Landscape garden showing the foot path, lawn area, benches, water feature and pavilion on background. This sketch created, drawn in pen and marker.

Landscape Architecture: A Reading List

A survey of classic and contemporary works revealing how cities, materials, power, and ecology shape landscapes—and how design can create healthier, more just places.
A series of images in color block colors, including a map, a photo of a group of people digging, and an architectural mockup of a park landscape

Designing for Community and Climate in Los Angeles

How can we design public spaces that help people thrive and connect—with each other and with their environment?
Photo of a playful couple in holiday accessories by the Christmas tree

Face Value: Can You Spot a Cheater at First Glance?

Looking for love this holiday season? Science suggests first-glance impressions may offer tiny signals about personality, trust, and even cheating tendencies.
Crowd On Mumbai City Street At Night

In Praise of Loitering

A possible remedy to sexual harassment and assault in public spaces is to encourage more people of all kinds to spend time on the streets.
Children playing on a roundabout at a playground

Playing with Consciousness

Out-of-the-ordinary mental states are the goal of many religious rituals, but they’re also important in “playful” situations like kids’ games and fraternal hazing.
An illustration showing a post office building, a hand holding a smartphone, and a cover of the book "The Dark Forest Anthology."

The Case for a Public Social Media Platform

Artist and writer Joshua Citarella explores why corporate platforms corrode democracy—and what a postal-service-style digital commons could do differently.
Cross-section illustration of the Baths of Diocletian by French architect Edmond Paulin, 1880

Bread, Circuses, Baths: Bathing in Rome, the Public Way

By the fourth century CE, Rome had some 856 privately owned public baths, the grounds of which served as civic gardens adorned with sculptures.
Vintage illustration of a Snowflakes, snow crystals

Winter Holidays

Celebrate with some seasonal scholarship from JSTOR Daily for the winter holidays.
People silhouettes outlined with a dotted line and amongst them a woman with a question mark on her face

Ideal Missing Persons

Overrepresented as victims, missing white women and girls drive ratings and clicks for traditional and internet media.
A series of color images showing the Sharing Garden in Providence, the Providence skyline, and a plants in a garden

In the Sharing Garden

How one family physician fosters food justice, social connectivity, and better health at a local community garden.