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How to Build a City

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What to expect

'A thoughtful, open-hearted, deeply reported book about what we need to live. In How To Build A City, Bennett roams the world in search of answers to some of the most profound questions of our present and our future' - CAL FLYN

A moveable city in the Arctic Circle. Tower blocks tackling loneliness in Tokyo. Helsinki's sprawling underground metropolis. And Ukraine's bomb-resistant bedrooms. These places, and many more, are among the strange and dazzling solutions responding to our uncertain world.

Gabriella Bennett takes readers on a globe-trotting journey to learn how we are reimagining home and embracing the challenges of contemporary living. From political instability to wildfires, flooding and an increased pressure on materials and space, the built environment is under threat like never before. It must change - and it is. We'll travel to the frontier cities of this urban revolution and discover how people are transforming their communities in surprising ways.

Celebrating human ingenuity and resilience, How to Build a City is a remarkable investigation into where we'll live and why it matters.

Critics Review

An ambitious and engaging investigation ... a serious and spirited attempt to find answers to problems that elude many architects and planners; to show us what is possible; and, perhaps, to demand from them the best that cities can be - whatever uncontrollable events may be heading our way
The Spectator
A thoughtful, open-hearted, deeply reported book about what we need to live. In How To Build A City, Bennett roams the world in search of answers to some of the most profound questions of our present and our future. She offers us thrilling, kaleidoscopic glimpses of lives lived in brave new ways-and the community and forethought it takes to get there
Cal Flyn, bestselling author of Islands of Abandonment
A fascinating and compassionate book about the lives we build and rebuild - and the places we come to call home
Peter Ross, bestselling author of Upon a White Horse
An ambitious and globe-trotting exploration of the changing shape of our cities, and how we'll live in the world of tomorrow
Jonn Elledge, bestselling author of A History of the World in 47 Borders
Spectacularly hopeful, How to Build a City is magnificent
Lucy Easthope, bestselling author of When the Dust Settles
In this illuminating, heartfelt and perceptive book, Gabriella Bennett explores how urban communities are responding to the dangers that threaten their settled lives. From those who are experiencing the terrors of war and displacement, to others facing ecological disaster or increasing social isolation, she gathers stories of resilience, aspiration and perseverance [...] underlying all her encounters, is the essential and universal truth that our social and emotional well being is dependent on our sense of home
Clare Hunter, author of Threads of Life
A dizzying dive into vivid worlds of human perseverance and creativity, finding the startling examples of success in urban planning. Gabriella takes us all around the world in her quest to understand home and belonging in the fabric of our built environment, and tells the stories of people and places with such empathy, curiosity and skill that they stay with you for a long time. If you want to feel genuinely hopeful about our shared future, How to Build a City is the place to start.
Jen Stout, author of Night Train to Odesa
Author Gabriella Bennett
Narrator Gabriella Bennett
Duration 10 hours and 42 minutes
Release Date
ISBN 9781035421985
Format Audiobook
Publisher Headline
Genre Architecture: public, commercial and industrial buildings, Architecture: residential and domestic buildings, City and town planning: architectural aspects, Urban and municipal planning and policy
Availability AU, GB, IE

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