We’re often asked for recommended reading on urban planning and policy. It’s the sort of request we love, but it’s hard to commit to a manageable number of titles. A recent brainstorm of essential reading produced a lengthy list that covered everything from William Fulton’s (“The best academic textbook on the topic,” says ϴDeputy Director Sarah Karlinsky) to , Amy Waldman’s engrossing novel about a controversial 9/11 memorial design.
A good place to start your urban immersion just might be Jeff Speck’s , our first selection for ϴReads, a book discussion series launching in San Jose this summer. ϴTransportation Policy Director Ratna Amin will lead the lunchtime discussion on July 25. Often provocative (“Specialists give bad advice,” “American parking is socialist”), Walkable City is refreshingly acronym- and jargon-free, and most of Speck’s suggestions feel wholly attainable (e.g., “plant trees” and “welcome bikes”).
Below you’ll find an ever-evolving list-in-progress of the ϴpolicy staff’s favorite books about cities. We’d love to hear yours, too. What book should ϴReads take up next? And what's missing from our list? Email us at [email protected]
Jane Jacobs
The urbanist classic makes a brilliant case that “cities have the capability of providing something for everybody, only because, and only when, they are created by everybody.”
Alexander Garvin
Just published this month, a concise illustrated overview of how planning works vis-a-vis four cites and the planners who planned them: Paris (Haussmann), New York (Moses), Chicago (Burnham), and Philadelphia (Bacon).
Jan Gehl
The Danish architect/urban design consultant’s engaging ideas on how to design cities for the pedestrian, not the automobile.
John H. Mollenkopf
Key ideas on the evolution of cities and politics in the United States.
Colin Rowe and Fred Koetter
The authors reject grand utopic visions in favor of a “collage city” that instead encompasses a broad range of tiny utopias.
Daniel Solomon
Local treasure Solomon on how architecture and cities can counterbalance the forces of sprawl, urban disintegration and placelessness that have transformed our contemporary landscape.
Murray Bookchin
A well-argued attempt at producing a unified view of city and country, rather than viewing them as two diametric opposites.
Lewis Mumford
An exhaustive exploration of how the urban form has changed throughout human civilization.
Peter Hall
Traces the development of the modern planning movement over the entire span of the 20th century.
Manuel Castells
Castells argues that the Information Age can “unleash the power of the mind,” leading to seemingly incompatible increases in both productivity and leisure.
Paul E. Peterson
“City politics,” says Peterson, “Is limited politics.”
What did we miss? Email us at [email protected]