How to Build a City

Home is fundamental to being human, and exploring the radical possibilities of our towns and cities has never felt more urgent than now. More than half of the world's population live in urban areas. In towns and cities across the globe, we build our lives among the hum of streets, the glow of windows, the patter of neighbours and the endlessly evolving skylines. But at a time of great flux - from political instability to global droughts and flooding, and an increased pressure on materials and space - our metropolises are facing new obstacles that threaten our urban way of life as we know it. From apartment blocks tackling a loneliness epidemic in Tokyo and the feminist neighbourhoods of Vienna to the underground bunkers of Helsinki, Gabriella Bennett takes readers on a globe-trotting journey to explore how towns and cities are being reimagined to embrace the challenges of contemporary life. Celebrating the ingenuity of human creativity to design and make the homes, neighbourhoods and cities of tomorrow, How to Build a City is a thought-provoking and hopeful insight into where we'll live and why it matters.

Home is fundamental to being human, and exploring the radical possibilities of our towns and cities has never felt more urgent than now. More than half of the world's population live in urban areas. In towns and cities across the globe, we build our lives among the hum of streets, the glow of windows, the patter of neighbours and the endlessly evolving skylines. But at a time of great flux - from political instability to global droughts and flooding, and an increased pressure on materials and space - our metropolises are facing new obstacles that threaten our urban way of life as we know it. From apartment blocks tackling a loneliness epidemic in Tokyo and the feminist neighbourhoods of Vienna to the underground bunkers of Helsinki, Gabriella Bennett takes readers on a globe-trotting journey to explore how towns and cities are being reimagined to embrace the challenges of contemporary life. Celebrating the ingenuity of human creativity to design and make the homes, neighbourhoods and cities of tomorrow, How to Build a City is a thought-provoking and hopeful insight into where we'll live and why it matters.