Over the summer I found myself on a dusty lot overlooking Herzog & de Meuron's newest creation: an elegant jumble of I-beams that Beijing residents wryly refer to as the "bird's nest." When it's completed, the stadium will house 90,000 spectators for the opening of the Olympics, marking what many believe to be the "Century of China." I struggled to see anything beyond the gawking tourists, imposing cranes, and cough-inducing smog.

Beijing isn't very Beijing-ish anymore. Just a decade ago, I could amble through the labyrinths of hutongs – narrow alleyways unique to the capital – and sip some cha at the neighborhood teahouse. Now I barely recognize the new Beijing.

The sleepy outpost once considered the architectural backwater of Asia now rivals Shanghai and Hong Kong as a cosmopolitan juggernaut and its ambitions do not stop there. In the last few years, Beijing has snatched the attention of the world's top architects away from the usual gang – New York, London, Paris – to power its metamorphosis at a frenetic pace that threatens to eclipse Dubai's.

In response to the high levels of pollution in Beijing, China, the International Olympic Committee is beginning to worry about the health of Olympic fans and athletes alike. To determine whether or not to completely ban private cars in the city as way to decrease the pollution, the committee will do a two-week, car-free trial run in August. If the two weeks sans cars significantly reduces pollution in the city, private car traffic will be completely banned in Beijing during the Olympics of 2008.

With almost 15-million people living in Beijing and the surrounding municipality, this seems completely crazy. How can a city continue to operate when all private cars are banned? Sure, Beijing has some decent mass transit, and many, many people travel by bike, but still. If the trial run shows a significant decrease in pollution, that means there are still a ton of people relying on private cars to get around.

Thanks to our sister site, Autoblog Green, for the tip!