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Cities Are Good for You: The Genius of the Metropolis
by
Cities are where the twenty-first century is really going to happen. Already at the beginning of the century, we became 50% urban as a global population, and by 2050 we're going to be up to 70% urban. So cities could either be our coffin or our ark.
Leo Hollis presents evidence that cities can deliver a better life and a better world in the future. From exploring what slime ...more
Leo Hollis presents evidence that cities can deliver a better life and a better world in the future. From exploring what slime ...more
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Hardcover, 416 pages
Published
July 16th 2013
by Bloomsbury Press
(first published April 25th 2013)
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Start your review of Cities Are Good for You: The Genius of the Metropolis
The book was a pretty meagre throughout. I have read much on cities but I was aware of the majority of sources and anecdotes in the book already, it felt like a compendium of people's other work rather than offering any insight itself (just a lot of praise for the internet or travelling).
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Optimistic and insightful
This is a fine book that offers a clear argument: the urban environment is beneficial to the life of its residents. There is attention to housing, transportation, employment, movement cultures and lifestyle.
Hollis tracks - around the world - the gentrification of cities and the impact of the poor being excluded to the periphery of urbanity. Yet the problems of cities - pollution and congestion being two major ones - are underplayed.
It is an inspiring book and beautifully written. For urban stud ...more
Hollis tracks - around the world - the gentrification of cities and the impact of the poor being excluded to the periphery of urbanity. Yet the problems of cities - pollution and congestion being two major ones - are underplayed.
It is an inspiring book and beautifully written. For urban stud ...more
For April, I read Cities Are Good For You by Leo Hollis. Overall, I found the book to just be a lot of summaries about random urban topics. I think one of the best arguments presented is something that I already know and agree with. This is the idea that living in the city is good for you because you will walk more. I think there are so many benefits to being able to walk everywhere. Walking keeps people physically active, reduces the impact on the environment, does not have a monetary cost, and
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2.5 - Hollis presents a survey of cities and urbanism, showcasing challenges and innovations of cities, but doesn't really go any further than that. While it introduces and to some extent contextualises the work of a range of architects and urbanist thinkers, the book doesn't really refine its own thesis beyond the title.
The chapter Hollis devotes to the Dharavi slum in Mumbai raises interesting questions, but most of these are glossed over rather than being explored in any depth. For instance, ...more
The chapter Hollis devotes to the Dharavi slum in Mumbai raises interesting questions, but most of these are glossed over rather than being explored in any depth. For instance, ...more
Cities are Good For You is a well-researched book with a thesis I'm sympathetic to (i.e. that cities are good for you). It has a really wide scope! I learned a bunch of interesting stuff about urban planning and this book made me question what a city even is (the definition of a city as a place with a cathedral is pretty wanting both globally and historically).
There's problems though. The scope might be too wide. Anything from how people walk to environmental sustainability to inequality to arch ...more
There's problems though. The scope might be too wide. Anything from how people walk to environmental sustainability to inequality to arch ...more
i picked up this book to get some positivity regarding cities, since i'm moving to a very large and polluted one for college in september.
i learned many interesting things while reading it, and while it did fulfill my goal of getting me feeling super positive about moving to nyc, it's not realllyyy about why 'cities are good for you.' it's a lot of disjointed rambling, and no clear point -- i still found it entertaining, but if you want a super coherent argument/narrative, you may want to skip t ...more
i learned many interesting things while reading it, and while it did fulfill my goal of getting me feeling super positive about moving to nyc, it's not realllyyy about why 'cities are good for you.' it's a lot of disjointed rambling, and no clear point -- i still found it entertaining, but if you want a super coherent argument/narrative, you may want to skip t ...more
Im in love with this book❤
Хороший обзор частей, из которых складывается хороший город. Или не складывается.
How our cities are copping with increasingly unsustainable numbers and how this affects us all.
Lovely bit on Jane Jacobs and her trying to prevent New Yorks history be erased in favour of less significant and well designed architecture.
Positive overall.
Lovely bit on Jane Jacobs and her trying to prevent New Yorks history be erased in favour of less significant and well designed architecture.
Positive overall.
From my review on NextCity Daily:
Leo Hollis’ new book, Cities Are Good for You: The Genius of the Metropolis, is not a book to “like,” exactly, but if you’re a regular reader of this space then it perhaps covers all the things you might like. I was with Hollis on his premise — that every way of life has its drawbacks but, despite these, cities are good for you, and are even better for all of us — before opening the front cover. That said, while reading I kept going back and forth about whether t ...more
Leo Hollis’ new book, Cities Are Good for You: The Genius of the Metropolis, is not a book to “like,” exactly, but if you’re a regular reader of this space then it perhaps covers all the things you might like. I was with Hollis on his premise — that every way of life has its drawbacks but, despite these, cities are good for you, and are even better for all of us — before opening the front cover. That said, while reading I kept going back and forth about whether t ...more
A surprisingly hopeful book, in many ways. I imagine that's what the author intended, and I admit to being pleasantly surprised at how well he succeeded.
Some of the early material, mainly stuff on Jane Jacobs and Robert Moses, I was already familiar with (as I would expect most people interested in city life to be), and it seemed to be a bit of a potted history, as did some of the material on Le Corbusier. Famous Theorists and Power Brokers, Bad; Observant Lady: Good (to be clear, I agree with H ...more
Some of the early material, mainly stuff on Jane Jacobs and Robert Moses, I was already familiar with (as I would expect most people interested in city life to be), and it seemed to be a bit of a potted history, as did some of the material on Le Corbusier. Famous Theorists and Power Brokers, Bad; Observant Lady: Good (to be clear, I agree with H ...more
No focus and seemingly no editing (how many times can you start a sentence with "Yet"????). Hollis continually preaches the necessity of improving life at the street level via public participation, then shows unbridled enthusiasm for things like Vodafone UK's venture in mobile banking in Kenya without questioning why a London-based company and the UK Department of International Development are the ones serving the unbanked. I don't entirely trust the private sector to not exploit an emerging mar
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The book meandered quite a bit, so I never quite go the sense of a coherent hypothesis. The name of the book is of course pushing towards one, but that isn't addressed in some grand argument in the book.
Lots of tidbits about the good things happening in various cities, but also the challenges. All of which cumulatively didn't add up to me to the kind of strong message presented in something like a Richard Florida or Ed Glaeser book.
The thoughts were all there, just the editing didn't push the en ...more
Lots of tidbits about the good things happening in various cities, but also the challenges. All of which cumulatively didn't add up to me to the kind of strong message presented in something like a Richard Florida or Ed Glaeser book.
The thoughts were all there, just the editing didn't push the en ...more
This book was just so-so. Hollis enjoys sharing his thoughts and opinions perhaps too much, and his arguments tend to wind and meander much like the street configurations in the suburban housing developments he opposes. However, he does take on quite a bit (again, perhaps too much) and provides a decent survey of material that he is just unfortunate to have had covered by other authors who have more thoroughly outlined and supported their claims (e.g., Al Gore in The Future, Kasarda and Lindsay
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Given the rapid urbanization of the world, the question of the sustainable city is being lived out in every country. How do we maximize the good and minimize the difficulties of cities? Hollis draws on a lot of researchers and ideas about how to change and improve the city, understanding it as a wider network and for global sustainability. Hopeful, this is an introduction to the idea of the sustainable city.
I started out with both this and 'Smart Cities', and ended up sticking with this one. Both have a condensed history of urban planning - useful in some cases, but I've read it before - but this does a better job with the people side of cities. It's a good blend of anecdote, narrative example, and statistics, though I'm sure arguments could be made about other causes of success. A good introduction to urban issues and benefits that doesn't require pre-existing knowledge.
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Good coverage on all the popular topics, but author sometimes slips too much in personal experience and feelings. Chapters are filled with redundant details and the idea slips away from the reader. But as this is the second book on the topic - marking it as 4-star for providing a lot of interesting info and acquainting with main questions.
Just an occasional drive through the drab and soulless suburbs depresses me. So, yes, cities are good for me. But I didn't need this much of arguing in favor of city life. This is a good book to read if you're an urban planner or a historian. I think I just wasn't the right audience for this book.
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Although I enjoyed this book, I was somewhat disappointed in that I don't think it entirely answers or validates the supposition of its title. It to me seemed to lack a clear focus throughout and rather than clear focussed case studies it tried to be all encompassing, thus failed to make its point.
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3.5
The first half was at least a SOLID four for me, but it started to lag around the middle. It picked up a bit, but not to the level of the first bit. Overall, I'd recommend it for people who are already interested in urban studies and things like that (I am), but not necessarily for the general public. ...more
The first half was at least a SOLID four for me, but it started to lag around the middle. It picked up a bit, but not to the level of the first bit. Overall, I'd recommend it for people who are already interested in urban studies and things like that (I am), but not necessarily for the general public. ...more
I'm a bit surprised this was an international bestseller. It's in dire need of a good editor, and was mostly quite boring given the potential of the subject matter. But I learned a few interesting things along the way, so.
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It was really nice and thought-provoking - at first seemed quite unconnected and lacking coherence, but later it all started to make sense.
I've learnt a lot from the book - about the history of cities and urbanism and its different approaches. ...more
I've learnt a lot from the book - about the history of cities and urbanism and its different approaches. ...more
This book gave me the feeling of traveling around the world and being an observer of everyday life. It was interesting to learn more about history and traditions in different countries. After reading this book I got a great impulse to improve life quality in my family, house and district.
a passionate treatise to cities - full review here
http://0651frombrighton.blogspot.co.u... ...more
http://0651frombrighton.blogspot.co.u... ...more
Interesting. Needed more editing.
Hollis describes the advantages and challenges which accompany living in a city. Contained some interesting anecdotes, but overal not a very gripping read, with a not very strong message.
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