Friday Fun: A bird’s eye view

It can be disorienting to view familiar cities from above. The details that seem to define cities while we move through them on the ground are missing. Instead, shapes representing streets and buildings emerge, almost abstract. But we can tell a lot from these bird’s...

The number crunch: Predicting motorization in China

Some estimates place the number of motorized vehicles in China at 1 billion by 2050 – a number impossible to sustain. Photo by IceNineJon. China’s dramatic increase in motorized vehicle use has greatly exceeded past predictions. Now, latest estimates...

China’s Urban Billion: Sprawling cities and fiscal policy

China’s Urban Billion is a series of blogs exploring China’s urbanization process. Xiaomei Tan guides TheCityFix readers through China’s opportunities and challenges as it transforms into an urbanized society. She examines the urbanization process as it relates to...