Ebook: Perfect City: An Urban Fixer's Global Search for Magic in the Modern Metropolis

There is no such thing as a perfect city, but all great cities have moments of perfection--perfect streets or buildings, perfect places to raise a family or to relax with a coffee--and all of them strive for perfection when they undertake grand civic projects such as revitalizing a downtown or a waterfront, or building innovation hubs, airports, and arenas, or reforming their governance systems, or integrating streams of new immigrants. Cities, more than ever, are the engines of our economies and the ecosystems in which our lives play out, which makes questions about the perfectibility of urban life all the more urgent. Joe Berridge, one of the world's leading urban planners, takes us on an insider's tour of the world's largest and most diverse cities, from New York to London, Shanghai to Singapore, Toronto to Sydney, to examine what is working and what is not, what is promising and what needs to be fixed in the contemporary megalopolis. We meet the people, politicians, and thinkers at the cutting edge of global city making, and share their struggles and successes as they balance the competing priorities of growing their economies, upgrading the urban machinery that keeps a city humming, and protecting, serving, and delighting their citizens. We visit a succession of great urban innovations, stop by many of Joe's favorite restaurants, and leave with a startling view of the magical urban future that awaits us all. With an introduction by Richard Florida, bestselling author of The Creative Class.