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These streets aren't made for walking: Why sidewalks need a rethink

7 July 2021

Pavements date back some 2000 years, but are seldom built with pedestrians in mind. Here's why reinvented sidewalks could benefit your joints — and the planet

Noise-cancelling windows halve traffic sounds even when they're open

9 July 2020

A grid of speakers fixed to a window can cut the noisiness of urban traffic in half, reducing the sound coming through an open window by up to 10 decibels

Roma Agrawal: How to build a skyscraper

2 December 2019

Structural engineer Roma Agrawal was on the team that built London’s Shard. She reveals the design secrets allowing us to go ever higher

Destruction of war-torn Syria brought to London by AI

4 December 2017

UNICEF is using artificial intelligence to show what disaster would look like in your city, bringing international charity campaigns closer to home

Who will really benefit from the coming smart-city revolution?

27 November 2017

We need assurances on privacy, security and transparency or smart cities may be seen as thinly disguised opportunities solely for tech titans, says Paul Marks

Phone sensors can save lives by revealing what floor you are on

3 November 2017

Emergency services need to be able to pinpoint a caller’s location in high-rise buildings – your phone’s barometer could automatically tell them where you are

Aerial view of a busy junction in a city

A smart city in China tracks every citizen and yours could too

24 October 2017

Hangzhou’s smart city project optimises the city by tracking each citizen – and it’s been so successful that the concept is set to be exported around the world

Ordinary red roof tiles against a white sky

Light-filtering paint cools your home when exposed to hot sun

9 October 2017

Laser cooling has been applied to paint, which could mitigate urban heat islands and solve the problem of how to cool objects in space

A cheap pollution sensor will keep you off the dirtiest roads

26 September 2017

This wearable device reveals exposure to the three worst pollutants, linking it with online maps to help you avoid poor air, a bit like a Fitbit for pollution