Franklyn Cater

In a time of polarization and political division, NPR and StoryCorps explore whether simple but courageous acts — talking and listening — can be a countervailing force to national discord.

Engineers at MIT developed an electric, shareable car that would fold to conserve parking spaces. A prototype was made for production in Europe. But why did this promising auto never hit the road?

Transit decisions are made by political bodies, and the results are often that the communities with the most political and economic power drive the bus, so to speak. Big data may change that.

D.C. has struggled to roll out a streetcar line that uses both overheard wires and off-wire, battery power. In southern China, though, a new supercapacitor-powered tramline is already up and running.

Single people represent the fastest growing category of households in the U.S. That's made small dwellings — from micro-apartments to stand-alone tiny houses, a niche force in the real estate market.

It takes anchors to keep neighborhoods lively; key restaurants and stores that draw people from far and wide. For decades in Atlanta, Walters Clothing has been that space.

The park, built on piers left over from an obsolete, demolished bridge, would connect two disparate parts of the city in hopes of sparking new life and knitting two communities.

Federal funds are supporting two different disaster-prevention approaches — coastal retreat, or people leaving flood zones, and coastal defense, or building infrastructure to protect at-risk areas.

Passing mentions of the U.S. government during this week's international CityLab gathering of mayors, city planners and urban experts in New York City sent knowing chuckles rolling through the audience.

The water rose quickly this morning and one family had to be rescued by officials on canoes and military vehicles.