VICE - Coronavirus Is Not a Good Reason to Abandon Cities

Coronavirus has raised the question of whether density in cities is good or bad. The answer depends on what politicians do next.

Truckloads of JUMP Bikes Are Being Destroyed During a Nationwide Shortage

Over the last few weeks, thousands of perfectly good JUMP electric bikes and scooters have been dropped off at a recycling facility and will be shredded, Motherboard has learned. The untimely end of these micromobility devices comes at a particularly absurd time, with the nation facing a widespread bike shortage because of surging demand for safe, affordable urban transportation during the pandemic.

Learning from Logistics

In the 19th century railroads and canals provided both structure and motor for city development. This role has been taken over today by the global flow of data and products, as the author argues. Flow of material and communication is the DNA of contemporary environments.

Demographics of Mobile Device Ownership and Adoption in the United States

In contrast to the largely stationary internet of the early 2000s, Americans today are increasingly connected to the world of digital information while "on the go" via smartphones and other mobile devices. Explore the patterns and trends that have shaped the mobile revolution below.

Tech Firms Are Spying on You. In a Pandemic, Governments Say That's OK.

While an undergraduate at the University of Virginia, Joshua Anton created an app to prevent users from drunk dialing, which he called Drunk Mode. He later began harvesting huge amounts of user data from smartphones to resell to advertisers.

Airport Surveillance Is About to Reach a Whole New Level of Ridiculousness

This article is part of Privacy in the Pandemic , a Future Tense series. Flying seems like just about the most dangerous thing you could possibly do right now. You're spending hours confined in a metal tube, with hundreds of strangers from all over the world, without any way of knowing where they've been or whom they've been with.

Norway halts coronavirus app over privacy concerns

The news: Norway is halting its coronavirus contact tracing app, Smittestopp, after criticism from the Norwegian Data Protection Authority, which said that the country's low rate of infections meant that the app's privacy invasions were no longer justified. As a result, the app will cease collecting new data, all data collected so far is being...

The circular economy "will never work with the materials we have" says Cyrill Gutsch

Plastics will be replaced within ten years by biofabricated materials that eliminate waste and pollution, according to Parley for the Oceans founder Cyrill Gutsch. In future, natural substances such as algae, bacteria, enzymes and proteins will be used to grow materials that will replace today's plastics, said the former designer.

'Dream Cities,' by Wade Graham

When you purchase an independently reviewed book through our site, we earn an affiliate commission. Thomas More's "Utopia," which appeared 500 years ago, in 1516, may have changed the world. But few of its readers, I suspect, have read the whole thing.

The Works

How much do you really know about the systems that keep a city alive? The Works: Anatomy of a City contains everything you ever wanted to know about what makes New York City run. When you flick on your light switch the light goes on--how? When you put out your garbage, where does it go?