The photocopy lady has been behind the counter longer than the 17 years that I have been in my apartment. She seems to me to be aging in reverse. She began looking middle-aged, lumpy, and gnomed-shaped, with styling efforts that struck me as superfluous, like a...

Milan taught me a lesson that cities would do well to learn: mind the stiletto heels, the prams, children’s bicycles, walkers and the wheeled shopping carts. Think hard about how women of all stages of life get around, because once you’ve solved their needs as...

I once confronted a woman driving her motorcycle on a Milan sidewalk. I was pushing my twins past her in a double stroller the opposite direction. I stopped her to ask why she was doing what she was doing. She replied, “I’m driving slowly.”I said, “But driving a...