Build Better
Stories about innovations in construction that will help decarbonize cities.
Stories about innovations in construction that will help decarbonize cities.
Climate + Environment
Don’t Demolish That House — ‘Deconstruct’ It!
Instead of tearing down houses, a local business in Minneapolis picks them apart and resells the material, reducing waste and creating jobs.
Cities + Towns
The Slum-Inspired Apartment Complex Designed by Its Own Residents
In Jakarta, a building for evicted slum-dwellers has alcoves for hawking goods, stairs designed for cross-floor conversation and gardens to grow your own food.
Cities + Towns
The Woman Who Brought Dirt to Harvard
Architecture pioneer Anna Heringer takes sustainable construction to a new — old — level, building with the earth beneath her feet.
Cities + Towns
For the Housing Market’s Greenest Buyers, ‘Earthships’ Are Taking Off
Long dismissed as hippie havens, off-grid communities are getting a fresh look as wasteful construction practices come under scrutiny.
Cities + Towns
For More Sustainable Affordable Housing, Just Add Mushrooms
Architect David Benjamin is bringing his biology-inspired recipe for construction materials to an affordable housing project in Oakland, California.
Cities + Towns
‘The Green Steel of the 21st Century’
Cheap, strong and plentiful, bamboo has been used in Hong Kong for ages as an ultra-sustainable building material. Other countries are catching on.
Climate + Environment
A Notorious Invasive Plant Shows Promise in Green Construction
Imported from Japan in 1876, kudzu strangles forests and farmland throughout the South. Could it build cities instead?
Cities + Towns
A Better Way to Build
In our new ongoing series, Build Better, we explore how advancements in construction are leading the way toward decarbonized cities.
Cities + Towns
A Building Material That Consumes CO2 Has Finally Come to the US
A false association with drugs that banned ‘hempcrete’ from the US residential building code has been lifted, paving the way for widespread use.
Crushed by negative news?
Sign up for the Reasons to be Cheerful newsletter.