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Society

Essays and videos on social issues, history, political life and the future

Animals and humans Anthropology Archaeology Automation and robotics Cities Demography and migration Economic history Economics Education Environmental history Fairness and equality Future of technology Gender Global history History History of technology Human rights and justice Information and communication Making Nations and empires Politics and government Poverty and development Progress and modernity Public health Race and ethnicity Religion The ancient world The environment The future War and peace Work

Black and white photo of cars in traffic on a multi-lane motorway seen from above.

essay

Political philosophy

The order of anarchy

How San Francisco’s free rides system can help us understand anarchist theory and the work of the late, great James C Scott

Reyko Huang

A colourful mural depicting a Mexican American family, a Mexican American woman being tackled by a white policeman, and a stadium resembling a U F O descending from the sky.

video

Art

The sprawling mural that depicts an unflinching people’s history of Los Angeles

7 minutes

Black-and-white drawing of labourers working in a warehouse, overlaid with the text “Marks of weakness, marks of woe” in yellow.

video

Art

In his poem ‘London’, William Blake crafted a bleak vision of the city he loved

9 minutes

A brick house with a tiled roof, surrounded by a well-maintained garden with bushes and colourful flowers.

essay

Home

Falling for suburbia

Modernists and historians alike loathed the millions of new houses built in interwar Britain. But their owners loved them

Michael Gilson

Colourful hand-drawn illustration of a busy market scene. Background shows fruit stall and vendor. A yellow sign reads DO NOT LITTER.

video

Cities

A lush, whirlwind tribute to the diversity of life in a northern English county

3 minutes

Artist painting vibrant, abstract artwork on large canvases in a studio, with paint buckets, a stool, and a folding chair nearby.

video

Art

‘If you’re creative, why can’t you create a solution?’ One artist’s imaginative activism

17 minutes

An armoured police vehicle on a street with yellow tape and debris, an officer in the foreground, next to the “San Pedro St” sign.

video

Fairness and equality

A tragicomic account of how the Los Angeles Police Department blew up a city block

19 minutes

A figure is silhouetted in an older style apartment block window at night. In the distance are taller modern tower block apartments

essay

Cities

The haunting of modern China

In Nanjing, Hong Kong and other Chinese cities, rapid urbanisation is multiplying a fear of death and belief in ghosts

Andrew Kipnis

Aerial view of a multi-level motorway with older classic cars driving on both upper and lower levels, and infrastructure such as railings and signs visible.

essay

Cities

Sick city

My dad grew up in Robert Moses’s New York City. His story is a testament to how urban planning shapes countless lives

Katie Mulkowsky

Aerial view of extremely densely packed buildings in Kowloon Walled City, surrounded by taller residential blocks and an open park area.

video

Cities

The rise and fall of Kowloon Walled City, Hong Kong’s infamous urban monolith

18 minutes

A foggy street in an old residential area with terraced houses, children playing and adults standing outside. A tall chimney is visible in the background.

essay

Film and visual culture

Exposed

Slum photography was at the heart of progressive campaigns against urban poverty. And it was a weapon against poor people

Sadie Levy Gale

Colourful ornate ceiling with intricate patterns and Arabic calligraphy in the centre, surrounded by detailed floral and column motifs.

video

Design and fashion

The art of Istanbul dances to life in a tribute to the city’s timeless beauty

4 minutes

Woman in a pink blouse and grey skirt sits on a floor surrounded by abstract colourful paintings on walls.

video

Art

The female Abstract Expressionists of New York shook the world of art

15 minutes

A man smiling and clasping his hands in front of a red wooden house with sculptures; green trees are in the background.

video

Cities

Inside the unique London community built by residents to defy housing discrimination

21 minutes

Elderly woman in floral dress typing on an antique typewriter, sitting on a patterned armchair, looking tired with her head resting on her hand.

video

History

From manners to mud – two women recall coming of age in Victorian London

10 minutes

A serene pond in the foreground reflects palm trees and greenery, with a distant city skyline under a clear sky in the background.

essay

The environment

Here’s to the aquapolis

Unkempt, beguiling and lacking conventional geometry, wetlands bring a roguish, raffish wildness to the city

Tom Blass

Silhouette of a person peering through blinds in a dimly lit room, with a pet carrier on the bed below.

essay

Illness and disease

Are they the canaries?

People with multiple chemical sensitivity seem to be allergic to the world. What, if anything, can medicine do for them?

Xi Chen

Busy historic street market with people, horse-drawn carts, awnings, and shop signs in a crowded urban area with multistorey buildings.

essay

Cities

Living closer together

Urban density was once seen as a sign of unhealthiness and poverty. But today it is necessary to make cities sustainable

Max Holleran

A black and white photo of a double-decker bus and car at night, with illuminated windows and silhouettes of passengers, near a traffic light.

essay

Cities

The haunted city

The city, for all its mechanical speed, artificial light and industrialisation, is the most uncanny of human habitats

Azania Imtiaz Khatri-Patel

Raindrops on a window, blurring the view of buildings in the background.

video

Mood and emotion

A century of letters captures the emotions of life in a new city, far from home

21 minutes

A snow-covered traditional Chinese village with grey rooftops and leafless trees, set against a backdrop of green trees and distant buildings.

essay

Cities

Energised crowding

To understand why early cities thrived, look not to the temples of kings but to their subjects’ bustling neighbourhoods

Michael E Smith

A 3D image of an ancient Roman archway with a Latin inscription, and buildings with columns in the background, viewed from a cobblestone path.

video

The ancient world

Walk like a Roman in this digital reconstruction of the ancient city

9 minutes

Auto rickshaw and black taxi on a road, with drivers conversing through the windows under a clear sky.

video

Travel

A postcard from Mumbai, where there’s poetry in getting from A to B

5 minutes

Sketch of a landscape with mountains and buildings, labelled “Site of Sparta”. The drawing has handwritten notes and markings.

essay

The ancient world

Uncovering Sparta

Mythological home of Helen, war-making polis of Leonidas and now a modest municipality: the city is a palimpsest

Daphne D. Martin