The Best Articles, Videos, and Newsletters in Future Cities
The most useful articles, videos, and newsletters in Future Cities from around the web, curated by thought leaders and our community.
Refind focuses on timeless pieces and updates the list whenever new, must-read articles or videos are discovered.
Top 5 Future Cities Articles
At a glance: these are the articles that have been most read, shared, and saved in Future Cities by Refind users in 2026 so far.
Videos
Watch a video to get a quick overview.
8 Sustainability ideas that will change the world
Diving into some of the most innovative ideas across retail, city planning, policy, technology and construction. Ideas that will truly change the way we thin...
These Stupid Trucks are Literally Killing Us
Save $20 on an annual membership to Nebula & watch this video and more ad-free: https://go.nebula.tv/notjustbikesEngineers, planners, politicians, and advoca...
How climate-friendly innovations can help cool our cities
As global temperatures rise, our cities are heating up, and that’s actually adding to the problem. As the FT’s Leslie Hook reports, by 2050, two-thirds of t...
Vinod Khosla: 12 predictions for the future of technology
Techno-optimist Vinod Khosla believes in the world-changing power of "foolish ideas." He offers 12 bold predictions for the future of technology — from preventative medicine to car-free cities to…
These 8 cities are putting their focus on biking and walking — not cars
Even though cities have been centers of culture, ideas and industry since the Neolithic Revolution 12,000 years ago (!), today’s urban-centric global civilization is just a couple of hundred years …
What is ...?
New to Future Cities? These articles make an excellent introduction.
What Is Trauma-Informed Design?
Shared by 620, including Greater Greater Washington
«The growing awareness of the impact of the built environment on our health is one reason for the growth of trauma-informed design»
What Is The Future Of Cities?
As COVID-19 makes density a danger, we look at what's in store for cities.
How to ...?
How to build the city of the future, according to Ikea’s innovation lab
‘The Ideal City’ collects the most successful urban ideas from around the world, to serve as a sort of cookbook of best practices for city leaders.
Trending
These links are currently making the rounds in Future Cities on Refind.
Following 35% growth, solar has passed hydro on US grid
Coal makes a bit of a comeback, if only by accident.
Short Articles
Short on time? Check out these useful short articles in Future Cities—all under 10 minutes.
3 learnings from business of design week 2025 for the future of smart cities, heritage and AI
discover how BODW 2025 redefines the future of AI, mobility, and heritage through the lens of curiosity and active adaptation.
The world's most liveable cities for 2025
Copenhagen has overtaken Vienna as the world's most liveable city in 2025. But what makes these places tick? Locals in five top-ranking cities share what life is really like there.
Living in ghost cities
Cities used to die slowly. Ancient Rome, Babylon, Memphis (in Egypt) and others took generations to fade from their peaks. The reasons were easy to see: Shifts in trade routes Loss of political cap…
BIG completes first phase of Toyota Woven City in Japan
Car brand Toyota has announced that the first phase of its Woven City in Japan, a smart city designed by architecture studio BIG as the "future of mobility", has reached completion.
Nature and shops: here’s what people told us they want most from urban planning
People want easy access to green spaces and shops and they don’t want to travel more than 20 minutes to get there – but women feel a lot less comfortable after dark.
Long Articles
These are some of the most-read long-form articles in Future Cities.
Who’s Responsible for the Housing Crisis?
How local governments broke America’s housing markets
The Evolution of Tunnel Boring Machines
Tunneling is an important technology for modern civilization, as a tunnel is often the only reasonable way to create a direct path between two points. When the Hoosac tunnel was completed in 1875, it…
The Great Downzoning
It was once legal to build almost anything, anywhere. Then, in the space of a few decades, nearly every city in the West banned densification.
Sphere and Loathing in Las Vegas
My night in front of the world’s largest LED screen
The future of cities, according to the experts
Cities aren’t going anywhere, but they do need to change.
Thought Leaders
We monitor hundreds of thought leaders, influencers, and newsletters in Future Cities, including:
What is Refind?
Every day Refind picks the most relevant links from around the web for you. Picking only a handful of links means focusing on what’s relevant and useful.
How does Refind curate?
It’s a mix of human and algorithmic curation, following a number of steps:
- We monitor 10k+ sources and 1k+ thought leaders on hundreds of topics—publications, blogs, news sites, newsletters, Substack, Medium, Twitter, etc.
- In addition, our users save links from around the web using our Save buttons and our extensions.
- Our algorithm processes 100k+ new links every day and uses external signals to find the most relevant ones, focusing on timeless pieces.
- Our community of active users gets the most relevant links every day, tailored to their interests. They provide feedback via implicit and explicit signals: open, read, listen, share, mark as read, read later, «More/less like this», etc.
- Our algorithm uses these internal signals to refine the selection.
- In addition, we have expert curators who manually curate niche topics.
The result: lists of the best and most useful articles on hundreds of topics.
How does Refind detect «timeless» pieces?
We focus on pieces with long shelf-lives—not news. We determine «timelessness» via a number of metrics, for example, the consumption pattern of links over time.
How many sources does Refind monitor?
We monitor 10k+ content sources on hundreds of topics—publications, blogs, news sites, newsletters, Substack, Medium, Twitter, etc.
Who are the thought leaders in Future Cities?
We follow dozens of thought leaders in Future Cities, including World Economic Forum, LSE Cities, Next City, Smart City Expo World Congress, UCL Urban Laboratory.
Missing a thought leader? Submit them here
Can I submit a link?
Indirectly, by using Refind and saving links from outside (e.g., via our extensions).
How can I report a problem?
When you’re logged-in, you can flag any link via the «More» (...) menu. You can also report problems via email to hello@refind.com
Who uses Refind?
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Keep Learning
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