
How Will the Future Remember COVID-19?
Three visions for a hypothetical pandemic memorial

METROPOLIS NOW
Technology is transforming city life, for better and worse

Three visions for a hypothetical pandemic memorial

Charlie Moore turned the aesthetics of beat policing into a full-time job.

Theme-park designers, architects, and engineers have been fighting against queues for decades. COVID-19 could finally kill them for good.

The pandemic has revealed that higher education was never about education.

Arborists are planting trees today that must survive decades of global warming. The health, comfort, and happiness of city dwellers hang in the balance.

Every relationship is long-distance now—and that’s a good thing.

Glass-and-steel monoliths replaced local architecture. It’s not too late to go back.

Television and film helped naturalize police violence. Noir offers a way out.

The quiet of lockdown and the noise of protest restage the political conflicts of sonic life in the city.

A machine-learning model showed promising results, but city officials and their engineering contractor abandoned it.