Emily Badger

Emily Badger is a writer based in San Francisco, where she covers cities and urban policy for The Upshot at the New York Times. She writes frequently about urban planning, housing, transportation, poverty and inequality -- and why we can't understand any of these topics without considering the others. She's particularly interested in how technology will change the way we move around cities, why the design of cities matters for economic mobility, and what it will mean for all of us to live in an increasingly urban world. In the past, she's also been interested in cul-de-sacs, roadside rest area culture, weird commuting patterns and swaying skyscrapers.

Emily grew up in Chicago, where she first learned to think about architecture, inequality and the value of public transit. She has also lived for various stretches in Portland, Cleveland, Orlando, Tallahassee, Paris, Norfolk, Atlanta and Washington. Along the way, she got a bachelor's in journalism from Northwestern and a master's in nonfiction writing from Johns Hopkins University.

For someone who spends a lot of time writing about cities, Emily tries to get as far away from them as possible when she’s not working. She loves to camp and hike and has, on the rare occasion, found an excuse to write about that, too.