City Infrastructure

The Silicon Heartland Is Running Out of Homes

For decades, the pitch for residents and companies alike to move to the Midwest has been simple: the affordability of homes, even in the...

City Flows

City Flows is an immersive physical and digital exhibition designed by Midstory with the University of Toledo’s Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering as part of their educational augmented reality project funded in part by the Ohio Environmental Education Fund of the Ohio EPA.

As Data Centers Strain Grids, Who Should Pay?

Amid a data center boom, utilities, policymakers and residents are grappling with how to split the bill for growing the digital economy.

In Ohio, a Catalog of Homes Is Tackling a Housing Crisis

During Sears, Roebuck and Company's heyday, the iconic retailer dispatched more than 50 million catalogs every year. Each was a behemoth stretching hundreds of...

Ohio Traded Its Trains for Traffic. Can It Still Have A Passenger Rail Revival?

Stu Nicholson spent more than seven years working for the Ohio Rail Development Commission, the state agency overseeing rail services across the state. “Here’s the...

Toledo’s Transit Agency Let Me Drive a Bus. Here’s What I Learned.

The bright May sun was shining over the expanse of the Toledo Area Regional Transit Authority’s training course. Large buses lay dormant around the...

Glow On: The Mystery Behind Cincinnati’s Yellow Lamps

They’ve gone by many names: yellow lamps, for their warm glow; turtle lamps, after their distinctive shape; island lights for their tendency to show...

What’s Ahead for Chicago’s Century-Old Underground Pedestrian Tunnels?

Midwest cities are experts at dealing with bad weather. Minneapolis, for example, is known for its Skyway, a network of higher-than-street-level bridges that connect...

Before Rockefeller, There Was Carew Tower. Can a $175 Million Overhaul Save the Cincinnati Icon?

Amid downtown Cincinnati stands Carew Tower, a 49-story edifice that has defined the city’s skyline for nearly a century. Located on the southwest corner of...

Ohio’s on a Campaign Against Distracted Driving. Data Says It’s Working.

It’s no secret that distracted driving is dangerous. In 2023, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration found that distracted driving killed 3,275 people across...

Read more