Fast Cities

Rio Wins 2016 Summer Olympics Bid

Rio de Janeiro? After years of speculation, a rigorous four-year $50 million pitch by Chicago’s bid team, and impassioned pleas by Oprah and, you know, the Obamas, Chicago was the first city eliminated as a possible host city for ...READ»

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Changes Thirty-six months, predicts Terminator director McG: By then, any content you want will be available on your choice of screens, from the one in your pocket to the 100-foot-long version at your local multiplex. That was one ...READ»

• Update

Fast Cities 2009: The 13 Most Creative Cities in the World

Seattle is Fast Company's City of the Year, and singular bright ideas have earned 12 other cities places on our honor roll. Their initiatives are improving neighborhoods, transforming lives, and helping build better cities for the future.READ»

• Fast Cities 2009
• Slideshow: Why Seattle is the Most Creative City of 2009

Why Seattle is the Most Creative City of 2009

Where are the cool and the creative in Seattle? Ten Seattleites on the places that inspire them in their hometown.READ»

Fast Cities: Denver

The arts may often be associated with money and power, but the Mile-High City's Five by Five program opens the doors of Denver's cultural institutions to some of its youngest and poorest residents.READ»

• Fast Cities 2009

Fast Cities: Malmö, Sweden

After recession nearly wiped out Malmö's industrial base in the 1980s, the city had a chance to start over. It created eco-friendly neighborhoods of transformed tenements and old shipyards.READ»

• Fast Cities 2009

Fast Cities: New Orleans

The recovery of post-Katrina New Orleans has unleashed a new generation of social entrepreneurs. A sterling example: the Broadmoor Improvement Association and its dynamic president, LaToya Cantrell. Broadmoor is a racially mixed, middle-class historic district dating to the 1920s.READ»

• Fast Cities 2009

Fast Cities: Taipei, Taiwan

Taipei has strived to achieve "zero landfill, total recycling" by 2010. It will probably fall short, but its policies are still exemplary. The city has encouraged the private sector to build composting facilities and recycling plants, and requires residents to pay for trash collection by the bag.READ»

• Fast Cities 2009

Fast Cities: Tucson

In 2003, Tucson native and former surgeon general Richard Carmona challenged his friend, Mayor Robert E. Walkup, to turn their hometown into the model of a healthy city. He has done it, reshaping his city into a place where health and safety aren't an afterthought, but an integral part of municipal planning.READ»

• Fast Cities 2009

Fast Cities: San Francisco

Many people joke about stashing their cash under the mattress, but what if that were really the only option? Bank on San Francisco, a public-private partnership formed by the city and several financial organizations, gives citizens access to bank accounts and financial education.READ»

• Fast Cities 2009

Fast Cities: Cleveland

One of America's most blighted cities, hard hit by rustification and foreclosure, is also home to one of its loveliest urban initiatives, a plan to create acres of tree nurseries, oases of native plants, and community gardens with bees and chickens.READ»

• Fast Cities 2009

Fast Cities: New York

In the aftermath of September 11, New York police commissioner Ray Kelly built the most successful local counterterrorism unit in the U.S. and perhaps the world. The team, which has 600 experts that know some four dozen languages, routinely dispatches officers overseas for work in cities believed to be terror targets.READ»

• Fast Cities 2009

Fast Cities: Philadelphia

How do you save your home from foreclosure? Philadelphia's answer: communication. The city's Mortgage Foreclosure Protection Program relies on door-to-door outreach, free counseling, and meetings between those on the brink of losing their homes and their mortgage lenders.READ»

• Fast Cities 2009

Fast Cities: Vancouver, British Columbia

The host of the 2010 Winter Games is going for green, using its big moment as a chance to catalyze change. All 18 buildings in Vancouver's Olympic Village are being built to LEED Gold and LEED Platinum standards.READ»

• Fast Cities 2009

Fast Cities: Houston

When the property in downtown Houston came up for sale, city leaders knew they could find a better use for it than yet another condo or office building. They proposed Discovery Green, a 12-acre, $122 million park in the heart of downtown that has reminded urban planners of the power and potential of green space.READ»

• Fast Cities 2009

Fast Cities: Chicago

It seems almost too simple: one card that gives access to the trains, buses, and a local car-sharing program. The Smart Card is Chicago-based nonprofit I-Go Car Sharing's idea to extend public transportation to include public cars.READ»

• Fast Cities 2009

Fast Cities 2009: Seattle Is the City of the Year

Seattle, the city that sprawls across seven hills, is Fast Company's city of the year for 2009. A visit to the city last month reminded me of all the reasons it was chosen. The car rental agency at the airport handed me the smart ...READ»

Will New Yorkers Walk More Because of the Subway Price Hike? At Least They Can

New Yorkers today are upset over mass transit fares being hiked from $2 to $2.50, and nationwide, many light-rail and other mass-transit projects await stimulus funding. The best way to blow off some of that steam? Take a ...READ»

Fast Cities 2009 Reader Nominations: Des Moines, IA

Nominations for the 2009 Fast Cities of the Year are pouring in. Here's an entry on behalf of Des Moines, IA: Des Moines is like no other city. Whether you are a guest, a transplant or a home-grown DM dweller, you are welcomed with ...READ»

Fast Cities 2009 Reader Nominations: Washington, DC

Nominations for the 2009 Fast Cities of the Year are pouring in. Here's an entry on behalf of Washington, DC: DC is one of the most diverse cities in the world. We have people of so many different countries because we are where all ...READ»

Vote for Fast Cities 2009

Chicago and London topped our 2008 Cities of the Year list. This year we're asking for your help in choosing the most exuberant, diverse and growing city to top the list of Fast Cities for 2009. Click here to submit your nomination.READ»

What Makes Chicago the Creative Capital of the Universe?

Here leading Chicago business people and artisans weigh in on the pressing question, "Is Chicago the creative capital of the Universe?" “Big yes! A great creative place has to have great art, great food, and a ...READ»

12 Cities to Watch

Peer through the shroud of smog, and you'll see Beijing all dressed up for the Olympics, with daring new buildings like Rem Koolhaas's CCTV HQ. China's economy is booming, and the arts scene is too. The newest draw in the hip 798 ...READ»

Global City of the Year: London

Where one of every eight works in a creative industry.READ»

• 10 Things You Don't Know About London
• Fast Cities 2008

U.S. City of the Year: Chicago

Skyscrapers, green roofs, and house music -- a very American metropolis. READ»

• Five Things You Don't Know About Chicago
• Fast Cities 2008