City Design

After decades of unchecked sprawl, more people than ever are moving back to the city. Dense urban living has been prescribed as a panacea for the environmental and resource crises of our time. But is it better or worse for our happiness? Are subways, sidewalks, and tower dwelling improvements on the car dependence of sprawl?

Urban planning is a craft learned through practice. Planners make rapid decisions that have an immediate impact on the ground - the width of streets, the minimum size of land parcels, the heights of buildings. The language they use to describe their objectives is qualitative - “sustainable,” “livable,” “resilient” - often with no link to measurable outcomes. Urban economics, on the other hand, is a quantitative science, based on theories, models, and empirical evidence largely developed in academic settings.

From the creators of the wildly popular99% Invisiblepodcast, comes a guidebook to the unnoticed yet essential elements of our cities. Narrated by Roman Mars, with a bonus Q&A and a Full Episode of 99% Invisible. Have you ever wondered what those bright, squiggly graffiti marks on the sidewalk...

The American Dream thrives in 1912 New York City Annie Wood, the housemaid-turned-pattern designer in The Pattern Artist, jumps at the chance to design her own clothing line when a wealthy New York couple offers to finance her endeavor. Joining the project is Annie’s new husband, Sean Culver, her best friend at Butterick, Maude Nascato, and a mother figure, Edna Holmquist. Annie and her colleagues give up their careers, risking everything to follow a shared passion: clothes that are both fashionable and functional for modern, busy women in 1912. Personal and financial setbacks test old ...

“Cities, like dreams, are made of desires and fears, even if the thread of their discourse is secret, their rules are absurd, their perspectives deceitful, and everything conceals something else.” — from Invisible Cities In a garden sit the aged Kublai Khan and the young Marco Polo —...

Landscape designer and historian Wade Graham follows the acclaimed American Eden with a lively, accessible cultural history of modern cities—from suburbs, downtown districts, and exurban sprawl, to shopping malls and “sustainable” developments—seen through the lens of planning, design...

A city is not only streets and buildings. A city is where life happens. People walk to work, children play in parks, neighbors meet on sidewalks, and conversations begin in cafés and public squares. When public spaces are well designed, people enjoy being outside and feel connected to their community. But when streets are dirty, broken, or confusing, people avoid them. Public life becomes weaker. Over time, the city loses its energy. Cities for People offers 52 clear and practical ideas to make cities cleaner, safer, and more welcoming. The book focuses on simple improvements that can ...

The #1 New York Times bestselling author brings us her most ambitious and provocative work yet—a searing and timely novel that explores the most volatile issue of our time—domestic violence. At the break of dawn, Caroline Shelby rolls into Oysterville, Washington, a tiny hamlet at the edge...

'Mind-shifting, heart-lifting' ISABELLA TREE 'Inspiring and essential' ALASTAIR HUMPHREYS 'As entertaining as it is enlightening' INDEPENDENT The majority of the world now lives in some form of urban environment. But as the human footprint of brick, concrete and metal expands, our proximity to...

How Real Estate Developers Think considers developers from three different perspectives. Brown profiles the careers of individual developers to illustrate the character of the entrepreneur; considers the roles played by innovation, design, marketing, and sales in the production of real estate; and examines the risks and rewards that motivate developers as people.

From one of the world’s most innovative designers comes a fiercely passionate manifesto—on why so many places have become miserable and boring and how we can make them better for everyone—that will change how you see the world around you. We are living through a global catastrophe...

The city isn’t just noise — it’s an instrument. City of Sound: A Hip Hop Producer’s Urban Survival Manual is a one-of-a-kind guide for beatmakers, sound scavengers, and rhythm survivalists. Cash Cobbler takes you on a raw expedition through the streets, alleys, rooftops, tunnels, and ruins of the urban sprawl — teaching you how to capture the chaos and flip it into rhythm. Every chapter blends gritty field notes with hands-on producer techniques: Pavement Percussion — footsteps, stomps, and manhole drums. Steel & Sparks — jackhammers, scaffolds, and the skeleton of the city. ...

The Soul of the City: James Hillman on Architecture, Nature, Community, and the Psychology of Place argues that cities are not just containers for human life. Streets, buildings, parks, vacant lots, schools, libraries, and public squares actively shape attention, mood, memory, and social life. Using the ideas of James Hillman, this book presents a grounded way to think about the psyche as something expressed in the world around us, not sealed inside the individual mind. It asks why one block feels inviting and another feels harsh, why some neighborhoods hold identity while others feel ...

Jane Jacobs and the Human City: Exploring the Principles of Human-Centered Urban Design is a powerful exploration of one of the most influential urban thinkers of the twentieth century. Jane Jacobs changed the way the world understands cities by insisting that real urban vitality comes from people—their interactions, diversity, and daily lives—not from abstract blueprints or top-down planning. This book introduces Jacobs’s life and legacy while connecting her ideas to the modern framework of human-centered design. From her defense of sidewalks and public spaces to her critique of ...

From “tomorrow’s greatest designer” (The Atlantic), a personal and deeply researched look at how the choices we build into our environment reflect and determine the way we think, connect, and live. We've been led to believe that purposefully designed spaces are something reserved only for...

Why had she thought this would be fun? Oh right—because she was tired of spending every Sunday night with her feet up in front of a Netflix documentary, with her cat, Milo, eyeing her like even he thought she needed to get out more. Her friend Louise had been the one to convince her to finally start using the app, insisting that "architects can't design love." Emer Kilkenny has been described as the best of the new generation of Irish authors, following in the footsteps of Sally Rooney and Marian Keyes. A Design For Love is the first installment of her debut Garden City Trilogy series. ...

Step into a visionary tale of urban innovation with "Blueprinting Tomorrow," an extraordinary journey into the architectonic renaissance shaping our cities' destinies. This riveting eBook reveals the impetus behind the future urbanism movement, meticulously dissecting the complex, multi-faceted beast that our cities’ planning and design have become. As you delve into Chapter 1, you will discover the quintessence of 21st-century urbanism, tracing its historical roots and witnessing the transformative power of technology on our built environments. "Blueprinting Tomorrow" doesn't just ...

How the emerging field of speculative futures can help us dream--and build--better, sustainable, and more equitable cities for everyone. Speculative futures--design approaches that help us visualize new and potential worlds--move us beyond what currently exists into what could one day be...

Tras décadas de expansión descontrolada, más personas que nunca están volviendo a la ciudad. La vida urbana densa se ha prescrito como la panacea para la crisis medioambiental y de recursos de nuestro tiempo. ¿Pero es mejor o peor para nuestra felicidad? ¿Son el metro, las aceras y las torres de apartamentos una mejora respecto a la dependencia del coche en los suburbios?

Monastery Murder of the 5th century It’s 419 A.D. The Roman legions have abandoned Britannia, leaving their former subjects to fend for themselves. A few miles south from Hadrian’s Wall lie the city of Coria and the nearby, St. Antony’s Monastery, home to misfits and men hiding from their dark pasts, under the supervision of Abbot Mutter and his second-in-command, Prior Tomas. Clodius, an often naughty, superstitious, nineteen-year-old novice, nears completion of his novitiate. An orphan, Clodius was abandoned to St. Antony’s care by his two crooked, unloving brothers. Clodius’s ...