Colleges in the United States are under fire for promoting a pro-Palestinian view that critics say veers into antisemitism. But for some watching the trend, the issue is less about colleges than a generational shift in thinking about who is right and wrong in the broader conflict.  

Hamas’ attack on Israel was a horrific act. But is the Israeli television media right to focus almost exclusively on the aftermath and ignore the suffering of Palestinians? It’s a powerful example of one way media can shape a national conversation. 

France is moving to ban e-cigarettes to try to dissuade kids from smoking. But the French seem divided over the best way to do that – legal prohibition or reasoned persuasion. Maybe teens will go the best route if given the knowledge and opportunity.

The Chinese art of paper cutting has been around since at least the first century. But as China changes, it is being lost. Does keeping it alive mean maintaining ancient traditions or changing with the times, too?

Krispy Kreme Doughnuts has opened in Paris, which of course signals the end of French civilization as we know it. But we’ll let you in on a dirty secret. American restaurants such as McDonald’s and Burger King have been flourishing in France for years.

In the United Nations climate summit drawing to close in Dubai, one benchmark of progress received little attention: Greenhouse gas emissions from buildings and houses in the United States have fallen by 8.4% this year, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration. That is more than four times faster than the average annual rate of reduction since 2005.

It isn’t hard to see why that matters. Buildings contribute 42% of the global carbon footprint. Reducing emissions from heating, cooling, and lighting them is a key factor in slowing climate change, requiring practical steps like greening power grids and building materials.

But the U.S. decrease may be evidence of an even more important transition described by British economist Kate Raworth as “moving from growth to thriving.”

“We are already seeing a paradigm shift ... starting with a simple question: Must we build new?” wrote Lisa Richmond, a senior fellow with the climate change initiative Architecture 2030, in Architect Magazine. The question captures how architects are rethinking design in the context of global warming - starting with how buildings meet the needs of the communities they serve.

“Architects can’t operate outside of society,” said David Chipperfield, this year’s recipient of the Pritzker Architecture Prize, the field’s most prestigious award. “We need society to come with us. ... Essentially, what we have to hope now is that the environmental crisis makes us reconsider priorities of society, that profit is not the only thing that should be motivating our decisions.”

That change in thinking helps explain one building trend in the U.S. For the first time since it started tracking such data 20 years ago, the American Institute of Architects reported this year that renovations outpaced new construction. Mr. Chipperfield’s approach to renewing old buildings, the Pritzker jury noted, reflects an “architecture of understated but transformative civic presence” blending austerity, use, and deference to history.

In other parts of the world such as Africa, architects are returning to traditional designs and local materials to find climate-sensitive solutions to the needs of a growing population. That requires renewing a sense of value in local ideas. “In the right context, there is a place for modernism,” Francis Kéré, an architect from Burkina Faso, wrote in The New York Times last week. “But there is also a need for architecture that, environmentally, works in Africa. ... It is essential to connect with the local community and explain what you are doing. ... Vernacular and modern techniques can work together.”

A recent U.N. study estimated that 75% of the global infrastructure that will exist in 2050 has yet to be built. “How much can we do with technology, and how much do we need to look at changing the way we live?” asked Todd Reisz, an architect based in Amsterdam, in The New York Times. As it shapes a post-carbon future, architecture is finding majesty in new forms of modesty.