What I Learned at the New Cities Summit

What I Learned at the New Cities Summit

by | Jun 10, 2013 | English

The theme of this year’s New Cities Summit in São Paulo was “the human city.” But what is a human city? And, for that matter, what is a city? We must be able to conceptualize the non-city in order to define the city and “cityness,”...
[Review] First Stop in the New World

[Review] First Stop in the New World

by | Apr 1, 2013 | Book Review, English

Why this explosion of English-language books about Mexico City by Americans after decades of disregard? Ironically, it has much to do with the city’s cultural and economic rise over the past five to ten years. I say ‘ironically’ because none of the three above-mentioned authors chart the city’s progress.

[Review] Triumph of the City

[Review] Triumph of the City

by | Nov 20, 2012 | Book Review, English

One of those books that I read mostly in order to recommend it to others. I’m already part of the urbanist converted, and Glaeser is preaching to the choir. For those of you who are comfortably content in the suburbs, or wary of the chaotic hustle and bustle of...
The Chapters of Cities

The Chapters of Cities

by | Jul 8, 2009 | English

This is an especially American perspective of looking at the development of cities, but I think that the same basic evolution is generally true for cities around the world, even if they haven’t yet reached some of the later chapters. Chapter 1: Make-shift Slums...
Milan

Milan

by | Jul 28, 2008 | English, Moleskinned

It’s true, my favorite Pepperidge Farm cookies were always the Milanos, the mint ones. Paul Graham wrote an interesting essay in May about those social pressures that cities like to whisper into our ears. Manhattan tells us to make more money, he writes, and...