Library
The Nation City: Why Mayors Are Now Running the World
We will discuss a book about how power and progress have moved in recent decades from federal and state governments to cities. The chief beneficiaries of this “paradigm shift,” the book argues, are mayors who are connected to one another, open to new ideas and skilled at collaboration. Rahm Emanuel was the two-term mayor of…
Age of the City: How Our Future Will Be Won or Lost Together
We will discuss a book about the challenges facing cities worldwide and the strengths cities can draw on to meet these challenges, which include climate change, rising inequality and the problems of a globalized, post-industrial economy. Ian Goldin is a professor of globalization and development at Oxford University in England. Tom Lee-Devlin is a writer…
A Kind of Genius: Herb Sturz and Society’s Toughest Problems
“A Kind of Genius” is a book about how one reformer in the 1960s and 1970s in New York was able to create change with little or no power and few resources. He did it with persuasion, people skills, political awareness and processes that not only found good solutions but built support along the way….
The New Urban Crisis: How Our Cities Are Increasing Inequality, Deepening Segregation, and Failing the Middle Class—And What We Can Do About It
“The New Urban Crisis” is a book about growing inequality and isolation in cities and how greater social, educational and economic opportunity can and should be created. The author suggests ambitious reforms at the federal, state and local levels. Florida is an economics professor and author of a popular 2002 book, “The Rise of the…
The Big Dig
“The Big Dig” is a documentary podcast about one of the most ambitious—and vexed—public works projects in American history, the building of two tunnels and a bridge in Boston. This massive project transformed downtown Boston and solved many access problems, but at a huge cost in money and reputation. The documentary has suggestions about improving…
Ghosting the News: Local Journalism and the Crisis of American Democracy
“Ghosting the News” is a book about the decline of newspapers, the loss of their coverage of local government and politics, and why this lost coverage threatens democracy. The book offers some ideas about what might replace newspaper reporting. Sullivan is the media columnist for the Washington Post. The “big ideas” for Urban Atlanta:
Walk the Walk: How Three Police Chiefs Defied the Odds and Changed Cop Culture
“Walk the Walk” is a book about police reform and why it will fail if it does not address “cop culture,” which are the ways police officers view their work and their relations with others. It focuses on three police chiefs, including one in Georgia, who changed their departments’ culture and made other reforms. Gross…
Love Our Cities: How a City-Wide Volunteer Day Can Unite and Transform Your Community
“Love Our Cities” is a book about volunteering, the benefits it brings to a city, and how a single day devoted to good works can be a source of continuing civic involvement. It was written by two people who learned these things after starting a community outreach project at a church. The “big ideas” for…
The New Localism: How Cities Can Thrive in the Age of Populism
“The New Localism” is a book about how local governments could solve difficult problems if they worked more collaboratively with others and used more creative approaches to financing improvements. Cities have greater resources than they realize, the authors say. Collaboration and new thinking about finance can unlock these resources. The “big ideas” for Urban Atlanta:
Paved Paradise: How Parking Explains the World
“Paved Paradise” is about parking’s impact on city life and urban design, how it came to have such a large influence, and the prospects for change. It asks: Why have we devoted so much land to the exclusive use of idle vehicles? Are there better ways of using this land? The “big ideas” for Urban…