Cities and Communities

Even at Harvard, a liberal Atlanticist bubble where the Marshall Plan was first announced, events to celebrate NATO’s 70th Anniversary celebration were sparsely attended by American students, unlike Europeans who were excited to attend. Expectations for the NATO summit scheduled this month in London were low, and organizers hoped at best to avoid new tensions […]

What can two small cities in Maine and upstate New York teach us about the national housing crisis?

In March 2018, President Trump stated that ‘trade wars are good, and easy to win’ as he sparked a trade war with China to fight what he called the country’s unfair bilateral trade balance and intellectual property theft. The trade war has taken longer than expected to “win,” especially as rhetoric on both sides heats […]

Upon her election as chair of the C40 Cities Climate Leadership Group in 2016, Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo declared, “C40 member cities are determining the course of our planet’s future.”[1] (C40 is a group of more than 90 cities organized to combat climate change at the municipal level.[2]) Indeed, as societies become increasingly urbanized, the […]

World War II leveled Manila. The war destroyed infrastructure and seriously damaged critical parts of Southeast Asia’s first railway system. In response to the devastation and operators’ failure to address transportation demands, army-surplus trucks were repurposed into “Jeepneys” intended to accommodate 16–24 passengers. Temporary certificates to operate were extended to underfinanced operators so long as […]

Whether by car, train, foot, wheelchair, bike, or any of the other ways humanity has invented to move through the places we call home, just about everybody relies on transportation systems as part of their daily lives. This is not new and is not likely to change. But if the headlines are to be believed, […]

Abstract The transfer of development rights is an instrument of urban policy originally used in the United States. It allows the owners of landmarks in a city to sell their air rights to developers for them to build over the standard height limits of their properties. The article explains the recent introduction of the mechanism […]

In January, the Boston Globe released its stunning Valedictorians Project. This landmark report found that a quarter of Boston high school valedictorians from 2005 to 2007 did not finish college within six years of graduating at the top of their class. More than a decade later, four in 10 make less than $50,000 a year. […]

Despite its reputation as a liberal college town, more political-extremist individuals and entities call Eugene, Oregon home than any other United States city as measured by a compilation of official data on crime in the United States published by the FBI. Eugene is victimized by 42 hate crimes per 100,000 residents, per year, in a […]

What happens to your recycling when the noisy, traffic-inducing truck picks it up each week? If you are like me, you picture it arriving at a nearby plant and then magically getting reincarnated. The reality is more complicated. First, our recycling is cleaned, sorted, and packaged into bales at local Materials Recovery Facilities (MRFs). Then, […]

Bogota is 13 times denser than New York City.[1] Colombian cities are 100 percent denser than the global average and 126 percent denser than cities in Latin America.[2] Until now, the consensus has been that the largest determinants of density are population and income. An increase in population increases demand around an economic hub, increasing […]

Former Mayor of New Orleans Mitch Landrieu (2010-2018) knows what it means to govern amid scarce resources and divisive politics. So it comes as no surprise that many think he would make a competitive candidate for president in 2020. Whether or not he enters the race, what’s clear is that America would be better off […]