Triumph of the City - Softcover

Glaeser, Edward

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0230709397 ISBN 13: 9780230709393

Publisher: Macmillan, 2011

Synopsis

This title is about how our greatest invention makes us richer, smarter, greener, healthier and happier. This is a compellingly readable, agenda-setting account of how and why cities function as they do and why so many of us choose to live in them. In 2009, for the first time in history, more than half the world's population lived in cities. In a time when family, friends and co-workers are a call, text, or email away, 3.3 billion people on this planet still choose to crowd together in skyscrapers, high-rises, subways and buses. Not too long ago, it looked like our cities were dying, but in fact they boldly threw themselves into the information age, adapting and evolving to become the gateways to a globalized and interconnected world. Now more than ever, the well-being of human society depends upon our knowledge of how the city lives and breathes. Understanding the modern city and the powerful forces within it is the life's work of Harvard urban economist Edward Glaeser, who at forty is hailed as one of the world's most exciting urban thinkers. Travelling from city to city, speaking to planners and politicians across the world, he uncovers questions large and small whose answers are both counterintuitive and deeply significant. Should New Orleans be rebuilt? Why can't my nephew afford an apartment in New York? Is London the new financial capital of the world? Is my job headed to Bangalore? In "The Triuph Of Cities", Glaeser takes us around the world and into the mind of the modern city - from Mumbai to Paris to Rio to Detroit to Shanghai, and to any number of points in between - to reveal how cities think, why they behave in the manners that they do, and what wisdom they share with the people who inhabit them.

About this title

Review:

"If you live in a city, if you're planning on living in a city, if you ever lived in a city-this is a great book to read to give yourself a nice feeling of what you're accomplishing. It's a tremendous book."
-Jon Stewart, Host of "The Daily Show"
"Edward Glaeser is one of the world's most brilliant economists, and "Triumph of the City" is a masterpiece. Seamlessly combining economics and history, he explains why cities are 'our species' greatest invention.' This beautifully written book makes clear how cities have not only survived but thrived, even as modern technology has seemingly made one's physical location less important."
-Steven D. Levitt, co-author of "Freakonomics" and "SuperFreakonomics"; professor of economics at the University of Chicago
"If you would like to improve slums, turn poverty into prosperity, or get a grip on urban sprawl, read this thoughtful and thought-provoking book."
-Simon Johnson, author of "13 Bankers"; professor of entre

Book Description:

A compellingly readable, critically acclaimed, agenda-setting account of how and why cities function as they do and why so many of us choose to live in them

About this edition

• Publisher: Macmillan
• Publication date: 2011
• ISBN 10: 0230709397
• ISBN 13: 9780230709393
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 464