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The History of Cities Is About How We Get to Work

From ancient Rome to modern Atlanta, the technologies that allow people to commute in about 30 minutes have defined the shape of cities.
by Jonathan English via CityLab on August 29, 2019
Row of suburban houses.

Welcome to the Radical Suburbs

We all know the stereotypes. But what about the suburbs of utopians and renegades?
by Amanda Kolson Hurley via CityLab on April 9, 2019
Formal portrait photo of Harland Bartholomew in suit and tie

One Man Zoned Huge Swaths of Our Region for Sprawl, Cars, and Exclusion

Bartholomew’s legacy demonstrates with particular clarity that planning is never truly neutral; value judgments are always embedded in engineers' objectives.
by Ben Ross via Greater Greater Washington on January 8, 2019
Firefighters cutting a trench as a blaze approaches.

The Case for Letting Malibu Burn

Many of California’s native ecosystems evolved to burn. But modern fire suppression creates fuel for catastrophic fires. Is it time for a change?
by Mike Davis via Longreads on December 4, 2018

From Food Deserts to Supermarket Redlining

Connecting the dots between discriminatory housing policies in the 1930s and urban food insecurity today.
by Jerry Shannon via Atlanta Studies on August 14, 2018

Three Eras of Environmental Concern

In the late 19th and early 20th century, talk about “the environment” had little of its later coherence or political meaning.
by Christopher Sellers via Modern American History on July 27, 2018

The Curse of an Open Floor Plan

The flowing, connected interior has become ubiquitous, and beloved. But it promises a liberation from housework that remains a fantasy.
by Ian Bogost via The Atlantic on May 17, 2018

Why New York City Stopped Building Subways

Nearly 80 years ago, a construction standstill derailed the subway into its present crisis.
by Jonathan English via CityLab on April 16, 2018

How Redlining Segregated Philadelphia

Decades after civil rights laws overruled policies that starved non-white neighborhoods of investment, deep disparities linger.
by Jake Blumgart via Next City on December 8, 2017
A man being arrested by an LAPD officer outside of a Mexican restaurant.

The Year 1960

City developers, RAND Corps dropouts, Latino activists—and Lena Horne, taking direct action against racism in Beverley Hills.
by Mike Davis via New Left Review on November 15, 2017

Ancient History of Lyme Disease in North America Revealed with Bacterial Genomes

It turns out that deforestation and suburbanization – not evolution – are to blame for the tick-borne epidemic.
by Elizabeth Ann Reitman via Yale School of Public Health on August 28, 2017
The Miss Portland diner.

The Making of the American Diner

Today's diners would surprise a 1940s patron. These restaurants were once vulgar boy’s clubs before becoming today's family-friendly establishments.
by Andrew Hurley, Erin Blakemore via JSTOR Daily on June 17, 2017

Black and Woke in Capitalist America: Revisiting Robert Allen’s "Black Awakening"... for New Times’ Sake

A look into neocolonialism in modern America.
by N. D. B. Connolly via Social Science Research Council on March 7, 2017
Aerial view of identical-looking houses in suburbs

Welcome to Disturbia

Why midcentury Americans believed the suburbs were making them sick.
by Amanda Kolson Hurley via Curbed on May 25, 2016

California Burns

A meditation from 2007 on the connection between wildfire destruction and suburbanization in California.
by Mike Davis via London Review of Books on November 15, 2007
Highways & Horizons, front and back covers of brochure for the General Motors pavilion at the 1939 New York World’s Fair. [Prelinger Library]

Highways and Horizons

The Interstate Highway System created a national polity defined by circulation. To rethink the Interstates is to rethink the United States.
by Reinhold Martin via Places Journal on June 20, 2025
Affordable housing development under construction in New York City
partner

The History of the Low-Income Housing Tax Credit

Expanding the Low-Income Housing Tax Credit could make a successful program even better—and address a major crisis.
by Tom Hanchett via Made By History on June 12, 2025
A bulldozer juxtapositioned with destroyed buildings and barren land.

The Shrouded, Sinister History Of The Bulldozer

From India to the Amazon to Israel, bulldozers have left a path of destruction that offers a cautionary tale for how technology can be misused.
by Joe Zadeh via Noema on February 20, 2025
A McDonald's worker handing a bag of food to someone in a drive through.
partner

What Harris Talking About Her McDonald's Job Reveals

Harris' rhetoric about working at McDonald's shows how Democrats have rethought their 1990s emphasis on fast food jobs.
by Alex Park via Made By History on September 24, 2024
partner

Electing the President, 1840-2020

Most election maps emphasize the candidates and parties who won the Electoral College. This project shifts the focus to voters, revealing a more nuanced story.
by Robert K. Nelson, Riley D. Champine, Nathaniel Ayers, Chad Devers via American Panorama on August 1, 2024
Jason Epstein.

The Man Who Created the Trade Paperback

On the life and times of Jason Epstein, cofounder of “The New York Review of Books.”
by Michael Castleman via Literary Hub on July 18, 2024
Soy plantation fields.

Hating the Heartland

Do Americans in rural places really “marinate in a sense of loss and perpetual disappointment”?
by Paul Schwenessen via Law & Liberty on May 29, 2024
North Carolina Mutual executives.

Black Capitalism and the City

African American insurance and the actuarial double bind.
by Ginger Nolan via Places Journal on April 16, 2024
Image of a joint sticking out of the sidewalk in a suburban neighborhood.

The Suburbs Made the War on Drugs in Their Own Image

Matthew Lassiter’s history plays out in ranch houses, high school parking lots, and courtrooms from Shaker Heights to Westchester to Orange County.
by Claire Bond Potter via The New Republic on February 27, 2024
Shadow of Jason Aldean performing on stage.

Jason Aldean's 'Small Town' Is Part of a Long Legacy with a Very Dark Side

The country song that pits idyllic country life against the corruption of the city is a well-worn trope. Aldean's song reveals the dark heart of the tradition.
by Amanda Marie Martinez via NPR on July 22, 2023
The iconic white lettered Hollywood sign

The Hidden History of the Hollywood Sign

“The sign has become a worldwide symbol of the Hollywood of the imagination, and it allows anyone who sees it to fill it with whatever meaning they want.”
by Nathan Smith via Smithsonian on July 13, 2023
Train depot in Allston, MA.

Want to Protect the Historic Character of Massachusetts Cities and Towns? Take Away Their Power.

History shows that cities and towns have been poor stewards of what makes them special.
by Garrett Dash Nelson via CommonWealth on July 8, 2023
Cover and pages of "American Redux" book about housing.

The Rich American Legacy of Shared Housing

A visual journalist remembers a time when "housing was more flexible, fluid and communal than it is today.”
by Ariel Aberg-Riger via CityLab on May 2, 2023
South Front Street House, Philadelphia, PA (credit LOC).

Black Homeownership Before World War II

From the 1920s-1940s, North, West, and South Philadelphia saw its Black population increase by 50-80% as white flight occurred.
by Menika Dirkson via Black Perspectives on March 29, 2023
Mexican American men standing near a mural and a low rider car in Chicago in 1987.

The Past and Future of Mexican Chicago

From the machine politicians in La Villita to the radicals in Pilsen, Mexican Chicagoans have played a central role in defining their city. 
by Juan Ignacio Mora via The Nation on January 10, 2023
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