News From Nowhere Radical & Community Bookshop
not-for-profit - a workers'co-op - committed to social justice | 96 Bold Street, Liverpool L1 4HY - 0151 708 7270
Happy City: Transforming Our Lives Through Urban Design
by Charles Montgomery - £9.99 Penguin Books Ltd (2015)
paperback
ISBN 13: 9780141047546 | ISBN 10: 0141047542
Why are some cities a joy to live in, and others chronically miserable? As award-winning journalist Charles Montgomery reveals, the answers lie in the intersection between urban design and the emerging science of happiness. Journeying to dozens of cities - from Atlanta to Bogotá to Vancouver - he talks to the new champions of the happy city to discover the progressive movements already transforming people's lives. He meets the visionary Colombian mayor who used a "sexy" bus to ease status anxiety; a Danish architect who brought the lessons of medieval Tuscan towns to modern-day Copenhagen; the activist who turned Paris's urban freeways into beaches; and an army of American suburbanites who have transformed their own lives by hacking the design of their neighbourhoods.
In these stories, and in the fascinating realm of urban experimentation, Happy City finds new insights for better living. From how saying hello to neighbours is just as important to your mental health as contact with close friends and family, to how gardens make us kinder, and how simple changes in road design can alter the hormonal state of commuters, Happy City shows that simple changes can make all the difference. The message is as surprising as it is hopeful: the green city, the low-carbon city and the happy city are the same place, and we can all help build it.
(Price & availability last checked: February 2015)
© News From Nowhere Co-operative Ltd IP24524R 2004-2025 | Privacy policy | Contact | return to top of page