Burkina Faso’s Diébédo Francis Kéré has become the first African and the first Black person to win the Pritzker prize, architecture’s equivalent of the Nobel. 

It is often said that England is the most densely populated large country in Europe – typically in discussions about its rising population, and the growing strain on public services. But it’s not true, writes Alasdair Rae, professor in urban studies and planning, University of Sheffield.

My new research reveals that even the best aspects of the UK’s current building plans don’t go nearly far enough, writes Ljubomir Jankovic. We have found that due to embodied carbon emissions – the emissions that derive from making building materials and constructing houses, rather than heating and powering them – only building all new housing using naturally grown materials with negative embodied carbon will allow the UK housing industry to be net zero by 2050.

In the four years since the Grenfell Tower fire, which led to the unconscionable deaths of 72 people, one key question remains unanswered: are Britain's buildings any safer? The short answer is: not yet.

Conversations about the real-world impact of robots shouldn’t begin by holding on to the fictitious robots of our nightmares, which have no relation to the robots in the real world. Which is why it’s particularly disappointing to see this happen time and again, writes Michael Szollosy, research fellow in robotics, University of Sheffield.

When you think about soil, you probably think of rolling fields of countryside. But what about urban soil? With city dwellers expected to account for 68% of the world’s population by 2050, this oft forgotten resource is increasingly important.