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
TED: 3 ways your company's data can jump-start climate action | Massimo Russo
From helping build smart cities to supporting the sustainable energy sector, the possibilities of big data are endless. But many companies are still wary of sharing data that could expose them to risk and diminish their competitive...
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-Ed
TED-Ed: Why isn’t the Netherlands underwater?
In January 1953, a tidal surge shook the North Sea. The titanic waves flooded the Dutch coastline, killing almost 2,000 people. 54 years later, a similar storm threatened the region. But this time, they were ready. This was thanks to a...
TED Talks
Colette Pichon Battle: Climate change will displace millions. Here's how we prepare
Scientists predict climate change will displace more than 180 million people by 2100 -- a crisis of "climate migration" the world isn't ready for, says disaster recovery lawyer and Louisiana native Colette Pichon Battle. In this...
TED Talks
TED: The 4 commandments of cities | Eduardo Paes
Eduardo Paes is the mayor of Rio de Janeiro, a sprawling, complicated, beautiful city of 6.5 million. He shares four big ideas about leading Rio -- and all cities -- into the future, including bold (and do-able) infrastructure upgrades...
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
Rachel Armstrong: Architecture that repairs itself?
Venice is sinking. To save it, Rachel Armstrong says we need to outgrow architecture made of inert materials and, well, make architecture that grows itself. She proposes a not-quite-alive material that does its own repairs and sequesters...
TED Talks
David Wallace-Wells: How we could change the planet's climate future
The climate crisis is too vast and complicated to solve with a silver bullet, says author David Wallace-Wells. What we need is a shift in how we live. Follow along as he lays out some of the dramatic actions we could take to build a...
SciShow
6 Animals Living Their Best Lives in Cities | Synurbic Species
When humans build a city, most species in the area tend to disappear. But there are some, called synurbic species, that are living their best lives in our concrete jungles.
TED Talks
TED: Future tech will give you the benefits of city life anywhere | Julio Gil
Don't believe predictions that say the future is trending towards city living. urbanization is actually reaching the end of its cycle, says logistics expert Julio Gil, and soon more people will be choosing to live (and work) in the...
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
Amanda Schochet: How bumble bees inspired a network of tiny museums
Sometimes, small things make a huge impact. After studying how bees in urban environments can survive by navigating small land patches, ecologist Amanda Schochet was inspired to build MICRO, a network of portable science museums the size...
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 food shapes our cities | Carolyn Steel
Every day, in a city the size of London, 30 million meals are served. But where does all the food come from? Architect Carolyn Steel discusses the daily miracle of feeding a city, and shows how ancient food routes shaped the modern world.
TED Talks
The freakonomics of crack dealing - Steven Levitt
* Viewer discretion advised. This video includes discussion of mature topics and may be inappropriate for some audiences. "Freakonomics" author Steven Levitt presents new data on the finances of drug dealing. Contrary to popular myth, he...
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...
MinuteEarth
TRANSPARENT Solar Panels?!
Infinitesimally small quantum dots can turn a window into a see-through solar panel!
TED Talks
TED: 4 environmental 'heresies' | Stewart Brand
The man who helped usher in the environmental movement in the 1960s and '70s has been rethinking his positions on cities, nuclear power, genetic modification and geo-engineering. This talk at the US State Department is a foretaste of his...
TED Talks
Jonathan Foley: The other inconvenient truth
A skyrocketing demand for food means that agriculture has become the largest driver of climate change, biodiversity loss and environmental destruction. Jonathan Foley shows why we desperately need to begin "terraculture" -- farming for...
TED Talks
Alex Steffen: The shareable future of cities
How can cities help save the future? Alex Steffen shows some cool neighborhood-based green projects that expand our access to things we want and need -- while reducing the time we spend in cars.
TED Talks
TED: How urban agriculture is transforming Detroit | Devita Davison
There's something amazing growing in the city of Detroit: healthy, accessible, delicious, fresh food. In a spirited talk, fearless farmer Devita Davison explains how features of Detroit's decay actually make it an ideal spot for urban...
TED Talks
Liz Diller: A new museum wing ... in a giant bubble
How do you make a great public space inside a not-so-great building? Liz Diller shares the story of imagining a welcoming, lighthearted -- even, dare we say it, sexy -- addition to the Hirshhorn Museum in Washington, DC. (From The Design...
SciShow
What Will the World Look Like, 2°C Warmer?
A world only 2°C warmer, or 3.6°F, would be one that is much different than the world we live in today, but what does that actually look like?