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Newsletters

Urban Life

That a city with an affordable housing crisis could simultaneously house dozens of half-empty skyscraping apartment buildings speaks to the absurdity of 21st-century urban life.

Train Wreck: Wealth Towers Over New York’s Crumbling Subways

The gleaming towers inhabited by few grow ever taller, while quality of life for everyone else sinks ever lower.
By Fredrik deBoer

An Urgent Ode to the Urban in Edward Glaeser’s ‘Triumph of the City’

It’s been said that Parisians romanticize the French countryside and the rural French deify Paris as fervently as New Yorkers
By Jonathan Liu

Most Recent Posts on Observer

A circular, terraced building with layered horizontal bands and integrated greenery rises against a clear blue sky, viewed from a pedestrian walkway.

MoN Takanawa: The Museum of Narratives Is Experientially Compelling But Curatorially Thin

By Elisa Carollo
Fashion designer Jonathan Anderson walks the runway during the Christian Dior Haute Couture Week Spring/Summer 2026 fashion show as part of Paris Fashion Week on January 26, 2026 in Paris, France.

How Fashion Week Became an Economy of Attention

By Jane Liu
Woman seated alone at a dining table in a dimly lit room, with breakfast dishes arranged before her.

Screening at Venice: May el-Toukhy’s ‘Woman Unknown’

By Siddhant Adlakha
The 83rd Venice International Film Festival - Premieres

Director Florian Zeller Says Casting a Real Couple Brought ‘Bunker’ Closer to Truth

By Stephen Garrett
The TIFF sign on King Street on the opening day of the 2026 Toronto International Film Festival on September 10, 2026 in Toronto, Ontario.

Hollywood’s Biggest Film Festival Bets, From Flops to $500M Hits

By Brandon Katz
The Honey Deuce, a US Open specialty drink, are seen on Day Six of the 2026 U.S. Open.

Honey Deuce and the Making of a U.S. Open Tradition

By Aleco Azqueta
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