The best books that have helped me understand cities

Book cover of The Joy Experiments: Reimagining Mid-sized Cities to Heal Our Divided Society Book cover of Streetfight: Handbook for an Urban Revolution Book cover of The Wisdom of Crowds Book cover of How Paris Became Paris: The Invention of the Modern City Book cover of The Death and Life of Great American Cities

The best books on authentic urbanism

Book cover of Getting There: The Epic Struggle between Road and Rail in the American Century Book cover of The Economy of Cities Book cover of The Power Broker: Robert Moses and the Fall of New York Book cover of City: Rediscovering the Center Book cover of The Death and Life of Great American Cities

The best books for telling why cities and suburbs look and function the way they do

Book cover of The Highway and the City Book cover of Edge City: Life on the New Frontier Book cover of New York, New York: How the Apartment House Transformed the Life of the City (1869-1930) Book cover of Bourgeois Utopias: The Rise And Fall Of Suburbia Book cover of The Death and Life of Great American Cities

The best books that show cities are not what they seem

Book cover of The City in History: Its Origins, Its Transformations, and Its Prospects Book cover of The Death and Life of Great American Cities Book cover of Cities in Civilisation Book cover of Triumph of the City: How Our Greatest Invention Makes Us Richer, Smarter, Greener, Healthier, and Happier Book cover of Invisible Cities

The best books about why neighborhoods still matter

Book cover of Excluded: How Snob Zoning, NIMBYism, and Class Bias Build the Walls We Don't See Book cover of Heat Wave: A Social Autopsy of Disaster in Chicago Book cover of A Nation of Neighborhoods: Imagining Cities, Communities, and Democracy in Postwar America Book cover of A Haven and a Hell: The Ghetto in Black America Book cover of The Death and Life of Great American Cities

The best books for understanding how societies develop

Book cover of Competition & Entrepreneurship Book cover of The Theory of Economic Development Book cover of Economic Analysis of Property Rights Book cover of The Death and Life of Great American Cities Book cover of Risk, Uncertainty, and Profit

The best books for urbanists who hate cars

Book cover of The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy Book cover of The Wind in the Willows Book cover of Traffic in Towns: A Study of the Long Term Problems of Traffic in Urban Areas Book cover of There Are No Accidents: The Deadly Rise of Injury and Disaster―Who Profits and Who Pays the Price Book cover of The Death and Life of Great American Cities

The best books to inspire people to improve the world

Book cover of Crabgrass Frontier: The Suburbanization of the United States Book cover of The Death and Life of Great American Cities Book cover of Poison Ivy: How Elite Colleges Divide Us Book cover of Good Economics for Hard Times Book cover of The Grapes of Wrath

The best books about the exciting life of cities

Book cover of The 99% Invisible City: A Field Guide to the Hidden World of Everyday Design Book cover of The City Shaped: Urban Patterns and Meanings Through History Book cover of Metropolis: A History of the City, Humankind's Greatest Invention Book cover of Life Between Buildings: Using Public Space Book cover of The Death and Life of Great American Cities

The best books to understand urban design for human health & happiness

Book cover of Urbanism in the Age of Climate Change Book cover of Happy City: Transforming Our Lives Through Urban Design Book cover of The Death and Life of Great American Cities Book cover of The Culture of Cities Book cover of Frederick Law Olmsted: Designing the American Landscape

The best nonfiction books about New York City by women writers

Book cover of Tenements, Towers & Trash: An Unconventional Illustrated History of New York City Book cover of Just Kids Book cover of The Odd Woman and the City: A Memoir Book cover of Low Life: Lures and Snares of Old New York Book cover of The Death and Life of Great American Cities

The best books about terrible, beautiful New York

Book cover of How I Became Hettie Jones Book cover of The Island at the Center of the World: The Epic Story of Dutch Manhattan and the Forgotten Colony That Shaped America Book cover of The House of Mirth Book cover of Jews Without Money Book cover of The Death and Life of Great American Cities

The best books about urban design that inspired me

Book cover of Life Between Buildings: Using Public Space Book cover of A New Theory of Urban Design Book cover of The Image of the City Book cover of The Concise Townscape Book cover of The Death and Life of Great American Cities

The best books for an aspiring or inspiring social scientist

Book cover of The Tyranny of the Ideal: Justice in a Diverse Society Book cover of The Narrow Corridor: States, Societies, and the Fate of Liberty Book cover of The Limits of Organization Book cover of A Pattern Language: Towns, Buildings, Construction Book cover of The Death and Life of Great American Cities

The best books on what makes a city great – and in particular on what makes Paris a great city

Book cover of The Painting of Modern Life: Paris in the Art of Manet and His Followers Book cover of The Cambridge Companion to the Literature of Paris Book cover of The Seduction of Place: The History and Future of Cities Book cover of The Death and Life of Great American Cities Book cover of Court and Garden: From the French Hôtel to the City of Modern Architecture

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Book cover of Invisible Cities Book cover of Metropolis: A History of the City, Humankind's Greatest Invention Book cover of The Island at the Center of the World: The Epic Story of Dutch Manhattan and the Forgotten Colony That Shaped America Book cover of The Narrow Corridor: States, Societies, and the Fate of Liberty Book cover of How Paris Became Paris: The Invention of the Modern City Book cover of Just Kids

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