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4.32 AVERAGE
4.32 AVERAGE
This book should be a year 1 primer for every architecture and urban planning student. It should be left in day 1 briefings for every mayor on their first day in office. This, and Putnam’s Bowling Alone (although this is a much easier read).
I grew up in a traditional American suburb built around the car in the 70s and 80s. I had a perfectly middle-class American dream upbringing, and there were great things about this, but the American Suburb, optimized for motor vehicles, not humans (along with American diets), killed my parents. I mean this in all seriousness: obesity, type II diabetes, hour-long commutes and a host of other social ills took several years off their lives and I credit the largest causes to how our cities are built. The social division threatening my country and others also owe a lot to how we no longer live together, but that is a bigger story (probably better suited to Putnam). I lost the 2nd parent two years ago. If our community had been built along principles outlined in Soft City, if my parents had reason and ability to walk ANYWHERE for 40 years, I think they would still be here.
I now work in real estate in a developing country and have been involved in community building for the past 6 years. I’ve also been fortunate enough to work with Gehl as a client and also visited their office in the middle of Copenhagen. This stuff works! And it’s not even rocket science. If we could get every mayor and city planner to do a 2-week trip to Copenhagen, explore by bike and see how they feel after 2 weeks of walking and cycling while staying in a 4-floor walkup, I think we’d start to see the principles outlined here as the foundation of all future cities. They’d also probably shed a couple of pounds in the process.
In short: great graphics help illustrate the concepts; Sim provides a concrete framework to assess cities and neighborhoods; and all this in easy-to-understand language for all types, from developer to social anthropologists. If you really care about building better cities and better communities for people, start here.
I grew up in a traditional American suburb built around the car in the 70s and 80s. I had a perfectly middle-class American dream upbringing, and there were great things about this, but the American Suburb, optimized for motor vehicles, not humans (along with American diets), killed my parents. I mean this in all seriousness: obesity, type II diabetes, hour-long commutes and a host of other social ills took several years off their lives and I credit the largest causes to how our cities are built. The social division threatening my country and others also owe a lot to how we no longer live together, but that is a bigger story (probably better suited to Putnam). I lost the 2nd parent two years ago. If our community had been built along principles outlined in Soft City, if my parents had reason and ability to walk ANYWHERE for 40 years, I think they would still be here.
I now work in real estate in a developing country and have been involved in community building for the past 6 years. I’ve also been fortunate enough to work with Gehl as a client and also visited their office in the middle of Copenhagen. This stuff works! And it’s not even rocket science. If we could get every mayor and city planner to do a 2-week trip to Copenhagen, explore by bike and see how they feel after 2 weeks of walking and cycling while staying in a 4-floor walkup, I think we’d start to see the principles outlined here as the foundation of all future cities. They’d also probably shed a couple of pounds in the process.
In short: great graphics help illustrate the concepts; Sim provides a concrete framework to assess cities and neighborhoods; and all this in easy-to-understand language for all types, from developer to social anthropologists. If you really care about building better cities and better communities for people, start here.
adventurous
challenging
hopeful
informative
inspiring
lighthearted
medium-paced
A fun book to slip through to see well designed cities. Doesn’t discuss the political capital required to get there however.