TED Talks
TED: How buildings can improve life - inside and out | Doris Sung
Architect and building tech innovator Doris Sung presents a compelling vision for reimagining building facades as active contributors to urban life and public health. Showcasing innovative technologies - like buildings that filter...
TED Talks
TED: 5 lessons on building an emissions-free city | Heidi Sørensen
Confronting climate change makes for better cities and a better quality of life, says Heidi Sørensen, director of the climate agency for the city of Oslo, Norway. From construction sites without noise pollution to fully electric...
TED Talks
TED: Climate action's hidden opportunities for women | Zineb Sqalli
Climate action has historically had a gender-neutral lens, but this lack of intentionality allows underlying biases to sneak in and negatively impact women, says gender and climate researcher Zineb Sqalli. Using Vienna, Austria's...
TED Talks
TED: What happens to gas stations when the world goes electric? | Emily Grubert
When the world goes fully electric, what happens to the cars, tools and livelihoods that rely on fossil fuels? Civil engineer and environmental sociologist Emily Grubert visualizes what a clean energy future will look like, outlining the...
TED-Ed
TED-Ed: What happens if you cut down all of a city's trees? | Stefan Al
By 2050, it's estimated that over 65% of the world will be living in cities. We may think of nature as being unconnected to our urban spaces, but trees have always been an essential part of successful cities. Humanity has been uncovering...
TED Talks
TED: Why great architecture should tell a story | Ole Scheeren
For architect Ole Scheeren, the people who live and work inside a building are as much a part of that building as concrete, steel and glass. He asks: Can architecture be about collaboration and storytelling instead of the isolation and...
Crash Course
How Are Cities Organized? Crash Course Geography
Today we’re going to take a closer look at cities, examine how these large complex structures are organized, and identify patterns and differences in land use around the world. We'll begin with a quick recap of Central Place Theory, then...
TED Talks
TED: A 3-part plan to take on extreme heat waves | Eleni Myrivili
The deadliest severe weather phenomenon is something you might not realize: extreme heat. Eleni Myrivili, chief heat officer of the city of Athens, Greece, explains that extreme heat and heat waves are often overlooked because they're...
TED Talks
Ma Yansong: Urban architecture inspired by mountains, clouds and volcanoes
Taking inspiration from nature, architect Ma Yansong designs breathtaking buildings that break free from the boxy symmetry of so many modern cities. His exuberant and graceful work -- from a pair of curvy skyscrapers that "dance" with...
TED Talks
TED: The biggest risks facing cities -- and some solutions | Robert Muggah
With fantastic new maps that show interactive, visual representations of urban fragility, Robert Muggah articulates an ancient but resurging idea: cities shouldn't just be the center of economics -- they should also be the foundation of...
TED Talks
Bjarke Ingels: Floating cities, the LEGO House and other architectural forms of the future
Design gives form to the future, says architect Bjarke Ingels. In this worldwide tour of his team's projects, journey to a waste-to-energy power plant (that doubles as an alpine ski slope) and the LEGO Home of the Brick in Denmark -- and...
TED Talks
Mitchell Joachim: Don't build your home, grow it!
TED Fellow and urban designer Mitchell Joachim presents his vision for sustainable, organic architecture: eco-friendly abodes grown from plants and -- wait for it -- meat.
TED Talks
Rahul Mehrotra: The architectural wonder of impermanent cities
Every 12 years, a megacity springs up in India for the Kumbh Mela religious festival -- what's built in ten weeks is completely disassembled in one. What can we learn from this fully functioning, temporary settlement? In a visionary...
TED Talks
TED: How megacities are changing the map of the world | Parag Khanna
I want you to reimagine how life is organized on earth, says global strategist Parag Khanna. As our expanding cities grow ever more connected through transportation, energy and communications networks, we evolve from geography to what he...
TED Talks
TED: The architectural mastermind behind modern Singapore | Liu Thai Ker
Cities designed like families can last for generations. Skeptical? Look to master architect Liu Thai Ker, who transformed Singapore into a modern marvel with his unique approach to sustainable urban design. Liu shares creative wisdom and...
TED Talks
TED: The informal settlements reshaping the world | Jota Samper
Creative, sustainable solutions find their home in the thousands of informal neighborhoods across the world. Urban planner Jota Samper believes these often overlooked settlements (also known as slums) should be regarded as hubs of...
TED Talks
A stealthy reimagining of urban public space | Elizabeth Diller
Cities are becoming increasingly privatized: commercial real estate dominates the streets, carving up open space that once belonged to the public and selling it as a commodity to the highest bidder. Architect Elizabeth Diller explores...
TED Talks
Kotchakorn Voraakhom: How to transform sinking cities into landscapes that fight floods
From London to Tokyo, climate change is causing cities to sink -- and our modern concrete infrastructure is making us even more vulnerable to severe flooding, says landscape architect and TED Fellow Kotchakorn Voraakhom. But what if we...
TED Talks
TED: How to revive a neighborhood: with imagination, beauty and art - Theaster Gates
* Viewer discretion advised. This video includes discussion of mature topics and may be inappropriate for some audiences. Theaster Gates, a potter by training and a social activist by calling, wanted to do something about the sorry state...
TED Talks
TED: How COVID-19 reshaped US cities | Kevin J. Krizek
The pandemic spurred an unprecedented reclamation of urban space, ushering in a seemingly bygone era of pedestrian pastimes, as cars were sidelined in favor of citizens. Highlighting examples from across the United States, environmental...
TED Talks
TED: How is your city tackling the climate crisis? | Marvin Rees
If we can unlock the full potential of our cities, we can minimize the price the planet pays for hosting us in our growing numbers, says Marvin Rees, the Mayor of Bristol, UK, who understands deeply how cities can help (or hurt) the...
TED Talks
TED: How Airbnb designs for trust | Joe Gebbia
Joe Gebbia, the co-founder of Airbnb, bet his whole company on the belief that people can trust each other enough to stay in one another's homes. How did he overcome the stranger-danger bias? Through good design. Now, 123 million hosted...
TED Talks
TED: 7 principles for building better cities | Peter Calthorpe
More than half of the world's population already lives in cities, and another 2.5 billion people are projected to move to urban areas by 2050. The way we build new cities will be at the heart of so much that matters, from climate change...
TED Talks
TED: How Syria's architecture laid the foundation for brutal war | Marwa Al-Sabouni
What caused the war in Syria? Oppression, drought and religious differences all played key roles, but Marwa Al-Sabouni suggests another reason: architecture. Speaking to us over the Internet from Homs, where for the last six years she...