This classic is organized as follows: I. The Relationship Between Buildings, Monuments, and Public Squares II. Open Centers of Public Places III. The Enclosed Character of the Public Square IV. The Form and Expanse of Public Squares V. The Irregularity of Ancient Public Squares VI. Groups of Public Squares VII. Arrangement of Public Squares in Northern Europe VIII. The Artless and Prosaic Character of Modern City Planning IX. Modern Systems X. Modern Limitations on Art in City Planning XI. Improved Modern Systems XII. Artistic Principles in City Planning— An Illustration XIII. Conclusion

Imagine waking up to the gentle noises of the city, and moving through your day with complete confidence that you will get where you need to go quickly and efficiently. Soft City is about ease and comfort, where density has a human dimension, adapting to our ever-changing needs, nurturing relationships, and accommodating the pleasures of everyday life. How do we move from the current reality in most cites—separated uses and lengthy commutes in single-occupancy vehicles that drain human, environmental, and community resources—to support a soft city approach? In Soft City David Sim, partner and creative director at Gehl, shows how this is possible, presenting ideas and graphic examples from around the globe. He draws from his vast design experience to make a case for a dense and diverse built environment at a human scale, which he presents through a series of observations of older and newer places, and a range of simple built phenomena, some traditional and some totally new inventions. Sim shows that increasing density is not enough. The soft city must consider the organization and layout of the built environment for more fluid movement and comfort, a diversity of building types, and thoughtful design to ensure a sustainable urban environment and society. Soft City begins with the big ideas of happiness and quality of life, and then shows how they are tied to the way we live. The heart of the book is highly visual and shows the building blocks for neighborhoods: building types and their organization and orientation; how we can get along as we get around a city; and living with the weather. As every citizen deals with the reality of a changing climate, Soft City explores how the built environment can adapt and respond. Soft City offers inspiration, ideas, and guidance for anyone interested in city building. Sim shows how to make any city more efficient, more livable, and better connected to the environment.

From Los Angeles to Boston and Chicago to Miami, US cities are struggling to address the twin crises of high housing costs and household instability. Debates over the appropriate course of action have been defined by two poles: building more housing or enacting stronger tenant protections. These options are often treated as mutually exclusive, with support for one implying opposition to the other. Shane Phillips believes that effectively tackling the housing crisis requires that cities support both tenant protections and housing abundance. He offers readers more than 50 policy recommendations, beginning with a set of principles and general recommendations that should apply to all housing policy. The remaining recommendations are organized by what he calls the Three S’s of Supply, Stability, and Subsidy. Phillips makes a moral and economic case for why each is essential and recommendations for making them work together. There is no single solution to the housing crisis—it will require a comprehensive approach backed by strong, diverse coalitions. The Affordable City is an essential tool for professionals and advocates working to improve affordability and increase community resilience through local action.

For the past 150 years, architecture has been a significant tool in the hands of city planners and leaders. In Creating Cities/Building Cities, Peter Karl Kresl and Daniele Ietri illustrate how these planners and leaders have utilized architecture to achieve a variety of aims, influencing the situation, perception and competitiveness of their cities.

In this joyful new book Monocle unpacks what makes a great city, whether you're looking for a new place to call home or need help fixing your own. How do we make better cities - places that work for people of all ages and backgrounds? How do we make cities that provide the obvious essentials - great transport, good places to work - as well as the softer elements that truly deliver quality of life, from urban swimming pools to rooftop clubs? Since its launch in 2007, Monocle has been passionate about making better places to live. Every year it publishes a Quality of Life Survey, which names the top 25 cities to call home. In addition, across the issues, it has interviewed the best mayors, looked at the metropolises putting pedestrians first and met the people creating the best parks, both pocket and grand. Discover how you too can have a High Line, create the most covetable housing or turn a dirty river into a summer asset. Packed with great images and intriguing reports, this is a book that takes the urbanism debate away from city hall and explains what's needed in ways that will inspire us all.

Since 1945, North Americans have spent hundreds of billions of dollars on urban development, literally transforming the landscape of the continent. This development has been disastrous, Edmund Fowler maintains, because it is inordinately expensive, destructive of the environment, and disruptive of healthy social life and authentic politics. Revealing the connections between our basic cultural beliefs and why we build the way we do, he stresses that to build cities that work we must become aware of how our personal choices contribute to the form of the built environment.

This is a revolutionary book that serves as an exciting roadmap for people everywhere, offering advice on how to gain more control over their lives at both the individual level and also in their local communities. Encompassing diverse areas such as health, education, careers, economics, and spirituality, it points a clear path for individuals to gain self-empowerment, leading to more security and happiness in their lives, which will, in its own turn, lead to stronger local communities. When we decide to live our lives with truth, integrity, passion, and optimism, we are then building Cities of Gold, our version of heaven on Earth, a place we all know can exist.