A country of cities : a manifesto for an urban America / Vishaan Chakrabarti ; foreword by Norman Foster ; illustrations by SHoP Architects.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Chakrabarti, Vishaan.

Contributor:

Martin and Margy Meyerson Endowment Fund for the Built Environment.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Cities and towns--Growth--Social aspects.

Cities and towns--Growth.

United States.

City planning--United States.

City planning.

Cities and towns--Growth--Social aspects--United States.

Sustainable development--United States.

Sustainable development.

Physical Description:

251 pages : color illustrations ; 25 cm

Place of Publication:

New York : Metropolis Books, 2013.

Summary:

In A Country of Cities, author Vishaan Chakrabarti argues that well-designed cities are the key to solving America's great national challenges: environmental degradation, unsustainable consumption, economic stagnation, rising public health costs and decreased social mobility. If we develop them wisely in the future, our cities can be the force leading us into a new era of progressive and prosperous stewardship of our nation. In compelling chapters, Chakrabarti brings us a wealth of information about cities, suburbs and exurbs, looking at how they developed across the 50 states and their roles in prosperity and globalization, sustainability and resilience, and heath and joy. Counter to what you might think, American cities today are growing faster than their suburban counterparts for the first time since the 1920s. If we can intelligently increase the density of our cities as they grow and build the transit systems, schools, parks and other infrastructure to support them, Chakrabarti shows us how both job opportunities and an improved, sustainable environment are truly within our means. In this call for an urban America, he illustrates his argument with numerous infographics illustrating provocative statistics on issues as disparate as rising childhood obesity rates, ever-lengthening automobile commutes and government subsidies that favor highways over mass transit. The book closes with an eloquent manifesto that rallies us to build "a Country of Cities," to turn a country of highways, houses and hedges into a country of trains, towers and trees.

Contents:

Foreword / Norman Foster

Acknowledgments

A Country of Countries: Of Highways, Houses, and Hedges

Why Cities are Good

1. Cities, Prosperity, and Globalization

2. Cities, Sustainability, and Resilience

3. Cities, Health, and Joy

How to Build Good Cities

4. Building Hyperdensity and Civic Delight

5. Building an Infrastructure of Opportunity

6. Building the Equitable City

A Country of Cities: Of Trains, Towers, and Trees

A Country of Cities: The Manifesto

Author's Note

Notes and Illustration Sources

Index.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Local Notes:

Acquired for the Penn Libraries with assistance from the Martin and Margy Meyerson Endowment Fund for the Built Environment.

ISBN:

9781935202172

1935202170

OCLC:

829099107