Archived Articles from Cities & Urbanism

From classic ideas of city construction to suburban sprawl and urban renewal, these articles cover everything from landscape and new urbanism to forms not yet fully defined - click through to see the cities of our past, present and future.

Buildings That Don't Exist: Fake Facades Hide Infrastructure

Is there something strange about the exterior of that building? This Paris facade and others like it around the world are actually hiding ugly infrastructure.

Virtual Retail Stores Repurpose Unused Public Spaces

In the near future, many stores might not even have physical products to take home - we'll just scan codes with our smart phones and have them delivered.

Lawless Metropolis: Kowloon Walled City, Then and Now

The demolished Kowloon Walled City in Hong Kong was once a teeming, crime-ridden 6.5-acre metropolis packed with 50,000 people; now it's a peaceful park.

Abandoned Power Station Transformed into a Roller Coaster

London's iconic Battersea Power Station, which has been abandoned since the 1980s, could turn into a theme park and museum in this wild rollercoaster concept.

Vertical Landfill: Monument to Civilization Honors Our Trash

This skyscraper proposal isn't just a functioning urban landfill tower that can also help power the city with gas; it's a commentary on our wastefulness.

Slam Drunk: 12 Weird, Wild & Wacky Basketball Courts

These 12 jaw-dropping basketball courts stretch the limits of Dr. James Naismith's original vision far beyond the prescient gym teacher's wildest hoop dreams.

Car-Free City: China Builds Dense Metropolis from Scratch

Planned for a rural area outside Chengdu, 'Great City' will be entirely car-free, organized around central vertical housing with green spaces easily accessible.

Trap Streets & Rooms: Cartographic Errors Catch Copycats

It started with trap streets and phantom settlements, introduced to through off the maps of copycats - but what about trap rooms and other indoor spaces.

Recycled Cargo Container Bridge Spans Environmental Gap

Old shipping containers form a unique bridge in an environmental park in Israel, spanning the gap between new and old in a beautiful way.

Instant Abandonment: Faux Desert City Built to be Bombed

Normally, urban design is done with death and destruction in mind - but prevention, rather than facilitation, is the focus. This unique mini-city was made to be destroyed.

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