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A review by reads2cope
Happy City: Transforming Our Lives Through Urban Design by Charles Montgomery
4.75
Took me a long time to read partially because the Libby wait was long (but so glad others are reading this!) and because my partner and I listened to this together. I ended up buying the paperback, and I hope to look back on it often as a reminder to build the community and neighborhood I want.
The examples used in this book were easy to see in my own life: I am stressed when I walk on loud roads with lots of traffic and happier and calmer when I’m on pedestrian-only streets, I felt safer and more connected when I lived in smaller apartment complexes where I knew my neighbors than I did in large buildings where no one used common areas or even ran into each other often in the halls, when I move I look for quiet streets with trees and with groceries and other necessities in walking distance.
The stories of people who shaped their neighborhoods and cities through community building and activism were inspiring.
My only big complaint was that the narrator used bizarre accents when reading quotes from people from Copenhagen to Bogota, and that was distracting and annoying. The book itself was easy to read and well argued.
The examples used in this book were easy to see in my own life: I am stressed when I walk on loud roads with lots of traffic and happier and calmer when I’m on pedestrian-only streets, I felt safer and more connected when I lived in smaller apartment complexes where I knew my neighbors than I did in large buildings where no one used common areas or even ran into each other often in the halls, when I move I look for quiet streets with trees and with groceries and other necessities in walking distance.
The stories of people who shaped their neighborhoods and cities through community building and activism were inspiring.
My only big complaint was that the narrator used bizarre accents when reading quotes from people from Copenhagen to Bogota, and that was distracting and annoying. The book itself was easy to read and well argued.