Video: The world is urbanizing faster than ever, with more than half of the planet’s population currently living in cities — more than any time in history. But when did this trend of “urbanisation” start? It turns out its roots go back much farther than we thought.
The development of micro-housing — apartments and other dwellings smaller than 28 square metres — is a growing trend in many popular cities cramped for space. But where in the country can you find the teeniest examples of this trend? Maybe not the cities you’d first guess.
Early in Spike Jonze’s new film Her, Joaquin Phoenix’s character gazes out his Los Angeles window. As the camera pans, we see not a squat, sprawling metropolis, but a golden-lit landscape of skyscrapers stretching all the way to the horizon. When I saw the film last Friday night, this scene…