A recently renovated Mariachi Plaza is pictured in Boyle Heights, Calif., is a Hispanic and low-income neighborhood of Los Angeles that's fighting hard to prevent gentrification, the threat of escalating rents and "washed out" identity. Mark Ralston/AFP/Getty Images hide caption
Michelle Labra and her daughter, Daphne, live in an accessory dwelling unit (ADU) in their landlord's backyard. Portland has among the most permissive rules for ADUs in the country. Last year, the city issued building permits for about one a day. Amelia Templeton/OPB hide caption
The site where developer Keith Rubenstein and partners plan to build a luxury residential complex on the waterfront in Mott Haven, one of the poorest communities in New York City. Jessica Gould/WNYC hide caption
Participants stretch during a "yoga on the yard" class, one of Howard University's sesquicentennial celebration events that was open to anyone in Washington, D.C., who wanted to attend. The university is trying to foster better relations with the surrounding community. Tyrone Turner/WAMU hide caption
A new multi-story residential building (left) and an older style one-story space sit side by side on 12th Street in the East Austin neighborhood of Austin, Texas. The neighborhood has experienced a strong wave of gentrification, which often pushes people out of the now trendy area. Gabriel Cristóver Pérez/KUT hide caption
Anti-gentrification activists staged a protest outside Weird Wave Coffee Brewers recently, chanting "Weird Cafe has got to go." Saul Gonzalez/KCRW hide caption
Riders stand in a crowded bus in Montgomery, Ala. Sixty years after the historic Montgomery bus boycott, many of the city's residents say the system doesn't work for them. Debbie Elliott/NPR hide caption
There was a lot of excitement in 2012, when the Hiriko car was unveiled at this event at European Union headquarters in Brussels. At the time, the then-president of the European Commission, Jose Manuel Barroso, hailed the car as a trans-Atlantic "exchange between the world of science and the world of business." Zhou Lei/Xinhua/Landov hide caption
Mary Lee Kingsley waits for a bus in Montgomery County, Md. The bus stop has a big LED screen with a map displaying the current location of buses and when they will arrive. Franklyn Cater/NPR hide caption
A circus-themed streetcar approaches a pedestrian crosswalk in Guangzhou, China. Anthony Kuhn/NPR hide caption
NPR blogger and astrophysicist Adam Frank visited an intersection of many transportation modes to illustrate his point about why infrastructure needs to change. Adam Frank hide caption
A resilient tunnel plug inflates during a test. The new technology was created to try to keep New York City subways from flooding. Joel Rose/NPR hide caption
Songdo, outside Seoul, was envisioned as a futuristic international business hub, drawing residents from all over the world. Instead, this young city has become populated mostly by Koreans. Ari Shapiro/NPR hide caption
Mike Lester, CEO of Taxi 2000, sits in the SkyWeb Express in the company's warehouse in Fridley, Minn. The company has been working on SkyWeb Express system, a point-to-point personal rapid transit system. Ackerman + Gruber for NPR hide caption
Jay Austin's tiny house in Washington, D.C., has 10-foot ceilings, a loft bed over the bathroom and a galley-style kitchen. Franklyn Cater/NPR hide caption
Alfafar, a suburb of Valencia, Spain, is suffering from a poor economy and high unemployment. A quarter of homes are abandoned. Here, a cafe is still open on the ground floor of an abandoned municipal building in Alfafar's Orba neighborhood, but upper floors used to house shops. A pair of Spanish architects hopes to revitalize the high-density housing in this working-class area. Lauren Frayer/NPR hide caption
Kathy Van Sluyters (left), Barbara Carr and Colleen Dickinson chat on a recently finished sidewalk across from Wildflower Terrace, a mixed-income apartment building in the Mueller development for people ages 55 and over. Julia Robinson for NPR hide caption
Solar Sunflowers, an art installation, greets visitors to Mueller's commercial and retail hub off of Interstate 35. The panels power a nightly light display and return power to the grid. When the development is complete, five miles of granite trails will connect the residents to its commercial and retail hubs. Julia Robinson for NPR hide caption
A resident of Lathrop Homes leaves one of the few occupied buildings in the development. The city wants to redevelop the public housing as mixed use, and offered vouchers to encourage residents to relocate. Cheryl Corley/NPR hide caption
Walters Clothing carries styles that go back decades and shoes up to size 18. Its outsize selection has earned the attention of NBA stars and hip-hop artists. Eboni Lemon/New Voices Initiative, AIR hide caption
New apartment buildings are replacing empty lots in Mantua, one of Philadelphia's poorest neighborhoods. Will Figg for NPR hide caption
The Los Angeles River in 2013. Engineers turned it into a narrow concrete channel in the 1940s, after a flood destroyed homes and left 100 people dead in 1938. Steve Lyon/Flickr hide caption
Zappos.com CEO Tony Hsieh is spearheading an effort to revitalize downtown Las Vegas and make it a tech hub, home for small businesses and a creative community. Isaac Brekken for NPR hide caption