Tag - cities

 
 

CITIES

Kohei Saito, a philosophy professor at the University of Tokyo who appears regularly in Japanese media to discuss his ideas, at home in Tokyo on March 16.
JAPAN / Society
Sep 7, 2023
Can shrinking be good for Japan? A Marxist bestseller makes the case.
Saito has tapped into what he describes as a growing disillusionment in Japan with capitalism’s ability to solve the problems people see around them.
Tourists walk in front of Crown and Anchor pub on Neal Street in London in 2018. Pubs are big part of British culture.
WORLD / Society
Sep 4, 2023
What’s really killing Britain’s historic pubs
With each time-honored spot that’s shuttered, another little piece of British history is lost.
A municipality worker collects garbage, most of which is plastic and domestic waste, along the shore of Jakarta.
ENVIRONMENT / Sustainability
Sep 4, 2023
Trash to treasure: Indonesian firm turns plastic into bricks
The company mixes volcanic ash, mountain stones, plastic waste and cement to make its bricks, which do not contain sand like regular ones.
A construction site where many tall apartment buildings have been constructed in recent years, in Parramatta, Sydney
ASIA PACIFIC / Society
Sep 1, 2023
Build up, not out: The high density housing push for Australian cities
With the construction industry struggling amid elevated costs and decade-high interest rates, housing affordability has become a thorny political issue.
Paris, where self-service electric scooters will be banned from Sept. 1, is about to join the few cities in the world that have opted for a ban, with many other municipalities opting for more or less strict restrictions.
WORLD / Society
Aug 29, 2023
Boon or blight? E-scooters around the world
While users hail them as eco-friendly ways to avoid gridlock, detractors consider them as an unsightly menace with the power to maim and kill.
A protest against the redevelopment of Dharavi, one of Asia's largest slums, in Mumbai. Banners read: "Remove Adani, Save Dharavi" and "First we fought the whites now we fight the thieves".
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Aug 28, 2023
Billionaire's bid to remake Mumbai slum spurs residents' doubts
Amid massive financial setbacks and allegations that political allies gave him favorable treatment, some question Adani's intentions.
A Cruise autonomous taxi in San Francisco on Aug. 10. Cruise is one of only two firms in California allowed to run paid robotaxi services around the clock.
BUSINESS / Tech
Aug 25, 2023
Robotaxis are making enemies as they go around San Francisco
Mishaps are adding to traffic and safety concerns over driverless vehicles, which zip around the city’s streets surrounded by sensors and cameras.
Residents stand in the corridors outside their homes at the Worli dairy quarters building in Mumbai. This crumbling structure houses more than 600 people.
ASIA PACIFIC
Aug 8, 2023
In Mumbai, civil servants risk safety for affordable housing
Some 600 people live in one government-owned, dilapidated block, in the same neighborhood that's home to the daughter of India's richest man.
A man makes his way through a flooded road after the rains and floods brought by remnants of Typhoon Doksuri, in Zhuozhou, Hebei province, China, on Thursday.
ASIA PACIFIC
Aug 4, 2023
China’s ‘sponge cities’ are not built for extreme flood events
China has invested billions of dollars in recent years to protect against extreme rainfall after a 2012 flood in Beijing killed 79 people.
Signs hang on a gate as people hike in the Pen y Pass at the foot of Mount Snowdon near Llanberis, Wales, in 2020. For residents of deprived urban areas, going to natural green spaces can be prohibitively expensive.
WORLD
Aug 2, 2023
Isolated from nature, U.K.'s ethnic minorities hit harder by heat
Experts say ethnic minorities will be affected most as they often live in dense, poorly insulated households near fewer parks and less vegetation.
Residents walk through misters during a heat wave in Phoenix, Arizona, on July 20.
ENVIRONMENT / Climate change
Aug 1, 2023
How urban heat islands add to the misery of heat waves
While grass or soil absorb less heat, asphalt and concrete can absorb as much as 95% of the sun's energy then send it back into the atmosphere.
Jingu Gaien is a famous landmark, park and sports center in Minato Ward, Tokyo. 
COMMENTARY / Japan
Jul 26, 2023
Tokyo's tree-razing drama shouldn't stymie transformation
Residents are raging over a redevelopment plan. But while other cities become stuck in time, Tokyo's best projects can combine the spirit of the past with the hope for the future.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Jul 9, 2023
G7 urban ministers meet in Kagawa, agree to tackle global challenges
Group of Seven Urban ministers meeting in Japan agreed to work together with municipal governments to address global challenges such as climate change, biodiversity loss and pollution.
Japan Times
WORLD
Jun 28, 2023
As U.S. cities seek more data in public, can they boost trust in tech?
While many argue that publicly placed data-gathering devices provide value to communities, others point to scant accountability or oversight.
Japan Times
WORLD
Jun 23, 2023
Vienna holds on to title of most liveable city as Osaka places highest in Japan
As upended lives from the pandemic return to normal, education, health and cultural facilities are improving, according to the Economist Intelligence Unit’s index.
Japan Times
JAPAN / FOCUS
Jun 15, 2023
Osaka in uphill battle to eradicate street smoking by 2025 Expo
The city announced plans last year to expand no-smoking areas to cover the entire city by 2025 while increasing the number of authorized smoking sections.
Japan Times
WORLD
Jun 9, 2023
World's slum populations set to surge as housing crisis bites
More than half of the world's population lives in cities and towns, so tackling urban poverty and inequality is more urgent than ever before.
Japan Times
WORLD
Jun 6, 2023
As flood risks rise, New Orleans neighborhoods build resilience
Community-led projects in New Orleans are helping the city to cut flood risk and improve water management as climate change fuels more extreme weather.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Apr 30, 2023
How a scientific approach to urban greening could cool Japan's concrete jungles
In Tokyo, temperatures have risen by 3 C over the past 100 years, even though global temperatures have risen by only around 1 C. The solution could lie in green infrastructure.
Japan Times
ASIA PACIFIC
Apr 26, 2023
Heat stress rises for Dhaka's poor as green spaces shrink
In 2022, Dhaka was seen as the seventh least livable city in a global ranking due to its booming population, high disaster risk and loss of green spaces.

Longform

Later this month, author Shogo Imamura will open Honmaru, a bookstore that allows other businesses to rent its shelves. It's part of a wave of ideas Japanese booksellers are trying to compete with online spaces.
The story isn't over for Japan's bookstores