Cities
The peculiar logic behind how metropolises grow, die, and reinvent themselves.
72 articlesLatest Cities
Zheleznogorsk/Krasnoyarsk-26: Siberia’s Secret Nuclear City
Explore the hidden history of Krasnoyarsk-26, a Soviet secret city built to produce weapons-grade plutonium, its luxurious gilded cage existence, and the devastating environmental legacy that outlasted the Cold War.
The Most Extreme Prison in Russia
Discover Black Dolphin, Russia's most notorious supermax prison. From its brutal conditions to its depraved inmates, explore what makes this modern-day gulag inescapable.
Alnwick Poison Garden: The Deadliest Plants in the World
Explore England's Alnwick Poison Garden, where deadly plants require government permission to grow and visitors risk fainting among nature's most dangerous killers.
The Boötes Void: The Biggest, Emptiest Thing in the Universe
Discover the Boötes Void, a 330 million light-year expanse of near-nothingness that changed our understanding of cosmic structure, and explore the theories behind this mysterious region of space.
Cactus Dome: The Nuclear Tomb in Paradise
The Cactus Dome on Runit Island contains 111,000 cubic yards of radioactive waste from US nuclear testing. As sea levels rise and concrete cracks, this Cold War tomb threatens to release its poison into the Pacific.
The Caribbean Capital City... That is a Ghost Town
How Mariupol, Ukraine's tenth-largest city, was besieged, destroyed, and rebuilt as a Russian city—erasing its people, culture, and identity in one of the most brutal urban campaigns of the 21st century.
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Semipalatinsk: The USSR's Eerie Nuclear Test Site
Explore the dark history of the Semipalatinsk Nuclear Test Site in Kazakhstan, where the Soviet Union conducted 456 nuclear tests, exposing 1.5 million people to radiation with consequences that persist today.
South Africa: the World's Most Unequal Place...
How South Africa became the world's most unequal nation, from the 1995 Rugby World Cup victory to present-day economic disparity, land ownership debates, and political tensions.
South Yemen: When the Arab World Tried Communism...
The remarkable story of South Yemen, the first and only communist state in the Arab world, from its birth in 1967 to its collapse and the ongoing civil war.
Taiwan: Bastion of Democracy or Rogue State?
Explore Taiwan's complex history from prehistoric cultures through colonial rule, the Chinese Civil War, and its modern democratic transformation, examining both Taipei's and Beijing's perspectives on sovereignty.
The Aral Sea: How the USSR Destroyed the World's Largest Lake
The devastating story of how Soviet agricultural policies transformed the world's fourth-largest lake into a toxic desert, and the fragile efforts to revive what remains.
The Cayman Islands: Where the Rich Get Richer
Explore the history, financial system, and future of the Cayman Islands, the Caribbean territory that became the global capital of offshore banking and tax-free wealth.