Pavers push the asphalt down during road construction.
Pramote Polyamate/Moment via Getty Images
Summer means road construction − but what kind of engineering goes into laying down pavement?
poco_bw / Getty Images
A tonne of carbon dioxide is released for every tonne of cement manufactured from limestone.
Cracked roads and sidewalks generate big costs for cities.
AP Photo/Marcio Jose Sanchez
Your skin heals from cuts and scrapes on its own − what if concrete could do that too?
Producing concrete blocks with captured carbon, like these in Brooklyn, NY., has both economic and climate benefits.
AP Photo/John Minchillo
The combination of the source of the CO₂ and its end use determines its environmental and economic benefits or consequences.
The choice of any type of pavement depends on the life cycle and costs of materials.
Dan Reynolds Photography/Getty Images
There is no data to speak categorically on whether concrete pavement is better than flexible pavement for Nigeria.
The pulverised fuel ash from coal-fired power stations is typically stored in landfill.
Sponner/Shutterstock
Pulverised fuel ash can be recycled and used to manufacture concrete as well as other products.
Great Zimbabwe.
Shutterstock
Archaeological discoveries show the different options that have solved human problems over time.
Shutterstock
The energy-intensive process of producing cement and concrete contributes significantly to global warming while depleting resources. Much more sustainable alternatives are being developed.
A group of construction workers on site.
Bannafarsai_Stock/Shutterstock
Despite being a major contributor of global carbon emissions, concrete remains a popular construction material. Research suggests this needs to change.
Spaghetti Junction has always been a destination as much as a transport nexus.
Paul White - Transport Infrastructures / Alamy Stock Photo
Gravelly Hill Interchange was always meant to be functional, but its cultural life has been rich too.
Maksym Medvinskyi/Shutterstock
New breakwater designs and more sustainable materials can cut the carbon cost of coastal defences by 40%.
Matjazz/Shutterstock
Glass is produced from sand, is easy to recycle, and can be used to make concrete without any complex processing.
Shutterstock
It’s too hot for bare feet, but that doesn’t mean you can cook a fry-up on the path outside your house. A frying pan is a much better tool for the job, because it conducts heat far more efficiently.
A lot of coastal infrastructure wasn’t designed for the frequent flooding and crashing waves brought by rising seas.
Jeffrey Greenberg/Universal Images Group via Getty Images
A bipartisan group of senators said it reached a deal on $550 billion in new spending on infrastructure.
Lunatictm/Shutterstock
Structures are built to withstand a normal range of conditions. But what’s ‘normal’ is changing rapidly.
Deicing salts keep winter roads passable but do a lot of harm in the process.
Gregory Rec/Portland Portland Press Herald via Getty Images
De-icing salts help us get around in winter, but they corrode cars, crack roads and contaminate rivers and lakes. Scientists are working to develop better options by imitating natural antifreezes.
The Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco averages more than 100,000 vehicles daily.
Photo by Saketh Garuda for Unsplash
What if roads and bridges could signal structural problems that need repair?
DmytroPerov / shutterstock
Using sustainable cement would shift Earth Overshoot Day back by 10 days.
A sand mine in Nepal. Growing urbanization and its need for concrete is fuelling a global sand crisis.
(Michael Hoffmann)
As sand markets boom, entrepreneurs, organized crime and others are cashing in — leaving widespread environmental damage in their wake.
Hy-Fi, The Living, MoMA. Jessica Sheridan/Flickr
Our climate is changing – and so must architecture.