So what books does everyone recommend/want to share?


I'm kinda in love with the book "Green Metropolis" by David Owen as it completely rails against suburbs and sprawl. Owen knows what keeps our cities lively and how dense cities are the key to sustainability and reduce wasted energy, excessive pollution, etc... I rarely read, like, ever. But this book sucked me in. I think it's the only book I've willing picked up in years and I've been looking for more for a while.


I'd love books which tear apart autocentricity, suburbs, sprawl, highways, etc... But anything is of interest to me. I'm getting a double BS in Political Science and Economics right now and the goal is to then go to MIT for a masters in Urban Planning.

Nikos Salingaros is my god.

He's on point with his Urban Network theories, and I love how much he hates on modernist and deconstructionist architecture. Actually, his books are why I became interested in architecture and urban planning in the first place.

I'd recommend Principles of Urban Structure first and foremost. Most of his stuff is online as PDFs as well as YouTube lectures on his website.

Shrinking Cities ed.1 & 2, edited by Philip Oswalt.

The books were part of a project initiated by the federal German government to expand the debate about how to tackle the growing problem of shrinking cities in the country. The project quickly expanded to focus on shrinkage on a global scale and studied four cities in particular, Leipzig, Manchester/Liverpool, Detroit and Ivanhov. It also sought to place redevelopment projects in Eastern Germany and elsewhere into the perspectives and narratives of modern economics, politics and culture.

I also love Kevin Lynch. His work on public spaces really opened my eyes to the intricacies of urban space. Also, Mark Kingwall's 'Concrete Reveries: Consciousness and the City' is a good read, especially for how humans relate to architecture.