Energetic and thriving, cities are the heartbeat of society. These talks offer viable ways to reinvigorate and strengthen the metropolises we love.

Harnessing the creativity of a megalopolis isn't easy, but Mexico City shows us how it's done. Follow a real-life superhero who dons a luchador mask and cape to protect his fellow residents from speeding cars, learn how citizens are hacking their way to a better public transport system, and see what it takes to crowd-source a constitution from a...

I am the crucible of the future. I am where humanity will either flourish or fade. ... I am the City 2.0. Dream me. Build me. Make me real. The plan For the first time ever, the majority of the world’s population lives in cities. By the middle of this century, the urban population will almost double -- and the majority of this growth will happen...

How do we solve the problem of the suburbs? Urbanist Jeff Speck shows how we can free ourselves from dependence on the car -- which he calls "a gas-belching, time-wasting, life-threatening prosthetic device" -- by making our cities more walkable and more pleasant for more people.

Living in a city means accepting a certain level of dysfunction: long commutes, noisy streets, underutilized spaces. Carlos Moreno wants to change that. He makes the case for the "15-minute city," where inhabitants have access to all the services they need to live, learn and thrive within their immediate vicinity -- and shares ideas for making u...

Back in 2009, Paul Romer unveiled the idea for a "charter city" -- a new kind of city with rules that favor democracy and trade. This year, at TED2011, he tells the story of how such a city might just happen in Honduras ... with a little help from his TEDTalk.

Architecture can bring people together, or divide them -- witness the skyscraper, costly, inefficient, and only serving small portions of the community. At TEDxPortofSpain, Mark Raymond encourages city governments to let go of their old notions of success and consider the balance of environment, economy, and society to design cities for social c...

In 1947, India achieved independence from British rule — but this freedom came at a tremendous cost. Jawaharlal Nehru, India’s first Prime Minister, was eager to usher his country towards a brighter, united future. And one of the projects that would prove most essential to realizing this vision was the construction of Chandigarh. Vikramāditya Pr...

Robert Muggah creates tools to understand cycles of violence in urban environments and opens dialogues on ways to confront them globally.

Jaime Lerner reinvented urban space in his native Curitiba, Brazil. Along the way, he changed the way city planners worldwide see what's possible in the metropolitan landscape.

Underneath every shiny new megacity, there's often a story of communities displaced. In this moving, poetic talk, OluTimehin Adegbeye details how government land grabs are destroying the lives of thousands who live in the coastal communities of Lagos, Nigeria, to make way for a "new Dubai." She compels us to hold our governments and ourselves ac...

Outside.in's Steven Johnson says the Web is like a city: built by many people, completely controlled by no one, intricately interconnected and yet functioning as many independent parts. While disaster strikes in one place, elsewhere, life goes on.

The world owes much of its cultural legacy to Constantinople's walls. When Constantinople was under siege by neighboring enemies, the Roman city's elaborate system of moats, outer walls, and inner walls stood tall. Surviving numerous fire attacks, the walls were eventually brought down by more modern tools of warfare, but, thankfully, classical ...

400 years after Hudson found New York harbor, Eric Sanderson shares how he made a 3D map of Mannahatta's fascinating pre-city ecology of hills, rivers, wildlife -- accurate down to the block -- when Times Square was a wetland and you couldn't get delivery.

Make a city beautiful, curb corruption. Edi Rama took this deceptively simple path as mayor of Tirana, Albania, where he instilled pride in his citizens by transforming public spaces with colorful designs.

The hallmark of a thriving city is the rich tapestry of communities that define it. But in some of today's rapidly expanding urban areas, the swift spread of slums tends to disconnect rather than connect, to the detriment of the overall health of a city. Antonella Mei-Pochtler believes transportation systems are the best way to re-engineer and r...

Chris Downey is an architect who lost his sight and gained a new way of seeing the world.

Bees have been rapidly and mysteriously disappearing from rural areas, with grave implications for agriculture. But bees seem to flourish in urban environments -- and cities need their help, too. Noah Wilson-Rich suggests that urban beekeeping might play a role in revitalizing both a city and a species.

Freedom from cars, freedom from sprawl, freedom to walk your city! City planner Jeff Speck shares his "general theory of walkability" -- four planning principles to transform sprawling cities of six-lane highways and 600-foot blocks into safe, walkable oases full of bike lanes and tree-lined streets.

Computer skills aren't what's stopping people from breaking into the tech industry, says social entrepreneur Irma L. Olguin Jr. More often, the biggest hurdles are things like access to childcare, transportation and financial stability. In this visionary talk, Olguin Jr. introduces the work she's done to uplift and empower people in her communit...

Confronting climate change makes for better cities and a better quality of life, says Heidi Sørensen, director of the climate agency for the city of Oslo, Norway. From construction sites without noise pollution to fully electric transportation, she details the exciting green transition happening in her city. The Norwegian capital's ambitious goa...

Jennifer Pahlka is the founder of Code for America, which matches software geniuses with US cities to reboot local services.

How does a city become known as a "music city"? Publicist Elizabeth Cawein explains how thriving music scenes make cities healthier and happier and shares ideas for bolstering your local music scene -- and showing off your city's talent to the world.

Too often, people feel checked out of politics — even at the level of their own city. But urban activist Alessandra Orofino thinks that can change, using a mix of tech and old-fashioned human connection. Sharing examples from her hometown of Rio, she says: "It is up to us to decide whether we want schools or parking lots, recycling projects or c...

This haunting, intimate performance by European singer-songwriter Sophie Hunger features songs from her breakout debut "Monday's Ghost" and album "1983."

A skyscraper that channels the breeze ... a building that creates community around a hearth ... Jeanne Gang uses architecture to build relationships. In this engaging tour of her work, Gang invites us into buildings large and small, from a surprising local community center to a landmark Chicago skyscraper. "Through architecture, we can do much m...

The Fez River winds through the medina of Fez, Morocco—a mazelike medieval city that's a World Heritage site. Once considered the "soul" of this celebrated city, the river succumbed to sewage and pollution, and in the 1950s was covered over bit by bit until nothing remained. TED Fellow Aziza Chaouni recounts her 20 year effort to restore this ri...

Seattle is a city celebrated globally for fostering artistic expression. Producer and arts advocate James Keblas tells the story of Seattle's evolution from conservative town to music capital, and offers advice for citizens looking to keep their local music scenes vibrant.

The promise of the metaverse extends far beyond digital spaces -- it can transform and enrich how we experience the material world, too. From video games that bring communities together to digital art that collides with physical spaces, augmented reality designer Sutu shares some of the incredible creativity that's sparked by AR metaverse techno...

American artist Janet Echelman reshapes urban airspace with monumental, fluidly moving sculpture that responds to environmental forces including wind, water, and sunlight.