When playing favorites can hurt growth

Study finds China’s industrial-park policy is better for productivity when political connections are not a factor.

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cities china manufacturing economics research urban-studies-and-planning schol-of-architecture-and-planning

Testing sewage to home in on Covid-19

Letting an algorithm decide which maintenance holes to test for evidence of coronavirus could improve pandemic containment efforts.

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public-health cities artificial-intelligence covid-19 pandemic disease viruses research computer-science-and-technology idss health-sciences-and-technology mit-schwarzman-college-of-computing

Does ride-sharing substitute for or complement public transit?

In the Chinese city of Chengdu, one-third of ride-sharing might replace public transit trips.

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cities sustainability pollution development research transportation automobiles school-of-architecture-and-planning urban-studies-and-planning singapore-mit-alliance-for-research-and-technology-smart

Discerning the texture of urban resilience

MIT Concrete Sustainability Hub researchers are investigating how the layouts, or textures, of cities influence extreme weather events.

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cities sustainability climate-change architecture construction hurricanes natural-disasters research school-of-engineering urban-studies-and-planning civil-and-environmental-engineering concrete-sustainability-hub

New approach to sustainable building takes shape in Boston

A five-story mixed-use structure in Roxbury represents a new kind of net-zero-energy building, made from wood.

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cities sustainability energy startups architecture carbon greenhouse-gases emissions research school-of-architecture-and-planning innovation-and-entrepreneurship-ie building

Using artificial intelligence to enrich digital maps

Model tags road features based on satellite images, to improve GPS navigation in places with limited map data.

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machine-learning cities artificial-intelligence research transportation automobiles school-of-engineering electrical-engineering-computer-science-eecs computer-science-and-technology algorithms computer-science-and-artificial-intelligence-laboratory-csail

MIT Energy Initiative report charts pathways for sustainable personal transportation

Technological innovations, policies, and behavioral changes will all be needed to reach Paris climate agreement targets.

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cities sustainability energy china policy infrastructure electric-vehicles emissions research autonomous-vehicles automobiles mit-energy-initiative-mitei alternative-energy joint-program-on-the-science-and-policy-of-global-change oil-and-gas

New approach suggests path to emissions-free cement

MIT researchers find a way to eliminate carbon emissions from cement production — a major global source of greenhouse gases.

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cities sustainability climate-change energy manufacturing greenhouse-gases emissions research school-of-engineering civil-and-environmental-engineering materials-science-and-engineering dmse concrete cement

Taking a city’s pulse with moveable sensors

Study quantifies how much of Manhattan 10 taxis cover in a day — to better measure air pollution, traffic, and more.

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cities pollution research sensors transportation automobiles school-of-architecture-and-planning urban-studies-and-planning

In China, a link between happiness and air quality

Moods expressed on social media tend to decline when air pollution gets worse, study finds.

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cities social-media environment mental-health pollution china research asia school-of-architecture-and-planning urban-studies-and-planning earth-and-atmospheric-sciences