 24

Flying SUX! The Weirdest Stories Behind Our Airport Codes

You see them everywhere: On highway signs, plane tickets, and even humblebraggy Twitter updates. Some are obvious and some make no sense. But what do these three-letter airport codes really mean? The sleek new site Airport Codes lets you bounce from airport to airport exploring the codes and their origins. Here are some of the…

Tech News Alissa Walker Mar 19

The Secret Lives of the Tiny People In Architectural Renderings

Selling a big urban idea isn’t easy. More than ever, architects rely on jaw-dropping images to convince their clients to spend millions on their projects. And to do it, they fill their fantastical renderings with people—people who have a story all their own. These denizens of the designed future are the subject of Designing People,…

Tech News Alissa Walker Mar 19

No Cars Will Be Allowed on This Stately New Bridge in Portland

It was 1973 the last time a new bridge opened over Portland’s Willamette River: a double-decker span with eight lanes of freeway. Times have changed. When the Tilikum Crossing Bridge opens later this year, it will be one of the few in the U.S. that’s purpose-built for transit, bikes and pedestrians—no cars allowed. Bike Portland’s…

Tech News Alissa Walker Mar 18

Would You Take the Bus If It Earned You Free Credits For Tolls?

There’s a running joke in many American cities: The only way to make public transportation truly work would be to pay people to ride it. In Atlanta, that’s kind of what a new pilot program is doing. For certain transit trips, passengers can now earn $2—but they can only use the money to pay tolls…

Tech News Alissa Walker Mar 18

These Intricate Neighborhoods Imagine a Suburban Sprawlpocalypse

If you grew up in the suburbs, you know the windy labyrinth of roads and driveways all too well. In these digital drawings, artist Ross Racine has constructed visions of a world where housing tracts truly know no bounds. Racine’s work is the result of some deft work with a pen and stylus in Photoshop…

Tech News Michael Hession Mar 18

Inside New York City’s Most Mysterious Architectural Time Capsule

For the past half century, 190 Bowery has been a legend. The six-story, 72-room former bank building on the fringes of SoHo looked like a war zone on the outside, crumbling and covered in graffiti. And the inside, the home of a photographer with insane real estate luck—well—nobody really knew what was inside. Until now.…

Tech News Adam Clark Estes Mar 18

Here Are the Water Restrictions California Should Have Passed Today

After confronting the truth that we have only one year of water left, California passed new water restrictions today which are WIMPY AS HELL. Here, California, I fixed them for you. Admittedly, the impact of these restrictions is lessened because many of the state’s cities already have their own water restrictions. But even where the…

Tech News Alissa Walker Mar 17

This Is How Easily Our Cities Could Become High-Density Solar Power Plants

Solar energy has a dark side. Those gargantuan plants that sprawl out like deconstructed disco balls sacrifice valuable open space and put wildlife, and possibly human lives, at risk. A new study by Stanford researchers says that focusing our solar energy efforts in already-developed urban areas could yield more power—by collecting energy where we actually…

Tech News Alissa Walker Mar 17

Finally! California Just Issued Mandatory State Water Restrictions

A Day in the Life of the Fastest Growing Megacity in the World

The Hot New Urban Renewal Trend Is… Swings

The Most Isolated Town on Earth Wants a Radical Redesign

Facebook Is Using Famous Instagrammers To Show Off Its New Office

A Guide to Scientology’s Most Ostentatious Real Estate

The Nextdoor App Is Making My Neighborhood Safer

30 Previously-Unknown Species of Fly Discovered in Los Angeles

The Tallest Tower in Europe Will Be … In a Quaint Swiss Village?

These Sidewalk Games Only Appear When It Rains

The Secret Color-Coded Language of Graffiti Abatement

Yup, Police Can Search License Plate Scans to Find Your Favorite Bar

Flying SUX! The Weirdest Stories Behind Our Airport Codes

The Secret Lives of the Tiny People In Architectural Renderings

No Cars Will Be Allowed on This Stately New Bridge in Portland

Would You Take the Bus If It Earned You Free Credits For Tolls?

These Intricate Neighborhoods Imagine a Suburban Sprawlpocalypse

Inside New York City’s Most Mysterious Architectural Time Capsule

Here Are the Water Restrictions California Should Have Passed Today

This Is How Easily Our Cities Could Become High-Density Solar Power Plants

Southwest Is About to Limit Power Banks on Flights

Damn, the ‘Power Rangers’ Reboot Could’ve Had Four Movies

The Live-Action ‘One Piece’ Team Wants to Go the Distance

‘Lee Cronin’s The Mummy’ Will Please Gross Horror Fans

Somehow Paramount’s ‘Avatar’ Movie Has Leaked, Too

The World Is Basically Begging for Another iPod

Anker’s EufyMake E1 Finally Brings Printers Out of the Dark Ages

OpenAI Says Elon Musk Is ‘Injecting Chaos’ with Recent Legal Maneuver

This Loud-Ass Party Speaker Almost Got Me High AF

Asus Zenbook A16 Review: Start Considering Snapdragon on PC, for Real

Aqara Thermostat Hub W200 Review: Almost Better than My Ecobee

HP Omen Max 45L Review: 4K60 Gaming Has Never Been So Easy

Ecovacs Winbot W3 Omni Review: Window Cleaning Robots Have a Long Way to Go

AirPods Max 2 vs. Bose QuietComfort Ultra Headphones (2nd Gen): Which ANC Headphones Win?

The Best Gadgets of March 2026

AirPods Max 2 Review: Still Ridiculously Expensive and Ridiculously Nice

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