I have been interested in city planning for as long as I can remember. That is perhaps because I grew up in Birmingham, England, a city that probably suffered from its worst excesses more than most. In my job as a reporter for The Economist, I have had the privilege to see cities all over the world upfront, and probe how they work. Some of these are books I keep coming back to; others ones that I furiously agreed with. I hope you enjoy them all.
I wrote
Carmageddon: How Cars Make Life Worse and What to Do about It
If urbanists have a bible, Jane Jacobs’s first book, published in 1961, is it.
When I first read it, over a decade ago, I was radicalised. It made me think about how cities work in a way that I simply hadn’t before.
The book is a celebration of city life that was, even as she wrote, being destroyed by cars, expressway buildings, and “urban renewal,” all being done by blind bureaucrats in the name of progress.
In this classic text, Jane Jacobs set out to produce an attack on current city planning and rebuilding and to introduce new principles by which these should be governed. The result is one of the most stimulating books on cities ever written.
Throughout the post-war period, planners temperamentally unsympathetic to cities have been let loose on our urban environment. Inspired by the ideals of the Garden City or Le Corbusier's Radiant City, they have dreamt up ambitious projects based on self-contained neighbourhoods, super-blocks, rigid 'scientific' plans and endless acres of grass. Yet they seldom stop to look at what actually…
Jessie’s book, There Are No Accidents, is dedicated to a friend of hers who was killed cycling in New York City, by a drunk driver.
Her book however explains how such “accidents” are not only the fault of the people who directly cause them, but also of social systems that make it possible for bad decisions to cause catastrophes, and who it is who profits from them.
As a cyclist, I think about that all of the time whenever I get into an argument with a driver who – accidentally – almost kills me.
A journalist recounts the surprising history of accidents and reveals how they've come to define all that's wrong with America.
We hear it all the time: "Sorry, it was just an accident." And we've been deeply conditioned to just accept that explanation and move on. But as Jessie Singer argues convincingly: There are no such things as accidents. The vast majority of mishaps are not random but predictable and preventable. Singer uncovers just how the term "accident" itself protects those in power and leaves the most vulnerable in harm's way, preventing investigations, pushing off debts, blaming the victims, diluting anger,…
Singularity Channel viewers may recognize Hollywood actress Shiloh Rush who plays Ensign Tara Guard in the sci-fi TV series Bulwark, but nobody knows Shiloh is leading a double life.
Haunted by the mysterious disappearance of her beloved older brother, Shiloh hopes to track him down by following in his footsteps…
When I was writing my book, I read a lot of history to try to understand what the planners and politicians of the past were thinking when they demolished whole neighbourhoods to make way for cars.
After Jane Jacobs’s book, Traffic in Towns, a government report that became a surprise best-seller in the 1960s, is perhaps the best guide.
Buchanan’s book makes you realise that in fact they did understand the problems. They just felt that there was nothing they could do about it – people would buy cars whatever happened.
To read it now, with its mix of modernist optimism and infuriating madness, is fascinating.
Traffic in Towns, also known as the Buchanan Report, is regarded as one of the most influential planning documents of the twentieth century. The report reflected mounting concern about the impact on Britain's towns and cities of rapid growth in the ownership and use of motor vehicles. Its purpose was to evaluate policy options for reducing the threat of traffic congestion to urban circulation and quality of life.
Two main conclusions were drawn from the report: firstly, the need for large-scale reconstruction to make Britain's cities fit for the `motor age', including split-level megastructures and urban motorways; and secondly, the…
The great aristocratic amphibian has a deep boyish charm, and his love of motoring in later TV and film adaptations, is often portrayed as essentially harmless. Yet in fact, when it was written, it was not meant to be all that sympathetic.
In my own book, I explain how Mr. Toad represented the rich reckless car owners of the early Victorian period, stealing the road from decent people like Mole, Ratty, and Badger and getting everyone into trouble with a pointless demand for excitement.
In the end, Toad repents. I wish the modern BMW drivers who seem to follow his advice would too.
Spend a season on the river bank and take a walk on the wild side . . .
Spring is in the air and Mole has found a wonderful new world. There's boating with Ratty, a feast with Badger and high jinx on the open road with that reckless ruffian, Mr Toad of Toad Hall. The four become the firmest of friends, but after Toad's latest escapade, can they join together and beat the wretched weasels?
PLUS A behind-the-scenes journey, including author profile, a guide to who's who, activities and more.
Roman mythology stampedes into the present as the Gods of Elysium wake up after two thousand years sleeping from a spell gone wrong. Hell breaks loose on Earth as demons from Hades wreck havoc in a war against the mortals that threatens to start a war between the Gods themselves.…
If aliens came to earth, what would they think is the dominant species on the planet?
In The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy, with his character Ford Prefect, an alien who arrived on earth and picked a name intended to blend in, Douglas Adams casually suggested they make the mistake of thinking cars were. Is that so unreasonable?
After all, the entire planet seems to be built around serving their needs. Adams also features a bunch of callous, stupid bureaucrats casually destroying the whole of earth to build a hyperspace bypass.
I must have read this entire series a dozen times in the past 20 years and its urbanist message was not lost on me.
This box set contains all five parts of the' trilogy of five' so you can listen to the complete tales of Arthur Dent, Ford Prefect, Zaphod Bebblebrox and Marvin the Paranoid Android! Travel through space, time and parallel universes with the only guide you'll ever need, The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy.
Read by Stephen Fry, actor, director, author and popular audiobook reader, and Martin Freeman, who played Arthur Dent in film version of The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. He is well known as Tim in The Office.
The set also includes a bonus DVD Life, the Universe and…
Carmageddon is a book that explains how the automobile took over the world, and why it has been a catastrophe. Blending history, economics, and fresh reporting from places as far afield as Detroit, Mumbai, Tokyo, and even the Democratic Republic of Congo, it explains how designing our streets and cities so that people can only get around in their cars has, in the end, rather than making us more mobile, made us less happy, less healthy, poorer and indeed, driven us all farther apart.
Lolita Firestone, struggling Hollywood actress, visits Sedona, Arizona, catches so-called Red Rock Fever and establishes the Center for Cosmic Consciousness. Alas, when small groups of black men from African countries on the U.S. terrorism watchlist come to Sedona to attend the Cosmic Center's weekend workshops, the CIA takes notice and…
Family Recipes is the story of Vinny Marciano, owner of the most fabulously successful Italian restaurant in all of Upstate New York. All is pretty much hunky dory at Marciano’s Mangia House until the safe in the restaurant's business office is breached and the Marciano family’s secret heirloom recipes are…
