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The Best Books About Living In The City

“What are the best books about city living?” We looked at 14 articles and found 220 of the best books about living in the city.

The range of city living books we found is wide, consisting of both fiction and non-fiction. The books focus on individual stories within a city, specific cities around the world, economies that sprout from and sustain cities, and so much more. Several of the books focus on a specific aspect of city living like green or sustainable design, while other books give the history of how cities came about and why so many people gravitate towards them.

19 of the 220 books appeared on multiple lists, so we ranked them with images, descriptions, and links below. You can view the additional 201 titles as well as the sources we used at the bottom of the page.

And if the urban lifestyle isn’t your thing, make sure to check out our country living article!

Happy Scrolling!

 



The Top 19 City Living Books



19 .) Aerotropolis: The Way We’ll Live Next by John D. Kasarda and Greg Lindsay

aerotropolis-the-way-well-live-next-by-john-d-kasarda-greg-lindsay

Lists It Appears On:

  • Brain Pickings
  • io9

“This brilliant and eye-opening look at the new phenomenon called the aerotropolis gives us a glimpse of the way we will live in the near future―and the way we will do business too.

Not so long ago, airports were built near cities, and roads connected one to the other. This pattern―the city in the center, the airport on the periphery―shaped life in the twentieth century, from the central city to exurban sprawl. Today, the ubiquity of jet travel, round-the-clock workdays, overnight shipping, and global business networks has turned the pattern inside out. Soon the airport will be at the center and the city will be built around it, the better to keep workers, suppliers, executives, and goods in touch with the global market. This is the aerotropolis: a combination of giant airport, planned city, shipping facility, and business hub. The aerotropolis approach to urban living is now reshaping life in Seoul and Amsterdam, in China and India, in Dallas and Washington, D.C. The aerotropolis is the frontier of the next phase of globalization, whether we like it or not.”

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18 .) Cairo: Histories of a City by Nezar AlSayyad

cairo-histories-of-a-city-by-nezar-alsayyad
Lists It Appears On:

  • io9
  • Next City (Again)

In twelve vignettes, accompanied by drawings, photographs, and maps, AlSayyad details the shifts in Cairo’s built environment through stories of important figures who marked the cityscape with their personal ambitions and their political ideologies. The city is visually reconstructed and brought to life not only as a physical fabric but also as a social and political order―a city built within, upon, and over, resulting in a present-day richly layered urban environment. Each chapter attempts to capture a defining moment in the life trajectory of a city loved for all of its evocations and contradictions. Throughout, AlSayyad illuminates not only the spaces that make up Cairo but also the figures that shaped them, including its chroniclers, from Herodotus to Mahfouz, who recorded the deeds of great and ordinary Cairenes alike. He pays particular attention to how the imperatives of Egypt’s various rulers and regimes―from the pharaohs to Sadat and beyond―have inscribed themselves in the city that residents navigate today.

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17 .) Ecocities by Richard Register

ecocities-rebuilding-cities-in-balance-with-nature-by-richard-register
Lists It Appears On:

  • New Urbanism
  • Planetizen

Ecocities describes the place of the city in evolution, nature and history. It pays special attention to the key question of accessibility and transportation, and outlines design principles for the ecocity. The reader is encouraged to plunge in to its economics and politics: the kinds of businesses, planning and leadership required. The book then outlines the tools by which a gradual transition to the ecocity could be accomplished. Throughout, this new edition is generously illustrated with the author’s own inspired visions of what such rebuilt cities might actually look like.

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16 .) Growing Cooler: The Evidence on Urban Development and Climate Change by Reid Ewing, Keith Bartholomew, Steve Winkelman, Jerry Walters, and Don Chen

growing-cooler-the-evidence-on-urban-development-and-climate-change-by-reid-ewing-keith-bartholomew-steve-winkelman-jerry-walters-don-chen
Lists It Appears On:

  • New Urbanism
  • Planetizen

Based on a comprehensive study review by leading urban planning researchers, this investigative document demonstrates how urban development is both a key contributor to climate change and an essential factor in combating it—by reducing vehicle greenhouse gas emissions.

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15 .) Invisible Cities by Italo Calvino; translated by William Weaver

invisible-cities-by-italo-calvino
Lists It Appears On:

  • Planetizen
  • Next City

In a garden sit the aged Kublai Khan and the young Marco Polo — Mongol emperor and Venetian traveler. Kublai Khan has sensed the end of his empire coming soon. Marco Polo diverts his host with stories of the cities he has seen in his travels around the empire: cities and memory, cities and desire, cities and designs, cities and the dead, cities and the sky, trading cities, hidden cities. As Marco Polo unspools his tales, the emperor detects these fantastic places are more than they appear.

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14 .) Nature’s Metropolis: Chicago and the Great West by William Cronon

natures-metropolis-chicago-and-the-great-west-by-william-cronon
Lists It Appears On:

  • io9
  • Five Books

In this groundbreaking work, William Cronon gives us an environmental perspective on the history of nineteenth-century America. By exploring the ecological and economic changes that made Chicago America’s most dynamic city and the Great West its hinterland, Mr. Cronon opens a new window onto our national past. This is the story of city and country becoming ever more tightly bound in a system so powerful that it reshaped the American landscape and transformed American culture. The world that emerged is our own.

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13 .) NW by Zadie Smith

nw-by-zadie-smith
Lists It Appears On:

  • Next City
  • The Guardian (Again)

Set in northwest London, Zadie Smith’s brilliant tragicomic novel follows four locals—Leah, Natalie, Felix, and Nathan—as they try to make adult lives outside of Caldwell, the council estate of their childhood. In private houses and public parks, at work and at play, these Londoners inhabit a complicated place, as beautiful as it is brutal, where the thoroughfares hide the back alleys and taking the high road can sometimes lead you to a dead end. Depicting the modern urban zone—familiar to city-dwellers everywhere—NW is a quietly devastating novel of encounters, mercurial and vital, like the city itself.

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12 .) Radical Cities: Across Latin America in Search of New Architecture by Justin McGuirk

radical-cities-across-latin-america-in-search-of-a-new-architecture-by-justin-mcguirk
Lists It Appears On:

  • The Guardian
  • Planetizen (Again)

“Ever since the mid twentieth century, when the dream of modernist utopia went to Latin America to die, the continent has been a testing ground for exciting new conceptions of the city. An architect in Chile has designed a form of social housing where only half of the house is built, allowing the owners to adapt the rest; Medellín, formerly the world’s murder capital, has been transformed with innovative public architecture; squatters in Caracas have taken over the forty-five-story Torre David skyscraper; and Rio is on a mission to incorporate its favelas into the rest of the city.

Here, in the most urbanised continent on the planet, extreme cities have bred extreme conditions, from vast housing estates to sprawling slums. But after decades of social and political failure, a new generation has revitalised architecture and urban design in order to address persistent poverty and inequality. Together, these activists, pragmatists and social idealists are performing bold experiments that the rest of the world may learn from.”

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11 .) Retrofitting Suburbia: Urban Design Solutions for Redesigning Suburbs by Ellen Dunham-Jones & June Williamson

retrofitting-suburbia-urban-design-solutions-for-redesigning-suburbs-by-ellen-dunham-jones-june-williamson
Lists It Appears On:

  • New Urbanism
  • Planetizen

Updated with a new Introduction by the authors and a foreword by Richard Florida, this book is a comprehensive guide book for urban designers, planners, architects, developers, environmentalists, and community leaders that illustrates how existing suburban developments can be redesigned into more urban and more sustainable places. While there has been considerable attention by practitioners and academics to development in urban cores and new neighborhoods on the periphery of cities, there has been little attention to the redesign and redevelopment of existing suburbs. The authors, both architects and noted experts on the subject, show how development in existing suburbs can absorb new growth and evolve in relation to changed demographic, technological, and economic conditions.

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10 .) Suburban Nation by Andres Duany, Elizabeth Plater-Zyberk, & Jeff Speck

suburban-nation-the-rise-of-sprawl-and-the-decline-of-the-american-dream-by-andres-duany-elizabeth-plater-zyberk-jeff-speck
Lists It Appears On:

  • New Urbanism
  • Planetizen

For a decade, Suburban Nation has given voice to a growing movement in North America to put an end to suburban sprawl and replace the last century’s automobile-based settlement patterns with a return to more traditional planning.

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9 .) Sustainable Urbanism: Urban Design with Nature by Douglas Farr

sustainable-urbanism-urban-design-with-nature-by-douglas-farr
Lists It Appears On:

  • New Urbanism
  • Planetizen

Providing a historic perspective on the standards and regulations that got us to where we are today in terms of urban lifestyle and attempts at reform, Douglas Farr makes a powerful case for sustainable urbanism, showing where we went wrong, and where we need to go. He then explains how to implement sustainable urbanism through leadership and communication in cities, communities, and neighborhoods.

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8 .) The City Shaped: Urban Patterns and Meanings Through History by Spiro Kostof

the-city-shaped-urban-patterns-and-meanings-through-history-by-spiro-kostof
Lists It Appears On:

  • Planetizen
  • io9

Spanning the ages and the globe, Spiro Kostof explores the city as a “repository of cultural meaning” and an embodiment of the community it shelters. Widely used by both architects and students of architecture, The City Shaped won the AIA’s prestigious book award in Architecture and Urbanism. With hundreds of photographs and drawings that illustrate Professor Kostof’s innovative ideas, this has become one of the most important works on urbanization.

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7 .) The New Transit Town: Best Practices in Transit-Oriented Development by Hank Dittmar & Gloria Ohland

the-new-transit-town-best-practices-in-transit-oriented-development-by-hank-dittmar
Lists It Appears On:

  • New Urbanism
  • Planetizen

“Transit-oriented development (TOD) seeks to maximize access to mass transit and nonmotorized transportation with centrally located rail or bus stations surrounded by relatively high-density commercial and residential development. New Urbanists and smart growth proponents have embraced the concept and interest in TOD is growing, both in the United States and around the world.

New Transit Town brings together leading experts in planning, transportation, and sustainable design—including Scott Bernstein, Peter Calthorpe, Jim Daisa, Sharon Feigon, Ellen Greenberg, David Hoyt, Dennis Leach, and Shelley Poticha—to examine the first generation of TOD projects and derive lessons for the next generation. It offers topic chapters that provide detailed discussion of key issues along with case studies that present an in-depth look at specific projects. “

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6 .) Triumph of the City by Edward Glaeser

triumph-of-the-city-how-our-greatest-invention-makes-us-richer-smarter-greener-healthier-and-happier-by-edward-l-glaeser
Lists It Appears On:

  • Planetizen
  • Brain Pickings

America is an urban nation, yet cities get a bad rap: they’re dirty, poor, unhealthy, environmentally unfriendly . . . or are they? In this revelatory book, Edward Glaeser, a leading urban economist, declares that cities are actually the healthiest, greenest, and richest (in both cultural and economic terms) places to live. He travels through history and around the globe to reveal the hidden workings of cities and how they bring out the best in humankind. Using intrepid reportage, keen analysis, and cogent argument, Glaeser makes an urgent, eloquent case for the city’s importance and splendor, offering inspiring proof that the city is humanity’s greatest creation and our best hope for the future.

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5 .) Ulysses by James Joyce

ulysses-by-james-joyce
Lists It Appears On:

  • Flavorwire
  • The Guardian (Again)

James Joyce was an Irish novelist and poet, considered to be one of the most influential writers in the modernist avant-garde of the early 20th century. Joyce is best known for Ulysses a landmark work in which the episodes of Homer’s Odyssey are paralleled in an array of contrasting literary styles, perhaps most prominent among these the stream of consciousness technique he perfected. One of the greatest novels of the twentieth century, Ulysses has had a profound influence on modern fiction. Ulysses chronicles the passage of Leopold Bloom through Dublin during an ordinary day, 16 June 1904 (the day of Joyce’s first date with his future wife, Nora Barnacle). The title alludes to Odysseus (Latinised into Ulysses), the hero of Homer’s Odyssey, and establishes a series of parallels between characters and events in Homer’s poem and Joyce’s novel (e.g., the correspondence of Leopold Bloom to Odysseus, Molly Bloom to Penelope, and Stephen Dedalus to Telemachus).

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4 .) Visualizing Density by Julie Campoli and Alex MacLean

visualizing-density-by-julie-campoli
Lists It Appears On:

  • New Urbanism
  • Planetizen

The American Dream of a single-family home on its own expanse of yard still captures the imagination. But with a growing population —100 million more people expected in the United States by 2050—rising energy and transportation costs, disappearing farmland and open space, and the clear need for greater energy efficiency and a reduction in global warming emissions, the future built environment must include more density. Landscape architect and land planner Julie Campoli and aerial photographer Alex S. MacLean have joined forces to create a full-color, richly illustrated book to help planners, designers, public officials, and citizens better understand, and better communicate to others, the concept of density as it applies to the residential environment.

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3 .) Who’s Your City by Richard Florida

whos-your-city-how-the-creative-economy-is-making-where-to-live-the-most-important-decision-of-your-life-by-richard-florida
Lists It Appears On:

  • Planetizen
  • Brain Pickings

“In the age of globalization, some claim that where you live doesn’t matter: Alaska, Idaho, and Alabama are interchangeable. The world is, after all, flat.
Not so fast. Place, argues the great urbanist Richard Florida, is not only important, it’s more important than ever. In fact, choosing a place to live is as important to your happiness as choosing a spouse or career. And some regions, recent surveys show, really are happier than others. In Who’s Your City, Creative Class guru Richard Florida reports on this growing body of research that tells us what qualities of cities and towns actually make people happy—and he explains how to use these ideas to make your own choices. This indispensable guide to how people can choose where to live and what those choices mean to their lives and their communities is essential reading for everyone from urban planners and mayors to recent graduates.”

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2 .) The City in History: Its Origins, Its Transformations, and Its Prospects by Lewis Mumford

the-city-in-history-its-origins-its-transformations-and-its-prospects-by-lewis-mumford
Lists It Appears On:

  • Planetizen
  • Brain Pickings
  • io9

The city’s development from ancient times to the modern age.

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1 .) The Death and Life of Great American Cities by Jane Jacobs

the-death-and-life-of-great-american-cities-by-jane-jacobs
Lists It Appears On:

  • Five Books
  • io9
  • Planetizen
  • Brain Pickings

A direct and fundamentally optimistic indictment of the short-sightedness and intellectual arrogance that has characterized much of urban planning in this century, The Death and Life of Great American Cities has, since its first publication in 1961, become the standard against which all endeavors in that field are measured. In prose of outstanding immediacy, Jane Jacobs writes about what makes streets safe or unsafe; about what constitutes a neighborhood, and what function it serves within the larger organism of the city; about why some neighborhoods remain impoverished while others regenerate themselves. She writes about the salutary role of funeral parlors and tenement windows, the dangers of too much development money and too little diversity. Compassionate, bracingly indignant, and always keenly detailed, Jane Jacobs’s monumental work provides an essential framework for assessing the vitality of all cities.

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#20-220 Books About Living In The City
(Appear on 1 List Each)



 

A Country of Cities: a Manifesto for an Urban AmericaVishaan ChakrabartiPlanetizen
A Fine BalanceRohinton MistryThe Guardian (Again)
A Pattern LanguageChristopher Alexander et al (& his whole series, including A New Theory of Urban Design; The Timeless Way of Building, etcPlanetizen
Agricultural UrbanismJanine de la Salle and Mark HollandPlanetizen
All God’s Children Need Traveling ShoesMaya AngelouNext City (Again)
Americans Against the City: Anti-Urbanism in the Twentieth CenturySteve ConnPlanetizen (Again)
Atlas of CitiesPaul KnoxPlanetizen (Again)
AyaMarguerite Abouet; illustrated by Clément OubrerieNext City
Berlin: City of StonesJason LutesNext City
Bleak HouseCharles DickensThe Guardian (Again)
BlinkMalcolm GladwellPlanetizen
Block Party Today!Marilyn SingerRead That Again
Bonfire of the VanitiesTom WolfeThe Guardian (Again)
Building BarcelonaPeter RowePlanetizen
CapitalJohn LanchesterThe Guardian (Again)
CAR FREE CITIESJ.H. CrawfordNew Urbanism
Cerdà and the Barcelona of the Future: Reality versus ProjectAjuntament de BarcelonaPlanetizen
Circus Maximus: The Economic Gamble Behind Hosting the Olympics and the World CupAndrew ZimbalistPlanetizen (A Third Time)
Cities and Natural ProcessMichael HoughPlanetizen
Cities and the Wealth of NationsJane JacobsPlanetizen
Cities are Good for You: the Genius of the MetropolisLeo HollisPlanetizen
Cities Back from the Edge: New Life For DowntownRoberta Brandes Gratz and Norman MintzPlanetizen
Cities for PeopleJan GehlPlanetizen
Cities of TomorrowPeter HallPlanetizen
City Comforts: How to Build and Urban VillageDavid SucherPlanetizen
City CyclingPucher & BuehlerPlanetizen
City Making in Paradise: Nine Decisions that Saved VancouverMike Harcourt and Ken CameronPlanetizen
City of Quartz: Excavating the Future in Los Angeles,Mike Davisio9
City on a Grid: How New York Became New YorkGerard KoeppelPlanetizen (A Third Time)
City: A Guidebook for the Urban AgePPlanetizen
City: Rediscovering The CenterWilliam HPlanetizen
Civilizing American CitiesFrederick Law OlmstedPlanetizen
Collected EssaysJames BaldwinNext City (Again)
Common Ground in a Liquid City: Essays in Defense of an Urban FutureMatt HernPlanetizen
Cradle to Cradle: Remaking the Way We Make ThingsMcDonough and BraungartPlanetizen
Culture Crash: The Killing of the Creative ClassScott TimbergPlanetizen (A Third Time)
Delirious New YorkRem KoolhaasPlanetizen
Dept. of SpeculationPublic Books
Design for Ecological DemocracyRandolph HesterPlanetizen
Design with NatureIan McHargPlanetizen
Designed for the Future: 80 Practical Ideas for a Sustainable WorldJared GreenPlanetizen (A Third Time)
Designing Community: Charrettes,Master Plans and Form-Based CodesDavid WaltersPlanetizen
Dream City: Vancouver and the Global ImaginationLance BerelowitzPlanetizen
E-Topia: “Urban Life, Jim – But Not As We Know It”William Mitchell (& City of Bits)Planetizen
ECO-ECONOMYLester BrownNew Urbanism
Eco-Urbanity: Towards Well Mannered Built EnvironmentsDarko RadovicPlanetizen
Fantastic Cities: A Coloring Book of Places Real and ImaginedSteve McDonaldPlanetizen (A Third Time)
Fat CityLeonard GardnerNext City
Fortress of SolitudeJonathan LethemFlavorwire
Global City BluesDaniel SolomonPlanetizen
Good City FormKevin LynchPlanetizen
Gorrion Del MetroLeyla TorresRead That Again
Grand Urban RulesAlex LehnererPlanetizen
Great StreetsAllan JacobsPlanetizen
Green MetropolisDavid OwenPlanetizen
GREEN URBANISMTimothy BeatleyNew Urbanism
Happy City: Transforming Our Lives Through Urban DesignCharles MontgomeryPlanetizen
Highline: the Inside Story of New York City’s Park In The SkyDavid and HammondPlanetizen
HomeJeannie BakerRead That Again
HOME FROM NOWHEREJames Howard KunstlerNew Urbanism
How Paris Became Paris: The Invention of the Modern CityJoan DeJeanPlanetizen (Again)
Human TransitJarrett WalkerPlanetizen
I Sailed With MagellanStuart DybekNext City
If Mayors Ruled the World: Dysfunctional Nations, Rising CitiesBenjamin R. BarberPlanetizen (Again)
In Case of EmergencyPublic Books
INFRASTRUCTURE 2008 – A Competitive AdvantageULINew Urbanism
IstanbulOrhan PamukNext City (Again)
Jethro Byrd, Fairy ChildBob GrahamRead That Again
Jonathan And His MommyIrene Smalls-HectorRead That Again
Le Pieton Dans la Ville/Walking in the City: Sharing Public SpaceJean-Jacques TerrinPlanetizen
Learning from Las VegasRobert Venturi et alPlanetizen
Life Between BuildingsJan GehlPlanetizen
Livable StreetsDonald AppleyardPlanetizen
Living Archtecture: How Synthetic Biology Can Remake Our Cities and Reshape Our LivesRachel Armstrongio9
London: The Information CapitalJames Cheshire and Oliver UbertiThe Guardian
Looking Around: A Journey Through ArchitectureWitold RybczynskiPlanetizen
Lost in the CityEdward P. JonesNext City
Lush LifeRichard PriceFlavorwire
MAKESHIFT METROPOLISWitold RybczynskiBrain Pickings
Making Healthy Places: Designing and Building for Health, Well-being and SustainabilityDannenberg et alPlanetizen
Max Found Two SticksBrian PinkneyRead That Again
MiddlesexJeffrey EugenidesFlavorwire
Modern Civic Art, or The City Made BeautifulCharles Mulford RobinsonPlanetizen
Modern Man: The Life of Le Corbusier, Architect of TomorrowAnthony FlintPlanetizen (Again)
My Brilliant FriendElena Ferrante, translated by Ann GoldsteinNext City
My StepsSally DerbyRead That Again
NEW AMERICAN URBANISMJohn A. DuttonNew Urbanism
NEW CIVIC ARTAndres Duany, Elizabeth Plater-Zyberk, & Robert AlminanaNew Urbanism
NEW DEPARTURESAnthony PerlNew Urbanism
New Design CitiesCommerce Design MontrealPlanetizen
NEW URBANISM AND BEYONDNew Urbanism
number9dream,David MitchellFlavorwire
Oh, the Places You’ll Go!Dr. SeussPlanetizen
On the RunAlice GoffmanThe Guardian
Once in a Great City: A Detroit StoryDavid MaranissPlanetizen (A Third Time)
One Day I Will Write About This PlaceBinyavanga WainainaNext City (Again)
One Of ThreeAngela JohnsonRead That Again
Open CityTeju ColeFlavorwire
Oscar’s Half BirthdayBob GrahamRead That Again
Oxford Street, AccraAto QuaysonThe Guardian
Paradise Planned: The Garden Suburb and the Modern CityRobert A.M. Stern, David Fishman, and Jacob TilovePlanetizen (Again)
Paris, I Love You But You’re Bringing Me DownRosecrans BaldwinFlavorwire
People Places: Design Guidelines for Urban Open SpaceCooper Marcus & FrancisPlanetizen
Perverse CitiesPamela BlaisPlanetizen
Petersburg,Andrei BelyFlavorwire
PLACE MAKINGCharles BohlNew Urbanism
Plunkitt of Tammany HallWilliam RiordonFive Books
Public Places Urban Spaces: The Dimensions of Urban DesignMatthew Carmona, Tim Heath, Taner Oc, Steve TiesdellPlanetizen
Public Sydney: Drawing the CityThalis and CantrillPlanetizen
REDESIGNING CITIESJonathan BarnettNew Urbanism
Redevelopment and Race: Planning a Finer City in Postwar DetroitJune Manning ThomasNext City (Again)
San Juan: Memoir of a CityEdgardo Rodriguez Juliá; translated by Peter GrandboisNext City (Again)
Seven Rules for Sustainable CommunitiesPatrick CondonPlanetizen
Shanghai HomesJie LiThe Guardian
Sidewalk City: Remapping Public Space in Ho Chi Minh CityAnnette Miae KimNext City (Again)
Sister CarrieTheodore DreiserThe Guardian (Again)
Smart CitiesAnthony Townsend (it’s this high because I haven’t finished reading it!)Planetizen
Sprawl Repair ManualGalina TachievaPlanetizen
STATE OF THE WORLDThe Worldwatch InstituteNew Urbanism
Straphanger: Saving our Cities and Ourselves from the AutomobileTaras GrescoePlanetizen
Streets and the Shaping of Towns and CitiesSouthworth and Ben-JosephPlanetizen
Subway SparrowLeyla TorresRead That Again
Sunrise-to-High-RiseLucy DalzellThe Guardian
SUSTAINABILITY AND CITIESNewman & KenworthyNew Urbanism
Sustainable CommunitiesSim Van der Ryn and Peter CalthorpePlanetizen
SUSTAINABLE PLANETJuliet B. Schor and Betsy TaylorNew Urbanism
Sustainable Transportation PlanningJeffrey TumlinPlanetizen
SUSTAINABLE URBANISM AND BEYONDTigran HaasNew Urbanism
Tactical Urbanism: Short-Term Action for Long-Term ChangeMike Lydon and Anthony GarciaPlanetizen (A Third Time)
Ten Cities that Made an EmpireTristam HuntPlanetizen (Again)
The American Vitruvius: An Architects Handbook of Civic ArtHegemann and PeetsPlanetizen
The Art of Building CitiesCamillo SittePlanetizen
The Art of City MakingCharles LandryPlanetizen
The Art of StillnessPico IyerThe Guardian
The City and the CityChina MievillePlanetizen
The Creative CityCharles LandryPlanetizen
The Cutting RoomLouise WelshFlavorwire
The Devil in the White CityErik LarsonPlanetizen
The DogJoseph O’NeillThe Guardian (Again)
The DollmakerHarriette ArnowNext City
THE EUROPEAN DREAMJeremy RifkinNew Urbanism
The FountainheadAyn RandPlanetizen
The Fractured MetropolisJonathan BarnettPlanetizen
The Geography of HopeChris TurnerPlanetizen
The Geography of NowhereJames Howard KunstlerPlanetizen
The Global City: New York, London, TokyoSaskia Sassenio9
The Great Good PlaceRay OldenburgPlanetizen
The Great ResetRichard FloridaPlanetizen
The High Cost of Free ParkingDonald ShoupPlanetizen
The Image of the CityKevin LynchPlanetizen
The Interior CircuitFrancisco GoldmanThe Guardian
The Invention of Nature: Alexander Von Humboldt’s New WorldAndrea WulfPlanetizen (A Third Time)
The Language of Towns and Cities: A Visual DictionaryDhiru ThadaniPlanetizen
The Little HouseVirginia Lee BurtonRead That Again
THE LONG EMERGENCYJames Howard KunstlerNew Urbanism
The Master and MargaritaMikhail BulgakovThe Guardian (Again)
The New CityJohn LorincPlanetizen
The New Civic ArtDuany, Plater-Zyberk & AlminanaPlanetizen
The Next American MetropolisPeter CalthorpePlanetizen
The Next American Revolution: Sustainable Activism for the Twenty-First CenturyGrace Lee Boggs and Scott KurashigeNext City (Again)
The Old Way of SeeingJonathan HalePlanetizen
The Option of UrbanismChristopher LeinbergerPlanetizen
The Pedestrian Pocketbook: a New Suburban Design StrategyDoug KelbaughPlanetizen
The Philadelphia NegroWEB DuBoisFive Books
The Power Broker – Robert Moses and the Fall of New YorkRobert APlanetizen
The Principles of Green Urbanism: Transforming the City for SustainabilitySteffen LehmannPlanetizen
The Public Face of Architecture: Civic Culture and Public SpacesNathan Glazer and Mark LillaPlanetizen
The Responsive CityStephen Goldsmith and Susan CrawfordThe Guardian
The Right to the City: Social Justice and the Fight for Public SpaceDon MitchellPlanetizen
The Shape of the City: Toronto Struggles with Modern PlanningJohn SewellPlanetizen
THE SUSTAINABLE URBAN DEVELOPMENT READERStephen Wheeler and Timothy BeatleyNew Urbanism
The Tipping PointMalcolm GladwellPlanetizen
THE TRANSIT METROPOLISRobert CerveroNew Urbanism
The Urban Transportation ProblemJohn MeyerFive Books
The Vancouver AchievementJohn PunterPlanetizen
The Warmth of Other Suns: The Epic Story of America’s Great MigrationIsabel WilkersonNext City (Again)
The Wealth of CitiesJohn NorquistPlanetizen
The Works: Anatomy of a CityKate Ascherio9
themJoyce Carol OatesNext City
TIME SAVER STANDARDS FOR URBAN DESIGNDonald WatsonNew Urbanism
Town Planning in PracticeRaymond UnwinPlanetizen
Town SpacesRob KrierPlanetizen
TownscapeGordon CullenPlanetizen
Unruly Places: Los Spaces, Secret Cities, and Other Inscrutable GeographiesAlastair BonnettPlanetizen (Again)
Urban Code: 100 Lessons for Understanding the CityMikoleit & PurckhauerPlanetizen
Urban Design and the Bottom Line: Optimizing the Return on PerceptionDennis Jerke, Douglas Porter, Terry LassarPlanetizen
Urban Design Downtown: Poetics and Politics of FormLoukaitou-Sideris & BanerjeePlanetizen
Urban SmellscapesVictoria HenshawThe Guardian
URBAN TRANSPORTATION SYSTEMSSigurd GravaNew Urbanism
Urbanism in the Age of Climate ChangePeter CalthorpePlanetizen
Wake Up, CitySusan VerlanderRead That Again
Wake Up, City!Alvin TresseltRead That Again
Walkable CityJeff SpeckPlanetizen
Walking Home: the Life and Lessons of a City BuilderKen GreenbergPlanetizen
War for the OaksEmma BullFlavorwire
We Are Not OurselvesPublic Books
Why Place Matters: Geography, Identity, and Civic Life in Modern AmericaEdited by Wilfred McClay and Ted V. McAllisterPlanetizen (Again)
Wrestling with MosesAnthony FlintPlanetizen
ZINESTER’S GUIDE TO NYCBrain Pickings
Zoned in the USA: The Origins and Implications of American Land-Use RegulationSonja HirtPlanetizen (A Third Time)
Zoning Rules!: The Economics of Land Use RegulationWilliam A. FischelPlanetizen (A Third Time)


Living In The City Book Sources



SourceArticle
Brain Pickings Understanding Urbanity: 7 Must-Read Books About Cities
Five Books Edward L Glaeser recommends the best books on Urban Economics
Flavorwire Paris, I Love You: 10 Books Starring Cities
io9 10 Books That Could Change the Way You Understand Modern Cities
New Urbanism Featured Books
Next City 10 Great Novels Every Urbanist Should Read
Next City (Again) 10 Must-Read Books for Urbanists on Cities, Race and Public Space
Planetizen The 100 “Best” Books on City-Making Ever Written?
Planetizen (A Third Time) Top 10 Books – 2016
Planetizen (Again) Top 10 Books – 2015
Public Books LIVING JUST ENOUGH: NEW NOVELS OF THE CITY
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