New Statesman

For the New Statesman's Andrew Stephen, last month's power failure in Washington D.C. exemplified the deterioration of America's infrastructure, which he likens to conditions he found in the dying days of the Soviet Union.

The city council in Oxford, England, is considering replacing what's left of its local businesses and public spaces with city-revenue-generating corporate chains and retail outlets.

This column from the UK's New Statesman bemoans the drab similarity of English towns. A report concludes that 42% of the nation's town's are essentially 'clones'.

Recent popular literature and movies have focused on megacities in developing nations. Do they symbolize the international city of the 21st century?