Your audiobook is waiting…
People who bought this also bought...
-
Street Smart
- The Rise of Cities and the Fall of Cars
- By: Samuel I. Schwartz, William Rosen - contributor
- Narrated by: Don Hagen
- Length: 9 hrs and 12 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
With wit and sharp insight, former Traffic Commissioner of New York City, Sam Schwartz a.k.a. "Gridlock Sam", one of the most respected transportation engineers in the world and consummate insider in NYC political circles, uncovers how American cities became so beholden to cars and why the current shift away from that trend will forever alter America's urban landscapes, marking nothing short of a revolution in how we get from place to place.
-
-
A book for those that already dislike cars
- By johnny renton on 05-29-19
-
Walkable City
- How Downtown Can Save America, One Step at a Time
- By: Jeff Speck
- Narrated by: Jeff Speck
- Length: 6 hrs and 45 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Jeff Speck has dedicated his career to determining what makes cities thrive. And he has boiled it down to one key factor: walkability. The very idea of a modern metropolis evokes visions of bustling sidewalks, vital mass transit, and a vibrant, pedestrian-friendly urban core. But in the typical American city, the car is still king, and downtown is a place that’s easy to drive to but often not worth arriving at. Making walkability happen is relatively easy and cheap; seeing exactly what needs to be done is the trick.
-
-
Interesting topic and thoughtful insight, subpar recording.
- By Andrew Nicks on 05-12-18
-
Welcome to Your World
- How the Built Environment Shapes Our Lives
- By: Sarah Williams Goldhagen
- Narrated by: Andrea Gallo
- Length: 9 hrs and 10 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Taking us on a fascinating journey through some of the world's best and worst landscapes, buildings, and cityscapes, Sarah Williams Goldhagen draws from recent research in cognitive neuroscience and psychology to demonstrate how people's experiences of the places they build are central to their well-being, their physical health, their communal and social lives, and even their very sense of themselves. From this foundation, Goldhagen presents a powerful case that societies must use this knowledge to rethink what and how they build.
-
-
relevance of the built environment
- By Petrina on 10-10-19
-
The Great Mental Models
- General Thinking Concepts
- By: Shane Parrish
- Narrated by: Shane Parrish
- Length: 3 hrs and 23 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The Great Mental Models: General Thinking Concepts is the first book in The Great Mental Models series designed to upgrade your thinking with the best, most useful and powerful tools so you always have the right one on hand. This volume details nine of the most versatile all-purpose mental models you can use right away to improve your decision making, your productivity, and how clearly you see the world.
-
-
A dissapointing debut
- By Peter on 04-14-19
-
How to Kill a City
- Gentrification, Inequality, and the Fight for the Neighborhood
- By: Peter Moskowitz
- Narrated by: Kevin T. Collins
- Length: 9 hrs and 22 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The term gentrification has become a buzzword to describe the changes in urban neighborhoods across the country, but we don't realize just how threatening it is. It means more than the arrival of trendy shops, much-maligned hipsters, and expensive lattes. The very future of American cities as vibrant, equitable spaces hangs in the balance. How to Kill a City takes listeners from the kitchen tables of hurting families who can no longer afford their homes to the corporate boardrooms and political backrooms where destructive housing policies are devised.
-
-
Convinced
- By michael irwin on 08-21-19
-
Walkable City Rules
- 101 Steps to Making Better Places
- By: Jeff Speck
- Narrated by: Jeff Speck
- Length: 8 hrs and 6 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Nearly every US city would like to be more walkable - for reasons of health, wealth, and the environment - yet few are taking the proper steps to get there. The goals are often clear, but the path is seldom easy. Jeff Speck’s follow-up to his best-selling Walkable City is the resource that cities and citizens need to usher in an era of renewed street life. Walkable City Rules is a doer’s guide to making change in cities, and making it now.
-
-
Excellent compendium for pro and enthusiast alike
- By Ostyn on 02-23-19
-
Street Smart
- The Rise of Cities and the Fall of Cars
- By: Samuel I. Schwartz, William Rosen - contributor
- Narrated by: Don Hagen
- Length: 9 hrs and 12 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
With wit and sharp insight, former Traffic Commissioner of New York City, Sam Schwartz a.k.a. "Gridlock Sam", one of the most respected transportation engineers in the world and consummate insider in NYC political circles, uncovers how American cities became so beholden to cars and why the current shift away from that trend will forever alter America's urban landscapes, marking nothing short of a revolution in how we get from place to place.
-
-
A book for those that already dislike cars
- By johnny renton on 05-29-19
-
Walkable City
- How Downtown Can Save America, One Step at a Time
- By: Jeff Speck
- Narrated by: Jeff Speck
- Length: 6 hrs and 45 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Jeff Speck has dedicated his career to determining what makes cities thrive. And he has boiled it down to one key factor: walkability. The very idea of a modern metropolis evokes visions of bustling sidewalks, vital mass transit, and a vibrant, pedestrian-friendly urban core. But in the typical American city, the car is still king, and downtown is a place that’s easy to drive to but often not worth arriving at. Making walkability happen is relatively easy and cheap; seeing exactly what needs to be done is the trick.
-
-
Interesting topic and thoughtful insight, subpar recording.
- By Andrew Nicks on 05-12-18
-
Welcome to Your World
- How the Built Environment Shapes Our Lives
- By: Sarah Williams Goldhagen
- Narrated by: Andrea Gallo
- Length: 9 hrs and 10 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Taking us on a fascinating journey through some of the world's best and worst landscapes, buildings, and cityscapes, Sarah Williams Goldhagen draws from recent research in cognitive neuroscience and psychology to demonstrate how people's experiences of the places they build are central to their well-being, their physical health, their communal and social lives, and even their very sense of themselves. From this foundation, Goldhagen presents a powerful case that societies must use this knowledge to rethink what and how they build.
-
-
relevance of the built environment
- By Petrina on 10-10-19
-
The Great Mental Models
- General Thinking Concepts
- By: Shane Parrish
- Narrated by: Shane Parrish
- Length: 3 hrs and 23 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The Great Mental Models: General Thinking Concepts is the first book in The Great Mental Models series designed to upgrade your thinking with the best, most useful and powerful tools so you always have the right one on hand. This volume details nine of the most versatile all-purpose mental models you can use right away to improve your decision making, your productivity, and how clearly you see the world.
-
-
A dissapointing debut
- By Peter on 04-14-19
-
How to Kill a City
- Gentrification, Inequality, and the Fight for the Neighborhood
- By: Peter Moskowitz
- Narrated by: Kevin T. Collins
- Length: 9 hrs and 22 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The term gentrification has become a buzzword to describe the changes in urban neighborhoods across the country, but we don't realize just how threatening it is. It means more than the arrival of trendy shops, much-maligned hipsters, and expensive lattes. The very future of American cities as vibrant, equitable spaces hangs in the balance. How to Kill a City takes listeners from the kitchen tables of hurting families who can no longer afford their homes to the corporate boardrooms and political backrooms where destructive housing policies are devised.
-
-
Convinced
- By michael irwin on 08-21-19
-
Walkable City Rules
- 101 Steps to Making Better Places
- By: Jeff Speck
- Narrated by: Jeff Speck
- Length: 8 hrs and 6 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Nearly every US city would like to be more walkable - for reasons of health, wealth, and the environment - yet few are taking the proper steps to get there. The goals are often clear, but the path is seldom easy. Jeff Speck’s follow-up to his best-selling Walkable City is the resource that cities and citizens need to usher in an era of renewed street life. Walkable City Rules is a doer’s guide to making change in cities, and making it now.
-
-
Excellent compendium for pro and enthusiast alike
- By Ostyn on 02-23-19
-
A History of Future Cities
- By: Daniel Brook
- Narrated by: Michael Butler Murray
- Length: 13 hrs
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
A pioneering exploration of four cities where East meets West and past becomes future: St. Petersburg, Shanghai, Mumbai, and Dubai. Every month, five million people move from the past to the future. Pouring into developing-world “instant cities” like Dubai and Shenzhen, these urban newcomers confront a modern world cobbled together from fragments of a West they have never seen. Do these fantastical boomtowns, where blueprints spring to life overnight on virgin land, represent the dawning of a brave new world? Or is their vaunted newness a mirage?
-
-
Engaging and Memorable
- By Marcus Vorwaller on 04-15-14
-
Triumph of the City
- How Our Greatest Invention Makes Us Richer, Smarter, Greener, Healthier, and Happier
- By: Edward Glaeser
- Narrated by: Lloyd James
- Length: 12 hrs and 28 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
America is an urban nation. More than two thirds of us live on the three percent of land that contains our cities. Yet cities get a bad rap: they're dirty, poor, unhealthy, crime ridden, expensive, environmentally unfriendly. Or are they? As Edward Glaeser proves in this myth-shattering book, cities are actually the healthiest, greenest, and richest (in cultural and economic terms) places to live.
-
-
Urbanophile Brain Candy
- By Clay Downing on 12-18-15
-
Palaces for the People
- How Social Infrastructure Can Help Fight Inequality, Polarization, and the Decline of Civic Life
- By: Eric Klinenberg
- Narrated by: Rob Shapiro
- Length: 8 hrs and 32 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In Palaces for the People, Eric Klinenberg suggests a way forward. He believes that the future of democratic societies rests not simply on shared values but on shared spaces: the libraries, synagogues, and parks where crucial, sometimes life-saving connections, are formed. These are places where people gather, making friends across group lines and strengthening the entire community. Klinenberg calls this the “social infrastructure”: When it is strong, neighborhoods flourish; when it is neglected, as it has been in recent years, families and individuals must fend for themselves.
-
-
Okayyy
- By K on 04-11-19
-
Happy City
- Transforming Our Lives Through Urban Design
- By: Charles Montgomery
- Narrated by: Patrick Lawlor
- Length: 12 hrs and 38 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
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?
-
-
Great book-terrible narrator
- By Amazon Customer on 02-04-19
-
Smart Cities
- Big Data, Civic Hackers, and the Quest for a New Utopia
- By: Anthony Townsend
- Narrated by: Jeremy Arthur
- Length: 11 hrs and 43 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
An unflinching look at the aspiring city-builders of our smart, mobile, connected future. We live in a world defined by urbanization and digital ubiquity, where mobile broadband connections outnumber fixed ones, machines dominate a new "internet of things," and more people live in cities than in the countryside.
-
-
A must read for city enthusiasts
- By Adam J. Hecktman on 11-17-15
-
The Death and Life of Great American Cities
- 50th Anniversary Edition
- By: Jane Jacobs, Jason Epstein (introduction)
- Narrated by: Donna Rawlins
- Length: 18 hrs
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Thirty years after its publication, The Death and Life of Great American Cities was described by The New York Times as "perhaps the most influential single work in the history of town planning....[It] can also be seen in a much larger context. It is first of all a work of literature; the descriptions of street life as a kind of ballet and the bitingly satiric account of traditional planning theory can still be read for pleasure even by those who long ago absorbed and appropriated the book's arguments."
-
-
Fantastic text, dull on audio
- By Meghan on 02-13-15
-
The New Localism
- How Cities Can Thrive in the Age of Populism
- By: Bruce Katz, Jeremy Nowak
- Narrated by: Tristan Morris
- Length: 9 hrs and 49 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In their new audiobook, The New Localism, urban experts Bruce Katz and Jeremy Nowak reveal where the real power to create change lies and how it can be used to address our most serious social, economic, and environmental challenges.
-
-
Interesting subject ruined by terrible VO
- By Marshall Hines on 01-07-19
-
Unruly Places
- Lost Spaces, Secret Cities, and Other Inscrutable Geographies
- By: Alastair Bonnett
- Narrated by: Derek Perkins
- Length: 7 hrs and 33 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
At a time when Google Maps can take you on a virtual tour of Yosemite's remotest trails and cell phones double as navigational systems, it's hard to imagine there's any uncharted ground left on the planet. In Unruly Places, Alastair Bonnett goes to some of the most unexpected, offbeat places in the world to reinspire our geographical imagination. Bonnett's remarkable tour includes moving villages, secret cities, no man's lands, and floating islands.
-
-
Fascinating look at places you never thought of
- By Jody R. Nathan on 05-21-15
-
The Well-Tempered City
- What Modern Science, Ancient Civilizations, and Human Nature Teach Us About the Future of Urban Life
- By: Jonathan F. P. Rose
- Narrated by: Barry Abrams
- Length: 14 hrs and 18 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Cities are birthplaces of civilization; centers of culture, trade, and progress; cauldrons of opportunity - and the home of 80 percent of the world's population by 2050. As the 21st century progresses, metropolitan areas will bear the brunt of global megatrends such as climate change, natural resource depletion, population growth, income inequality, mass migrations, and education and health disparities, among many others.
-
-
Eye opening recount of the public and private forces (sometime unintended, sometime conspiring secretly) to destroy urban cores
- By Ricky L Verret JD on 07-05-19
-
Building the Cycling City
- The Dutch Blueprint for Urban Vitality
- By: Melissa Bruntlett, Chris Bruntlett
- Narrated by: Christina Delaine
- Length: 8 hrs and 4 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
As the world's foremost cycling nation, the Netherlands is the only country where the number of bikes exceeds the number of people, primarily because the Dutch have built a cycling culture accessible to everyone, regardless of age, ability, or economic means. Building the Cycling City examines the triumphs and challenges of the Dutch while also presenting stories of North American cities already implementing lessons from across the Atlantic.
-
-
Simply Fantastic!
- By John Simmerman on 10-01-18
-
Super Thinking
- The Big Book of Mental Models
- By: Gabriel Weinberg, Lauren McCann
- Narrated by: René Ruiz
- Length: 12 hrs and 37 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The world's greatest problem-solvers, forecasters, and decision-makers all rely on a set of frameworks and shortcuts that help them cut through complexity and separate good ideas from bad ones. They're called mental models, and you can find them in dense textbooks on psychology, physics, economics, and more. Or, you can just listen to Super Thinking, a fun, illustrated guide to every mental model you could possibly need.
-
-
Author falls in the same mental traps he talks...
- By gimenez on 08-04-19
-
The Next American City
- The Big Promise of Our Midsize Metros
- By: Mick Cornett, Jayson White
- Narrated by: Tom Weitzel
- Length: 8 hrs and 40 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Oklahoma City. Indianapolis. Charleston. Des Moines. What do these cities have in common? They are cities of modest size but outsized accomplishment, powered by a can-do spirit, valuing compromise over confrontation and progress over political victory. These are the cities leading America...and they're not waiting for Washington's help. As mayor of one of America's most improved cities, Cornett used a bold, creative, and personal approach to orchestrate his city's renaissance. Once regarded as a forgettable city in "flyover country", Oklahoma City has become one of our nation's most dynamic places - and it is not alone.
-
-
Feel-good fluff, not helpful for Urbanists
- By MobtownGuy on 11-28-18
Publisher's Summary
For the first time in the history of our planet, more than half the population - 3.3 billion people - is now living in cities. City is the ultimate guidebook to our urban centers - the signature unit of human civilization. With erudite prose, this unique work of metatourism explores what cities are and how they work. It covers history, customs and language, districts, transport, money, work, shops and markets, and tourist sites, creating a fantastically detailed portrait of the city through history and into the future.
The urban explorer will revel in essays on downtowns, suburbs, shantytowns and favelas, graffiti, skylines, crime, the theater, street food, sport, eco-cities, and sacred sites, as well as mini essays on the Tower of Babel, flash mobs, ghettos, skateboarding, and SimCity, among many others.
Acclaimed author and independent scholar P. D. Smith explores what it was like to live in the first cities, how they have evolved, and why in the future, cities will play an even greater role in human life.
More from the same
What members say
Average Customer Ratings
Overall
-
-
5 Stars31
-
4 Stars24
-
3 Stars12
-
2 Stars2
-
1 Stars4
Performance
-
-
5 Stars27
-
4 Stars27
-
3 Stars6
-
2 Stars2
-
1 Stars1
Story
-
-
5 Stars24
-
4 Stars21
-
3 Stars9
-
2 Stars3
-
1 Stars6
Reviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Alex
- 01-30-15
Whirlwind tour of cities - past, present, future
Smith's masterfully explores what 'city' really means. It's a portrait painted with examples, past and present that extend off into a hypothetical future. He covers transportation from walking cities to the impact of the automobile, city sports from gladiators to football to parkour, the influence of technology on cities, family relations, and a wide range of other topics. I've really come away with a more rooted view of cities, and a heck of a lot more knowledge about how and why they work the way they do.
1 of 1 people found this review helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Anna
- 05-19-13
Commuters companion
Before buying this book I saw a review describing this book as a "coffee table book" and I cannot think of a better way of describing it. It is no historical thesis; it jumps from topic to topic in time and place - but as long as that's what your expecting it is enjoyable. It is filled with interesting historical and anthropological facts and is an excellent commuters companion.
3 of 4 people found this review helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Anonymous User
- 10-16-18
Overall and enjoyable And informative read
I can certainly agree with many other reviewers that the organisation of the book is slightly confusing. The first 90min of the book, I was unsure whether I'd enjoy this, but after getting used to it, it made for an enjoyable experience that made it an easy listen, driven by its narrative.
If you are very interested in cities' history, components, planning and other thinkers' philosophies and want to learn more, this is a great read. If you are looking to expand your knowledge on a specific topic though, the nonexistent structure of the chapters will make this book unsuitable.
Also, I would have wished for deeper analysis and holistic comparisons, which were lacking in the book.
The performance was overall good, however, odd pauses (sometimes too long, sometimes too short) and the many mispronounced foreign words made it less enjoyable than it could have been.
Nonetheless, overall I recommend this book.
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Fredrey
- Montreal
- 11-02-15
A brief history of humanity up until now!
it lets you think that it is up to us what happens for Humanity. it's really our choice at this point.
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Robert
- 09-17-15
An excellent survey of city life through the ages
I enjoyed CITY a lot and a lot more than I was expecting to. If you have read a few urban themed books you might have noticed that many of them draw on a common pool of tired and recycled examples. Not this book.
This is not a book of fresh thinking to save the city, it is a book that contemplates and surveys humanity's fascination with its own creation. P.D. Smith takes the reader from Mohenjo-daro to Blade Runner with many stops in between. I appreciate the well researched and non-chonological story telling, linking many similar experiences through the ages.
Fascinating and saturated with citation, this is likely a book that will leave you lost in contemplation and bring you back to its chapters many times after your first read. I would suggest the physical book for skimming afterwards but the audiobook performance was enjoyable still.
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Adrian
- 07-04-15
for all the city dwellers
a complete ode to all the cities with their ups and downs from the first building blocks to the crumbling ruins. i've enjoyed this book from the start to the last word!
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- LLR
- 02-01-15
Loved it!
Very interesting! I would absolutely recommend! I'd like to read more by this author. Audio performance was great as well.
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- M. Gann
- 01-29-15
Wonderful!
Would you recommend this audiobook to a friend? If so, why?
I really loved this book. Great overview of essentially urban geography and urban history. I really appreciate the way the book is organized by different aspects of the city (Train station, slums, marketplaces, etc.). Author provides wonderful historical context balanced with current urban trends and future speculation of urban life and development. I would recommend it for any student or practitioner of geography, anthropology or sociology.
Who was your favorite character and why?
N/A - non-fiction
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- john zaitz
- 01-10-15
Worth it
I am a architecture student and found this book to be extremely informative. Anyone who is interested In architecture needs this book in there stable.
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Tim
- United States
- 12-15-14
Jumble Together
The information that is presented in "City: A Guidebook for the Urban Age" is jumble together. The author has no organization skills. The book jumps from topic to topic with no cohesiveness. I don't mind text book writing, but I would hate to see the index of this book because the audiobook wasn't well put together. I don't know what Peter D. Smith was thinking, but the information of the topic is so random, that you feel that you are playing Trivial Pursuit. Poorly written in all counts.
2 of 4 people found this review helpful