Browse 51 -- yes, we included the District of Columbia! -- bold ideas and brilliant urbanites who are helping to build the cities of America's future.READ»
The city is humanity's laboratory, where people flock to dream, create, build, and rebuild. Harvard economist Edward Glaeser observes that to stroll through the world's great cities is "to study nothing less than human progress." Each year, we spotlight the building blocks of that progress -- bold ideas that promise to enrich our cities and economies.READ»
Once, the town of Marfa was most remembered for being the place where the 1956 James Dean/Liz Taylor/Rock Hudson extravaganza Giant was filmed. These days, this rapidly gentrifying but still-isolated place is much more tied up with ...READ»
In honor of our Fast Cities Breakfast coming up on June 22, we spoke with Portland mayor Sam Adams, who, in his first State of City address last February, vowed to make Portland "the most sustainable city in the world." And this ...READ»
While you were dreaming of lounging by the pool, BP and AOL continued dog paddling, College Humor jumped into the gaming content deep end, AT&T got deluged, and Portland surfaced as a Fast City. 1. Portland, Oregon mayor Sam ...READ»
Want to see how an innovative city of the future is created? Join us for our Fast Cities panel on June 22 at the Washington Inn in Oakland, California. A variety of speakers, including Fast Company's own Anya Kamenetz; Ian Kim, ...READ»
Portland has long been lauded for its farmers markets, but in February, the city welcomed a new high-tech tool to bring large-scale, farm-fresh foods to city hospitals, public schools, corporate cafeterias -- even Oregon state ...READ»
During the '90s and aughts, many of Savannah's poorest neighborhoods spiraled into disrepair. Aging residents lacked the money and energy to maintain their properties; younger residents and business owners were fleeing in search of ...READ»
It's a good thing Gavin Newsom checks his Twitter feed during meetings. Otherwise, San Francisco's mayor would've missed a life-changing missive about ... potholes? "It really made me wonder," he says. "What if we used social media to ...READ»
Encouraging people to use public transportation by giving them free access to cars may seem counterintuitive, but Austin is doing just that. Last fall, the city partnered with Daimler to launch Car2go, the nation's largest car-sharing ...READ»
Studies show that top-notch teaching talent is the biggest factor in a student's academic success, and Senator Michael Bennet, the former head of Denver Public Schools, thinks it's high time we start reflecting that in teachers' ...READ»
New York's concrete jungle is about to get more green -- and tasty -- thanks to Gotham Greens, which is building a hydroponic rooftop farm in Brooklyn. The eco-efficient farm will take a small bite out of the $2 billion in produce ...READ»
Buses and trains may trump cars on the carbon front, but for true sustainability, why not power public transit with alternative fuels? AC Transit has three hybrid-electric, hydrogen fuel-cell buses up and running in Oakland and ...READ»
Boston has become a beacon for displaced and emerging artists, thanks to the city's innovative housing program. The Artist Space Initiative (ASI) is dedicated exclusively to artist housing issues, from surveying artist needs in ...READ»
Most municipal Wi-Fi initiatives end in the graveyard, but cemeteries are among the few spots not covered by Minneapolis's new $20 million wireless network, which blankets 95% of its 59 square miles. As an anchor tenant of the system, ...READ»
What would a city be without culture? No place we'd want to live. Yet most attempts to seed thriving centers are fraught with stumbles. The new AT&T Performing Arts Center solidifies Dallas's arts district by bringing a red-hot ...READ»
"We were staring into the abyss," says Baiju Shah, CEO of BioEnterprise, recalling the 2000 recession that had slowed Cleveland's economy to a crawl. "It wasn't just a cyclical thing; there were global forces at work that were going ...READ»
