Writing for the Financial Times, Prof. Carlo Ratti makes the case that “in a hotter world, trees should be considered more than decoration. This ancient infrastructure can cool not just our buildings but the cities themselves. And with AI, we can now plant better, with precision urban forestry. In a warming world, the smartest climate tech may be rooted in the ground — and it doesn’t strain the power grid.”
Writing for The Guardian, Prof. Carlo Ratti highlights his work using “AI to compare footage of public spaces from the 1970s with recent video” from the same locations in Boston, New York and Philadelphia. “The findings are striking: people walk faster, linger less, and are less likely to meet up,” explains Ratti. “By using AI to study urban public spaces, we can gather data, pick out patterns and test new designs that could help us rethink, for our time, our modern versions of the agora– the market and main public gathering place of Athens.”
Prof. Carlo Ratti speaks with The Boston Globe columnist Jason Schwartz about how a proposed seven-story office building behind Fenway Park could make the beloved Green Monster wall appear a bit less monstrous. “The wall has always felt monumental not just because of its size, but because it stood against an open sky,” says Ratti. “When the backdrop becomes a building, the view compresses, and the Monster might lose some of its presence.”
Writing for the Los Angeles Times, Prof. Carlo Ratti and CoMotion founder John Rossant explore the concept of a reimagined Los Angeles. “Dismissed as the nemesis of sustainable urbanism, L.A. can, in fact, be well-positioned for the next chapter,” they write. “Technologies like rooftop photovoltaics, vehicle-to-grid systems and AI-optimized resource flows do not depend on compactness. They benefit from space, sunlight and flexibility — qualities that Los Angeles has in abundance across its 1,600 square miles of urbanized area.”
A study by researchers at MIT has found that “pedestrians are walking 15 percent faster and stopping to linger 14 percent less than they used to,” reports Rima Sabina Aouf for Dezeen. “Using computer vision and artificial intelligence to analyze videos of four public spaces across three American cities, the study found that walking speeds rose notably between 1980 and 2010, while instances of people lingering or interacting with others fell,” writes Aouf.
Researchers at MIT have found that “pedestrians in three major northeastern U.S. cities – Boston, New York and Philadelphia —are moving 15 percent faster than they did in 1980,” reports Lucy Notarantonio for Newsweek. Notarantonio explains that: “The researchers hope their work will inform how cities design and redesign public areas — especially at a time when digital polarization is reshaping how people connect in real life.”
Interesting Engineering reporter Saoirse Kerrigan spotlights a number of MIT research projects from the past decade. MIT has “long been a hub of innovation and ingenuity across multiple industries and disciplines,” writes Kerrigan. “Every year, the school’s best and brightest debut projects that push the boundaries of science and technology. From vehicles and furniture to exciting new breakthroughs in electricity generation, the school’s projects have tackled an impressive variety of subjects.”
Writing for Bloomberg, Prof. Carlo Ratti, curator of the 2025 Venice Biennale, describes his vision for the exhibition and explains how this year’s theme of adaptation connects to the future of architecture. “The planet has changed, and institutions must change too, especially those devoted to the built environment,” explains Ratti. “A biennale can become a tool for exploration, for collaboration, for reckoning. This doesn’t mean giving up on spectacle or beauty. But it does mean rethinking what we celebrate.”
Prof. Albert Saiz speaks with Boston Globe reporter Andrew Brinker about the economics of homebuying and why the Massachusetts homebuying market is so challenging. “The gap between what people make and what homes cost is completely outrageous,” says Saiz. “And this data does not even represent the situation for working-class families who are making minimum wage. A large portion of the state’s population cannot afford to buy a home here, which is not how a housing market is supposed to function.”
ArchDaily reporter Reyyan Dogan explores the 2025 Venice Architecture Biennale with Prof. Carlo Ratti, this year’s curator. Dogan notes that “by fostering a forward-thinking dialogue on the intersection of architecture and global crises, the Biennale encourages both visitors and practitioners to think critically about the role of architecture in shaping the future.” Ratti explains that this year’s exhibit “is really about how architecture can bring together all different forms of intelligence, and bridge them, and actually help adapt to a changing climate.”
Prof. Carlo Ratti, curator of the 2025 Architecture Venice Biennale, speaks with Sofia Lekka Angelopoulou of Designboom about his vision for this year’s showcase, which centers around reimagining the role of intelligence in shaping the built environment. ‘It’s basically about how we can use different disciplines and different forms of intelligence in order to tackle the most important problem today: adaptation,” Ratti explains. “In short, you could say architecture is survival.”
Prof. Carlo Ratti, curator of the 2025 Venice Biennale, speaks with Archinect reporter Niall Patrick Walsh about his vision for the biennale as a “living laboratory from which ideas and research can emerge to guide the evolution of the built environment.” Says Ratti: “We are hoping to use the biennale to convey the message that architecture is about survival. Architecture is central to how we can move from climate mitigation to adaptation. If we can use the biennale as a way to reorient how we work and practice, that will be its most important legacy.”
Six MIT faculty members – Prof. Emerita Lotte Bailyn, Prof. Gareth McKinley, Prof. Nasser Rabbat, Prof. Susan Silbey, Prof. Anne Whiston Spirn, and Prof. Catherine Wolfram – have been elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, reports Sarah Mesdjian for The Boston Globe. “The academy aims to honor accomplished leaders in a wide array of fields and ‘cultivate every art and science which may tend to advance the interest, honor, dignity, and happiness of a free, independent, and virtuous people,’” explains Mesdjian.
Prof. Sarah Williams speaks with Newsweek reporter Micah McCartney about how China’s construction boom lead to largely uninhabited developments dubbed “ghost cities”. Williams explains: “They needed a return on their investment, so they opened up new land and new loans for overleveraged real estate developers, so those developers could use these loans to pay back previous loans. The easy way to describe it is that it is a bit of a Ponzi scheme."
Prof. Albert Saiz speaks with Salon reporter Cara Michelle Smith about the barriers to homeownership. “If you sort Americans by wealth, and forget about the top 10% or 20%, most of our wealth is indeed in housing,” says Saiz. He adds: “Obviously, getting that first home is the hardest of the steps. Because once you have a house, you can build collateral, and that equity is going to be helpful for you to buy a second home.”