China's environmental problems remain a cause for global concern, as climate change continues to reduce agricultural production and create instability in world food prices.

Those of us who write about cities should be students of history and experience, and with some humility listen to scholars and the legacy of urban development from from around the world.

Amid the roads, sidewalks and places that you have visited before, there are often embedded patterns to uncover, read and reinterpret.

Will the prime square footage occupied by Borders have similar 'third place' potential once reclaimed? Will replacement uses provide the equivalent fusion business purposes of books, coffee, lecture and song?

In 2010, Stockholm, Sweden, was selected as the first Green Capital of Europe. After a brief visit, it is easy to see why.

When a small branch of a local ice cream business opened within the laundromat up the street, it was evidence that today's land use regulations are becoming more in sync with changing urban reality.

Long protected by cultural position -- and zoning setbacks -- is the classic Leave it to Beaver lot configuration really part of a sustainable future?

One of the more interesting and exciting aspects of the "new urbanism" movement is that the next paradigm could well be much more than the return to the close-knit community of small villages and towns.

If our cities must be dense to be competitive and sustainable, we must also look with care to the potential displacement of uses, institutions or traditions -- not to mention the artifacts we will leave behind.

More so than public squares -- which require a conscious set-aside of assembled space -- corners naturally result from crossroads, the elemental feature of travel between places.

Cities are hubs of human interaction, and the urban experience can be enhanced by authentic participation in the dynamics of a place and transitions to nearby venues.

What if American cities legislated brighter color amid windows, balconies planted green and encouraged flags and hanging laundry? What if homeowner associations and rental contracts required vegetation and decoration?