Book : Happy City Transforming Our Lives Through Urban...

-Titulo Original : Happy City Transforming Our Lives Through Urban Design

-Fabricante :

Farrar, Straus And Giroux

-Descripcion Original:

About the Author Charles Montgomery is an award-winning journalist and the author of The Shark God, which won the 2005 Charles Taylor Prize for Literary Non-Fiction under its Canadian title, The Last Heathen. A globe-trotting, eye-opening exploration of how cities can and do make us happier peopleCharles Montgomerys Happy City is revolutionizing the way we think about urban life. After decades of unchecked sprawl, more people than ever are moving back to the city. Dense urban living has been prescribed as a panacea for the environmental and resource crises of our time. But is it better or worse for our happiness? Are subways, sidewalks, and condo towers an improvement on the car dependence of the suburbs? The award-winning journalist Charles Montgomery finds answers to such questions at the intersection between urban design and the emerging science of happiness, during an exhilarating journey through some of the worlds most dynamic cities. He meets the visionary mayor who introduced a sexy bus to ease status anxiety in Bogota; the architect who brought the lessons of medieval Tuscan hill towns to modern-day New York City; the activist who turned Pariss urban freeways into beaches; and an army of American suburbanites who have hacked the design of their own streets and neighborhoods. Rich with new insights from psychology, neuroscience, and Montgomerys own urban experiments, Happy City reveals how cities can shape our thoughts as well as our behavior. The message is ultimately as surprising as it is hopeful: by retrofitting cities and our own lives for happiness, we can tackle the urgent challenges of our age. The happy city can save the world and we can all help build it. Review “Happy City is not only readable but stimulating. It raises issues most of us have avoided for too long. Do we live in neighborhoods that make us happy? That is not a silly question. Montgomery encourages us to ask it without embarrassment, and to think intelligently about the answer.” Alan Ehrenhalt, The New York Times Book Review“Beautifully researched, Charles Montgomerys tale cleverly interweaves rigorous inquiry on urban history and the science of happiness with intimate and personal stories that humanize the vast task of understanding urban dynamics. An inspiring book that reminds us that the power to change our cities often lies in our own hands.” Maria Nicanor, Associate Curator of Architecture and Urbanism, Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York“Happy City is its own opiate: an eye-opening, pleasurable, utterly necessary tour through the best and worst neighborhoods of our urbanized world. Charles Montgomery shows us the way to a beautiful city.” Andrew Blum, author of Tubes“Happy City will fundamentally change the way you see, experience, and feel the place you inhabit. It is a hopeful and optimistic vision of our urban future that uses science to argue what we always should have known: in building the good city, we wont just save our planet. Well save ourselves.” Robert Hammond, cofounder of Friends of the High Line“A brilliant, entertaining, and vital book. Charles Montgomery deftly leads us from our misplaced focus on money, cars, and stuff to consider what makes us truly happy. Then everything changes--the way we live, work, and play in humanitys major habitat, the city.” David Suzuki, host of CBCs The Nature of Things and cofounder of the David Suzuki Foundation“Charles Montgomerys message is simple: If were going to save the world, we must first be happier, and that means creating happier cities. Happy City isnt just a book about urban design written for urban professionals; its for everyone whos ever wondered if their city could be a better place, and what they can do about it.” Jarrett Walker, author of Human Transit“In a word, wow. I thought I had it all figured out, but this is something I was missing. In echoing all the great economic, health, and environmental mand