The reality of urban air transportation is closer than you think. In fact, UBER Elevate has already started exploring the barriers we’ll need to overcome to make vertical takeoff and landing (VTOL) a reality and bringing uberAIR to Dallas and Los Angeles by 2020. Watch the video to see what an end-to-end flight in an uberAIR VTOL will look like. UBER is excited to partner with some of the world’s top manufacturers, real estate developers, agencies, and cities to make this vision a reality.

Why VTOL?
With VTOL aircrafts, passengers can enjoy quicker daily commutes, while our cities experience less traffic congestion and cleaner air.

The 2-kilometer stretch of road is located in Jinan, China. It opened to traffic on December 28. The road is paved with “transparent concrete”.  As sunlight passes through, photovoltaic panels underneath convert it to energy. Developers say it can generate enough electricity in a year to power 800 homes. The developer’s next goal for this road is to turn it into a wireless charger  powering the electric vehicles driving above it. China is already leading the world in solar power production.

A newly opened shopping mall on Mexico City’s south side partly collapsed due to structural problems. A video captures the moment the cantilevered, multi-story section of the mall collapses in a cloud of dust, smashed glass and twisted metal.

The Artz Pedregal mall opened in March, though parts remain under construction. It had drawn the ire of neighbors worried about the loss of open space, congestion and other issues. Built on the edge of the city’s main expressway, the mall had suffered previous subsoil slides.

The city also has notoriously bad subsoil conditions, and developers often build on unstable land.

In 2016, while foundation work was still being done on the mall, a retaining wall next to the expressway partly collapsed.

The Ramdanis have become the first family in the world to move into a 3D-printed house.  The four-bedroom property is a prototype for bigger projects aiming to make housebuilding quicker and cheaper.

This new prototype of a 3D printed home have digital controls for the convenience of disabled individuals and the curved-wall designs that substantially alleviate the effects of humidity on the house.

The 95m (1022ft) square house – built for a family of five with four bedrooms and a big central space in Nantes – is a collaboration between the city council, a housing association and University of Nantes.

The construction of the entire house cost around £176,000. This means that the cost of construction done by 3D printing is 20% cheaper than using conventional construction techniques.

The Sky Habitat in Singapore combines residential architecture with nature. The 39-storey structure is linked by three landscape sky bridges. There’s a swimming pool on top of the highest bridge. The staircase shape allows natural ventilation and daylight to pour deep into the structure. Each of the 509 apartments has its own balcony and garden. Residents have access to the gardens, tennis court and walking paths. The Sky Habitat was designed by Safdie Architects. It opened in April 2015.

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Mashambas is a movable educational center, which emerges in the poorest areas of the continent. It provides education, training on agricultural techniques, cheap fertilizers, and modern tools; it also creates a local trading area, which maximizes profits from harvest sales. Agriculture around the building flourishes and the knowledge spreads towards the horizon. The structure is growing as long as the number of participants is rising. When the local community becomes self-sufficient it is transported to other places.

The structure is made with simple modular elements, it makes it easy to construct, deconstruct and transport. Modules placed one on the other create the high-rise, which is a form that takes the smallest as possible amount of space from local farmers.

The main objective of the project is to bring this green revolution to the poorest people. Giving training, fertilizer, and seeds to the small farmers can give them an opportunity to produce as much produce per acre as huge modern farms. When farmers improve their harvests, they pull themselves out of poverty. They also start producing surplus food for their neighbors. When farmers prosper, they eradicate poverty and hunger in their communities.

This large-scale tidal power project is revolutionizing renewable energy. It is the world’s first large-scale tidal energy farm. And it’s now under construction in Scotland. Fpur 1.5 MW turbines will be installed underwater. The project will eventually have 269 turbines, enabling the farm to produce up to 398 MW of power, enough for 175,000 homes. Scotland’s tidal energy project will be completed in 2020.

3D printed home can be constructed for under $4,000

These 3D printed homes can be built in less than 24 hours at a cost of only $4,000. They could help families living in poverty and unsafe conditions. New Story, a housing charity organization, and ICON, a construction tech company, have partnered together. Their goal is to end global homelessness.

This prototype house was built in Austin, TX. The home measures 650 square feet. Mortar was printed layer by layer. Human workers installed windows, doors, plumbing, and electrical systems. Here’s what’s inside: A living room. Small office space. One bedroom. One bathroom. ICON staff will use the home as an office to test the durability.

An entire community of these 3D printed homes will be constructed in El Salvador. The ultimate goal is to get costs down to $4,000 per house with a build time of fewer than 24 hours.