Explore plans for smart cities expected to be built by 2050

Dubai and Barcelona are examples of smart cities

By integrating technology into public transit, utilities, and other municipal systems, these cities aim to reduce costs and enhance the quality of life for their residents. Some of these technologies include adaptive lighting, parking sensors, and underground waste systems.

Smart cities have been more successful when upgrading existing infrastructure

Building urban landscapes with smart technologies from scratch has sometimes produced futuristic-looking yet sterile environments that struggle to attract residents and justify high costs. Enhancing existing areas while retaining their historical and cultural touchstones has proven more appealing in many cities.

Woven City at the base of Mount Fuji in Japan

The Woven City at the base of Mount Fuji in Japan is a ‘living laboratory’ for new technologies. It is being developed by Toyota subsidiary, Woven Planet, and will be the world’s first programmable city.

Smart cities like Songdo, South Korea, have created isolating environments

Built as a futuristic, eco-friendly city filled with smart features like pneumatic trash systems and app-controlled homes, the town provides limited opportunities for face-to-face interactions amid sterile backdrops. A focus on high-rise housing amplifies the lonely, disconnected atmosphere.

Read a book making the case for 'smart enough' cities

University of Michigan professor Ben Green argues that cities should be enhanced by technology rather than driven by it, thereby preventing injustice and inequality beneath their surface. By embracing social change in conjunction with smart technologies, residents, Green suggests, can avoid valuing such technologies as ends in themselves.

Electrical grids worldwide must double their power delivery capacity by 2050 to meet surging demand from AI and electric vehicles.

What its like to live in the world’s ‘smartest cities’

What’s it like to live in a smart city? The BBC interviewed residents of five of the world’s smartest, as determined by the International Institute for Management Development, to find out. (See previous resource for those rankings.) Common praises included ease of transportation, sustainability initiatives and proximity to nature.

What is a smart city?

The internet of things and automation are two of the technologies used in smart cities. Learn about the technologies making cities more human-centric in this three-minute read.

Explore how the grid is being rebuilt for AI, which is expected to double global electricity demand by 2050

As of 2025, there are no federal laws involving privacy and smart city technologies

Advancements in cloud technology and artificial intelligence allow cities to capture, store, and analyze more information than ever before. Experts warn that the unhindered ability to collect and use this data may infringe on residents' rights and endanger them if the data gets into the hands of malicious parties.

As of 2024, 13 states have plans to phase out gas-powered cars

In 2022, California adopted the Advanced Clean Cars II Act, which requires all new passenger cars, trucks, and SUVs sold to produce zero emissions by 2035. Other states adopted similar laws, joining more than 50 countries with phaseout plans.

Self-driving cars may upend transit before cities can build it

Austin approved a $7.1B light-rail in 2020, but components of the plan have already been cut. Simultaneously, Waymo launched a 200-car autonomous fleet across the city. Cities now face a choice: invest in decadeslong fixed infrastructure projects or embrace flexible, on-demand autonomous vehicles that can navigate anywhere.

Saudi Arabia eyes a 75-mile-long skyscraper

The Mirror Line will consist of two mirrored buildings, crossing mountain and desert terrain. It’s part of a development called Neom, which will be roughly the same size as Massachusetts.

The 15-minute city lets residents meet their daily needs within 15 minutes on foot

Many cities have been designed with inefficient layouts that waste time and lower the quality of life of those who live there. In the 15-minute city, essential services—including work, food, education, and health—should all be located within a short walk or bike ride from where people live.

Jakarta surpassed Tokyo as the world's largest city in 2025

Asia is the epicenter of global urban population, hosting most of the world's ten largest cities by population. The top three are Jakarta, Indonesia, Dhaka, Bangladesh, and Tokyo, Japan.

The best places to visit in 2024

Stargaze from moonscape deserts, or absorb high-design in a rising city. Peruse Conde Nast's annual look forward to travel destinations and dream up your next big trip.

As of 2025, the Factory of the Future 1.0 is the world's largest 3D printer

Housed at the University of Maine, the machine incorporates AI and can utilize bio-based materials to construct homes exceeding 3,000 square feet in size. Homes made from these materials are fully recyclable, as their components can be deconstructed, ground up, and reused as raw materials for printing.

Microforests in urban environments may help combat climate change

Areas of densely packed native trees and drought-tolerant plants within cities can pull carbon dioxide from the air, cool surrounding neighborhoods, and support local wildlife. The idea behind microforests traces back over 50 years to Japanese ecologist Dr. Akira Miyawaki, who promoted planting whole ecosystems to restore degraded land.

View a photo essay of renewable power landscapes in China

Using a drone, Chinese photographer Weimin Chu captured the deployment of solar and wind power installations across the country, which accounted for half of all global installations in 2025. The images show modern infrastructure juxtaposed with natural landscapes and was featured in an award-winning exhibition presented by Greenpeace in 2025.

CNET previews CES 2026

This CNET preview outlines what’s coming at CES 2026—from major showcases by Samsung, Sony, LG, and Lenovo to expected trends in AI, chips, digital health, mobility, and robotics.

Today's cars use turbocharged hybrid engines and AI-assisted technologies

In addition to enhanced speed, serious accidents and technological advances have led to major innovations, leading to more aerodynamic and more protective cars.

South Korea's decades long effort to build a new capital

South Korea has spent decades trying to ease overcrowding in Seoul by developing Sejong City as a new administrative hub. Named after the king who created Hangul, Sejong was designed to decentralize government functions—but slow population growth and limited transit have complicated the plan.

An AI-built pixel map reimagines New York City as a video game

Isometric NYC is a zoomable pixel-art map that renders the city in game-style perspective (think SimCity), helpfully clarifying the dense geography and architecture. The makers built the project tile-by-tile using satellite data and generative AI. Zoom into building-level views or out to see all five boroughs.

Tour Tencent's sprawling headquarters focused on tech and health

Tencent has a massive headquarters in China to match its sizable market capitalization. Featuring 40% less carbon consumption and emissions, the building features facial recognition for security, swimming pools and a fitness track, time management apps, and more.

Track where your plastic trash will be in 20 years

This map illustrates the fate of floating plastic 20 years from now. Simply add a location of choice and see the journey unfold.

The Ancient Chinese harnessed solar power for heating and cooling 6,000 years ago

Neolithic Chinese homes faced south for winter sun warmth, while overhangs shielded them from high summer sun. These efforts also influenced urban planning, with cities aligning streets east-west for optimal solar exposure.

When you complete a CAPTCHA on a website to prove you are human, you may be unknowingly training algorithms for self-driving cars, whose systems require training data to help identify crosswalks, bicycles, and other outdoor objects.

Artificial coral reefs have been 3D printed from nontoxic, biodegradable terracotta clay, which coral polyps have used as a foundation for rebuilding marine ecosystems.

Visualize the path of every solar eclipse from 1900 to 2099 and see what each looks like when observed from different locations on Earth.

In 2025, four executives from large tech companies were given positions in the US Army Reserves—including Palantir Chief Technology Officer Shyam Sankar, which reinforced Palantir's ties with the US military and its role as a leading defense partner.

The American Society of Civil Engineers' infrastructure report card gave the US a C in 2025, its highest grade since the project launched in 1998.

Explore an interactive map built from more than 100,000 survey responses on where people find joy in their lives

As of 2025, the most cited papers in science include a review of graphene, methods to improve image recognition, streamlining electron density calculations, and optimizing protein studies.

Stanford built a Google Maps for the Roman Empire, revealing how much it cost to travel in the ancient world

In 1963, a basement renovation in Turkey revealed a passageway to a hidden, multilevel underground city that once housed as many as 20,000 people

US housing costs have risen by roughly 175% between 1991 and 2026—but a growing number of Gen Zers are becoming homeowners anyway. In 2025, 4% of homebuyers were Gen Z, up from 3% the year before.

Legendary architect Frank Lloyd Wright designed the SC Johnson headquarters in Wisconsin, aiming to make a cathedral-like workplace

Louisiana's 'Cancer Alley' is infamous for having some of the highest industrial pollution, toxic air emissions, and cancer risks in the US.

Take a 3D tour of the Hajj, Islam's annual pilgrimage to Mecca, undertaken by over 1.5 million Muslims.

Scientists testing how climate change affects plants found, in a years-long simulation study, that poison ivy grew 70% faster with the resulting extra carbon dioxide.

Power lines are dotted with large, brightly colored balls to improve the visibility of these thin wires to helicopters and small planes and help prevent potential crashes.

NBA superstar Victor Wembanyama spent the 2025 summer training with monks in central China to enhance his body and mind.

Researchers believe the brain consolidates memories, processes emotions, and plans for the future during dream states

The United States is one of only around two dozen countries with a fully federal system of government, in which power is divided between national and state governments.

Some researchers have labeled nomophobia, the fear of being without your phone, as 'the phobia of the 21st century.'

Memecoins are a type of cryptocurrency—a form of digital currency with a wide variety of uses—created around popular 'memes,' or viral internet jokes.

'Silent' fireworks have gained more interest in recent years as a quieter celebratory option.

Hotels in Cannes, the glamorous city on the French Riviera, hire hawks to ward off seagulls during the city's famous film festival.

Sunflowers have long been a symbol of nuclear disarmament because they can extract large amounts of radioactive cesium from soil.

70 years ago today, city officials in Santa Cruz, California, banned rock 'n' roll to protect its youth from corruption after witnessing a 'provocative' concert the night before.