A viral trend has turned a design shortcut into a nationwide crime wave. Videos posted by the so-called “Kia Boys” show just how easily certain Kia and Hyundai models can be stolen, and the results have been felt on city streets from Chicago to New York. In this episode, we examine how the absence of a basic, low-cost immobilizer—standard in many other countries—helped fuel a surge in car thefts, prompting major cities to sue the manufacturers for selling what they claim are defective vehicles. Beyond the courtroom, the story raises larger questions about corporate responsibility, social media–driven crime, and how a small engineering decision can ripple outward, reshaping patterns of youth offending and reversing decades of progress in car security.

https://www.economist.com/cities-are-suing-car-manufacturers-over-auto-theft-they-have-a-case

In a world where water is supposed to be tasteless, a small but growing group insists it has terroir. At a Fine Water Summit in Atlanta, judges swirl, sip, and score bottled waters from around the globe, parsing mineral content and mouth-feel with the seriousness of a wine tasting. In this episode, we explore the rise of water connoisseurship, from the influence of Michael Mascha, the Austrian evangelist behind restaurant water menus, to the surge of artisanal brands embraced by younger consumers and viral influencers. What begins as a story of luxury and distinction ultimately opens onto a deeper paradox: how the elevation of bottled water as a premium product intersects with growing awareness of environmental limits and the global scarcity of clean, drinkable water.

https://www.economist.com/united-states/2025/04/27/water-sommeliers-say-the-simplest-drink-is-the-future-of-luxury

Once seen as a niche or nostalgic mode of travel, the bicycle—supercharged by the rise of the e-bike—is rapidly reshaping cities around the world. From Paris to New York, protected lanes and better batteries have turned cycling into a practical alternative to the car, cutting congestion and pollution while reclaiming urban space. In this episode, we explore why the pandemic, new technology, and safer infrastructure have fueled this boom—and why it has sparked a fierce backlash, as motorists, populist politicians, and regulators push back against bike-friendly streets. As powerful and sometimes illegal e-bikes blur the line between bicycle and motor vehicle, the story reveals how a simple machine has become one of the most disruptive—and divisive—transport technologies of the modern city.

https://www.economist.com/international/2025/10/09/forget-evs-cycling-is-revolutionising-transport

For generations, abundance at the Chinese table has been measured not by what is eaten, but by what is left behind—where full plates signal generosity, status, and face. In this episode, we examine how that deeply ingrained culture of waste is being challenged by a top-down campaign led by Xi Jinping, who has framed food waste as a threat to national food security shaped by his own memories of hunger. From a sweeping 2021 anti-food-waste law and bans on mukbang videos to efforts encouraging diners to take leftovers home, the story traces how the state is trying to engineer new habits around “clean plate” behavior. Yet as experts point out that waste occurs all along the farm-to-fork chain, the campaign reveals a larger struggle: whether legislation and moral pressure can truly reshape everyday practices tied to pride, tradition, and prosperity.

https://www.economist.com/china/2022/03/12/china-is-clamping-down-on-food-waste

Along Nicaragua’s Caribbean coast, the global appetite for lobster is sustained by some of the most dangerous labor on earth. In the impoverished, largely Indigenous community of Puerto Cabezas, divers descend ever deeper with faulty equipment and little training, risking paralysis or death from decompression sickness in order to survive. In this episode, we follow the story of Edmundo Stanley Antonio, a fisherman who returned to the water after a near-fatal accident, and examine how overfishing, weak enforcement, and political inertia have trapped hundreds of men in a brutal economy of risk. As laws meant to protect divers stall and alternative livelihoods remain scarce, the story exposes a stark choice faced by many in the region: risk death at sea, or face hunger on land.

https://www.nytimes.com/2021/01/24/world/nicaragua-lobsters-fishing.html

For much of the past decade, democracy in Asia appeared to be in retreat, as strongmen consolidated power, courts and media were weakened, and coups and crackdowns—from Myanmar to the Philippines—seemed to confirm an authoritarian tide. In this episode, we examine why that narrative is no longer complete, tracing recent moments of democratic resilience and revival, from peaceful elections in Malaysia and Fiji to mass protests that toppled entrenched rulers in Sri Lanka. The story explores how economic disappointment has undercut authoritarian promises and how older democratic traditions have quietly endured beneath the surface. Despite ongoing setbacks and fragile institutions, the political mood across parts of Asia is shifting, revealing signs that the seeds of democratic renewal may be taking root once again.

https://www.economist.com/asia/2023/02/09/democracy-is-reviving-in-asia

Downtown skylines are changing, not with new towers but with new lives inside old ones. As hybrid work leaves offices empty in cities around the world, developers and policymakers are betting on a radical reuse: turning vacant commercial buildings into housing. In this episode, we explore why projects like the massive conversion of 25 Water Street in New York have become symbols of a new urban strategy, how zoning reforms and political incentives are accelerating the trend, and why the physical realities of office design—deep floor plates, plumbing, and light—make such transformations far from simple. Drawing on Lower Manhattan’s earlier reinvention as a residential neighborhood, the story asks whether office-to-apartment conversions can truly revive struggling city centers, or whether they offer only a partial fix to deeper urban and housing crises.

https://www.economist.com/finance-and-economics/2023/02/09/city-centres-from-offices-to-family-homes

The modern digital economy runs not just on clicks and code, but on habit. Behind the apps and platforms that dominate daily life are designers who study human psychology, borrowing ideas from behavioral science to keep users returning through variable rewards, social validation, and subtle cues that turn ordinary users into “uber-users.” In this episode, we explore how internet companies engineer attention, why some critics liken these techniques to addiction while others insist habits are far harder to create, and what this arms race means for autonomy in an always-connected world. As digital products grow more sophisticated and more pervasive, the question is no longer whether technology shapes behavior—but how consciously, and at what cost.

https://www.economist.com/business/2014/12/30/getting-hooked

For decades, China’s leaders have wrestled with how to manage a faith they have long regarded as foreign—and since 2015, that struggle has taken a new form in Xi Jinping’s campaign to “sinify” Christianity. In this episode, we examine how five-year plans now seek to reshape Christian belief and practice around socialist ideology and “core socialist values,” affecting tens of millions of believers across the country. From a cautious accommodation with the Vatican to an ongoing crackdown on independent Protestant house churches, the story traces the limits of state control over belief. And yet, as churches adapt, migrate online, and continue to grow, the campaign reveals a deeper tension: whether a government can fully domesticate a faith whose followers insist they are both genuinely Christian and unmistakably Chinese.

https://www.economist.com/china/2021/03/31/china-wants-to-make-its-christians-more-chinese

For more than a century, urban planning has swung between opposing ideals—escape the crowded industrial city, then repair the damage left by suburban sprawl. From Britain’s postwar “new towns” to the automobile-fueled expansion of low-density suburbs, each solution carried unintended consequences: longer commutes, higher infrastructure costs, environmental strain, and traffic that only worsened as roads multiplied. In this episode, we explore how planners are now trying to reverse that trajectory, embracing denser, mixed-use neighborhoods, transit-oriented development, and walkable streets inspired by New Urbanism. The story reveals how cities are rethinking mobility, space, and community—and why fixing the problems of the past means redesigning how we move through the places we call home.

Abbott, Carl, 'The suburban solution', City Planning: A Very Short Introduction, Very Short Introductions (New York, 2020; online edn, Oxford Academic, 22 Oct. 2020), https://doi.org/10.1093/actrade/9780190944346.003.0003