Cities & Planning

Some are still standing and look rather handsome.

In honor of World Toilet Day, we flush out an eight part series on the history of the toilet, plumbing, the bathroom and more.

Over the last few weeks I have tried to pull all of the disparate ideas for the bathroom together and come up with a functional and practical set of ideas. Here is a summary of them all, in one bathroom that you can't

I took some serious abuse in comments when I wrote Gates Foundation Throwing $42 Million Into The Toilet, questioning whether we needed a high-tech toilet solution.

Have a look at your sink after you brush your teeth or shave. There is stuff all over it that you have to clean up. You can't wash your hair in it. Alexander Kira of Cornell University looked at the

In 1940, Buckminster Fuller receieved Patent 2220482 for a prefabricated bathroom. Fuller wrote in his claim:

The really amazing thing about this standard "bathroom" from 1915, ninety-seven years ago, is how much it looks like the standard bathrooms of today. How did it get this way, and how did we get stuck

In 1854 there was a major outbreak of cholera in Soho, London. Nobody knew what caused cholera, but John Snow carefully mapped the location of every victim, (documented wonderfully in Stephen Johnson's book The Ghost

Victor Hugo wrote in Les Miserables that "the history of men is reflected in the history of sewers."... The sewer is the conscience of the city. Everything there converges and confronts everything else. "

Siegfried Giedion, in Mechanization Takes Command, writes:

# Democratic leaders are saying this is the year that the Washington State Legislature will finally pass rent stabilization, with momentum building behind Rep. Emily Alvarado's bill.

If you have a screwdriver, you can mend the modular kettle, promises its designer

Introducing the Newsletter of the Global Passenger Rail Renaissance

9:00am—The battle against wildfires in Los Angeles is almost entirely won by aerial firefighting. Helicopters and airplanes dropping water and retardants on fires and along perimeters saved Hollywo…

A visual guide to the damage caused by the wildfires that have devastated the city

How much livable land is there on Earth? According to the available data, there are approximately 24,642,757 square miles or 15.77 billion acres of habitable land on Earth. How much land is available per person on the earth? Based on the estimated total land area of Earth, which is about 57,308,738 square miles, and with … How much livable land is there on Earth? Read More »

The Global Land Cover and Land Use Change, 2000-2020 The GLAD Global Land Cover and Land Use Change dataset quantifies changes in forest extent and height, cropland, built-up lands, surface water, and perennial snow and ice extent from the year 2000 to 2020 at 30-m spatial resolution. The global dataset derived from the GLAD Landsat Analysis Ready Data. Each thematic product

Habitable land is defined as ice- and barren-free land. Agricultural land is the sum of croplands and pasture for grazing.

How is humanity using the Earth’s land? And how can we decrease our land use so that more land is left for wildlife?

Solar, batteries, and wind accounted for the vast majority of new electrons on the U.S. grid last year, but fossil fuel use remains high.

# Washington State's updated intercity bus plan outlines potential improvements to enhance connectivity statewide, including added trips and new routes.

This remarkable feat has been running successfully for an astonishing eight years without a single battery replacement, as detailed by the creator, Glubux, on the online forum...

Our cities are polluted and overcrowded - but planting trees in urban spaces can increase biodiversity and create wildlife habitats for the future.

Breadfruit is a staple in tropical places—and climate change is pushing its range north.

In the city of Poznań, Poland, a group of eight clams controls the local water supply through a clever bio-monitoring system: These biological systems are comprised of eight mussels with sensors hot-glued to their shells. They work together with a netw

Personalized, flexible support is helping low-income Californians navigate an intense real estate market.

When ships moved from muscle- and wind power to burning coal and other fossil fuels for their propulsion, they also became significantly faster and larger. Today’s cargo ships and ferries hav…

Every year, millions of eyes turn to Times Square on New Year’s Eve. The ball drops, confetti flies, and people around the world celebrate as one of the most iconic urban spaces transforms into a glowing, glittering symbol of hope and renewal. But this carefully orchestrated spectacle didn’t just happen. Times Square, now synonymous with

Americans don’t have to look abroad for answers.