For most of human history, cities grew by accident. Locations were chosen for pragmatic reasons—somewhere defensible on a hill or an island, an extractable resource, or the confluence of transport routes. But what happened next was entirely ad hoc. People working in forts, mines, ports, or warehouses needed places to eat, sleep, and worship. Infrastructure threaded through the hustle and bustle—water, sewage, roads, trolleys, gas, and electricity—woven together in vast networks of improvisation. While planned exceptions existed, such as Alexandria, Roman colonial towns, certain districts in major Chinese cities, and Haussmann’s Paris, the vast majority of urban growth relied on happenstance, luck, and layering the new on top of the old.
At least, that is how things worked for most of human history. Around the second decade of the 20th century, urban development shifted. Cities began to happen on purpose. Beginning with New York City’s pioneering zoning laws in 1916, development shifted from omission to commission. Laws and regulations dictated the shape of the building envelope, and functional decisions began determining aesthetic outcomes—though not always for the better.
A century after humans began designing cities as a whole, urban planning is entering a new era. High-tech materials, sensor networks, new scientific insights, and better data allow architects, designers, and planners to work with greater precision. Cities are becoming more environmentally sound, engaging, and visually striking—just in time, as a majority of the human population now lives in urban environments. From streetlights to sacred spaces, museums to bicycle infrastructure, the cities of tomorrow may still evolve organically, but done right, the process is no longer an accident. A city should no longer just happen; every block, building, and brick represents innumerable decisions.
LA Goes LED and Gets Connected
Los Angeles is retrofitting 4,500 miles of orange-yellow sodium-vapor streetlights with a moonlight-hued matrix of light-emitting diodes. The roads will look brighter, but they will also be more connected. Every energy-efficient lamp links wirelessly to the Bureau of Street Lighting, allowing headquarters to monitor its operational status in real time. Future iterations could feature lights that change in response to their surroundings, blinking if a police car or ambulance approaches or brightening for pedestrians after a major sporting event. While other cities use LEDs primarily to save money or add splashes of color, LA is building a network that communicates data about the entire urban ecosystem.
An Airport Within an Airport for Elite Travelers
More than 70 million people passed through Los Angeles International Airport in a recent year, navigating a gauntlet of luggage and crowds. To ease the journey, LAX underwent an $8 billion overhaul of everything from concession areas to moving walkways. Delta Air Lines contributed $229 million to rework Terminal 5, introducing Delta One, an exclusive lounge environment catering to celebrities and wealthy fliers. Upon arrival, a curbside attendant verifies passenger identities in a private setting. Travelers then proceed to a secluded lounge before being escorted via a private elevator and corridor directly to the front of a priority security checkpoint. Returning travelers can opt for VIP Select service, receiving a chaperone to the tarmac and a ride across the airfield in a hybrid Porsche directly to waiting transportation.
Shifting to Water-Wise Landscapes Amid Drought
The iconic palm trees along Hollywood Boulevard are not native to Los Angeles. As California battles persistent drought, landscape architects are replacing imported plants and thirsty turf with native, drought-resistant flora. This new aesthetic, dubbed "California Dry," emphasizes creative textures and structural shapes. Green lawns are giving way to decomposed granite and mulch, while rocky pathways, bridges, and planters add visual variety. Architectural plants such as foxtail agave and echeveria are arranged in organized rows, complemented by native plants that bring softness and color to the built environment.
A Mobile Opera Cruises Downtown LA
To experience Hopscotch, an opera set across 24 limousines and SUVs driving through downtown Los Angeles, audiences sit knee-to-knee with musicians and singers. During the production’s run, the vehicles navigate three distinct routes following a narrative of a lost love. Actors and dancers equipped with wireless microphones perform on sidewalks and passing vehicles, blending seamlessly with everyday urban life. With audiences limited to 96 people per performance, participants step out of cars and into buildings and public spaces, experiencing individual segments of a larger 36-part story.
An Evolving Museum Spirals Between Past and Present
Shanghai has seen skyscrapers shoot upward over recent years, but the new Shanghai Natural History Museum takes a different approach. Set in a park near the Pudong financial district, the building spirals downward into the earth, evoking an excavation of the city’s pre-urban roots. A central courtyard, inspired by the traditional water gardens of Suzhou, honors ancient Chinese values of natural beauty, while a honeycombed glass wall inspired by plant cell structures floods the interior with sunlight.
Architect Ralph Johnson of Perkins+Will noted that the building’s shape draws inspiration from the nautilus shell, which also serves a practical purpose for crowd control. Descending interior ramps guide visitors through a chronological tour of life on Earth, featuring approximately 11,000 specimens, including a towering Mamenchisaurus skeleton and fauna from Shanghai’s historic wetlands. Advanced climate and water systems, including a cooling courtyard pool, anchor the museum in modern sustainability while connecting residents to their natural history.
Medellín’s Cable Cars Unify a Fractured City
Medellín is nestled high in an Andean valley, with many of its poorest residents living in hillside comunas constructed on steep slopes. During the 1990s, drug gangs and guerrilla fighters controlled the narrow streets. As violence subsided, residents faced another major hurdle: severe geographic isolation.
To bridge the divide, former mayor Luis Pérez proposed a novel solution: cable cars. Instead of navigating perilous hillsides, residents could board a gondola and soar directly to a metro station. The first Metrocable line opened in 2004, followed by additional routes. Urban planners note that the system effectively integrated marginalized populations into the broader economic and social life of the city. As citizens from all socioeconomic backgrounds began utilizing the transit system, public investment in the city’s future grew, ushering in an era of celebrated urban innovation.
Following the transit integration, former urban projects director Alejandro Echeverri spearheaded a campaign using architectural design to address poverty. Five libraries surrounded by greenery were established in low-income neighborhoods, providing safe public spaces where few had previously existed. Department teams also worked street by street, planting trees and rebuilding schools as part of a holistic approach to community development.
At the grassroots level, residents also reclaimed their neighborhoods. Artists like Daniel Felipe Quiceno, known as Perrograff, launched guided tours through the historically troubled Comuna 13. By covering run-down walls with murals depicting local history and creating community gardens, residents helped transform their environment alongside municipal infrastructure projects.
The Hovenring Keeps Cyclists Above Traffic
Eindhoven transitioned from a sleepy provincial town into a vibrant technology and research hub following the growth of the Philips lighting company. With thousands of commuters traveling from surrounding suburbs, busy intersections became increasingly hazardous for cyclists. To address this, the city commissioned design firm ipv Delft to create a dedicated grade-separated crossing.
Completed in 2012, the $8 million Hovenring features a 1,000-ton steel deck suspended by 24 cables from a central pylon. Illuminated by LEDs, the circular bridge allows cyclists to traverse a busy intersection without interacting with vehicular traffic. The roadway below was also lowered to ensure gentle, accessible approach ramps, providing a functional and visually striking piece of cycling infrastructure.
Preparing Mecca for Millions of Pilgrims
For five days each year, the population of Saudi Arabia surges by three million as Muslims arrive for the hajj. To accommodate this massive influx, the Saudi government has collaborated with international designers and architects to manage crowd safety, infrastructure, and hygiene while respecting Islamic traditions.
The Hajj Terminal at King Abdulaziz International Airport spans 2.8 million square feet, featuring Teflon-coated fiberglass roofs designed to mimic traditional Bedouin tents. Natural ventilation in the open-air waiting areas maintains manageable temperatures despite extreme external heat. Beneath the surface, automated pneumatic tube networks process 600 tons of daily trash, moving refuse at 40 miles per hour through underground conduits away from the holy sites.
At the Masjid al-Haram, architects from Gensler expanded the Great Mosque surrounding the Kaaba by introducing multi-level platforms designed to improve traffic flow and double capacity without compromising the spiritual experience of the pilgrims. Nearby, the sprawling Abraj Al-Bait hotel complex features a towering clock tower that dominates the skyline.
In the Mina Valley, a permanent tent city composed of more than 100,000 air-conditioned, fire-resistant fiberglass structures provides temporary housing for millions of pilgrims. Meanwhile, multi-level expansions to the Jamarat Bridge have improved pedestrian access and exit routes for the traditional stoning ritual, mitigating historical safety risks associated with extreme crowd density.
Taming Nairobi’s Minibus Network
Transportation in Nairobi relies heavily on privately operated minibuses known as matatus. While cheap and plentiful, the ad hoc network historically lacked standardized schedules and mapped routes, making navigation challenging for daily commuters.
A research initiative known as Digital Matatus deployed university students with smartphone GPS apps to track routes and stops across the city. By releasing a standardized, subway-style map covering more than 100 routes, the project provided a reliable tool for residents, particularly women navigating unfamiliar areas after dark. The transit data was subsequently integrated into Google Maps, formally recognizing the informal network and offering a model for other cities managing decentralized public transportation.
Coworking Spaces Redefined in San Francisco
As modern work environments evolve beyond traditional offices, coworking spaces have gained prominence. Operations like WeWork have expanded globally, offering full-service environments featuring open-floor plans, communal areas, and private rooms designed with natural light and distinct aesthetic details. For startups and remote teams, these spaces provide operational flexibility, avoiding long-term commercial leases while fostering collaborative professional networks within urban centers.
Dubai’s Turbine Interchange and Traffic Flow
Emirates Road once featured a heavily congested roundabout that forced vehicles entering intersecting roads to come to a complete stop before merging. In 2006, city officials initiated a redesign to eliminate the bottleneck.
Rather than installing a traditional cloverleaf interchange, engineers selected a turbine interchange configuration originally devised in the UK in the 1960s. The design allows drivers traveling from four directions to execute turns without slowing down or weaving through cross-traffic. Unlike multi-tiered stacked interchanges, the turbine requires only two levels, significantly reducing construction materials and costs while maintaining high-speed capacity. The Arabian Ranches Interchange opened in 2008, spanning nearly a third of a mile with 11 bridges designed to streamline traffic across the expanding metropolitan area.
